Published: September 05, 2008 11:20 am            

Spread offenses all the rage in Mountain State

CHARLESTON — Shotgun formations, four-wide sets, split backfields ... inside reverses?

Fans venturing to Crawford Field tonight to see Class AAA No. 2 St. Albans open its home schedule against Spring Valley might think they've stepped into a Twilight Zone-like version of high school football.

As it turns out, they'll simply be witness to the fastest-growing trend among Mountain State teams:

The use of the spread offense.

Since the beginning of the decade, the number of high school teams that run some sort of spread has grown to approximately 25, or 21 percent of Secondary School Activities Commission-member schools. The Red Dragons (1-0) and Timberwolves (0-0) have forsaken their more traditional sets for the spread this season.

St. Albans has run from the I-formation since Coach Derek Christian took over in 2004. First-year Spring Valley Coach Brad Dingess installed the offense upon his hire following the resignation of Coach Don Money, who preferred the wing-T.

"For high schools, I think it fits people's personnel better when there's not a lot of big kids," said Christian, whose team lost four of its five starting offensive linemen from the 2007 Class AAA state runner-up team to graduation.

"The blocking scheme really fits the in-between (sized) kid who can get out and zone block as opposed to more direct blocking schemes."

There are many forms of the spread system, ranging from pass-oriented versions like those run at Texas Tech to the spread zone-option made famous by Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez.

Originally known as the "Run & Shoot" offense, its creation is credited to former Ohio University Coach Glen Ellison, who used it as a run-first attack in 1958. Its popularity has waxed and waned through the years and was even a highlight of the NFL in the 1990s when used by teams such as the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons.

St. Albans' version of the offense had a less-than explosive debut in the Dragons' 14-6 win at Ripley last week.

Freshman quarterback Leon Mitchell led the team in rushing with 92 yards while subbing for injured projected starter Duran Workman. Neither of St. Albans' 1,300-yard running backs from 2007 - Marcus Fox and Markus Guy - had more than 50 yards rushing. Workman will start tonight for the Red Dragons.

Christian's spread is akin to the one made famous by Rodriguez, a run-first scheme that uses a mobile quarterback essentially as a third running back. Christian said the efficiency of the new offense will improve over time.

"People have to remember to be patient and understand you're not going to break a big run every play," said Christian. "It's going to take a little while to come together and we need to have patience."

The spread is often utilized by high schools with enrollments that rank near the bottom of their class, Christian said. This allows them to compensate for their offensive linemen being outsized by their opponents with larger enrollments and thus, larger talent pools.

Nitro, always one of the smallest Class AAA schools, made itself a player on the statewide scene in the mid-1990s when Scott Tinsley joined the Wildcat staff as offensive coordinator. Tinsley's version of the spread was more pass-rooted and relied on short throws that allowed Nitro receivers to get the ball and run in the open field.

Quarterback J.R. House rewrote national passing records and helped Nitro win the 1998 title under Tinsley's tutelage. House won Kennedy Awards in 1996 and 1998.

After a six-year run as Nitro's head coach, Tinsley returned to the college level at WVU Tech in March. First-year Coach John Sowards has stayed with the same offense in 2008.

"The underneath passing game has been Nitro's bread and butter," Sowards said. "It basically takes the place of a running game, and it's just like running the ball with wide receivers."

Teams have gravitated to the offense for more reasons than a simple lack of size on the offensive line.

Fairmont Senior Coach J.L. Abbott originally adopted the spread in his first year as coach in 2005 as a reaction to his small front. However, when running back and eventual Boston College recruit Jerry Kelly went down with a shoulder injury early in 2006, the Polar Bears became more dependent on the ability of quarterback Kyle Allard to run the scheme.

"We still had a running game, but it was just our second year running the spread so I don't think people had caught up with it yet," Abbott said. "We just ran that read zone and Kyle had some wheels."

Allard took control of the Polar Bear offense, led Fairmont to the Class AAA semifinals and won the Kennedy Award after finishing with nearly 3,400 yards of total offense and 42 total touchdowns.

Abbott said he took elements of Rodriguez's plan and applied Tinsley's theories to them.

"I got the model from Tinsley at Nitro when it comes to linemen - that quick beats slow," Abbott said. "As long as you get a hat on a hat the back will always make you right. We were small and we wanted to spread people out."

The spread attack was adopted quickly by teams in the shadow of Morgantown, where Rodriguez re-energized the West Virginia program in his seven-year tenure. Fairmont Senior, East Fairmont, Clarksburg Notre Dame, Robert C. Byrd and Philip Barbour have operated from the spread since 2001.

Other schools across the state to recently adopt the scheme include Ravenswood, Wyoming East, Huntington and Braxton County.

Grafton first-year Coach Mark Yoho, a 1986 graduate of North Marion, introduced the offense to the Bearcat system this summer after the retirement of longtime Coach Mike Skinner. Skinner coached Grafton to the 1984 Class AA title and a runner-up finish in 1997, and had most often used wing-T and double-wing sets in his 30-year tenure.

Yoho returned to West Virginia from North Carolina last spring. He said Rodriguez's offense caught on like wildfire when Rodriguez was the offensive coordinator at Clemson 1999-2000).

"The south caught onto it fast," said Yoho, who spent six years as the head coach at Eastern Alamance High in Mebane, N.C. "By the end of the '90s we all got interested in it and we started with the zone-blocking schemes."

Both Yoho's team and rival Western Alamance - coached by Liberty (Raleigh) graduate Jeff Snuffer - adopted the offense and received additional instruction in its implementation from the coaching staff at Appalachian State. Western Alamance reached the Class AAA state title game in 2005 and 2006.

"And all those guys at Appalachian State learned if from (WVU Coach) Bill Stewart. So it all kind of came around," Yoho said.

The Bearcat offense exploded in its opener a week ago, beating Philip Barbour 58-39.

"It's kind of a combination of all offenses, really," Yoho said. "You put your best athlete at quarterback and he might run the sweep or pull up and throw the ball.

"It's pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Our kids have taken to it really quick, and the community has really enjoyed things so far."

Nitro's 1998 championship remains the only one claimed by a spread team, however. Abbott suggested that the combination of the scheme's quick acceptance by so many programs and coaches' never-ending search for a competitive edge may not leave much time for success with the offense.

"Early this decade there were a lot of teams that were running the wing-T. In another 10 years it'll be something else," he said.

        

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