BOGUE CHITTO — Sophomore quarterback Dantae Ratcliff of BogueChitto is making high grades on the football field. Moved from widereceiver to quarterback this season, Ratcliff appears to have foundhis place in BC’s offense.

Ratcliff helped lead the Bobcats (1-4) to their first victory ofthe season last Friday, a 50-19 homecoming win over Vicksburg St.Aloysius. He rushed for 217 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also passed14 yards to Robert Bullock for another TD.

For his performance, Ratcliff has been selected The DAILYLEADER’s Offensive Player of the Week for the fifth week of the2004 campaign.

Bogue Chitto head coach Gareth Sartin said Ratcliff has thetools to become an outstanding quarterback. “Dantae is a real goodathlete. He has a chance to make plays any time the ball is in hishands. He is getting better each week. He’s making his reads on theoption.”

Ratcliff speaks softly but makes plenty of noise on thegridiron. “I was just running. I really wasn’t thinking about(yards).” He scored on runs of 8, 23, 69 and 83 yards against St.Aloysius.

“Dantae’s extremely quick and very good at making people misshim,” said Sartin. “Once he gets in the open, he has the speed totake it the distance.”

Ratcliff (5-10, 165) said he enjoys calling signals. “I likeplaying quarterback. You get the ball on every play and you canmake it happen. Coach Sartin works with me a lot.”

Asked about his offensive line, Ratcliff said he appreciatedtheir support. “They give me some good blocks.”

Working in BC’s offensive line are Scotty Brown at left tackle,Erik Allen at left guard, Kenyatta Godbolt at center, RichardWilliams at right guard and Kyle Moak at right tackle. Matt Booneis at tight end.

Ratcliff works out of the shotgun formation and this helps himsee the field. His favorite play is 600 Smash. “It’s a passingplay. The outside receiver runs a curl and the inside receiver runsa flag. I roll right and one of the receivers is usually open. Ican always run, too.”

BC’s offense has made steady improvement. Ratcliff likes to handoff to fullback Cory Washington on trap plays. Washington rushedfor 156 yards against St. Aloysius.

Also working in BC’s backfield are tailbacks C.J. Tate, StevenSnow and Jamall Carmichael and fullbacks John Hudson andWashington.

On defense, Ratcliff starts at cornerback. He runs a 4.5 in the40-yard dash. In varsity basketball, he started at point guard lastseason.

He is the son of Alicia Ratcliff and Chester Magee. He has twoyounger sisters.

“This is a rebuilding year but we are getting better everygame,” said Ratcliff. “We are looking forward to playing WestLincoln,” Friday night.

In his spare time, Ratcliff likes to watch the Miami Hurricaneson television. He enjoys following the Tennessee Titans in the NFLand quarterback Steve McNair.

“I like playing for Coach Sartin,” said Ratcliff. “He works ushard but we are getting results.”