Mountain Valley’s Justin Staires has shined in every facet of the game.

RUMFORD – In one of the more famous Looney Tunes cartoons, Bugs Bunny takes on an entire baseball team, the Gashouse Gorillas, by himself in a high-scoring nine-inning game. The wise-cracking, hyperactive rabbit plays every position on the field and still beats the big, bad Gorillas.

The animated short inspired the Mountain Valley Falcons to nickname their versatile sophomore Justin Staires “Bugs Bunny.” Watching him on a football field for 48 minutes, it’s easy to understand why. It seems like Staires is everywhere.

On offense, he is the Falcons’ leading receiver and second-leading rusher, tallying over 600 yards in each category. He’s scored 24 touchdowns this season, including four in each of their two playoff wins. He’s a big play waiting to happen, particularly in the Falcons’ emergent passing game.

“There’s an old saying that three things can happen when the ball is in the air, and two are bad,” Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward said. “When you have Justin Staires on your team, two are good. If it’s a jump ball between he and his defender, he’s going to come down with it every time.”

On defense, he’s every bit as ubiquitous. Playing cornerback, he’s picked off a team-high seven passes and is a corner-closing force against the run. On special teams, he’s taken two punts back for touchdowns, given the Falcons prime field position countless other times and caused Aylward to perpetually wonder aloud why anyone would even kick the ball to him.

If opposing coaches haven’t figured out just how dangerous Staires is in all three phases of the game, opposing fans have. He’s been the subject of derisive signs and heckling late in the season, but the laid-back Staires takes the attention, and his critical role on the team, in stride.

“I just feed off the pressure. It just makes me want to play better,” he said.

Getting thrown into the fire as a freshman, Staires had no choice but to crave pressure. He started at cornerback last year and learned from a couple of senior linebackers the ways of Falcon football.

“I had to come up and earn my spot,” he said. “I came up and played hard. I had Travis (Fergola) and Brendan (Bradley) to push me throughout my whole freshman year.”

Staires knew it would pay to listen to his elders. Just one year earlier, he watched Fergola, Bradley and his cousin, Korey Staires, lead Mountain Valley to its first state title.

“It was such a great experience to see a team like that, and now it’s even better to be on one,” he said.

Staires already has some championship experience under his own belt and has the talent to lead the Falcons to glory in three sports.

Last winter, he was a valuable guard on the basketball team that went to the state title game. In baseball, he’s a power pitcher and hitter who will have scouts and college coaches drooling for the next three years.

“I’d have to say baseball is probably my best sport, but I love football,” Staires said. “I just love the contact and everything about it.”

“He’s very talented. I don’t want to attach adjectives to a sophomore in high school. He’s very talented. ” Aylward said. “I don’t know how else to describe him.”

Bugs Bunny will have to do for now.