Technology is wonderful. One of the audio-visual guys had figured out that we could load specific plays during the game. Transferring all of them from the cameras would have been too time-consuming. Coach Mason and Coach Rector quickly reviewed what was uploaded to our coaching software and brought us together to our respective units.
“Look how they’re bunching up in the box,” Coach Mason showed the offense.
The ‘box’ was considered the interior of the defense close to the line of scrimmage. When a team ‘loaded the box,’ it meant they had more players than the offense could block. It was designed to stop the run. It could also be effective against the pass if they quickly got pressure on the quarterback, which Mt. Vernon had done in the first half. By switching to a power running game, we’d played right into their game plan. They could defeat our superior strength and size with numbers and quickness.
What had me smiling was now that I saw it on film, the answer to the second half was obvious. If Mt. Vernon was bringing seven to nine players inside to stop the run, they had to be covering our outside receivers one-on-one. We had to go to a short passing game that got the ball out of my hands quickly.
Coach Mason wanted to disguise our intentions by running motion. That meant that before the snap, we would run our slotback toward the center. On the snap, I could hand him the ball, and he would run around the end. Or, I could let him go by me and possibly toss him a little flare pass.
Coach Mason wanted me to key on the two safeties. If they stayed back to play the pass, I was to call a run at the line. If they cheated up, we would pass. Sounded simple. In practice, it was harder because the safeties wouldn’t commit one way or another before they had to. This was designed to keep us guessing.
I then switched over to the defense, where Coach Rector was giving his charges the second-half adjustments. He wanted me in for the first series to help stop them and hopefully get good field position.
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Coach Rector had us come out aggressive. On the first two plays, he had either Tim or me blitz. We held them to no gain. On third down, he sent both of us. Their quarterback dropped back to pass, and Tim had come free. The correct play would’ve been to throw the ball away and punt. Instead, he decided to be a hero and try to evade Tim by losing ground. By now, I’d come free and guessed he would try to roll outside the pocket. I ran to where I thought he would end up and guessed right. Their quarterback saw me and decided he’d better not make it any worse and dropped to a knee. I tapped him on the helmet as I ran past him.
He’d lost sixteen yards, and the ball was on their 4 yard line. Their punter was backed up to the back of the end zone. This was the worst place for a punter to kick from. If he gave any ground, he could step out of bounds and give up a safety. If the kick were blocked, he would give up six points if we recovered it. Finally, if he got off a bad kick, we would start with excellent field position.
Coach Hope called for the block and sent ten guys. The punter saw them coming and hesitated for a half-second. Ed stretched out and got a finger on it. Of course, the punter flopped like he’d been hit, hoping for a roughing-the-kicker penalty. If he got it, they would have received a first down, negating all our hard work.
The punt looked like a wounded duck as it flew off the side and out of bounds. The Mt. Vernon coach had a fit as the side judge kept running towards their end zone to mark the ball. He stopped on their 15 yard line. Even I thought it was a little generous.
We lined up like we were going to run our power game. I watched the safeties inch forward.
“Down! Set!” I barked, and Jake began his motion.
“Hut! HUT!”
He was at full speed as I turned back. I had the option of giving the ball to Jake as he jetted past me or to Ty, who would run it up the middle. The third option was to keep it and pass. I picked the first option. Jake ran wide, and Wolf, at tight end, got in the way of three Mt. Vernon defenders who were chasing down the play from the inside out. If their safeties had stayed back, they could have come over and helped support the outside run. Since they’d moved forward, they didn’t have the angle to catch Jake when he cleared the defensive end and headed upfield. Don Crown was in because he was one of our bigger receivers and a superior run-blocker. He blocked the cornerback, and Jake was able to sprint to the end zone untouched. We were now within a score of taking the lead at 13–7.
