CHINA GROVE — Don’t expect to see white rabbits pulled out of Raider helmets any
time soon, but know that South Rowan has plenty of tricks tucked away in those shoulder
pads this year.An abundance of speed on the
Raiders varsity football roster meant there were too many runners for a standard two-back
offensive formation. So the decision was made to run offensive coordinator Jim Crawley’s wishbone and give the ball to as many people
as possible, in the process making fans, the guys running the camcorder and, most
importantly, the opposing defense wonder who in the world has the football.
“I like it because the defense really
doesn’t know,” junior halfback Tore’ Girty said.
“We have a lot of fun with it most of the time, and you’ve got to have fun when
you run the ball.”
Lots of guys get to have lots of fun in the
wishbone offense, which features a fullback and two halfbacks in a crowded backfield. When
the quarterback steps out from under center, the three runners dart in different
directions. Sometimes the first guy gets it on a draw. Other times its a sweep. And
that’s the key — nobody knows, sometimes not until the player with the ball is
halfway to the end zone.
“It’s a deception offense, you try to
fool the defense and make them think somebody else has the ball,” junior halfback Keith Garrett said. “You look forward
to the defense going for the wrong guy, going for the fake.”
Garrett stands as South’s leading runner
through four games averaging 78 yards a contest, and the other halfback, senior Ernie
Wiggins, averages 72.3. Girty runs for 42.3 yards a game.
What makes the wishbone successful is the fact
that none of the three main rushers average better than 100 yards a game. Each has enjoyed
big nights through South’s first four games, but no one has been so dominant that a
defense can key its energy in one direction.
“I like the fact it gets more athletes on the
field at the same time,” South head
coach Rick Vanhoy said. “When you get those kids on the field in an I-back,
you’ve got a good idea who’s getting the football most of the time. With the
wishbone you don’t know.”
Spending most of the night in front of the
halfbacks are seniors Jeremy Basinger and Darryl Childers and Robert Jones, a junior. Most
of the time it’s their job to hit the line first and clear out the oncoming defenders
— “It’s fun. I get to hit linebackers, my ex-position,” Basinger said.
Sometimes they’ll run the ball, too.
That’s where the problems come in, with so many players doing so many different
things.
“It’s definitely harder than the
I,” Basinger said. “If one of the
halfbacks messes up the whole play will fall apart. Everybody has to do it right so it
goes smoothly. There’s a lot of fakes to get everybody all confused.”
And when something goes wrong in the wishbone
offense, it’s usually pretty obvious.
“Every once in a while we’ll get
confused, not know what we’re doing,” quarterback
Tim Cook said. “Something will break down and everybody will be running into
everybody else in a busted play. It looks terrible.”
The trade-off for running a deception offense is
making sure your players know instinctively what their jobs are. The basic plays from the
offense were set way back in the preseason and practiced ad nauseum, with new plays
sprinkled in on a weekly basis.
“This is an offense based on repetition, you
have to know which holes to hit,” Vanhoy
said. “They’ve picked it up pretty quick. You tell them once and show them 1,000
times, and so far they’ve shown they can do it.”
There is, after all, plenty of incentive.
“It’s a do-it-right-or-get-crushed
offense,” Garrett said. “If one person does
it wrong you’ll be down the drain. You’ve got to pay attention or it gets real
confusing.”
While a one-for-all, all-for-one attitude is the
ultimate goal any coach could strive for, running the wishbone can create problems
regarding too much blocking and faking and not enough carrying.
Last year, for instance, Childers was the lone
tailback for South in the I-formation and now bides his time with five other runners.
“It keeps me more rested than last year, I
was real tired even at halftime (in 1998),” Childers
said.
Now instead of getting too tired, the linebacker
and sometime fullback thinks about how many carries he’ll get.
“When it’s your turn you have to prove
you deserve to get the ball again,” Childers
said. “You run your hardest, and you keep on blocking and faking so you’ll get
it back.”
But that’s when the backs begin to measure
their personal stats in different ways.
“Each individual has to do his own
part,” Jones said. “I like carrying the
football and I like blocking for the running backs so they can be more successful.”
And success is the best solution for playing-time
grumbles.
“Every once in awhile they’ll be like,
‘I wish I had more carries, I can’t believe I did that, I can’t believe I got
hit,’” Cook
said. “But they know you can’t be selfish. When our backs aren’t running
they have to block. When you get the ball you want him to be blocking for you, so when
he’s running the ball you’ve got to block for him.”
Then they all meet back in the huddle and get
ready for their next bit of magic. Watch closely from the stands, you never know what
you’ll see next. |
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