An offensive coordinator who is running a multiple style of offense with many different types of formations can make a defensive coordinator’s head spin. It can cause confusion and produce success for an offense. Can it also cause problems for an offense?
In my third year as an OC in 2007, I was asked to run a multiple style of offense. I took the challenge, planned extensively, and was able to teach over 30 different formations and numerous run and pass plays. The team won its first game – putting 30 points on the board – and we were very excited about the possibilities that year. Throughout the season, though, things changed. As a teacher, I didn’t realize the team did not know as much as I did and that the more we did offensively, the less comfortable the players became. As a play caller on Friday nights, I wanted to leave the defensive coordinator’s head spinning, but in reality, my head was spinning and I was just picking plays because they seemed right for the situation. I wasn’t taking what the defense was giving me. This ended with the head coach rightfully taking away my play calling responsibilities and letting a more experienced coach coordinate the offense.
In 2008, I was given an opportunity to be an OC again at a smaller school. I had an opportunity to make up for my mistakes and that is where this offensive system was born. The goal was to keep things simple not only for the kids, but for myself so I could be a better teacher and a better decision maker on Friday nights. I worried less about fooling defenses and concentrated more on getting good at a few things.
This opportunity led to four offenses in one formation. We didn’t realize it at the time but we were taking the Pistol, Zone Fly, A-11, and Single Wing offenses and putting them into one formation.
With some of our players being recruited by University of Nevada, we had communication with Chris Ault and the Pistol formation in 2007. We loved the fact that this offense allowed high school quarterbacks to get away from the line of scrimmage but still have a downhill running game. The Pistol also could be used to attack the line of scrimmage quickly using the quarterback to run traps and power plays. We figured if the quarterback could take blind side hits while standing still in the pocket, why couldn’t he be used as a running back as well? This, and the ability to run great play action, sold us on the Pistol over a regular shotgun formation.
The fact that the Zone Fly used motion every play and gave a similar threat as a triple option team was something we could not avoid. If the defense always had to defend the outside, off tackle, and inside on every play when seeing the motion, things could be very difficult for them. We realized this would be simple to install, would be fun for the players, and would make things easier on me.
The A-11 was the brand new offense at this time and I really never even considered it until the Mountain View Christian Head Coach (NV) informed me of some uniform issues. Mountain View Christian was a 1-A school the year before I arrived which meant they played 8-man football. They were moving up to 2-A football which meant 11-man football but all of their players had already bought their own jerseys and linemen had numbers like 10 and 81. No parents expected to have to buy new uniforms again. After watching a few A-11 tapes, I knew I couldn’t put everyone out as wide receivers because I would never know how defenses would line up. The last thing I wanted was to be picking plays again just because they looked good on paper. What got the A-11 going for us was having the quarterback seven yards from the line of scrimmage. This was how far our running back was going to be in the Pistol, so I just figured if I offset the quarterback, we would actually be in the A-11. Then, the jersey issue would be cleared up and we could snap to either the quarterback or the running back and have a single wing offense at our disposal.
This form of the single wing takes pressure off of the quarterback. It also allows for us to match numbers with defenses. Instead of 10 offensive players vs. 11 defensive players, now, we can play 11 on 11. We also wanted to spread out defenses so we could see where to attack and, therefore, have more space to run. We noticed throughout the course of a high school football game the ball is snapped on the hash mark over 80 percent of the time. The high school hash marks are much wider than college or pro. They allow for one side of the field to be extremely spread while tightening the other side. If you’re spreading into the short side, defenses can still keep an extra defender in the box. This is why we decided to use a four wide receiver trips formation. We use three different forms of this formation, a wide bunch which is 18 yards from the tackle, a tight bunch which is three yards from the tackle, and a normal trips formation. These force defenses to either play with six men in the box or to play without a safety.
Being a spread and a no-huddle team produced big numbers for our teams over the last two years. We had over 4,000 yards offense each year, broke the school record for regular season and playoff wins, and made it to the state semi-finals two years in a row. All of which are firsts in the school’s 25 year history.
Included above is a listing of eight of our plays that combine the different offensive formations.
Now, two schools in Las Vegas are running this exact offensive system that combines four different offenses. Mountain View Christian will continue to run it under offensive coordinator Mike Valenzuela. “This offense puts defenses in a real bind because they are spread out but still have to deal with a quick hitting power running game and play action,” said Valenzuela. Valley High School, a 4A school with an enrollment of over 3,000 students and one of the oldest schools in Las Vegas, will also be using this system. At Valley, we named our offensive system “The Saint” which is the school’s mascot. With it, we feel we can run any style of offense without changing a thing.
About the Author: Scott Murdock recently became the offensive coordinator at Valley High School in Las Vegas. He was previously the offensive coordinator at Mountain View High School where his teams had over 4,000 yards of total offensive in two consecutive seasons.