[Stardust]

Maybe every other team that lost to Highlands last season should also have paid more attention to their defense.

The 21 points that Johnson Central surrendered to Highlands last season was the fewest allowed by any Highlands opponent during the 2010 season. That includes many teams that have done exactly what was suggested in this OP.

Coach Matney and his staff put last year's Golden Eagles team into a position to beat Highlands on its final possession and aside from Highlands' one loss to Ryle, no coach did any better. Maybe some teams in NKY should look at what Johnson Central is doing right that has allowed them to compete on occasion against quality teams like Highlands. The system ain't broke.

Just think, if he would have had a different offensive scheme, he would have finally gotten over that hump..... Well, there was always the next year. Ooops, that didn't work out well against the HHS that had to retool after all of their graduations, oh thats right, the JC team lost a few players too and it didn't work out too well this year. Well, maybe next year??????:ChairHit:

[F.N.L.]

The best defense is a control the clock offense against a high powered offense like Highlands has. Did it work? no. Is it a good strategy? yes. You can't get in a scoring match with a Highlands. Controlling the tempo, run clock and try to keep their O off the field while your O keeps that clock moving.

[Hoot Gibson]

Just think, if he would have had a different offensive scheme, he would have finally gotten over that hump..... Well, there was always the next year. Ooops, that didn't work out well against the HHS that had to retool after all of their graduations, oh thats right, the JC team lost a few players too and it didn't work out too well this year. Well, maybe next year??????:ChairHit:

Just can't concede a point no matter how badly mistaken you are, can you, Dusty? You knocked JC's defensive scheme, so I pointed out that the Golden Eagles held Highlands to its worst offensive output last season, so you simply changed the subject (again).

It's too bad that your alma mater does not come up much in these threads so you wouldn't feel compelled to talk trash on behalf of somebody else's team. But I am sure that your efforts are appreciated in some dark corners.

[Football1]

The bottom line for me on this topic is this. I don't think our style of football as a whole will win state championships vs teams that spread to run and throw. We can beat each other and win here and there in the big games but if we are ever to be consistent, championship level winners we must move away from the run, run, pass, punt approach that we get mired around. Coach Russell took a huge step forward in doing that with Knox this year (see Rockcastle game). As others do the same Knox and others will learn to stop those types of attacks and be capable of winning Region and State championships.

Like so many other things in a sport as complex as football this will require a long term view that includes feeder programs and training plans. The run game will always be the foundation of any great offense. But when it becomes the only threat you represent you will not win championships. Coaches who realize this first will not only have a better shot at winning the big games - but the will develop more complete football players.

[bob green]

There is so much more to this than what meets the eye. There is not a right and wrong tot his. Jimmy's and Joe's come first. Then mold what you do to what they can do and coach them up in that system. It is not college where you can recruit players to your system (I.E. Georgia Tech). Like I said earlier, it is a waste of time trying to do things you are not capable of on offense because it puts your defense in a bad situation. Football has three elements that must work equally together for you to be successful. Knox had great success because they have great players. What happens when their skill is not what it was this year? There are a lot of strategic ways to win games with less talent. Over extending your self ability wise is not one of them. You talk about winning championships, you win championships by mastering your craft offensivly and defensivly. Don't let special teams beat you. All offensive sytems work when you have players. And the type of offense you run does not really dictate how well you stop other people. How good your defensive players and how hard your defensive coach works at stopping them determines that in my opinion.

This is all a matter of philosophy. If you believe in christianity you won't go to a muslim church. If you beleive in the option don't try to be a 5 wide guy. Teach and coach what you know.

[Football1]

There is so much more to this than what meets the eye. There is not a right and wrong tot his. Jimmy's and Joe's come first. Then mold what you do to what they can do and coach them up in that system. It is not college where you can recruit players to your system (I.E. Georgia Tech). Like I said earlier, it is a waste of time trying to do things you are not capable of on offense because it puts your defense in a bad situation. Football has three elements that must work equally together for you to be successful. Knox had great success because they have great players. What happens when their skill is not what it was this year? There are a lot of strategic ways to win games with less talent. Over extending your self ability wise is not one of them. You talk about winning championships, you win championships by mastering your craft offensivly and defensivly. Don't let special teams beat you. All offensive sytems work when you have players. And the type of offense you run does not really dictate how well you stop other people. How good your defensive players and how hard your defensive coach works at stopping them determines that in my opinion.

This is all a matter of philosophy. If you believe in christianity you won't go to a muslim church. If you beleive in the option don't try to be a 5 wide guy. Teach and coach what you know.

I appreciate and disagree with your perspective. "You can't teach on old dog new tricks" is the wrong way to look at this. Mountain coaches are very capable of learning and implementing better offensive schemes that will allow us to compete at the highest level. Its simply a matter of trading up.

And to your point around "all offenses work if you have the people" - that is my point. We don't have the people to just run over defenses any more. Teams have figured out that they can stack the box and leave one safety deep to defend what little deep threat most of our teams represent. All offenses are simply not equal. Consider what the Jet sweep has done to defenses. Getting the ball into the hands of a speedster who at handoff is already at full speed forces defenses to have a wide net or be ousted for slow corners.

Every time we run the dive up the gut with 8 or 9 in the box we miss an opportunity to be better. Simple as that.

[Stardust]

Just can't concede a point no matter how badly mistaken you are, can you, Dusty? You knocked JC's defensive scheme, so I pointed out that the Golden Eagles held Highlands to its worst offensive output last season, so you simply changed the subject (again).

It's too bad that your alma mater does not come up much in these threads so you wouldn't feel compelled to talk trash on behalf of somebody else's team. But I am sure that your efforts are appreciated in some dark corners.

They held HHS to 21???? Sounds to me that it was an aberration and not an accomplishment.... If my Alma-mater played in a cupcake region for football, I'd have a lot more to brag about:biggrin:

[charlie22]

There is so much more to this than what meets the eye. There is not a right and wrong tot his. Jimmy's and Joe's come first. Then mold what you do to what they can do and coach them up in that system. It is not college where you can recruit players to your system (I.E. Georgia Tech). Like I said earlier, it is a waste of time trying to do things you are not capable of on offense because it puts your defense in a bad situation. Football has three elements that must work equally together for you to be successful. Knox had great success because they have great players. What happens when their skill is not what it was this year? There are a lot of strategic ways to win games with less talent. Over extending your self ability wise is not one of them. You talk about winning championships, you win championships by mastering your craft offensivly and defensivly. Don't let special teams beat you. All offensive sytems work when you have players. And the type of offense you run does not really dictate how well you stop other people. How good your defensive players and how hard your defensive coach works at stopping them determines that in my opinion.

This is all a matter of philosophy. If you believe in christianity you won't go to a muslim church. If you beleive in the option don't try to be a 5 wide guy. Teach and coach what you know.

Bob, I have to agree with Football1. I agree with you that all offensive systems work when you have the players. That's fine in the year or years that you have the players that are better, or much better, than your opponents. But how often does that happen? I'd say pretty rarely. And even then, if because of the system ran, your opponent is able, with it's lesser players, to more easily scheme to stop your O, you may lose even when you have the better system.

Before I finish typing this sentence, I know I'm going to get the "Highlands thinks they do everything best" response, but I'm going to type it anyway: I love the Highlands O system. When you have the O line and backs that can dominate the opponent's D, you can run out of it easily. Put two backs in there and you can run power O. When you have the QB and the receivers than can dominate the opponent's D, you can pass out of it easily. Because you can both run and pass out of the same formation, it's a much more difficult sytem to defend against. It's the same offensive system and formations year in and year out, but the plays called are based on the type and strengths of the players on the team as well as being based on the defensive strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. Look at what Highlands did to CovCath this past Friday. Offensive system and formations pretty much exactly the same as the first match up against CovCath. But this game, because CovCath was committed to try and stop the deep ball, Highlands ran the ball down CovCath's throat out of the same offensive sets that they used to throw the ball deep against CovCath in the first game.

You don't have to mold the players to fit the system; rather, you adjust the system and the plays called to fit the players.

If the mountain coaches do not adjust their philosophies, they will only win state in the extremely rare years when their players are way more talented than every opponent they play in those years. That's not going to happen very often. It's just not.

[AppleSauce]

Just because you run the spread offense doesn't mean you are going to throw the ball 30 times a game. You can run the ball just as well out of the spread as you can any other type of offenese.

As for saying only specific types of offenses will win state championships just look at last years stats as to what type of balance each team used. It's clearly shown that running dominated the state tournament. I personally love the spread offense and prefer to watch it being ran just because I find it more exciting and because it opens up the field more.

http://www.khsaa.org/football/2010/

[charlie22]

You are absolutely clueless. Go tell Alabama and LSU that you can't line up and run over anybody. You talked about Central being balanced and they are far from it. Can they throw the ball? Yes. Do they? Yes. They've thrown for 1,200 yds in 13 games. That's an average of less than 100 yds passing a game. I don't consider that a spred team. John Hardin has thrown for about 1,500 yds this year but hide and watch if they don't bread their butter but lining up and ramming it down your throat.

But Central and John Hardin can effectively throw the football. That may not be their bread and butter, but they can do it. Which makes their running game much harder to defend. Look what Highlands did to John Hardin in the 09 state game. JH, with the then rated number 1 rushing defense in the state, goes into the state game thinking that Highlands will pass and run the ball and it's defense is set up to defend both. Highlands attempted 2, that's right 2 passes, the entire game and rushed for over 300 yards. I'm sure the DC at JH wanted to put 8 or 9 in the box to stop the run but he couldn't because Highlands had shown throughout the 09 season that it could effectively throw the ball all over the field. If Highlands had not worked on the passing game throughout the year and been at the point that they could effectively pass the ball, JH would have packed the box and Highlands would have had a much harder time running the ball. JH had the defensive talent to at least slow down Highlands running game. But because of Highlands ability to pass, JH couldn't pack the box and Highlands runs all over them.

What the opening post was directed towards, I thought, were those schools in the mountains that cannot or will not regularly pass the ball. And while I respect the heck out of JC, they can't effectively pass the ball. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, I don't care how good Jude was (and he was very, very good), defending him is made much easier when you can put 8 or 9 in the box. Even last year, when JC gave Highlands a big scare, it wasn't their O that made that possible: it was their D. Yeah, the ball control O of JC limited the number of touches by the Highlands O, but it was what the JC D did when Highlands O had the ball that was more important in keeping the game close. I firmly believe that if JC had been a 60% run and a 40% pass team all year long, they would have beaten Highlands last year. Other Highlands fans might not like reading it, but JC was the more talented football team in 2010. But the better talented teams don't always win; systems and philosophies have a big impact.

[Fly Like a Duck]

But Central and John Hardin can effectively throw the football. That may not be their bread and butter, but they can do it. Which makes their running game much harder to defend. Look what Highlands did to John Hardin in the 09 state game. JH, with the then rated number 1 rushing defense in the state, goes into the state game thinking that Highlands will pass and run the ball and it's defense is set up to defend both. Highlands attempted 2, that's right 2 passes, the entire game and rushed for over 300 yards. I'm sure the DC at JH wanted to put 8 or 9 in the box to stop the run but he couldn't because Highlands had shown throughout the 09 season that it could effectively throw the ball all over the field. If Highlands had not worked on the passing game throughout the year and been at the point that they could effectively pass the ball, JH would have packed the box and Highlands would have had a much harder time running the ball. JH had the defensive talent to at least slow down Highlands running game. But because of Highlands ability to pass, JH couldn't pack the box and Highlands runs all over them.

What the opening post was directed towards, I thought, were those schools in the mountains that cannot or will not regularly pass the ball. And while I respect the heck out of JC, they can't effectively pass the ball. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, I don't care how good Jude was (and he was very, very good), defending him is made much easier when you can put 8 or 9 in the box. Even last year, when JC gave Highlands a big scare, it wasn't their O that made that possible: it was their D. Yeah, the ball control O of JC limited the number of touches by the Highlands O, but it was what the JC D did when Highlands O had the ball that was more important in keeping the game close. I firmly believe that if JC had been a 60% run and a 40% pass team all year long, they would have beaten Highlands last year. Other Highlands fans might not like reading it, but JC was the more talented football team in 2010. But the better talented teams don't always win; systems and philosophies have a big impact.

Exactly. And, I guess that is my whole theory. I love watching old school football more than anybody. There is nothing better than watching a flexbone option, wishbone, wing T, Power I, Pro I, etc. team line up and just punish people for 300+ yards a game en route to victories. At the same time, I enjoy seeing those guys also throw it a handfull or 2 times a game for big yardage and completions (see John Hardin and Central). I've seen some very good play action passing teams out of those offenses over the many years.

I remember the '09 Highlands/John Hardin game very well. It was a thing of beauty wasnt it? I love Highlands offensive scheme out of their 2 Back gun set that they live out of quite a bit. I love how they try to hammer you and their vertical passing attack.

You must be able to throw it when you can't run it, no doubt about it.

[charlie22]

Exactly. And, I guess that is my whole theory. I love watching old school football more than anybody. There is nothing better than watching a flexbone option, wishbone, wing T, Power I, Pro I, etc. team line up and just punish people for 300+ yards a game en route to victories. At the same time, I enjoy seeing those guys also throw it a handfull or 2 times a game for big yardage and completions (see John Hardin and Central). I've seen some very good play action passing teams out of those offenses over the many years.

I remember the '09 Highlands/John Hardin game very well. It was a thing of beauty wasnt it? I love Highlands offensive scheme out of their 2 Back gun set that they live out of quite a bit. I love how they try to hammer you and their vertical passing attack.

You must be able to throw it when you can't run it, no doubt about it.

It was a thing of beauty. One of my sons was a starting O linemen for Highlands and I enjoyed watching Highlands run the ball all game long. As a former O lineman myself, I love the run.

But I'll freely admit, that when you can pass the ball effectively and the defense has to defend the pass, it makes it much easier to run the ball. When you can only run the ball, you better be much, much, much more talented than your opposition or you are going to lose more often than you should.

I also love Highlands two back set out of the gun. You can run power football out of it; you can run misdirection out of it; and you can pass out of it. Furthermore, you can adjust your O easily out of it from year to year based on the strengths of the players on that year's team. Some years, like this year, you are a pass first team out of it. Other years, like 09, you are a run first team out of it. Without a bunch of changes to your system, you can tailor the playcalling to your strengths and to the defense's weaknesses from year to year and game to game. Some offensive sets don't provide near that much flexibility.

[Backwoods]

I think you have to have a certain amount of player's on a team to implement this modern scheme and a lot of teams here in the mountains don't have that. Look at Harlan Ind.,they have,IMO,one of the most complicated offensive scheme's i've ever heard of and I wonder if it wasn't to much for the kid's to learn. Especially when everybody is playing both way's and they only have one maybe two day's a week to go over it. Also,the QB has to really understand it very well and a lot of teams don't have a QB that is willing to do what it takes to learn this type of offense. Now I think the larger teams that have the athlete's to field a seperate offense and defense can do it and be successful with it. I think it all comes down to your QB. He can make this work or he can't and halfway through a season it's hard to drop it and start with a new offense.

[bob green]

Ok, you guys are not hearing what I am saying. I am not comparing the spread to the power game. I am not saying we all need to go to the Tony Franklin school of football. I am saying that coaches have to do what their players are capable of doing. And by the way, watch Stanford or the 49er's. Andrew Luck is a product of using run formations to exploit the the defense in the passing game. Everyone is caught up in spreading to run, how about tightening up to throw. Like I said, all offenses work. But not all coaches know how to make them work. What your asking for as it has become more clear is for coaches to become better play callers. Again, when your players are better anyone can be a good play caller. I am a big fan of running the football, and nothing is more beautiful than a well executed play action pass that catches the defense off guard. I love the spread option, the flex bone, and Anything the New England Patriots do on offense. And the Highlands comments about their offense, you said it not me, when you have backs that can dominate, or a receiver that can dominate, that would be the definition of having the players. How many mountain teams can match the players Highlands has? Non. You all think the style of football will dictate championships, no. How good your players are will dictate that. Then it is how good your coaches perform (play calling).

So football1, I will ask you. You said we don't have the people to do this or that anyore in the mountains. Well does mountain teams have the speed to compete with the Highlands and Trinity's of Kentucky? If not what do mountain teams do? We can't run it, we're not fast enough to spread, what do we do? If you can tell everyone on this message board what you do to win state championships with inferior talent then NKY and Louisville teams look out. Sorry, not trying to be a smart butt, I just want your opinion, and everybody's opinion on what to do with inferior talent.

[honestjchsfan]

It is not the system JCHS runs that has prevented them from beating Highlands. If you look at the past 4 years, Highlands has had a number of guys to play D1 college football, JCHS on the other has had ZERO. JJ Jude may play D1 but again he may not. If you take each Highands team from the last 4 years and put them in JC system and put the JC players into Highlands system would the out come have been different? Highlands has had better Athletes and more speed and its been Coach Matney's system that has allowed JC to compete.

[sstack]

Matney would have gone for two and the win - not the tie. The game was winnable, even with Johnson Central's archaic offense. That is reason enough to think twice before "modernizing" that offense.

I do not believe it was so much the offense that JC runs, that kept JC in the game last year, as much as their size. HHS is almost always small in size, but quick. JC was much bigger on the line than HHS last year and was able to push HHS line. Is JC going to continue to be able to field a team of that size? If not their offense will be in big trouble, because they could not win when they had a size advantage. If they do not have size advantage, and continue to run the same offense, the games will continue to look like this years game.

[sstack]

It is not the system JCHS runs that has prevented them from beating Highlands. If you look at the past 4 years, Highlands has had a number of guys to play D1 college football, JCHS on the other has had ZERO. JJ Jude may play D1 but again he may not. If you take each Highands team from the last 4 years and put them in JC system and put the JC players into Highlands system would the out come have been different? Highlands has had better Athletes and more speed and its been Coach Matney's system that has allowed JC to compete.

JC had just as many good athletes in 09 and for sure had size advantage over Highlands.

[sstack]

I think you have to have a certain amount of player's on a team to implement this modern scheme and a lot of teams here in the mountains don't have that. Look at Harlan Ind.,they have,IMO,one of the most complicated offensive scheme's i've ever heard of and I wonder if it wasn't to much for the kid's to learn. Especially when everybody is playing both way's and they only have one maybe two day's a week to go over it. Also,the QB has to really understand it very well and a lot of teams don't have a QB that is willing to do what it takes to learn this type of offense. Now I think the larger teams that have the athlete's to field a seperate offense and defense can do it and be successful with it. I think it all comes down to your QB. He can make this work or he can't and halfway through a season it's hard to drop it and start with a new offense.

You can not expect to learn the system and run it perfect without starting the kids out running the system in youth leagues and then in HS the kids need to commit year round to football.

[Blau Vogel]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

[Bird4Life]

Mountain football will never consistantly beat the urban areas. Unless Pikeville or Belfry pulls kids from West Virginia, their teams are extremely average.

[Iam4thecats]

Hazard is about to make thier 3rd trip in 4 years to the finals. Brethitt has won 3? championships and 1 runner-up running balanced pro-style offenses. Both teams play really good defense. Neither team has these mythical "ATHLETES" everyone is talking about.

[bob green]

here is some more food for thought. Power running teams are physical and hard to deal with in the line of scrimmage. Spread teams are more finesse but much more difficult to deal with in the perimeter. Does it make sense to play more to your teams strength? Spread teams like Highlands gets the best of both world because of the number of players they have. Mountain teams play the best 11, where they have a best 22. Not just Highlands, but teams in that category. One down fall of being a spread team is keeping you players physical up front because of the nature of the offense especially if your lineman play both ways like most mountain teams. IE South Laurel threw the pill around for years and it made them less physical defensively and cost them a lot of wins because they could not stop any one. Plus if you have to play people both ways do you need to make the game last longer of shorten it so that you have some gas in the 4th quarter?

Balance is what we all want, and you have to be able to complete passes at the right times. But that has nothing to do with a change in philosophy for teams like JC or Whitley, or Bell, or who ever this concerns. A physical team can make it hard on a finesse team and vise versa.

[Iam4thecats]

One more time. Brethitt has the same type players as Johnson Central. Breathitts 2 back gun has not hurt thier defense. Brethitt has 3 titles.

[PirateNation]

Defense wins chamionships. Yes you do have to have a well balance offense to compete with the big boys,but if you have the "D" to frustate fast moving offenses and can control the clock,your team has a better chance of winnining the big games.

[bball_fan]

I think you have to focus on what you have available to you. If you have big guys who are not very quick but strong, you need to run the ball and try to wear people out. A really quick athlete will wear out when a running back hits them every time you try to tackle them instead of letting the defense always deliver the hit. However, if you have a lot of speed and good athletes, I say spread the field and play a run and gun game where you do five or six yard routes to back the defense off and run the ball to keep a defense honest. Now if you have the athletes and a kid who has a arm to put the ball down the field, then spread the field and take what the defense gives you. If they want to take away the deep ball, you need to nickle and dime down the field and use the run to force man to man coverage. If they are going to take away the short routes, then throw the ball deep and force zone coverage. Find ways to dictate what the defense does and keep them off balance, that is what really good teams do. Teams and coaches do not need to settle into this mind set we have always ran the ball or through the ball so that's what we need to do. You look at you're team and the players you have. Whatever style will work best with the players you have, you run with it! A good coach can teach the run or the pass, a great coach can do both! Sometimes its not enough, but doing what is suited to you're players will take you a lot further then trying to make them do something they are not suited for.

[Doughboy304]

Modernize? What exactly does that mean right? I think there is certainly a point to be made about being more balanced, to keep teams across the state honest.

Much of it depends of talent, but also the ingrained "this is who we are" mentality. For example, at Belfry - next season they will Start Junior Sani Warren at QB. If the kid played for Lone Oak, he would pass for 3000+ yards. The guy can sling it.

I for one hope Coach Haywood utilizes that talent, but I understand sticking to the bread and butter too. 7 of 8 years as EKU has so highlighted, Belfry has made the semi's. Now, TITLES are another thing, and the OP's post has merit.

This is a good discussion

The down side to not using the kid's talent throwing the ball from time to time doesn't ultimately hurt Belfry, because Belfry will continue to be Belfry long after this kid is gone to college. It hurts the kid and his chances to land a scholarship to a bigger school because he was stuck in a run heavy offense and couldn't showcase his talent to bring in recruits to see him. So a kid that possibly could have played at Marshall or somewhere ends up at UPike or Lindsey Wilson. :truestory:

[cj2561]

the teams like does like to run the ball, if they get up by 3 TDS. it will be hard for any team to come back on them. But i hard that kind of football.
everone can think what they want, the team with the best defense will win the game no matter what kind of offense they got.

[charlie22]

JC had just as many good athletes in 09 and for sure had size advantage over Highlands.

Agreed, although I thought the 10 JC team was better than the 09 team. Dillon, Bratton and Hall, just to name three recent JC players were outstanding athletes with very nice size. They would have started and starred on any Highlands team I can remember. Some of their huge offensive linemen, with a little conditioning to remove some of the "bulk" and agility drills to improve footwork, would have been outstanding linemen at Highlands. Mueller would have used those quality athletes very differently than Matney did however. How would you liked to have Dillon and Hall as WRs, with Bratton at the TE spot? That would be three very big, talented and fast receivers. Give me an O line that has the ability to pass block, a QB with a decent arm to get the receivers the ball (haven't I read in the past that Sanor had a good arm?) operating out of the gun, and Jude as my RB, and I have an offense that is going to give every D in the state problems.

But hey, if Matney wants to stick to his O, I'm all for it. It's something different that what we've seen a lot of in the past and each year Highlands has gotten better at figuring out how to defend the JC O. I feel pretty confident about future matchups against JC if Matney sticks with that O.

Not intending to be offensive towards the JC program or Matney, just being honest about what I see.

[charlie22]

I think you have to focus on what you have available to you. If you have big guys who are not very quick but strong, you need to run the ball and try to wear people out. A really quick athlete will wear out when a running back hits them every time you try to tackle them instead of letting the defense always deliver the hit. However, if you have a lot of speed and good athletes, I say spread the field and play a run and gun game where you do five or six yard routes to back the defense off and run the ball to keep a defense honest. Now if you have the athletes and a kid who has a arm to put the ball down the field, then spread the field and take what the defense gives you. If they want to take away the deep ball, you need to nickle and dime down the field and use the run to force man to man coverage. If they are going to take away the short routes, then throw the ball deep and force zone coverage. Find ways to dictate what the defense does and keep them off balance, that is what really good teams do. Teams and coaches do not need to settle into this mind set we have always ran the ball or through the ball so that's what we need to do. You look at you're team and the players you have. Whatever style will work best with the players you have, you run with it! A good coach can teach the run or the pass, a great coach can do both! Sometimes its not enough, but doing what is suited to you're players will take you a lot further then trying to make them do something they are not suited for.

Bob, as to the bolded, I couldn't agree more. But what's available every year is not the same. Some years you have more of a certain type of athletes; other years you have more of a different type of athletes. Which is why you have to have an offense that can be adjusted to those strengths and weaknesses. I don't see that flexibility in certain offenses ran in the mountains. They stick with a certain system and live and die with it. Some years they are pretty good; other years not so much. Perhaps I'm greedy but I want to win state every year; not just those occassional years when I have more talent than every other team in my classification. I want an offense that can be tweaked during spring football and summer practices to match my players' talents for the upcoming season. I want an offense that allows playcalling to be adjusted based on my opponents' defenses on a game by game basis.

[Hatz]

Hazard is about to make thier 3rd trip in 4 years to the finals. Brethitt has won 3? championships and 1 runner-up running balanced pro-style offenses. Both teams play really good defense. Neither team has these mythical "ATHLETES" everyone is talking about.

Seems that Haddix had a pretty good collegiate career as an athlete. Just saying.