HOME

SEPTEMBER 2004

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 28, 2004  "I give the same halftime speech over and over. It works best when my players are better than the other coach's players." Chuck Mills, former coach at Utah State and Wake Forest   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** OREGON - Madison 34, Cleveland 17 - It has been at least six years since Madison High (1) won two games in a row, (2) had a winning record at any point in the season, and (3) sat on top of the Portland Interscholastic League standings at any point in the season. Coming into this season, the Senators had won only four games in the previous four seasons - two of them coming last year. It was as if there were three separate games. There was the first half, a rather sluggish affair in which Madison's best shot at a drive was stunted by an official's "misunderstanding" of a rule that resulted in a 15-yard blocking-below-the-waist penalty. The two teams left at the half with Madison in front, 6-3. Then there was a fiery 19-minute period in which Madison put 28 points on the board, holding Cleveland scoreless while building a 34-3 lead with just under vie minutes to play. And then there were the final five minutes in which Madison coach Tracy Jackson cleared the bench and Cleveland was able to capitalize on substitutes' miscues. After gaining just 89 yards in the first half, Madison finished with 299 yards in total offense - 269 yards rushing in 47 carries. Andy Jackson carried the ball 21 times for 157 yards and four touchdowns. B-Back Damaien Young, a converted guard, had 67 yards on 12 carries, and scored a TD. *********** We had a coverup worthy of CBS and Dan Rather in our game Friday night. In our first offensive drive, we ran a wide play to our right which went for about 10 yards. But, no-o-o-o - flag on the play. The signal was for an illegal block below the waist. On the phones up in the box, I heard our coach, Tracy Jackson, inquire about who it was on, and I heard the sideline official tell him, "Number 42." That would be our playside tight end. On the play in question, his job was to reach a man in a "9" technique. If he is able to, he may scramble-block the guy, bear-crawling through his outside leg. Perfectly legal, since both men started out in the free-blocking zone, both started out on the line of scrimmage, and the contact occured in the free-blocking zone. I heard Tracy tell that to the official next to him on the sideline, and the guy responded, "the free-blocking-zone is from tackle to tackle." Rule 2, Section 17, Article 1 - "The free-blocking zone is a rectangular area extending laterally 4 yards either side of the spot of the snap and 3 yards behind each line of scrimmage. A player is in the free-blocking zone when any part of his bpdy is in the zone at the snap." See anything in there about "tackle to tackle?" Neither did I. Not only was our tight end completely inside the free-blocking zone, but with our minimal splits, he is still inside it even when we go unbalanced. Oh, sh--, I thought. After all the horror stories I get from youth coaches who run into situations like this, we've got a guy who doesn't know one of the most basic rules of the game. So Tracy used a time out for a conference, and he explained to the white hat that we know our offense, and we know the rules that apply, and what our tight end did was perfectly legal. The ref nodded his head and said, "We'll keep an eye on it from now on." (I'm still listening to all this.) No, no, Tracy said - I'm talking about this last play. That penalty was applied only because the sideline official - the guy who made the call - didn't understand the rule, as his statement made abundantly clear. The ref could have picked up the flag and waved it over his head and let the play stand. And go explain it to the other coach. We all make mistakes. But, no-o-o-o. Here we were at a Friday night high school football game, and we're witness to a coverup worthy of the most corrupt of public officials. Or TV networks. That ref knew damn well that our kids had been dealt with unfairly by a member of his crew, but he was more concerned with covering up for his incompetent buddy than he was about the integrity of the game. Sorry, he said. Play on. First and 25. We didn't have a decent drive the rest of the half. As the officials walked off the field at halftime, I found myself behind them and just couldn't resist. "You guys do know what the free blocking zone is, right?" I asked helpfully. "Yeah," one of them muttered. *********** Go ahead and watch the Presidential debates Thursday night if you want to. Me- I'm hustlin' home after practice to watch some real, honest-to-God football - Navy-Air Force. *********** CONNECTICUT - Rockville 44, Manchester 38 - Hey coach- Just thought I would pass along another success story. Last night we faced a school from our neighboring town with twice the population and a team more than 110 kids in their program (we have about 50). They feature one of the top running backs in the state and were ranked 13th going into the game (we weren't ranked). Final totals - 478 rushing yards on 64 attempts = 7.47 ave Our go-to guy had 278 yds on 26 carries = 10.69 ave (mostly out of stack); FB had 165 yds 3/4 passing for 116 yds and 2 td's Started the third period with a 9 minute scoring drive, had the ball for 11 minutes of the third period. Final Score: Rockville 44, Manchester 38 It's our fourth year running the double wing and we've gotten better each year. We've got a great group of kids who believe in the system and take pride in pounding the ball. We are hopeful that last night is a sign of things to come. Thanks for your advice and guidance and I look forward to reporting more success stories in the very near future. Patrick Cox, Rockville High School, Vernon, Connecticut *********** GEORGIA - Nathanael Greene Academy 48 Gatewood 6 Coach Wyatt, We got past our cross town rivals (so to speak) and I'm relieved for all I have been hearing since taking this job is that this is the one we got to win. There must be some history here. Rumor has it that Gatewood would pound the Patriots in the past and pile it on. Well, I'm a new coach here and Coach Barton (a well thought of coach of 28 years in GA high school ) is in his first year there. I was careful at the end and let the ninth graders play and they scored the last TD. Gatewood was determined to take the inside game away with low charging linemen but left there perimeter a bit vulnerable. The G-O's hurt them to say the least along with power. No big trap this night. We also hit on a 50 yard TD pass on the back side of a bootleg. We are 5-1 so far and have scored 214 points to our opponents 44. We have 4 more to go with the two toughest teams left to play. It has been a great start for a group of guys to gain experience at winning and hopefully we can carry it into the final stretch. Thanks for all ! Coach Larry Harrison, Head Football Coach, Nathanael Greene Academy, Siloam, Georgia *********** ILLINOIS - Elmwood-Brimfield 39, Bushnell-Prairie City 8 - Coach, The E/B Trojans are 5-0 and qualified for the Illinois High School playoffs for the second consecutive year. This group, having clinched a winning record, is only the fourth to post back-to-back winning seasons in the 50+ year history of the program. Our 8-2 record from last year and our 5-0 start this year ties us for the most victories in any two-year period, with four regular season games to go! The Trojans played very well Friday night, defeating Bushnell-Prairie City in another game touted by some as a "key matchup" in the Prairieland Conference. At the end of the first quarter the score was 19-0 (80 yard kickoff return, 11 yard fullback trap, 66 yard X-corner). At the half it was 26-0. BPC scored in the third and we answered with two more of our own. Final score - E/B 39, BPC 8. We travel to Petersburg this week to play a very good 4-1 team (they hold the second place spot in the conference). Petersburg is a jet sweep team, and has given us some fits in the past. It should be a fun game. Good luck to you. Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois *********** IOWA - Alta 31, South O'Brien 0 - Coach Wyatt, The Alta Cyclones defeated South O'Brien Friday night 31-0.  Alta (1A)  played it's fourth straight game against a school that was 2A last year.  We scored 4 TD's and a FG.  The TD's were on a Red/Red, Wedge @ 2, and two TD's on 99 Super Power. The first TD was the wedge from 9 yards out.  The B-Back wasn't touched as he ran out the back of the endzone.  The Red/Red was from 9 yards out when we audibled after seeing them in an 8-3 alignment.  Stats for the game:  A-Back  15 rushes 88 yards;  B-Backs  13 rushes  124 yards, 2 receptions for 19 yards;  C-Back  18 carries  57 yards, 1 reception  9 yards.  QB  5 rushes 10 yards and 3 of 6 for 28 yards and a TD.  The win raises our record to 3-1 but, more importantly, 2-0 in district. Coach Rory Payne, Alta, Iowa *********** IOWA - Galva-Holstein 48, Sac City 0 - 463 total yards 13 first downs, 48 rushes 405 yards, 2 of 3 passing for 58 yards A Back  22 carries 157 yards 3 TD's, B Back (still Ben)  7 carries 140 yards 2 TD's, C back 7 carries 55 yards  1 catch for 55 yards (TD) *********** NEW YORK- Queensbury 15, Burnt Hills 14 - We are 4-0. Another squeaker but my kids seem to know how to win. 4th Quarter the kids said, "Coach, just keep doing superpower and the "C"'s." We did 58-C and superpower 10 of the next 11 plays and scored with 2 minutes left and did criss-cross for the 2 pts. So far those kids we talked about are stepping it up and REALLY want to win. Not much talent but BIG stones. They don't care how we win, they just want to. We don't really give them a pre-game speech, we just say "Let's Go". I wouldn't have guessed it. John Irion, Queensbury, New York *********** NEW YORK - Corning West 22, Owego Free Academy 12 - We're 2-1 and our only loss is to the No. 10 team in the state. We're playing decent football, but we can do so much better. Corning West coach Mike Johnston. *********** MARYLAND - Brunswick 81, Clear Spring 0 - Brunswick's Eric Zwilsky rushed for 210 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries. The Railroaders rushed for 311 of their 386 total yards in the first half, building a 69-0 halftime lead. *********** MINNESOTA - Benilde-St. Margaret's 16 &endash; Orono 13. The Red Knights put together a beautiful 9 play drive with 5 minutes left in a 13-13 game and capped it off with a 31 yard FG to go up 16-13, and then held on to win their third straight conference game. The BSM double-wing offense cranked out 315 yards of offense, with 86 of it coming through the air. Tight end Cody Anderson caught four passes (two off 2 Red, and the other two off 47 C TE's Cross), and C back Shane Fox also pulled down a 2 Red pass coming out of a Tight Double C set. Fox also racked up 156 yards in 25 carries from his usual A back alignment, and out of the I. B back Ryan McCarthy added 52 yards (most coming on 3 Trap 2 or 4), and three different C backs picked up the rest of BSM's rushing yardage. The Red Knights move to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in conference. Joe Gutilla - Minneapolis *********** ILLINOIS - Ridgeview 57 Tri-Point 0 - Coach Wyatt, The Ridgeview Mustangs are now 5-0 on the 2004 season. We rushed for 442 yards on 52 carries and threw for 64 yards tonight. Ten different ballcarriers carried the ball and every kid we had played in the game. With the win, we have assured ourselves of a fifth straight berth in the playoffs. Hope your team came out OK tonight. Thanks, Mike Benton, Head Coach, Ridgeview Mustangs - Colfax, Illinois *********** NEBRASKA - Stanton 34, Randolph 7 - Coach Wyatt, Hope all is well with you! How did your team do this week?? The Stanton Mustangs move to 4-0 beating Randolph, a playoff bound team 34-7. We rushed for 278 and were 2 of 3 passing for 60 yards and 2 TD's. We were held well below our 430 yard rushing avg. which is a testiment to how good the other team was. Our players were disgusted with themselves that we didn't rush for our goal of 350 yards. We held them to 160 total yards. We have now rushed for 1634 yards in four games. Since I became head coach and implemented the DW here at Stanton, we are 14-1 !! Not too bad. The expectation of winning is embedded here in Stanton. People don't wonder if we are going to win, they wonder by how much! Not bad for a town that had never had a team in the playoffs before 2002. I don't know if I told you, but our 7th grade team has won both their games 16-0 and 26-0 in 6 minute quarters and our 8th grade team has won both their games 38-0 and 40-12 in 8 minute quarters... That's 120-12 combined! It's really fun to watch the Jr Highers run the offense so efficiently! Looks like the future is pretty bright!! Thanks, and good luck!! GO DW!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska *********** WASHINGTON - Lakeside 48, Nathan Hale 6. *********** WASHINGTON - LaCenter 46, Montesano 20 - #2-ranked Wildcats win battle of unbeatens, outgaining Montesano 476-81 on the ground. *********** Coach - I have been a little reluctant to update you on our team and franchises success so far this season for fear of "jinxing" something but I think we both know the only time something is truly jinxed is when your team is not ready or overwhelmed by a superior opponent: I think you know that we run the double wing from the "bottom up". That our 7 years olds run this up through the 14 year olds. Well we are having a tad bit of success thus far. For example: Varsity Team - My squad. We are 4-0 and played a solid game against the best team in the league last weekend and beat them 24-8. We were averaging over 50 points a game before this last one and over 350 yards on the ground. A new twist for this old coach is that we are passing about 8 times a game. 49 Brown-O kicked this teams butt all day! 29 G-O Reach is our staple. Ran a little East/West motion last weekend just to keep them honest. Jr. Varsity - Record is 4-0. In all reality the strongest team in our franchise. Remember now that this team is the recipients of having all of their players start with the double wing 3 years ago. Actually their QB has been running it for 4 years since he was my quarterback when I first arrived and introduced the DW. I really think the system is starting to pay off now. Coach Tisdell is doing a fantastic job with the DW. Novice - Mark Rangels squad is putting up some incredible numbers, averaging over 40 points a game. Though they are 2-2 Coach Rangel is working his defense more to keep them in the game with all the scoring they are doing. Jr. Novice - Record is 3-1. They were the perennial doormats last year and recently tied a very good and talented team from Stockton. Our team's quarterback I understand is from good stock and superior genes (LOL- my son!). Coach Maires (from your clinic) is proving that 7 and 8 year olds can run Super Power AND pull backside guard and tackle. Best play for them is the wedge! Coach I am getting emails and calls from many people around our league asking about the Double Wing and many are crediting our decision to run this at all the levels with our success. Just 3 years ago we were everyones homecoming game. Now we are known as that "Double Wing Franchise". John Torres, Lathrop, California *********** Bloomingdale Bears 27     Downers Grove Panthers 0 Solid job by the offense today as we pounded the Downers Grove Panthers up and down the field.  C Back Clay Cooper continues to run like a machine as he scored on a 40 yard 99 SP with a great cut back against the grain to score the first of his 2 td's.  QB Erick King again was able to keep the defense honest with precision passing with a 25 yard td to Cooper on a Red Red.  The offense is really clicking now despite losing some key offensive linemen due to injuries.  We continue to run at will against teams in our weight class and as long as we are balanced and keep the defense honest with the pass then it's tough to stop this team on offense.  We arguably have the best back field in the BGYFL with each one of these kids being playmakers.  As good as our offense has played this year our defense continues to shut teams down and limits what teams do against us.  This is a wonderful group of boys who have bought into the DW and as hard as it was to sell to some of the parents 3 years ago now everyone has witnessed first hand how explosive this offense can be every weekend.  For those who think this offense is a joke or gimmick I challenge you to try to stop it especially if it's taught right by coaches who totally believe in the principles and are teaching it the right way.  Next week the Bartlett Raiders until then coach take care and talk to you next week.  Stacey King, Bloomingdale Bears, BGYFL 115 LB Gold NFC Division Bloomingdale, Illinois *********** Coach Wyatt -  A retired Newburyport High English teacher and former Bartender at the Park Lunch has started a Fund,to help the Park Lunch staff(waitress and bartenders) until the Lunch re-opens, If you can ,can you please post the Fund address some time in next weeks news, if you can't don't worry about it ,the story is in Thursdays edition of the Newburyport News http://www.newburyportnews.com/ make checks payable to: Friends of The Park Lunch Mail to: Friends of the Park Lunch/ c/o The Newburyport Five Cents Bank/ 63 State St. Newburyport ,MA 01950 Coach and the BAD NEWS Keeps coming - The City of Lynn has taken the 1st step to Raze the Legendary Manning Bowl, The Stadium Commission Voted  this week in an Emergency meeting, In my opinion this thing does not pass the smell test. A) The City has taken a Horse Sh-- job of taking care of the place the last 20-25 ,but to call something a Horse Sh-- job you usually have to do a job first. The City has done Zilch !! B) the Guy that owns the minor league baseball team next door I think is driving this Train ( he has a lot to Gain if the Bowl comes down ) He will pick up a lot of parking and room for some half ass hockey Arena he wish to put up. C) City claims they want a smaller facility in there . All B.S. in my Book And Malden Catholic lost to Lincoln-Sudbury Coach if it wasn't for Bad Luck ,I would have No Luck at all !!! Great piece on that elitist A-Hole Kerry - that was a classic !! Hopefully I will see you next week with a little bit of better news - John Muckian   Lynn, Massachusetts *********** In the middle of the last season, Auburn's AD and president sneaked into Louisville and met with Lousville coach Bobby Petrino on the sly, trying to persuade him to come to Auburn. It was all so slimy - Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, busy getting a team ready for a game, didn't know a thing about it. Neither did the Louisville AD. Now, almost a year later, Coach Tuberville is still on the job, but the Auburn President and AD are both gone. Good riddance. And the Auburn program is riding high, ranked eighth this week in both polls.. Now, wouldn't it be great if the Tigers could make it into a bowl game? against Louisville? *********** Deion himself provided a better argument than I ever could against those fool skullcaps - he said that his slipped down over his eyes on a punt return. *********** Danny White, former Cowboys' QB who made a second career as coach of the Arena Football League's Arizona Rattlers, did "color" on the Oregon State-Arizona State broadcast Saturday night. He led off his post-game statement by saying, "the football will be where it should be - in the air." Well, f--k you, Danny. This ain't Arena football. There are some of us who happen to think that where the ball should be is in the arms of a running back. *********** I don't know what the pros think of him (not that I care), but when everything is on the line, I wouldn't mind having Arkansas' Matt Jones playing quarterback for me. *********** Referring to Oregon State QB Derek Anderson and Beaver wide receiver Mike Hass, the announcer said, "they have a special relationship." Considering where Oregon stands on the gay marriage issue, my wife and I looked at each other and said, No. *********** Is EVERYTHING for sale? South Carolina's Lou Holtz put a 39-year-old service veteran into the game for three or four plays. Hollywood, the announcers told us, has already contacted him about making a movie. *********** Coach, I wanted to give you an update thus far on our season.  We are 3-1 and ranked 7th in the Baltimore Sun Poll.  We had a tough loss to Urbana HS last week. Although we lost the game the kids played pretty well.  We finished with 274 yards rushing on 45 attempts.  Urbana is a perennial power in the state and currently ranked #7.  It was a great opportunity for our kids to test themselves against the best in the State.   The other three games we outscored our opponents 115 - 9. Our A- Back, Glenn Williams who is headed to Duke has rushed for 500 yards and is averaging 13 yards per carry.  The JV is undefeated at 3-0 and playing very well. I also wanted to let you know I had a chance to see the University of Nebraska play a few weeks ago in Lincoln.  I am a big time Nebraska fan, and my wife surprised me for my 40th b-day with tickets to see Nebraska / So. Miss play and a weekend in Omaha.  The Nebraska fans are the best, very loyal, supportive and very positive towards the new staff.   I am still having a tough time with the new offense.  I was always a big  fan of the option game and the power running game Nebraska dominated teams with for so many years.  It was difficult to see them lose to a team they should have dominated had they just run the football.  The Nebraska QB threw 3 Int's, the last being the game winning TD for So. Miss.  If they had just run the ball they would have killed So. Miss.  They dominated them last year with the run game 38-14.  Also, the only option play all day was run by So. Miss.  Nebraska in their new West Coast Offense kept trying to finesse So. Miss with multiple formations, jumping TE's and motioning Wr's, they must have had a half dozen delay of game penalties. I kept yelling "JUST RUN THE FOOTBALL". It was frustrating to see them lose to a team they would have dominated in years past.  I was very impressed with the Nebraska fans after the game, when SO. Miss was exiting the field and heading towards their locker room, the entire crowd stood and applauded their efforts.. Great display of sportsmanship by the HUSKER fans. I did hear some fans calling for the return of Frank Solich, I guess you don't realize what you got until it's gone.  My hope is that they send the West coast offense packing and that they bring back the run game.  Its always nice to dream.     Hope all is well with you and your family. Sean Murphy / Archbishop Curley HS / Baltimore, Maryland (Now that's what I call a cool wife! HW) *********** Notice how the NFL is becoming more and more a league of highlights? First there was SportsCenter, then there came video games. Who wants running? Who wants blocking? Who wants defense? The NFL Channel promos brag that they can show us all the NFL games, while saving us all sorts of time - "we edit them down to their best plays." I mean, who wants to watch line play? Just gimme the fancy catches and the big hits. And, of course, the touchdown dances. Video games are becoming so real - and real games so phony-looking - that a shot from the sky-cam is indistingishable from a game on Madden. And they go overboard catering to the Fantasy Football addicts, spending as much time showing us individual stats as game scores. I find it ironic that the NFL doesn't seem to mind that many of these Fantasy guys don't know whether the football is inflated or stuffed - all they care about is who catches how many passes. But see, as far as the NFL is concerned, at least they're watching the games on TV. Buying sponsors' products. Yeah, maybe. But wait - so are the people who bet on NFL games. In fact, they are following the games very closely. But the NFL doesn't even want to talk about gambling - it's the elephant in the room. The NFL suits can't abide the thought of mentioning point spreads. They claim it's a matter of preserving the integrity of the game - as if once they admitted that people gambled in NFL games, the Mob would move in and bribe players to throw games. Yeah, integrity. And all the while, the NFL makes millions licensing video game manufacturers to produce freak show versions of their game, which in their own perverted way provoke NFL players to do more and more outrageous things. Funny that in Australia, a sports-mad (and sports-betting-mad) country where there is a gambling parlor on every corner, and professional athletes aren't paid anywhere near what our gladiators are paid, there is no more of a problem with game-fixing or point-shaving than there is here. I tend to be a cynic, so you may want to take this with a grain of salt, but I predict that the NFL will drop its opposition to betting on its games the very instant it figures out a way to get a piece of the action. *********** The NFL had its little Pat Tillman Day. So much for that. Now back to business. And those little black decals with the white #40's on them? We've done enough honoring. Get 'em off your helmets, men, or it'll cost you $5,000 a game. It is said that the suits at the NFL are skittish about doing too much to honor Pat Tillman, for fear of offending players who might be opposed to the war in Iraq (conveniently overlooking the fact that Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan). Anyhow, get those helmet decals off. Meantime, while they're enforcing some uniform policy, maybe someone will notice that they've got guys wearing pants that stop way above the knees, making them look like bicyclists on steroids. *********** Yee-Haw! Nothing against Virginia Tech. Or BYU. Actually, I like them both. But I sure do hate watching kickers steal the show, so I enjoyed watching both teams miss last-minute field goal attempts. *********** If you don't have stomach upset or diarrhea before watching the "new" cherry Pepto-Bismo commercial (the one in which all the dancing office workers cup their hands over their anal areas) you will when you're finished. *********** Coach Wyatt, My team won 47 to 0. This was the highest output that my team has generated since running the Double Wing in all of my 3 years. The team I played hasn't won a game all year. I am good friends with their HC and I did my best to not run the score up, but I understand Coach Jason NOW when he said that sometimes you just can't help it. 6 different backs scored today and out of the 7 TDs only 2 were by starters. My 3rd B-back scored 2, and he was the happiest kid in the world because this being his 5th year playing (always as a center), now as my 3rd B-back he finally scored a TD, then I kept him in and gave him another chance and he delivered. After the game he told me thanks, because he knows that he may never get another chance to repeat his 2 TDs again. I told him that after our 2nd TD and I knew we were the stronger team that was why I subbed my entire starting backfield. I have a tough opponent this weekend, we are both 4 and 0. I needed to get my reserves play time in a game situation and this was that game to do it. I even had a kid that has never played ANY back for me in 2 years line up at A-back, (he was my starting X last year, now just a defensive player at CB). He scored on 88 Super Power but it get called back due to a penalty. Next play we scored on 99 SP. I gave my (NO String) A Back the ball again (88 SP) for the extra point and after that run he came to the sideline with the biggest grin on his face. All of my players understood the subbing and were happy with the win. However, my ungrateful team's parents were happy with the win but wanted more points, and weren't too thrilled with the early subbing of the offense. I kept my starters on D for 3 quarters and then made mass substitutions in the 4th. I told my assistants to pay no attention to the parents because they are the same bunch of folk that DOG us when we win, and they will hate us even more if we lose. That's why we coach and they don't. :-) Thanks for everything, Brian Mackell, Severn Seminoles 130#, Glen Burnie, Maryland *********** Coach Wyatt: If you would, could you please explain what is actually meant by a "belly" play?    I have seen play diagrams of "belly" with a QB reverse pivot, and others where he open steps playside.  I have seen "belly" with a lead blocking back, and I have seen  it run more as a straight dive, with the other back assuming an option relationship. My son's Jr.High team runs what I would call an Iso or Blast play out of an I formation, but  they call it a belly.  Does the "belly" terminology refer to the running back's rounded course, or does it imply the QB mesh and ride, (putting the ball in the RB's belly) like on 4-5 Base or X Lead or an option play?  Looking forward to your response! As always, Respectfully yours, Mark Rice, Beaver, Pennsylvania Good question- Unless there is a ride to the fullback, regardless of whether the QB opens out or reverses out, it is not the Belly Series. Also called the Drive Series, its original popularity was credited to Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech. The "Belly" name comes from the act of the QB putting the ball in the fullback's belly and giving him a ride before either giving it to him or pulling it and keeping it and running outside. I am well-equipped to answer; my college coach, Jordan Olivar, was one of its earliest proponents, and wrote an excellent book on it - "Offensive Football - the Belly Series" (Ronald Sports Library, New York, 1958). As Allson Danzig, legendary sports writer of the New York Times, explains in his foreword to Coach Olivar's book, "The Belly Series came into prominence at the beginniing of the 1950s. Bobby Dodd's Georgia Tech teams of 1951 and 1952 had striking success with it, and since then, more coaches have incorporated it into their offense. It adds to the T-formation the faking and deception of the spinner and buck-lateral series from the single-wing, with the quarterback working the old shell game in putting the ball into the belly of the fullback, "riding" with him toward the line, and then leaving the ball there or withdrawing it to slip it to a halfback or keep it for a run or pass." Go to www.coachwyatt.com/May01.html Go to May 25 and my article on Coach Olivar. Look at the diagrams and you can see how this would eventually evolve into the wishbone, with the QB making his "give or keep" decision by reading a defender. *********** Nothing against LSU. I know the way dem people love dem Tigers. But I have to wonder how good they are after remembering the tussle Oregon State gave them. Oregon State, for God's sake! If you watched the OSU-LSU game carefully, you might have seen it coming. OSU's lack of discipline, I mean. You may remember the young man who scored a touchdown, then took the football with him back to the sideline. As a souvenir. The resultant penalty played a part in the extra point kick's sailing wide of the mark, leaving the door open for LSU ultimately to tie the game in regulation and win in overtime. No one - not one single coach - got into the kid's face at the time. Nor, OSU coach MIke Riley told the Portland Oregonian's John Canzano, did anyone do so later. In fact, Riley seemed to make light of the whole thing in talking with Canzano. You thought that showed a lack of discipline? You should have seen these guys Saturday night against Arizona State. Last year, in Corvallis, the Beavers kicked ASU's ass, so this year several OSU players, excited by their 17-7 win over New Mexico, engaged in some serious trash-talking the entire week before the game. Arizona State, fresh off a thumping of Iowa, was ready. Oregon State was not. Dumb? On a 2nd-and-10, a Beaver receiver caught a nine-yard hook - but then, instead of falling for the first down, he gave ground, trying for something bigger. His heroics resulted in a third-and-five. They didn't make it. Weak? The Beavers, which had a decent running game last year thanks to Steven Jackson (who had been recruited by Riley's predecessor, Dennis Erickson), "rushed" for 26 yards in 16 carries. They are now averaging 61.75 yards per game rushing, placing them dead last even in the pass-happy Pac-10, and 115th among all NCAA Division-IA schools. Careless? The Beavers lost three fumbles and two interceptions. One of the fumbles symbolized the Beavers' disgraceful performance: with a clear path to the end zone, and Oregon State tight end chose to showboat by carrying the ball out in front of him in both hands, a la Deion, instead of tucking it away. As he was about to cross the goal line, a defender swatted at his arm from behind, knocking the ball loose into the end zone. Touchback (good call). Instead of the score being 14-7 Oregon State, it shortly became 14-7, then 17-7, Arizona State. But on top of all their ineptness, the Beavers had to throw in classlessness as well. In all, they had 105 yards in penalties. Four of them were for unsportsmanlike conduct, perhaps the result of being able to back up all that preg-game mouthing off. Three of the unsportsmanlikes came against Beaver defensive backs. The worst came when after breaking up an ASU pass on third-and-long, the Beaver defender stood over the Sun Devil receiver and taunted. Nice. Fifteen yards and an ASU first down. With the game out of reach but a full eight minutes left to play, a Pac-10 game threatened to degenerate into semi-pro ball at its worst, when OSU defenders were charged with cheap-shot personal fouls on two consecutive plays. Oregon State may be the dumbest, most undisciplined team in America. As ASU QB Andrew Walter said after the game, "If they played as well as they talked, they'd be 4-0." *********** Sir, I read the story on your page today from the coach that can't give the Black Lion Award. He may not give the award, but he certainly lives it. No doubt about it, he coaches a Black Lion team and I appreciate what he is doing for his young men. Black Lions Sir! Doc (Tom "Doc" Hinger, of Winter Haven, Florida, is a Vietnam combat veteran, and one of my inspirations for starting the Black Lion Award. HW) *********** In 8th Grade football action the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets defeated the Knights of Castle Heights, 12-0. The Jackets pounded the ball with Kelvin Foster and Tony Hall. The Jackets bend-but-don't-break defense withstood the clock-consuming drives of the Knights and kept them scoreless the first half. The Knights' hope of a resurgent second half started to fade when Marteka Davis took the second half kick-off and bobbed, weaved, and juked his way to a 40 yard return. That set up the next touchdown where Lance Jacobs connected with Dee Dee Truesdale on a 40 yard touchdown pass. The Jackets defense rose to the challenge and able to stay solid enough to register its first shut-out of the season with a 12 &endash; 0 victory over a scrappy Castle Heights team. Daryall White, Fort Mill, South Carolina *********** Coach Wyatt, The Edmonds Cyclones rolled again on Saturday defeating the our third opponent 59-0. Six different Cyclones scored using six different plays. As always, TR88SP was our bread and butter getting us into position to score. The XX worked going right or left. We worked TR3Trap2 all week in practice as we've used it little this year. On Saturday it scored from twelve yards out. The back totals: A back #1- 110 yards, two TD's (he also scored on a pass interception); A back #2- 43 yards, one TD; A back #3- 67 yards, one TD B back #1- 87 yards, one TD; B back #2- 28 yards C back #1- 148 yards, one TD; C back #2- 106 yards, two TD's 589 total yards We were leading 30-zip at the half. I tried to keep the score down by never throwing a pass, never having my starting team in after the second possession. I even had the refs have a running clock in the second half. The problem I'm having now is keeping the kids grounded as we'll play tougher teams in the coming weeks. Glade Hall, Seattle  *********** Somebody should have taught this quarterback how to read. Not defenses. Newspapers. Playing out the entire second half of the Washington Huskies' ass-kicking at Notre Dame Saturday was third-string QB Carl Bonnell, of Kent, Washington. Bonnell originally signed a letter of intent with Washington State, then backed out and transferred to Washington. Why? Simple, he told the Seattle Times, "I wanted to go to Washington to win. The Huskies have won forever." Uh, as Ken Goe noted in the Portland Oregonian, maybe he should have thought that one through. The once-proud Huskies are now in free fall, 0-3 for the first time since 1969. In all fairness to the 1969 Huskies, though, this team is much worse - in 1969, their first three games were against Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State. (Who the hell made up that schedule?) Washington State, meanwhile, has put together three straight 10-win seasons. And when they went to Notre Dame last year, they didn't disgrace themselves the way the Huskies did - they took the Irish into overtime (could have won) before falling, 29-26.  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2004 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 24, 2004  "A large section of the intelligentsia seems wholly devoid of intelligence."G. K. Chesterton ~   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** "I was just reading the news and read the story on the request on how to stop "our offense". It reminded me of the guy in Iowa who was trying to stop Galva-Holstein last year. Well he's what I received just today: Coach, We will be facing a double tight double wing team,what type of defence would you employ to at least slow it down. thanks for any type of help..Coach G my response: Coach Though I would love to help you...me telling you how to stop the DW would be 'Bad for Business" and a betrayal to the "Brotherhood of Double Wing Coaches" quite frankly unless your men on on defense are far superior in athletic ability and strength, it won't matter what you run. You will have a very hard time beating a well coached DW team. It's almost comical. Joe Daniels, Sacramento (Good work by a certified member of the Brotherhood. The almost-manic search for the cure by people who have to play a Double-Wing team is one reason why I caution Double-Wing coaches about being very careful who they give game tapes to. Tapes are like secrets - you have no idea where they're going to wind up once you pass them along to someone else. HW) *********** From my daughter, Cathy, in Texas... Dad, I was browsing through MSN and saw an article about Kerry and his wife's upcoming appearance on the Dr. Phil show. This is (honest to God) how the article ended... But Kerry does love watching and playing sports, and often makes a point of recognizing the home team along the campaign trail. On Thursday night, he tied his campaign to the University of New Mexico's recent football win over Texas Tech. "I am basking in the glow of the victory of the Lobos," Kerry said. "That's the first win over Texas in a while and the next one's coming in November." I thought I might actually be dreaming, but it is there in black-and-white! He is trying so hard to be an everyman...funny. Cathy Tiffany, Houston, Texas (Not to say that New Mexico will never beat UT, but if they ever do, Mack Brown had best start packing. HW) *********** From my son, Ed, in Australia Dad...thought you might like these quotes from a legendary English soccer manager (coach) named Brian Clough (rhymes with rough) who just died...a real hardass but a funny guy. Love, Ed On not getting the England manager's job: "I'm sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job, I'd want to run the show. They were shrewd, because that's exactly what I would have done." On the streaker who appeared during a Derby game against Manchester United: "The Derby players have seen more of his balls than the one they're meant to be playing with." On how he rated himself: "I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one." On Eric Cantona's infamous kung fu kick at a fan: "I'd have cut his balls off." On women's soccer: "I like my women to be feminine, not sliding into tackles and covered in mud." On dealing with a player who disagrees: "We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right." On how he would like to be remembered: "I want no epitaphs of profound history and all that type of thing. I contributed - I would hope they would say that, and I would hope somebody liked me." *********** A Double-Wing coach writes, Hugh, Our JV team played ----- last week and I noticed something right away. ----- is no longer running the double wing. Instead, they are running that I formation with an extra fullback (H-back?) lined up in-between and directly behind the guard and tackle. I asked their coaches if Coach ----- is letting them run that formation instead of the double-wing and they told me that Coach ----- has dropped the double-wing entirely. As the game was being played I overheard some of the ----- parents comment, "Hey, they (us) run that same stupid offense we used to run!" "Yeah, thank God ----- switched. Maybe now our games will be more exciting." One final note. ----- 's varsity team has not won a game yet this year. I just hope ----- didn't cave into the pressure. My response - Considering the success that ----- had been having at --------- (consistent playoff appearances) - unless he has some world-beater passer and receivers to go with him - what other explanation can there be? *********** You may or may not have seen the story about the Aussie "backcountry racer" who was killed Tuesday when struck by a falling boulder near Rockport, in Northwest Washington. He was taking part in a 10-day, 400-mile, hiking-biking-khayaking race. His name was Nigel Aylott, from the state of Victoria. He was 38, and he evidently worked as a business analyst for Telstra. The race will resume, at the request of his teammates and family. Very sad, of course, but there was this light note: a race spokesman said, "This is so Australian. We asked the team what would be the best way to commemorate his death, and they replied, in unison, 'a barbecue!'" *********** Coach, We are 3-0 after this weekend with the most dominating win since adopting the Double-Wing. We won 63-0, now that may seem extreme for a youth football game with 10 minute quarters. By the time our offense took the field, we were up 12-0, the defense scored twice once on an interception and the other on a fumble recovery that our cornerback took in for 55 yards. We held our opponent to 1 first down, and -115 yards total offense. Scoring defensively changes the entire game. By halftime the score was 43-0. I had made substitution on offense allowing my second and thrid team back carry the football - it didn't matter what we did, we scored at will. I used two quarterbacks - they both threw touchdown passes. My starting backfield had the following stats: A-Back 4-83-3td's, C-Back 1-16-1td (also had one receiving touchdown), Passing the Q-Back 1-2-16 1 td, Second QB 1-1-18 1td. My backup runningbacks experienced the same success 1carry, 1 score. The sad part about the win, is that when you are a running team, and you score like we do, the only alternative is to pass and you know you are subject to being accused of running up the score. Coach I assure you, that I do not set out to rack up as many points as I can. We were able to score as many points as we did with a running clock the entire second half. In our county the clock is only supposed to run once a team is up by 35pts in the 4th quarter. I agreed to the running clock at the start of the 2nd half to assist my opponent. You will see once I get some game footage to you, but they put everyone they had on the LOS and Super Power still got the job done! Honestly, Coach I did enjoy this one. It wasn't too long ago with the same set of kids when were 2-7 I stumbled onto your webpage. We used to be everyone's Turkey Bowl game. Now we are arguably the the most feared 115lb team in our county. Our offense is so predictable, and everyone that hasn't played us can stop it! All the kids enjoy it along with the parents, because the remember the "GOOD OLE DAYS!" Everyone believes in the system and supports it, you can hear the parents guessing when the counter is coming..etc! I'm just glad that I got onboard with the Double-Wing when I did. Until next week - take care. Jason Clarke - Millersville Wolverines 115lb Team. Millersville, Maryland *********** Just in case you think you're not making a difference, this was forwarded to me by Mark Bergen, in Keller, Texas. It was sent to one of the coaches in his organization, who was good enough to share it... Mr. Rambo, I rarely write letters, but if I don't write you about this I just feel like I might bust. My son is playing football for the first time on the Keller Panthers. His name is Shea, he is just about 7 years old (in 5 more days!). I wanted to say what a difference this football program has had on him. I believe a lot of it has to do with the quality of the coaches, and I think some of it was the timing for him. About a year ago, we got a letter saying that Shea would be considered to enter first grade if we would put him in a developmental class. Meaning, he needed more help. He was smart enough - but he was so extremly shy and introverted that it affected the way he communicated with others. He was so shy, that to get him to speak at all - even to us at times, was unbearable for him. We took the letter in stride, worked with him all summer on the importance of communication, and sent him on to a "normal" first grade class, hoping it would all work out. I say all this to get to this point. My son has totally changed since football started. His teacher, and school counselor came up to me before I really noticed it and said that Shea is really talking at school - interacting with others and having fun. His confidence was up. The only thing we really changed was putting him in football. Coach Johnson and Coach Rider saw in him the ability to play football. They made him quarterback. This made me extremely nervous because I knew he would have to talk to his coaches and his team mates to accomplish anything. He looks at people in the eye, talks, asks questions - he is a totally different kid. I have to tell you here that as I type this I am bawling my eyes out. Football was not one of the choices listed on the school counselor's sheet - she had medication options, counseling, therapy, etc. Scary stuff. He is the nicest kid, but he was a bit shy and lacking confidence - that was all. These coaches that you have are unbelievable self esteem builders - and they care. Shea trusts them, he thinks they are "football geniuses". I am so happy with this program. It is something we did at the last minute. It is something we weren't looking for, but we sure did pray that whatever it was Shea needed that it would fall in our laps - and it did. In Shea's first game he scored 5 touchdowns, and must have ran 500 yards. Today, he scored 3 touchdowns(or 4 I lost count) and we won. He even got the game ball today! This little thing that you call football is really a lifesaver. I just wanted you to know. Sometimes you may not hear about the good stuff - and from my perspective this is really, really good. I realize that you may not understand how big a deal this is...but trust me - it seemed like we had a long road ahead of us....now it all looks fun. Thank you for reading this, I know it is long - but I just HAD to say it. A very happy mom, Elizabeth xxxxxxxxx Shea, #7 Keller Panthers *********** Bloomingdale Illinois: Bloomingdale Bears 14 Glen Ellyn 0 - Battle of 2 unbeaten teams that was the preview of the 2004 Bill George Youth Football League State Championship game in November at Northern Illinois University. Top 2 teams in the Gold 115 LB division squared off with each team's unbeaten record on the line. Glen Ellyn was ready to play and had scouted us well the last 2 weeks and were determined to stop our running game by stacking 10 in the box. Unlike most teams in our league we are very versatile and are just as dangerous throwing the ball as we are running the football. With the Golden Eagles stacking the line we open with a tight Thunder pass XY cross which went for over 60 yards. QB Erick King hit receiver Kendall Lane crossing the field on a perfect strike for a huge gain putting pressure on Glen Ellyn from the start. Glen Ellyn was really stubborn with their defensive game plan and was set on stopping our power plays so we continued to pass the ball all over the field and got them on their heels while we wore them down with screen passes and slants all day long until they softened up their defense. A back Nick Campanella ran for over 100 yds on 6 carries and had a nice 65 yard run on a SP play. C Back Clay Cooper combined to go over 200 yds total offense and score a td on a nice screen in the flat from King to score right before the half and he continues to show why he is one of the top backs in the league. QB Erick King continues to show why he is the best all around QB in the league as he again passed close to 200 yds on 15-22 passing and a touchdown in this big showdown. B Back Chris Jasinski continues to pound the middle and keeping those LB's honest up the middle allowing our backs to run wild on counters and power plays and his great kick out blocks allow us to get our power game going. This is the best backfield in the BGYFL and it's going to be tough to beat these kids because they believe in the system and they execute flawlessly. Our offensive line of Mike Cooper, Miles Santi, Scotty Storberal, Tyler Rostenkowski, Jordan Bremer didn't allow a sack all day and gave QB King enough time to throw 22 times and not even get touched by Glen Ellyn's fierce pass rush all day. We are adding a little bit of formation shifts like slot and spread, uptight with our backs and over and unders now to our basic packages which we unveiled this week and it caught Glen Ellyn off guard. So now practices for the other teams will be that much more difficult to prepare to play against the Bloomingdale Bears. Next up the Downers Grove Panthers Coach Stacey King, Bloomingdale, Illinois *********** Did anybody else notice that on the same Sunday the NFL honored Pat Tillman, a truly brave American, Kellen ("I am a soldier") Winslow went down with an injury? Break out the Purple Hearts. *********** VIRGINIA - Cave Spring (Roanoke) 42, Lord Botetourt 7 - Hi Coach. May God bless you and yours. Basic plays all the way. Great blocking from line. Only addition 3 Charlie which killed them due to linebackers intent on stopping off tackle. We were up 35-0 at half time. There is a lot of excitement in the Cave Spring community. I'm truly blessed to see so much hope in the eyes of the boys. Armando Castro *********** If you've ever mentored someone and then had him turn his back on you (as ex-Notre Dame coach Bob Davie did to Joe Moore), you'll appreciate this. In another life, Coach Armando Castro, who assists at Cave Spring High in Roanoke, Virginia, was a police officer in Miami. He said that on the force, they referred to rookies as "pigeons" - "Because you train them - and then they come back and sh-- on you." *********** Coach, Believe me, with every fiber of my soul, I wish we could be a Black Lion Team. But alas, I am still "trapped" in an organization that for reasons which defy all logic will not allow me to give it out. Lord knows, I have tried, Coach, and I will continue to do so. I read with great pride and envy all that you have put together for the Black Lion Award as well as the experiences other coaches share on how much giving out the Award meant to them and their players and parents. What I have done, though, for the last few years is tell the story of the Black Lion Award and what it means and who it honors. I tell the fine young men I have the privilege to coach that I need Black Lion players. I usually start out with something like "some fine football teams in America give out the Black Lion Award.....". So with your permission I will continue to share the Black Lion material with my teams. And some day it is my sincere hope that I can inform you to truly "sign us up as a Black Lion Team". NAME WITHHELD (Now, that I can understand. But you might be surprised at the coaches whom I invite to sign their teams up, and yet they never even mention the invite when they e-mail me for assistance. If you hadn't noticed, this cause is very special to me because of the men it honors. Come on, fellas - Time is running out to sign up. HW) *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, I also went to the DeLasalle/Palma football game in Salinas. Great high school game. I have seen DeLasalle play 3 times now and this DeLaSalle team is no where as talented as the previous teams I have seen. Their line play is just not as crisp and explosive as the previous DeLasalle teams I saw. The previous lines completely dominated their opponents and always beat the opposing defensive lines. The DeLasalle offensive line always played on the defensive side of the ball. Not true last Saturday night. The Palma QB is the real deal. He was the best player on the field and I believe we will be seeing him again leading some D1 program somewhere in the future. Congrats on your team's victory. Enjoy the win as they are always so hard to attain and build on the victory for the future. One of my favorite sayings is 'There is nothing sweeter than victory!' Its a great feeling to share with the team. Best regards, The old line coach, Brad Elliott, Soquel, California *********** John Torres, a native of Stockton (in the Central Valley) who now lives in Manteca (in the Central Valley) and coaches in Lathrop (in the Central Valley), wanted me to point out to our readers that Christopher Anderson's nice writeup of the DeLaSalle-Palma game mistakenly placed Salinas in the Central Valley. Salinas is a nice enough place, but evidently Valley people do not care to claim it. I have mentioned before the many ways in which the Valley resembles Texas (including love of football), and evidently pride in one's home is another one. *********** Hugh, I saw Ron Timson's post about the start of the season this year in Florida. I can certainly tell you that I have never had such a rough start in all my years in Indiana. Three hurricanes in a matter of weeks does things to your season, ha,ha. We have finally gotten in two games. We lost the first one 49-20 and won our second 43-6. Our reserves won their first game 26-8 (they blocked a late punt on us) and our two little league teams are 2-0 (one of them averaging over 40 points a game). I think we are starting to make an impression with our double wing here. We play a district team this week that played for a state title last year and is rolling along at 3-0. They are very solid so it should be a real test for us. I keep telling our defensive staff they can't score if they don't have the ball. We need a couple of those pattened 8-9 minutes with our double wing and then score, eating up the clock. We've having a good time, Hugh, with the double wing and the Florida weather. I even went gator hunting this weekend and killed my first one. I'll send you the pictures. We'll keep you posted on our progress and we are planning on having a double wing team camp next summer. We'd like to have you down and work it with us. We'll give you a call after the season. Coach Mitchell says hey and, Hugh, you will appreciate this; I have hired two of my sons who are down here coaching with me. Gabe was coaching last year in Mt. Vernon, Indiana where I used to be. His reserve team, running your double wing, went undefeated and were conference champs. He's down here with us now along with my oldest son, Aaron. We're having a ball. See ya. Greg Meyers, Lake Region HS, Eagle Lake, Florida *********** Next week we play a team that has been blasting people 35-40- to 0.  The run a 5 man down lineman front....Man over the center, 2 tackles in the b gaps and 2 ends in the c gaps.  They have DE's outside the TE's.  Line backers are stacked behind the inside tackles and blitz every play to either b or C gaps.  We worked on it last night and the kids seen to know how to pick it up. I was wondering.  What plays will work best with this defesne.  I plan to wedge and still hit them with 88 and 99 power and superpower.  Should I run super O or stay true to SP?  There is something about this that makes me suspicious about the defense as described - I am still trying to figure out how they can blitz a gap that a lineman's already lined up in... Nevertheless, going by this description, I would advocate what we call "DOG" (for "DOWN") blocking clear across the front on all powers and counters. That includes the center, too. He doesn't block the nose man - the guard does. And since your tackle has no idea who he might be blocking, because it depends on whether they blitz, he just comes down hard to block anyone coming inside him. Ditto the TE. Make sure that your splits are tight. Tell your players on the playside that it's almost like wedge blocking. Fullback kicks out first guy past the TE's butt. Make sure he takes a good inside-out angle. Playside wingback walls off first LBer to the inside (there might not even be one if they blitz). You might need to run Super O, but I think that between the TE shoeshining and the center blocking backside, you should be able to cut off the chasers. Traps will work, too. Just make sure that your trapper doesn't look for any particular man, but instead just runs his sharp, inside-out path ("run through the feet of the center" is how we teach it.) *********** Olivet College, in Michigan, is leading NCAA Division III colleges in scoring, averaging 70+ points per game. After an opening-game 63-62 squeaker over Franklin, Olivet defeated Ohio Wesleyan last Saturday, 78-21, setting a new NCAA D-III record with 670 yards rushing. No sign of a letup, either - this week, Olivet faces Manchester College, which gave up 73 points last Saturday. Did I mention that Olivet runs the Wing-T? *********** Coach, Congrats on your recent win. I'm coaching a 5th/6th grade pee wee team and the DW is working very nicely. The boys are getting it and are having a great time running it. We had 220 yards on 23 carries in our last game. The trap at the youth level is such a beautiful thing. I took my time intalling the offense this year, putting in very few plays, lots of walk-throughs, bird dog drills, etc., but made sure that we could run them perfectly and block anything the defense threw at us. I'm putting in 6G this week and it looks very promising! I can't help but make a comment on Cat Stevens getting diverted to the airport in Bangor, Maine. My suggestion is that they should have just left him there (without bus fare), it's nearly deer season and the locals could have sorted things out. My dad was heading into hunting camp on the same day, and he had to drive right by the airport, so he could have taken him for a walk in the woods.......Maybe Jack Tourtillotte could have used him to practice wedges on in Boothbay Harbor. So many possibilities.... Rick Davis (ex-Mainer), Duxbury, Massachusetts (Maybe that's a solution to the Guantanamo problem. Turn them (and maybe their would-be defense attorneys, too?) loose in selected sections of Red States. Help reduce the national debt by auctioning off hunting tags. Actually, even in such famously-liberal states as Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington there are plenty of taverns that would proudly display mounted terrorists' heads over the back bar. HW) *********** What's the safest, easiest pass we can run against a team that lines up in a 7-man front, then blitzes? I think your best bet for a pass is rip Red-Red (and, of course, Liz Blue-Blue) blocking down along the front and hinging on the backside. Playside and backside TE's block also. B-Back attacks the DE same as on Super-Power (which I assume he does); motioning A-Back pins the DE from the outside - this means he is pinned between the B-Back from the front and the C-Back from the back. We call it "getting him in a vise." QB rolls deep. The only receiver is the playside wing, to the corner. Make sure that you put a man there who can catch. (This may sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people will take their chances and run a pass play to a kid who has only so-so hands.) POLITICALLY-INCORRECT FOOTBALL... Let the Desert Dummy Shield (Left) turn your kids into hitters! (Holder not included) *********** Actress Alfre Woodard (at least, I'm told she's an actress) unfavorably compared life for American black people under George Bush to the way things were in 1965. Yeah, right. She's supposed to be 50 years old. Don't know where she grew up, or why she chose 1965, but I just happen to remember living in Baltimore and having to call around to restaurants to make sure that I go could there with a black co-worker and we'd be served. That was 1966 *********** Our Eagles once again won! Our record now stands at 3-0. We won Tuesday 22-6. It was a challenging game because the other team played a wide tackle 6 defense and crashed their ends hard on the toss. We still managed to gain 210 yards of rushing with our c back getting 156 on 6 carries. They dove at the feet of the lineman which clogged up the wedge and traps but left the outside open. We will continue to make our base plays better and hopefully have another great game next week. Dan King Evans Georgia *********** Hello Coach, The Hanover Park Hurricanes 100# Gold team defeated the South Elgin Patriots....final 27-0. After taking the opening kickoff 70 yards in 6 minutes....the drive was capped off by Arron Tabateau's 18 yard Lead-XX-56C. The Patriots never could pick up who had the ball. Over the next three quarters we ground out the yards with combinations of 6G-88SP-Wedge and 29G-O reach. Arron repeated Lead XX-56C twice more from runs of 12 and 37 yards. Javon McDonald capped the final drive in the 3rd quarter with a perfect 47C play. 4th quarter was alot of wedges and 88SP. For some reason this team thought they could throw the ball on us. Unfortunately for them they couldn't, and it really killed their clock management. We had the ball on offense for over 3 quarters of the game. In the 4th quarter during a running game clock they had the ball for a total of 1:23.... We showed "spread" formation and "over" for the first time this season just to keep things fresh for the kids. It was very gratifying to beat this team as they've been talking trash all week about the upcoming meeting. Next week homecoming and a tough Glen Ellyn team. I'm thinking of showing a little Wildcat just to mess with their minds. Hope things are going well with your team. I have to say, this is the first year in quite some time I've had a good defense...thanks in part to one of the best defensive coaches I could ever ask for. It's been some time since we coached together. I so wish I had known the Double Wing when I started coaching with him 10 years ago. I would have several Bill George Championships under my belt had I known back then what I know now. With no kids of my own playing football anymore I certainly wouldn't be coaching if it wasn't for your system. I'm not just "calling plays" anymore. Coach John Urbaniak, Hanover Park Hurricanes, Hanover Park, Illinois *********** Good morning Coach Wyatt, Just reporting my score for week 3. My team pulled off their 3rd victory to go to 3 and 0 on the season. We won 20 to 6, last night (weather prevented us from playing Saturday). The score was 6-6 at half. I will have to reinvest some time watching a Fine Line, because I am not 100% happy with my blocking. We were good enough to get the win but I still have two strong teams left and our efforts will have to improve or else I could be looking at a 7 & 2 season, which is still a good season. :-) I have to say that Lightning & Blue Blue are quickly becoming my best two passes from Tight. Last year it was 2 Black O. My Ends are still dropping too many for me to stomach though. They are great in practice, but in games (for the past 2 weeks) they are trying to making the pretty Randy Moss - ESPN Top 5 catch and drop wide open passes. The ability to even show that we can throw has made teams play honest, and I have been told by other coach (that I'll play) that I'm not just a SWEEP team anymore. Thanks for everything, Brian Mackell, Severn Seminoles 130lbs, Glen Burnie, Maryland *********** Coach, We are 5-0 now with 2 games left to play. Racked up 293 yards total offense tonight, 209 rushing and 84 passing. Scored a 52 yarder on tight Rip 7 -C, a 70 yarder on T rip 47C XX lead. Went 60 yards down to the 4 on T 3 Brown O and scored with T rip 7-c. Also scored on T 2 Blue. Defense held them to 126 yards net (they scored on an interception and then on on a 12 play drive against my second D. No offense but I sure hope no other middle schools in my area go to the Double Wing. I would hate to have to try and stop it. Thanks, Stuart Whitener, Sparkman Middle School, Huntsville, Alabama *********** If there is a man on the TE, the double team is on, a man outside the TE, only the wingback blocks him, correct? A man on the WB is left for the fullback, a man in the TE's inside gap is TE only? The only time the wingback will block a lineman on a power block is as part of a double-Team ("ON" call). If the call is "ON," the Double-team is ON and the wingback will block and man ON the LOS; if the call is "OFF", the Double-team is OFF, and the wingback will block a man OFF the LOS - first linebacker to his inside, blocked to the inside. (Wall-off) *********** As many of you know, I am a Yalie (Class of 1960). That and 50 cents will get me a refillable cup of coffee at a lot of places, but it is of some significance right now because both of the candidates for President are Yalies as well (although both were a few years after me). Many years have passed since I put in my time in New Haven, but there are certain prejudgments I made back at the time that still hold up over all these years. Let me explain. There were a lot of preppies at Yale - guys who attended elite private, mostly New England, boarding schools. George W. Bush was a preppy, and so was John F. Kerry. Bush attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, better known as Andover. Kerry attended St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. In my freshman class of about 1,000, there were 50 guys from Andover. Over the course of my four years there, I'd say I got to know 30 or more of them. Eight of them played football. (Some of them were "post-grads," who had gone there for an extra senior year in order to get better prepared for Ivy-League work.) For the most part, they impressed me as achievers - smart, self-assured, capable of dealing with all sorts of people and situations. There were 19 St. Paul's graduates in that same freshman class. In my four years at Yale, I never really got to know a single one of them. Never had much chance to. Maybe it's because we had nothing in common. First of all, not one of them played football. I'm not even sure that St. Paul's had a football team. Second of all, none of them worked at a school job, something required of everyone on scholarship. Some of the Andover guys were on scholarship at Yale, just as they'd been at Andover. Third, they socialized in their own circle - they didn't go to the same parties as the rest of us, or hang in the places where we hung out. And fourth, I suspect that my buddies and I were the very sort of people they'd been brought up to have nothing to do with. (Years of counseling have brought me to the point where I now realize that I'm okay, and I shouldn't worry nearly so much about what rich, powerful, socially superior people think of me.) To put it bluntly, whether they intended it that way or not, they came across to the rest of us as a snooty bunch of better-than-the-rest-of-you types. Those of you who've never known true snobs won't understand. They lived in a different universe. Or at least in their own bubble. It wasn't a matter of having money - Andover guys had money, too, but they ventured out into the world with everybody else. St. Paul's guys - as well as those from a few other elite prep schools - had no more interaction with the great unwashed than was absolutely necessary. Most of them went into careers that didn't require them to get dirt under their fingernails or deal with common folk, and they married girls with the same type of pedigrees they had. They lived in places, vacationed in places, and sent their kids to school in places designed to keep interaction with the hoi polloi to an absolute minimum. I find it impossible to picture any St. Paul's guy ever lowering himself to associate with the riff-raff, even with the Presidency of the United States as his goal, so whenever I see John Kerry shaking hands with coal miners and factory workers, my only thought is that this guy wants nothing more than to get it over with and go wash his hands. My assessment of him and guys like him at Yale was that while they were smug children of privilege, they missed out on a lot of the useful life experiences that the rest of us were enjoying. I guarantee you that as a young man, John Kerry never (1) changed a tire; (2) cut the grass; (3) worked in a factory or on a construction site; (4) hitch-hiked; (5) took part in a fist-fight; (6) sat in a bar next to a working man and carried on a conversation, man-to-man; (7) played a pickup game of baseball, basketball or football; (8) took out the garbage; (9) ate pizza with his hands; (10) took a girl to a drive-in movie. That, I guar-on-tee you, was John Forbes Kerry back then. Take a lot at him now - has he changed all that much?  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 20, 2004  "Practice is all I miss. I don't miss the games, the folderol, everything else. But I do miss practice. I love to teach. It was the thing I loved to do. I always considered myself a teacher." John Wooden   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** OREGON: Madison (Portland) 25, The Dalles-Wahtonka 0 - Andy Jackson ran for 257 yards and three touchdowns and Tony Stutevoss passed to Alex Nalevaiko for a fourth score, while the Madison defense shut out the visitors' spread attack. On the second play of the second period, Jackson swept right then made an amazing cutback through the entire defensive secondary to go 57 yards to open the scoring. Four plays later, following a turnover, Stutevoss rolled left and found Nalevaiko open in the end zone for a 13-yard TD. Stutevoss recovered his own onside kick to start the second half, and the Senators drove 50 yards to make it 19-0 when Jackson raced 25 yards up the middle to the two, then punched it in on the next play. The final Madison score came in the fourth quarter when Jackson swept right and again cut back, breaking several tackles on a 40-yard run. In all, Madison had 345 yards of total offense - 320 yards rushing on 58 attempts, plus 25 yards passing (2-of-4 for a TD). Andy Jackson's 257 yards came on 28 carries. In posting the first Madison shutout in recent memory, the Senators allowed just 117 yards total - 23 yards rushing and 94 yards passing (on 9 of 28), while recovering a fumble and intercepting two passes. Of significance, the visitors were able to convert on just two of 11 third downs. On a soggy, rain-soaked field, the Senators fumbled just once, but didn't lose the ball. Perhaps the most impressive statistic of all was penalties: Madison was not penalized. (The radio guy from The Dalles shared the booth with us, and managed to say "The Dalles-Wahtonka Eagles-Indians" just once before breaking for a commercial and looking over at us and saying, "that was a mouthful!" That was the last we heard him say it in its entirety.) *********** Coach, Edmonds Cyclones 54 vs Lynnwood South 0. Our powers could not be stopped. Saturday was a day when our kids were better football players. Bigger, faster, and stronger. We scored three touch downs on defense when they took to the pass. One via interception and two from QB sack fumble pick up and runs. Our games will now get much tougher as we'll have to forget the first two. Glade Hall, Seattle, Washington *********** Doug Giles, in townhall.com, says to look out - Dan Rather and CBS are working on some revelations about George W. Bush that are sure to swing the momentum back to the Big Geek: 1. He once drank red wine with fried chicken. 2. He wore white after Labor Day. 3. In 1968, he insisted on swimming after lunch, refusing to wait the full thirty minutes. 4. He has been known to drink milk after the expiration date. 5. He started the Civil War. 6. When he was nine, he missed a dentist appointment. 7. Some say he was present during Christ's crucifixion. (I just pray that no one ever asks me about the time I saw him tear the DO NOT REMOVE tag off a mattress.) *********** Coach, Just thought I'd let you know that after getting shut out again last Thursday running that powerfull I formation=), we are now averaging a whopping 2 offensive points per game.  Needless to say I got the word Saturday morning that we are now once again a double wing team.  It was the only thing that worked last week, we averaged 3 yards/carry running 88 super power.  The funny part is that our C back never blocked the lbers, our guard and tackle never beat the A back to the hole, and our FB often ended up doubling the end with the C back.  Our only lead blocker was the QB, and we still gained yards.  The initial response was "coach we ran it 5 times and never gained over 5 yards...it doesn't work".  When we watched the film and I showed them how badly we executed, they realized...this is our most successfull running play, and we aren't even running it right.  So we are now committing to rep every DW play(super powers, wedge, counter, red red, blue blue) at least 10 times each practice.  I will keep you updated on our progress. The system has been proven to work. If it isn't working at your place, the logical place to look is at the coaching. You are absolutely right in your analysis and your approach. Nothing works when we don't work at it. *********** A coach who is new to his school wrote, "Twelve players quit this week because they didn't like the accountability that we have established on the team, and I had visits from three upset parents. Coming through with a victory after such a difficult week shows a great deal of character on the part of our players, and I am very proud of them." I wrote back, "With Oregon at Oklahoma this past weekend, there were a lot of stories in our local papers about Bob Stoops. "One of them dealt with his first off-season practice, and how hard it was, and the rather large number of guys who quit the program once they saw how different (that is, how much more demanding) things were going to be under the new sheriff. "Coach Stoops' results speak for themselves. "It is adding by subtracting." HW *********** Coach Wyatt: My name is Terrell Holliday and I spoke to you a couple of years ago. I went and watched Catoctin High School (Thurmont, Maryland) play a few times and fell in love with the DW. I coach 8-10 year olds and I attempted to run the DW last year, but my team didn't get the grasp of it until the end of the year. At the beginning of this season I decided to abandon the DW and run the straight T formation. Let me tell you that it was the worse decision I made since I began coaching. Our team was blown out 30-0 for its first game. The 2nd game was a different story. With only a week to prepare, I reverted back to the DW and taught my kids three plays (Wedge, Sweep, and PowerToss). We wedged our opponent to death. They couldn't stop my fullback. I probably ran the wedge 20 straight times before the opposite team began bunching everyone in. When they did that I, I called a Sweep and my A back broke one. We ended up winning 12-7. The team that we beat had been undefeated for the past two years. This was a great win for my kids considering we only won three games in the past two years. I love the 88 PowerToss, but I don't know if my backs can handle the pounding because they are so small. Of course, I will continue to try to run that play since it is the bread and butter of the offense. Can you tell me what other plays I should install? Thank you for making me a believer!!!! Terrell Holliday, Baltimore, Maryland I'm glad that you've had some success with the Double Wing. I have a list of plays I suggest for youth coaches among my TIPS. I believe it is either Tip #130 or 131. *********** I loved Ozzie's comments on the school name. He must still have a good sense of humor after all. I cracked up. I think all schools should have 10 or 12 self esteem counselors on the dole, for these sensitive times. Maybe self esteem classes to get your self image lifted daily. OR just pass out the pills. hahaha Yours truly, SOME GUY IN THE SOUTHEAST (actually, Larry Harrison, Siloam, Georgia) (Yes, Ossie Osmundson has a good sense of humor. Still. I coached with him for three years and we had us some good times! HW) *********** UNDER THE HEADLINE "DEVASTATING NEWS" - Coach Wyatt - I usually like to report in with good or positive news, but today is a sad,sad day on the North Shore. The Legendary Park Lunch bar suffered a major fire last night - the only positive I can report is that it seems the basement and kitchen took the heavy damage of the blaze - The Bar and dining room was spared some, but the most positive aspect is they salvaged most of the memorabilia, and they hope to re-open in 3 months, I wish Mike Doyle and his family the Best, here is the link to the story http://www.newburyportnews.com/ see you next week coach hopefully with better news - John Muckian Lynn,Mass *********** The Auburn-LSU game was a heck of a battle, and I am happy for the Auburn fans, but the game should have been decided in OT. After Auburn scored with under a minute to play to make it 9-9, an Auburn win seemed certain - until the weenie missed the PAT, making overtime all but certain. But wait - not so fast - there's a flag on the play (I told you those SEC refs will figure a way to screw somebody; I just don't know how they decide which team to shaft) and it's against LSU. Personal foul. Huh? We looked at the replays, and damned if anybody could detect an LSU player so much as touching the kicker or the holder. And then it was revealed that an LSU player had violated a rule, brand-new this year, that makes it illegal for anyone starting outside the free blocking zone to dive in the air and come down on an offensive player. Sure enough, an LSU defender had leaped into the air, and landed, half on a teammate and half on an Auburn blocker. What a bogus rule. Is it a safety issue? Are you trying to tell me a defensive back (I am assuming that the ability to jump high precludes putting a 300-pounder back there) can fly through the air and land on a well-armored 300-pound offensive lineman and do any damage? When we were kids, we used to play a game called "buck-buck" which essentially involved the same thing. *********** The SEC officials were at it again down toward the end of the Florida-Tennessee game. Far from the play, a Tennessee DB and a Florida WR were shown tussling. When they broke up, the Tennessee guy shoved the Florida guy in the face mask, whereupon the Gator bitch-slapped him back. And Florida was penalized 15 yards, which, since it was fourth down and the Gators had to punt, may or may not have helped Tennessee on its game-winning drive. I know, I know - the officials always catch the guy who hits back. I still believe that and I teach it. But this all happened right in front of an official, and on TV he appeared to be looking right at the combatants. *********** Tennessee's weenie kicker, who looks like your typical high school JV player, misses the game-tieing kick in the dying moments. But then the Vols put on a great defensive stand and mount a great drive to get back into field goal range, and this time the weenie makes it, and Tennessee beats Florida, and suddenly, HE'S THE F--KING HERO, and the winning field goal is THE PLAY OF THE GAME. Kickers. I hate 'em. *********** Thought that had to be running through Jon Gruden's mind after watching Chris Simms' gutless performance against the Seahawks (example: 3rd and 1 and with no one in front of him, all he has to do is take a giant step forward and he has a first down, but instead he stands there looking for an open receiver and he fumbles): anybody know how I can get hold of Major Applewhite? *********** After watching far more NFL-type "football" than I normally would, I am left with two burning questions (1) Was this Dance After You Make a Routine Tackle Week, or does this go on every week? (2) Those people who paid good money to sit and watch semi-pro games like the Bucs-Seahawks, Broncos-Jaguars , Bills-Raiders or Dolphins-Bengals - they're going to get their money back, right? *********** NFL football yesterday - what I saw of it - was BAD. Denver-Jax, Oakland-Buffalo, Seattle-Tampa Bay, Cincinnati-Miami - and then Philadlephia-Minnesota Whew! As Casey Stengel once said after watching his Amazin' Mets - "doesn't anybody here know how to play this game?" *********** Coach Wyatt, Here's an update on our latest game. We knew going in that we were playing a team who hadn't won a game in 4 tries. This always scares me because every "dog has his day". We came out really slow (even scarier) on special teams. At the coin flip, they won the toss and elected to receive…we kicked, they scored…ugh! Talk about amazing…our kids were being down right lazy going down for the tackles. They scored another TD on a KO return after our first TD. Our team is very resilient, however, and when we got the ball on "O", we marched 80 yards for a TD. We ran Over Left and Over Right very successfully versus a 4-4. They were blitzing like crazy, but never realized our unbalanced line. We also used Double Wide often and it worked. On a 4th and 7 from their 25 yard line, we went Double Wide and ran 3 wedge…for a touchdown! It was funny, because their coach was screaming, "they're going to pass" because of our successful passing. They came with a full blitz and our B Back ran right by them all! Our QB, Justin Trujillo, was on his A game today. He ran 88 option, 99 option, 88 QB follow and 99 QB follow to perfection. He scored 4 rushing TD's for approximately 125 yards rushing on 9 carries. Our C back had 75 yards rushing, mostly on the Over Left 99 Powers. Our A Back had great success on Over Right 88 Power and XX 56 Counter. We also ran Stack 88 and Stack 99 for 25 yards. We have a ton of plays and 5 legit weapons in our offensive backfield. I would hate to be a defensive coordinator versus the Double Wing. I love this offense and what it brings to the table, so to speak. Final score: Monarchs 50 and Rams 18. Respectfully, Marvin Garcia, Manzano Monarchs, Albuquerque, New Mexico *********** REPORT ON DE LA SALLE's GAME: Close to 10,000 people packed the Salinas Sports Complex and Rodeo Grounds grandstand for the all-Christian Brothers match between the 10-time Central Coast Section champion Palma Chieftains and Concord's football legends De La Salle, staring at an unfathomable-of 0-3 start. The crowd, featuring clad partisans as well as disinterested football fans of all stripes, was treated to a battle as fierce and even as its 7-7 final score suggests. The radio men remarked that Palma people saw this as a possible changing-of-the-guard game, "maybe in five years they'll talk about Palma the way they talk about DLS now." Palma had ketchup and mustard uniforms (call Teresa Heinz for an endorsement deal) and De La Salle had their silver and green Skyline-of-Issaquah look. Palma was going for the three-peat as their freshman and JV teams had vanquished the visitors earlier in the afternoon. Interesting visitors were Alaska's Bartlett High of Anchorage, who had defeated Bellarmine 9-7 the night before. De La Salle did not want to see them &endash; a blue-and-gold winged-helmet Wing-T team. De La Salle took the opening kickoff on their own 5, then took it into the end zone on a powerful, balanced drive, throwing a 15-yard crossing pattern to the 1 and punching in from there. Palma made it clear on their first possession that the game would go through the hands of quarterback Chad Bozzo, a greased snake of an athlete who seemed to burst out of the bull tunnels on the sideline. Whether option, draw or pass, no one breathed with the ball in his hands. There has been talk of a talent dropoff in Concord, and I for one believe it. The receivers dropped a bushel of good passes, had lousy efforts on others and just plain didn't adjust on the rest. Maybe they've gone away from it, but I didn't see much veer either. They seemed afraid to exert dominance on the line. Nor was I impressed with Palma's vaunted fly series. They ran the sweep several times, to little avail, but preferred to sneak and option their quarterback and power their tailback. Misdirection was nonexistent. The defenses, however, were stout as advertised. They both flew to the ball, and neither team had any major assignment breakdowns. These were units that were not going to give up fluke plays. DLS' tailback carried the ball away from his body, and Palma took advantage by forcing 3 fumbles and taking away 2. No one showed much competence in the passing game &endash; both teams were called for illegal men downfield on slipscreens that went too far. The momentum cracked late in the third quarter. Palma had fourth and 8 on the 20, rolled out and threw to their 6'5" receiver who was covered by three Spartans. Someone must have done something, because three flags converged as the pass was knocked down. First and goal on the 7. The Chieftains got two plays down to the one as the quarter expired. They opened the fourth with a sneak into the end zone, and the place exploded. I thought the aluminum stands were going to crumble with the hopping and pounding. Following the score, Palma booted the kickoff out of bounds. But a DLS penalty gave them the opportunity to re-kick. Not only was the ball returned to the 32 Palma's 6'5" receiver was injured, returning later to make a critical interception on De La Salle's second-to-last drive. (Maybe they should have declined the penalty.) DLS drove down to the 20, but as quarterback and Oregon State verbal Kevin Lopina lunged forward, he coughed up the ball to Palma. Lopina turned his ankle on the play and did not return, replaced by receiver Anthony Gutierrez, Michigan Matt's brother. Palma took a long drive to the 40, but had to punt despite converting a 3rd and 8 with a pop-pass to a tight end who made a great catch right in his gut. De La Salle threw an interception on the next series, all but extinguishing any scoring threat as the clock forced the anemic passing game. In California they don't play overtime, so it was sad to not see the game decided. However, on another level, the only way one team would have won at that point was by a freakish play or a boneheaded mistake; so it was better to not see the game end decisively but without satisfaction. And although there was some home cooking (and I'm not talking about the chili), the refs stayed away from deciding the game with laundry. All in all, a great experience and worth the 90 minute drive into the northern head of the Central Valley. Boy do they play some football down here! Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California *********** Hi Coach, When I bought my tickets (in June) to see the DeLaSalle's streak I didn't' think it would be the "winless streak". DLS played a very good Palma team in a game filled with mistakes. Palma 7, DLS 7. No tie breaker in non-league games. Kind of like kissing your sister, if you ask me... Palma feels pretty good, DLS has got to be in turmoil ! Also Palma freshman and JV teams beat DLS. Hmmmmm! The Atascadero Raiders continue to win ugly. Great individual efforts with enough "D" to go 3-0. We really haven't played anybody yet. We will see when we play two undefeated teams in the next two weeks. We are just not pounding the ball like we need to. We bust big plays, so it looks like we in control, but we really aren't getting the sustained blocks and the seal on the inside of the powers. It is time to go back to basics in practice. Hope you did well this weekend! Talk to you soon, Mike Norlock, Atascadero, California (How much you wanna bet the geniuses in the stands - parents and alumni - are all over De La Salle Coach Bob Ladouceur to spread it out and open it up? HW) *********** One quick question, Coach: We've seen Tiger Ellison's Run and Shoot Football but haven't seen anything that contains the entire Lonesome Polecat playbook. Would you be aware of a complete Polecat playbook in print? There isn't any playbook so far as I know. Tiger Ellison wrote about it as the way he got into development of the Run and Shoot, but there wasn't much to it, really - essentially, Lonesome Polecat was one play, which depended on receivers' reactions to the way defenders played them. HW *********** Hi Coach Wyatt, First off, thanks for such a great system. My 6-8 year old team is 6-0 and rolling all over everyone. The kids love the offense. The reason I am writing is because in yesterdays game, we were flagged twice for our wedge blocking. He said we were interlocking the linemen which we weren't. At the half we met to discuss it, both of us had our rulebooks out, and he said that it is interlocking because we have our inside hand pushing the man in front of him in the middle of the back.. He said if we just used shoulderpads it would be OK. Not sure I see the difference. To his credit he did research this after we had him the week before and he said he has a book that gives real-game cases for each of the rules and that in the book it showed the way we block and it said it was illegal. He is supposed to bring the book out this week to practice to show me. Anyway, I just wanted to see what you thought. Thanks again coach for all your help over the years. Craig Thomas, Kettering Firebirds, Kettering, Ohio Nothing at all wrong with what you're doing. He can't show you that it's illegal because it's not. HOWEVER - no matter whether you have the rules on your side, you will not likely win many arguments with any officials during a game, so you might as well call a time out and go out on the field and make a big issue of telling your kids - loud enough that the officials can hear you - not to push when they're wedging. To be honest with you, I don't advocate the use of hands in any sort of blocking except "retreat" pass protection. *********** Coach: Need some help.. What is the best D to run against the double wing? We run 5-3 Monster and 6-2. Our game this week is against a team that only runs a double wing. Thanking you for your time. Coach O'Neal, Chestnut Log Middle, Douglasville, Ga Coach O'Neal, not to be rude, but stopping the Double-Wing is not my job. Hugh Wyatt *********** If you're a coach who espouses the work ethic, and you still think the major problem with steroids is the health issue- think again... "An athlete who is lackadaisical, who eats badly, sleeps badly, misses many days at the gym, works out without too much effort and takes steroids can blow away an athlete who works out to the limit of his ability, sleeps perfectly, has a perfect diet, and in every other respect goes to the limit of his body." Harrison Pope, Harvard University psychologist, who has carried out extensive studies of steroids. *********** ALABAMA: Providence Christian School (Dothan) 34, Houston Academy *********** COLORADO: Lyons 26, Strasburg 7 - Coach, We got win number 3 Friday night, 26-7 over Strasburg (our second win over a higher classification team this year.) Check out Rockypreps.com if you get a chance. We are leading the state in rushing yardage. DOUBLE WING FOREVER!! Gary Creek, Offensive Coordinator, Lyons High School Lyons, Colorado (Lyons, with 1169 yards in 3 games, leads Class 2A) *********** COLORADO: Westminster 26, Kennedy 13 (Westminster, with 1165 yards rushing in 3 games, is second in rushing in Class 4A) *********** FLORIDA: Goleman (Miami) 35, American 34 (OT) - Dear Coach, We did it!!! Goleman beat American HS for the first time in school history. It took us triple overtime to do it, but we never gave up. Final score 35-34. Hope all is well with you and again thank you. Leonard Patrick - Goleman HS, Miami - PS-368yds No passes *********** FLORIDA: Belleview 49, Tallahassee Chiles 36 = Hey Coach, I hope all is well. Just wanted to report on the Belleview Rattlers game on Friday night. We improved to the first ever 2-0 start in school history by beating the Tallahassee-Chiles Timberwolves 49-36. Our offense is coming along nicely. We spoyted the T'wolves a 14 point lead in the first quarter but, the offense pretty much took over from there. We rolled up 503 total yards with 325 rushing yards and 3 TDs on 51 carries for a 6.4 yd. avg. and went 8/17 for 178 yards passing for a 10.5 yds/attempt avg. and 4 TDs. Our per play average on the night was 7.4 yards. The 4 passing TDs is a school record for a single game and I will be sure to check on the school record for total yards in a game. Chiles is no slouch of a team as they were the runner up in their district last season. On the ground, our B Back had a huge night with 156 yds. on 21 carries. 3 Trap @ 2, wedge, G, Super Power, and Power Keep were our big ground gainers and Red Red/Blue Blue as well as Black and Brown were there also. The numbers aren't so bad for an Offense that "won't work at a big high school down here in Florida." Regards, Donnie Hayes, Belleview, Florida *********** GEORGIA - Nathanael Greene Academy (Siloam) 46, David Emanuel Academy 0 - We'll take a win anytime even if the 9th graders play the second half. We just jumped all over DEA Friday night for the pain of the loss last week was still lingering. The guys were ready to play and wanted to get that losing taste put in the past. We had a 40-0 lead at the half and let the whole 9th grade group play the entire second half. We have an arch rival, Gatewood, next week that will be a huge game for us. We are 4 &endash; 1 and hope to get better another week heading to Gatewood. Hope your guys played good this week. Larry Harrison, Siloam, Georgia *********** ILLINOIS: Ridgeview 35, :exington 7 - 524 yards of offense tonight for the Mustangs as we downed arch rival lexington 35-7. We are now 4-0 on the season. We had 42 carries for 332 yards rushing and our QB Michael Kellar was 5 of 6 for 92 yards and a TD. We had 4 fumbles in the first half this evening, but we played well other than that. Our defense completely stopped Lexington's run game. (8 yards rushing) Next week we play the Tri-Point Chargers, a five wide team. Mike Benton, Colfax, Illinois *********** ILLINOIS: Elmwood-Brimfield 33, Yorkwood-Roseville 6 - Coach, The Trojans travelled to play the Bearcats of Yorkwood/Roseville last Friday in what was to be their first test of the season, and an anticipated "game of the week" in the Prairieland Conference. The billing pitted E/B running back Nate McFadden (150+ypg, 14+ ypa) against Y/R fullback Tyler Gillen (200+ypg). The Trojans had only beaten the Bearcats once, ever, and never at their place. Well, let's just say the game didn't live up to the hype, not that I minded how it went (we won, 33-6). Offensively, we did what we wanted to for the most part, and took what they gave us when we had to. McFadden had 171 yards on 11 carries and 2 td's. Our other wing carried 15 times for 88 yards and 2 td's.. Our fullback had his best game this season, as they were unable to adjust to 6-G. He rushed 18 times for 104 yards and a touchdown. We used the stack effectively, allowing McFadden to manuever in the open field while putting Black back there in short yardage/goalline situations. In all, we rushed 54 times for 370 yards. We also were 2 for 4 passing for 48 yards. Not a bad evening. Todd Hollis, Elmwood, Illinois *********** IOWA - Alta 26, Pocahontas 12 - Coach Wyatt - Alta started their district play with a 26-12 win over the district favorite Pocahontas. Scored twice on 99 super power, and once each on red/red and 38 g-o reach boot, passing to the y end. Stats for the game: A-back 11 rushes, 27 yards. B-back 6 rushes, 6 yards. C-back 13 rushes 219 yards and 2 receptions for 100 yards. Our QB ran 4 times for 32 yards and was 4 of 7 for 115 yards. Overall, 396 yards on 41 offensive plays. Pochontas ran a 5-4 most of the night which gave us problems at times. It did, however, lend itself to giving up big plays and we had 3 of our TD's cover more than 50 yards. It was good to see our all-district C-back get back on track after 2 sup-par (for him) games. We could have passed more against the cover 2 but lead all of the game and was more concerned with running the clock. This was a huge win for us and sets us up in the driver's seat if we can get a win at home this week. Rory Payne *********** IOWA - Galva-Holstein 40, Odebolt-Arthur 0 - 48 rushes for 426 yards, 3 of 5 passing for 63 yards 2 TD's and 1 INT A back 15 carries for 102 yards, B back 4 carries for 79 yards, C back 14 carries for 164 yards. Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa *********** KANSAS: Washington 51, Lakeside 12 - We run for 405 yards and threw for almost 50 in moving to 3-0 on the season with 51-12 win over Lakeside. My first 3-0 team ever. We ran mostly super powers and traps. Our B back had 6 carries for 65 yards and three touchdowns. One of our A backs had 9 carries for 153 yards and we ran a total of 8 wingbacks on the night. At least 6 carried the ball in the first quarter. Our kids are excuting the offense well at this early juncture. Thanks for everything Coach. Steve Cozad *********** KANSAS: Colby 36, Oberlin 28 - The Colby Eagles are 2-1 after winning on the road for the second time this season. Trailing 28-20 entering the fourth quarter, the Eagles stayed with their power running game to tally two TD's and two 2-pt conversions in the fourth quarter for the win. The powerful double wing offense ran for 295 yards on 60 carries, and we completed 2 of 5 passes (both first downs) for 47 yards. For the first time this season we dominated the the clock by accumulating 31:25 time of possession. Sophomore wingback Sam Munderloh ran 33 times for 203 yards, and senior qb/cb Matt Augustine had two big interceptions on defense (the second came with just less than a minute to play and led to the winning TD) to lead the way for the Eagles. *********** MASSACHUSETTS: Malden Catholic 34, Revere 20 *********** MINNESOTA: Benilde-St. Margaret's 14 - Fridley 6: The Red Knights double-wing offense racked up 300 yards but had trouble finding the end zone. Two missed FG's (30 yards) and a sure touchdown interception that was dropped certainly could have helped in the scoring. But a win is a win. BSM is now 2-0 in conference play and 2-1 overall. The Red Knights will travel to Orono 2-0 (2-1 overall) on Friday for a showdown with the Spartans. Joe Guttilla, Minneapolis *********** MISSISSIPPI - Our game this week was cancelled due to the Hurricane. We begin Division play next friday. We return to school monday. I have not seen my players since Monday. I hope we can continue our momentum as Division play begins. My house did not receive any damage from the hurricane. My neighborhood faried pretty well, despite being one block from the Gulf! I report in next week. Steve Jones, Ocean Springs *********** NEBRASKA - Stanton 43, Wisner-Pilger 7 - Coach, Just a quick update. Stanton moved to 3-0 defeated Wisner-Pilger 43-7. They tried to run a 5-4-1-1 against us. One defensive back??? Come on. Our first score was 7-G pass from 78 yards out!! We threw for 145 yards on the night going 5 of 9. We scored on a 66 Red-Red halfback pass too. Of course we ran the ball too.. 411 yards on 50 carries. We held them to 180 total yards. They went 6 of 25 passing with a pick. They have some really good athletes too, and a darn good QB.. We ran jet sweep 5 or 6 times for around 90 yards! I was very pleased with 556 total yards against a decent opponent. Good luck and GO DW!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton, Nebraska *********** NEW YORK: Lansingburgh 20, Fonda 19 - Lansingburgh seals the win by stuffing a last-minute two-point conversion attempt. *********** NEW YORK: Queensbury 21, Glens Falls 20 (OT) 16 fumbles in the game, 12 that changed hands. Really!!! Great win for us. 3 at2 and 2 at 3 Trap were big 127 yards by the B back. Thanks, John Irion *********** NEW YORK: Corning West 34, Ithaca 27 - Corning West survives 12 fumbles to sieze the win in nthe last minute of play. *********** NEW YORK: Oakfield-Alabama 23, Elba 12. 53 for 289 and 2 TD's on the ground 1-2 19yds and a TD in the air. *********** WASHINGTON: LaCenter 55, Castle Rock 12 - Wildcats, now 3-0, ranked #2 in state Class 2-A *********** WASHINGTON: Port Townsend 12, Eatonville 0 - Port Townsend now 3-0 *********** WASHINGTON: Lakeside 35, Foster 6 - Lakeside now 2-1 *********** "George Bush was deceived, and he's a liar. Dan Rather was deceived. Is he a liar?" Veronica Anderson, Madison, Wisconsin (The difference is that Dan knows he has been duped and is working hard to get to the bottom of it all, and once he does, he will come clean with a full explanation and an apology. To the President. Also, pigs will grow wings. HW) *********** A survey of young athletes sponsored by the Josephson Institute of Ethics (http://charactercounts.org/sports/survey2004/) is not very encouraging, and can certainly be interpreted as damning to their coaches, the very people who should be teaching them ethical behavior... While nearly 90% of high school athletes report that most of their coaches set a good example of ethics and sportsmanship, it's not clear they know what a good example is. Large portions of these same athletes endorse questionable actions of coaches including: 1) arguing with an official intending to intimidate or influence future calls (51% of males, 30% females);  2) instructing players how to illegally hold and push opponents without getting caught (45% of males, 22% females);  3) using a stolen playbook of another team (42% of males, 24% females);  4) saying nothing when official declares the wrong score in favor of the coach's team (a mathematical rather than a judgment error) (40% of males, 21% females);  5) instructing a player to fake an injury to get a needed extra time out (39% of males, 22% females);  6) ordering a pitcher to throw at an opposing hitter in retaliation after a key player was hit by a pitch (30% of males, 8% females); 7) swearing at an official to get thrown out of a game in order to get team worked up (38% of males, 12% females) Many High School Athletes Break Rules and Engage in Unsporting Conduct. Judging by the conduct and attitudes of young athletes, it appears that many coaches place winning above the concept of honorable competition and sportsmanship by teaching or condoning illegal or unsporting conduct. Thus, high percentages think it is proper to: 1) deliberately inflict pain in football to intimidate an opponent (58% of males, 24% females);  2) trash talk a defender after every score (47% of males, 19% females);  3) soak a football field to slow down an opponent (27% of males, 12% females);  4) build up a foul line in baseball to keep bunts fair (28% of males, 21% females);  5) throw at a batter who homered last time up (30% of males, 16% females);  and 6) illegally alter a hockey stick (25% of males, 14% females). Cynical Attitudes About Success. Nearly half of the male athletes reveal cynical attitudes about the prevalence, necessity and legitimacy of cheating in the real world. Thus, high percentages agree with the following statements: 1) "in sports, people who break the rules are more likely to succeed" (30% of males, 15% females);  2) "in the real world, successful people do what they have to do to win even if others consider it cheating" (56% of males, 45% females);  3) "a person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed" (43% of males, 27% females);  4) "it isn't cheating if everyone is doing it" (19% of males, 9% females); and 5) "if you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough" (12% of males, 5% females). Depressing, but, in view of the example set for them by today's adults, hardly surprising *********** Coach Wyatt, I wanted to thank you for the great info on your website as well as your clinics. Hopefully one day I'll be able to get some more coaches to believe and use your system. I think if my team continues its success, I might have some coaches seeking to improve by taking some of your advice via our program. As I pointed out, we are averaging 41 pts a game with a few weaker teams in our league coming up. Our average per rush is 8 yards a carry and 10 yards per pass attempt. 12 attempts- 9 completions -3 tds no interceptions. Several coaches commented that our offensive line is very big. Not True! I have a big slow kid at center at 224lbs but the guards are about 160 and the tackles are in the 180 range. My TE's are about 135 lbs each. We remain focused because we see so many odd ball defenses that try all kinds of overloaded fronts and strange alignments. This isn;t a problem because we try to practice against them all and have very few plays. About 5 runs, 3 pass plays and 3 formations. We are in double tight 80% of the time, with an unbalance twins set or slot formation to throw in a new twist now and again. Homecoming is Tuesday. I'll have the results for that game for you on Wed. AM. Best of luck Coach King, Evans Georgia, Riverside M.S. Eagles *********** Coach, The Guilderland Pop Warner Junior Mudget Colts (2-0 with consecutive shutouts) won our second game of the season Sunday, 28-0. Our Offense scored on our first four possessions as we racked up 180 yards on 18 plays in the first half. We ran Tight 2 Wedge 11 times, 44 base lead and 47c twice each. Our defense held em to only 60 yards on 31 plays while forcing 2 turnovers. Next up is a tough South Troy team that is also 2-0 and in our division. I know the kids will be all jacked up for this one! Thanks again for all the help! Mike Cahill, Guilderland Colts, Guilderland, New York (ps: I thought you would also be interested to hear about the other 3 teams in our organization that chose to not run the DW. After 2 weeks, a combined 0-6, having been outscored 138 to 8!) *********** Coach Wyatt, Oviedo Lions 21, Winter Park Tigers 18 (Pop Warner Senior Midget Division) Finally got to play our first game of the season and slugged out a hard fought victory. We won the battles up front and really frustrated a team with a lot more team speed than we have. Super Powers set the tone for some nice counters and traps as our OLine really executed and dominated. We kept seeing one of those defensive looks that means 6G/7G "until the cows come home" as you have said and we sure did take advantage of that. The G's were especially effective out of unbalanced in this game. Throw in a healthy dose of Wedge and result for us was victory this day. Lee Griesemer, Chuluota, Florida *********** When Florida missed the FG, they were where? inside the 10? Tenessee got its next posession on the 20. Did I miss a play? Or is there a rule I don't know about? A missed FG from on or inside the 20 is treated the same as a punt that goes out of the end zone - touchback. That used to be the rule on all field goals, from anywhere on the field, but in an attempt to discourage people from trying "what the hell" type field goals from way out, they now bring the ball back to the original spot - or the 20-yard-line, whichever is farther back. HW    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 17, 2004  "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." General George S. Patton, Jr   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** I had been spending the summer of 1986 as an intern in the athletic department at LSU, working under Tigers' AD Bob Brodhead, who'd been my boss in the World Football League. While there, my wife and I spent one of our most enjoyable weekends in ever in a beachfront apartment in Gulf Shores, Alabama. True, she did get stung by a jellyfish, and she did goe flipped ass-over-teakettle while body-surfing, injuring her shoulder; but we had a wonderful time, and Gulf Shores has always held a special place in our memory. So it was with great sadness that we learned that Hurricane Ivan had made landfall right there at little old Gulf Shores, and even greater sadness when we saw the damage that had been done to our little vacation spot.. *********** Our Opponent (Madison High, Portland, Oregon) Friday night is... Wait. Let me backtrack a bit. Originally it was to be The Indians, from The Dalles High School in The Dalles, Oregon. The Dalles is a small city about 80 miles to the east of Portland, on the "dry side" of the Cascade Mountains. (The name means "The Rapids" - a huge dam just upstream has long since tamed the once-wild Columbia River, but The Dalles was once the site of Celilo Falls, where native tribesmen risked life and limb to stand on rickety platforms over the rapids and net salmon as they swam upstream.) Following the last school year, The Dalles High School merged with smaller Wahtonka High School, located just outside town. The merged school was to be called Columbia Gorge High School, and its teams were to be called the River Hawks. But no-o-o-o-o-o... Graduates of The Dalles High - 1800 of them - submitted a petition to the local politicians demanding that their school's name - and nickname - be preserved. Being politicians, they caved. The Dalles High School it shall remain, they decreed, and the teams shall remain The Indians. Not so fast, came the response from the Wahtonka Eagles. . We didn't agree to a merger only to be swallowed up by the big boys, who get to keep their name and nickname while we lose our identity. Scurrying about frantically, the politicians proposed a compromise that only a politician - or a school administrator - could love: the school was renamed The Dalles-Wahtonka High School, and its teams would be the Indians-Eagles. So Friday night, our opponent is The Dalles-Wahtonka Indians-Eagles. This is not meant in any way to disparage the school, the kids, the town, or the football team. But I don't envy the headline writers out in The Dalles. (My friend Ossie Osmundson, from Ridgefield, Washington, is a graduate of The Dalles High. He writes, "Personally I think that they should just keep the name The Dalles High Indians and hire counselors for all the kids from W.H.S. to help them with their emotions.") *********** Coach, I was thinking the other day about the Black Lion award.  I thought it would be pretty neat to display a Black Lion poster of some sort.  Now that West Point is involved with the award, it could serve as a good recruiting tool for them, and the Army in general.  Your thoughts?  Good idea except - two of the stipulations regarding the award are that it its not to be used for any commercial purpose, and that it is not to be connected in any way with recruiting. The latter refers to recruiting young men for the Armed Forces. But as for athletic recruiting - the NCAA prohibits the USMA from using this program for its football recruiting advantage. Things had to be carefully checked out with the NCAA before Coach Ross could agree to serve on our Board of Advisors. Nothing prohibits you or me from promoting Army athletics - or service academy athletics in general - so long as we do not act as agents of an institution. Good idea nonetheless. *********** Coach Wyatt, I thought I'd drop you a line to let you know we won our 2nd game of the season 36-30 over or rival school. They have perhaps the finest back ever to play for a Columbia County School and is the son of former Georgia and NFL receiver Author Marshall. He rushed for over 200 yards. Running by committee we also rushed for over 200 yards. Our B back ran 3 trap @ 4 for a 50 yard td as well as getting many tough yards on 2 wedge. The game was decided by who had the ball last. Neither team punted all night. We had one drive end on downs in the 1st half and we made a great defensive stand at the end of the 4th quarter. With less than 2 minutes in the game we were able to able to get the ball to their 20 yd line and we completed a pass to the c back on 2 Red to win the game with 4 seconds left. This gives us 82 points for the season ( 41 per game ave) This is with 8 minute quarters. Good luck to you and your team this week. Dan King Riverside Middle School, Evans, Georgia *********** Coach, Just a quick note after reading your most recent "news". What a small world it is to see you info about Guilderland, New York!! I lived there until I was 10 years old! I played in that very same Guilderland Pop Warner league on those teams. Of course it was back in 1977-1979. We were also the Colts and the younger teams were the Broncos. That's how I got my start in football. Hooked on it ever since!! I lived in an area of Guilderland called Westmere, which is all a suburb of Albany! That's so cool! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska *********** NORTH CAROLINA - We had our first win on Fri. defeating Broughton 40-28. We had 59/350 rushing for 5 TD and 1-5 passing 70 yds and 1 touchdown. We are avg. 239 yds rushing per game. we are leading our opponent in Time of Pocession 84-70. We lost the first 2 to 2 good teams. Ron Clarke, Enloe HS, Raleigh, North Carolina *********** Coach Wyatt, Well we posted two nice wins since I last touched base with you. That team with the aggressive, tough ends we talked about.....well they were that and more. We pulled out a tough 13-6 win! Not much success inside or out, but they could not contain our offensive outside speed and eventually we got the go ahead touchdown in the 4th quarter. My Defense (which for what it's worth is John Reeds GAM 10-1) really did the trick by keeping us in good field position. Although the offense did not put up lots of points, we did move the ball and keep there offense off the field. That, perhaps has been the best dividend of the Double Wing thus far. Last night we played our second game against the Colts and hung 37 points on them, rolling to a 37-6 victory. Everything worked. We have developed a very nice combination...As I told you my quarterback is an exceptional athlete, and a great blocker. Our signature play is Wildcat Rip 88 Power Keep, with our A back going further in motion to block the corner and make it a true power play. Well to counter this we have come up with Wildcat 29 "O" Reverse, which my QB shows 88 Power Keep and then hands of outside to the C back. It went for two touchdowns of 40 and 60 yards last night after the defense keyed on my QB. We also score up the middle on 6G, 7G and 3 Trap at 2. One guy came up to me, whose son is playing Jr High football in a neighboring town, and asked if I could show "my offense" to his Jr. High coach. He said we had better execution, discipline, and efficiency than most teams with 14 and 15 yr olds. I told him I'd be glad to, but it is not "my offense" but that developed by Hugh Wyatt. Anyway, thanks again for making me look "smarter" than I am. The kids are having fun both winning and executing. Were just going to continue to take one game at a time and see where it takes us. John Dimpel, The Woodlands, Texas *********** Any thoughts on improving out blocking on the interior line?  We seem unable to get the seams were looking for on 4X and 5X, 6G and 7G? I only run 4-x and 5-x are against even fronts. 6-g/7-g or 4-x/5-x require some teaching - there are certain techniques that kids need to have - refer to my "A Fine Line" video if you have it - the outside men need to be able to block down (to avoid penetration) and the kickout men need to be able to "claw" their way to the hole by reaching out with their outside hand and pulling the man on the outside past them. *********** Coach, My wife's uncle died a couple of weeks ago in Iraq from a heart attack. He was a contractor. He had served in the Army and had a military service at the grave side. The American Legion conducted. The Chaplain that gave the flag to his wife had on enough medals to start a Jewelry store. The ones I recognised among the many were 3 purple hearts and 4 bronze stars. The guy was in his mid seventies and still seemed tough as nails. He told the widow because of her husband's service and guys like him we could look to the stars and stripes instead of the sickle, rising sun, or swastika. I was sorry for the widow and family, but I had a lump in my throat about what the chaplain had done in his time to earn those medals. I guaran-damn-T that those were hard earned. I would have loved to hear his take on all the current news. Have a good one! Jeff Murdock, Ware Shoals, South Carolina *********** On Presidential candidate John Kerry and religion…upon being asked what his favorite Bible verse was, he quoted without hesitation John 16:3 thinking that this scripture was really John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Unknowingly, he gave John 16:3 which reads "They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me." God works in mysterious ways! Marvin Garcia, Albuquerque, New mexico *********** Hugh, Sorry to hear you lost, but it sounded like you felt very good about the way your kids played. That is the great thing about your DW. it can score points and keep you in games even when you have limited Defensive talent. It has been 7 years since I met you in Cape May, and you completely sold me on your DW. There is nothing that you can do or try with your DW that we haven't tried over the 7 years. Some times we make improvements and little adjustments, but most of the time we come back to the way it was originally drawn up. I feel that it is impossible to come up with a Defense that can play good football with out athletes. Time and time again over the years when we have had limited talent we would just hope to get the ball last so we would have the chance to drive for a game winning score. Last year we averaged more points per game than all but one team in the league, and couldn't make the play-offs simply because we could not play good Defense. I will, however say that the players on those teams do go on to be good Defensive players, because your DW is so easy to teach and maintain that we have been able to spend much more time teaching tackling tech and Defense in general. Frank (That would be Frank Simonsen, of Cape May, New Jersey, who in his more than 25 years as a youth coach has seen it all. In his other life, Frank is skipper of an oil-spill mitigation vessel in Delaware Bay. HW) *********** Two basic rules of management are: 1) whatever you allow you encourage, and 2) whatever employees will do for you, they will do to you. Thus, when managers are too timid, lazy or ambitious to firmly and consistently enforce the rules, they make a mockery of organizational policies and ethical rhetoric. What's worse, they demoralize employees who do live up to higher standards, sowing seeds of inefficiency and corruption. Remember, every time you let a bad guy win, you weaken the resolve of dozens of ordinary folks who need to know that playing by the rules is not just for suckers. MIchael Josephson *********** John Muckian, who as my on-the-scene conservative political correspondent from the People's Republik of Massachusetts has to go around wearing Groucho Marx mustache-and-glasses, says not to worry about Kerry's reputation as a great "closer". Coach - All these talking heads ( especially in Mass ) are claiming " He is a great closer " maybe True, but as Howie Carr and others have pointed out it's all been in, lame-ass,liberal utopia Mass. IF Kerrykakis has to rally late and get the Lefties going in MASSACHUSETTS, I am not buying he can do it in the 49 states RIGHT of Mass. Coach you have to remember this was a guy that was once Mike Dukakis 's Lt. Governor ( 1982-1984 ), I can't wait to see those commercial start -up That link Kerry to Mike Dukakis and Teddy Kennedy, That will Go over real Big in certain Parts of the country !! LOL *********** I'm starting to suspect a Clinton set-up. Those Arkansas a**holes knew that Kerry would make a credible enough candidate - for a while - but that in the long run, with his record in the Senate, he couldn't win, thus leaving it open for Ole Hillary in 2008. Betcha Clinton fingerprints are all over those forged documents. The deal is, they wanted them to be exposed as forgeries, thereby blowing up (sorry to use the military metaphor) any chance Kerry might have had. *********** I am helping a HC of 11-year old raw rookies who got sent down to make up a C-level team in youth league.  Reading your site I am of the opinion that I can make a difference if I can get an O-line together.  I tend to believe that the basics are best (call me old school) and that the shoulder block while keeping the feet moving is the way to go to keep them in contact and not on the ground.  They are not strong enough (I think) to do the hand blocking popular in college and the the NFL and will avoid being chucked away by the D-lineman.  Like boxing, it is best to get inside the opponent and then move him.  Would you agree or is there something I am missing? Actually, it is my opinion that few high school kids are strong enough to get away with "push, shove and grab" blocking. I am VERY old-fashioned in advocating using the pads. If you check my TIPS you will find a few of my additional arguments in favor of using pads instead of using hands, not the least of which is our insistence that shoving a guy out of the way is not enough - he can still get back up. We want our players to stay welded to the man they are blocking - we insist that they take 12 steps AFTER they make contact. *********** I was wondering if you ever encounter this problem. I was trying to run the 3 Trap 2 successfully on a 6 man front until the defense moved the two inside lineman  in further. The problem lies in the two lineman submarining their way in to disrupt the play. How do I still execute the 3 Trap 2 with this defensive adjustment? You have two choices--- You can block the playside guard down on the man in the playside A gap and trap a hole wider... Or you can trap the man in the A-gap. Center blocks back, playside guard pulls. But remember, the trap is one of those plays that is not always there - it can be stopped any time a defense wants specifically to stop it. Our system is based on the fact that they can stop individual plays, but they can't stop them all. *********** Coach- I wish a lot of these brainwashed NFL yahoos fans caught a glimpse of the Texas-Arkansas Game , What a Game !!! That is what Football is all about !! As much as I like Ron Franklin, I wish Keith Jackson was doing the game, so he could have given his classic line " These Two Teams just plain don't like each other" !!! Coach - I said this the second John F Kerrykakis ( as a noted Boston Radio personality is now referring to Kerry as) announced his nomination , He is nothing but a typical phony, Liberal ,elitist Know it all that I know in my Heart the Salt of the Earth people in the Midwest, and the God-fearing people of the South, cannot Stomach and will not tolerate !! Thank God for the South and Midwest See ya Friday Coach, any updates I come across, I will send them ASAP (but I will be at Yankee stadium this weekend)- John Muckian Lynn,Massachusetts (John was kind enough to point out that while new Double-Winger Malden Catholic beat a good St. John's team in its opener, it was not St. John's of Danvers, Mass., perenneial state power. Instead, it was St. John's of Shrewsbury, a good team nonetheless. HW) *********** Coach, Your road trip you described on your site was "really a road trip". Our kids hate it when we have to go two or two and a half hours for a game on a chartered bus. I have yet to see one of those VCR on the busses work well enough to see the film on the way home. Even though it is always one of their selling points, I have had no luck with it. I hated to see that my old team, the Bennington Badgers in Nebraska were beaten by Washington, but at least it was by Steve Cozad and the double wing. They ditched the double wing at Bennington one year after I left in favor of the option and wide open passing. I don't think they have been that successful since going away from it. We were 14-5 my last two years there running the DW and then the year they ran it after I left they went 9-1 but I don't think they have been anything like 23-6 in the past three years. Oh well, to each his own. The Umatilla Bulldogs will finally get to kick off our regular season this Friday after being cancelled two weeks in a row because of Hurricanes Charlie and Frances. We are certainly ready to play someone else and we will tee it up against Bartow this Friday. They have been able to play the past two weeks and they are 2-0 and averaging 39.5 points a game. They were one of only three teams to beat us last year and the defeated us 10-6 and we failed to score twice in the first half inside the ten-yard line. Penalties killed us. We have hated not getting to play, but many of my kids live close to the Ocala Forest and some have been without power for 10 days or so, so we are just happy that no one suffered any serious injuries during the storms. It has been a rather interesting start to the season to say the least. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida *********** I was just informed that our opponent this week runs the Delaware Wing T.  I have never coached agianst this offense, but I know you used to coach it.  We run a 5-3/44 stack defense.  Do you have any pointers on defending the Wing T. I'm sorry but my advice does not extend to the defensive side of the ball. The best thing you can do get on the Web and find out what you can about the offense, which is quite similar to the Double Wing except that they have wider gaps, and then simulate the offense the best you can so your kids have an idea what to expect and how to react. The main thing this offense will do is fool your kids with faking. Try practicing without a football so that in practice your kids tackle everyone who might have the "football." *********** Will sled work be beneficial to a double wing o-line? My take has been that it is a unrealistic look, and that we would gain more by going agianst live bodies. The main value of a sled to an offensive coach is that it requires kids to (1) hit something that doesn't give, and (2) continue driving the feet through - and long after - contact. Failure to do the latter is a major problem with young blockers. *********** In two games using the DW for our 4th grade pee-wee team, we have outscored our opponents by a combined score of 60-0! The wedge is proving to be an absolutely demoralizing play for the opponents' defenses &endash; by the second half, you can almost see the dread in the linemen's eyes as we are lining up to run it for perhaps the 3rd or 4th time in a row, and they know they're about to get steamrolled again. It may not be fancy, but my how it is effective. It's not unusual for us to get 8-10 ypc 2 out of 3 times in the second half on that play &endash; I'm still waiting for our B back to finally break one all the way. Scott Huffman, Arlington, Texas *********** By the way, not a big thing really, but there is one thing the Thundering Herd Fan forgot to mention about the Ohio State game; the Herd players were intentionally laying on top of the Tight End, Ryan Hamby who was trying to get up and into formation for the snap of the ball, I can't fault them for doing this under the desperate conditions but it does seems to be unsportsmanlike. I feel for the Herd though, they played great &endash; I like their team - they missed a 35 yarder from a tough angle and they failed on a fake field goal (audibled by the holder) inside the 20 on which they had miscommunication due to the crowd noise perhaps. Mike Talentino, Twinsburg, Ohio (That was me, posing as an irate Marshall fan. HW) *********** The 8th grade football coach (and assistant varsity coach) Asked to borrow my double wing tapes &endash; he is trying to make changes in the program. Wanted your advice on what to show him. I have Dynamics I and Installing the system, Would these be the best to start off with or is there one I don't have better for this type of scenario? (i.e., Dynamics II or III) I think that if a guy wants to get a look at what you're doing, he has to look under the hood. He has to start the same as you did, looking at the Dynamics tape - all of it - and then, if he is interested, the Installing tape. I believe - and most double winf coaches will bear me out - that he is not going to have a lot of luck just adding "a little" Double-Wing to what he is doing. I believe that it is a matter of not just putting your toes in the water - you have to get all wet. If he is looking for a good offense, you can show him one, and it may be a big help to him. If he is looking for a shortcut, or a few gimmick plays, I don't think it will be much help. *********** We are 0-4 and trying to improve each practice. Tough going 8-0 to 0-4. a lesson in patience. Tough also dealing with playing time and 6th graders. Especially when 0-4.  I like to play them all, but some have beat out others and earned more time. Ohers are better players but don't necessarily "deserve" any more time based on effort. Anyway, I constantly stand out there on the field during practice and games saying "wonder what Hugh would do in this situation?" Hang in there. "What Coach Wyatt would do" in your position is probably the same thing you are doing - being patient, being positive, being persistent. Keep the bar high and coach 'em up, and make sure they're having a good experience. *********** ILLINOIS - Coach, The E/B Trojans took the field Friday night at home versus the Havana Ducks. The team came out on fire, scoring on the second play from scrimmage (14 yd interception return), our first offensive play (60 yd Super Power), and the Duck's next punt attempt (blocked and recovered in the end zone). It was 20-0 in about five minutes. I give the Ducks credit though, they marched it eighty yards on their next drive and scored. But, we answered with another twenty in the second quarter (9 yard wedge, 25 yard post pattern, and an 80 yard interception return with 0:00 on the clock). We scored once more in the third (42 yard Super Power) to make it 47-6 and start the running clock. The Ducks scored with 1:52 left, making the final score 47-12. Statistically, we did pretty well considering how out-of hand the game was. 24 rushes for 241 (3 tds). 2 passes, 2 completions, 37 yards (1 td). 110 yards in interception returns (2 tds). Defensively, they gained 119 on 31 rushes (more than I'd like, but not bad), and 55 on 8 completions (17 attempts). The double wing is doing very well in Central Illinois this season. I hope Coach Mike Benton doesn't mind my mentioning his outstanding Ridgeview team, but through three weeks our two teams have combined for 253 points (6 games), while giving up only 69. I feel guilty that the E/B Trojans gave up 26 of those points in one game, but still feel the overall spread is pretty impressive. Have a great day, Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois   *********** My son is my quarterback.  He is very good, very smart, and the hardest worker on the team.  He is also the starting quarterback on his middle school team that runs the I.  My son's dream is the NFL but he is smart enough to know that he has to work hard to get there and it takes some luck.  I am not worried about the NFL but more so about High School.  I believe that in order to be a good quarterback you need to be a good leader.  And part of being a good leader is being a good motivator, and I think that you need to be successful to be a good motivator.  It all works hand in hand.  My son has played QB for the last three years and if you want to count this year as two years because of the two teams he has been the QB for five consecutive teams.  By running the DW I think that we have a very realistic chance of winning every game, especially if we control the ball for 50+ plays every game.  In order to control the ball we run the ball, run the ball, run the ball and maybe pass once out of every eight plays.  The middle school team passed 50% - 60% of the time without a lot of success.  Not because of the QB but because the kids can't catch, (my son does throw a little hard).  The middle school coach has been told by the HS coach to run a scaled down version of the HS offense which he does.  There is a reason that the HS only won one game last year and are 0-2 this year scoring only 14 points.   I want what's best for my son.  But I also believe that I have a commitment to the kids to try to win the game but make them better football players at the same time. If you were in my shoes with a son who has a possible future as a HS quarterback what would you do?  Run and win or pass and take a chance? My questions for you: Should I pass more?   Only if that is the best offensive strategy based on the ability of your personnel and what the defense is doing. Keep running the same game plan that I do now?  Same answer as above. Or go to the I so that my son runs the same offense on both teams?   That is a "Duh." In other words, Stick with the Double-Wing. He is getting much more ball-handling and leadership training in the Double-Wing. In many I-formation offenses, the QB isn't called on to do a whole lot. Losing complicates things even further What is the best way to develop him for the next level . By winning? Or by passing all the time but still losing? By putting him in a situation where he can learn to be an effective leader. That question is a no-brainer, and I can't imagine a HS coach who would be so stupid as to insist on the latter, just because that's the offense he runs. Unless you are talking about a really big-time program, with highly-trained coaches teaching the HS offense and defense to kids from the time they are tykes, I think the top-to-bottom approach is mostly B-S. How much sense does it make to require youth coaches to run an offense that their kids can't run effectively? As a coach myself, I can tell you that we are grateful just to get kids who know how to win and know how to work and know how to take coaching and have sound fundamantals and love the game. we figure that if youth and middle school coaches can do that, we ought to be a good enough coach to teach those kids our system. HW *********** Yesterday during our freshmen scrimmage, the officials were trying to tell me that my center could not snap the ball by holding the end closest to him up. Is that true? Let me know this is the first time I ever heard that. He should be the rule book and that did not help either. I have no idea. Just wondering if you ever ran into that. Not true. Never heard of it happening. We do it routinely and so do many other teams that I am aware of. Rule 7-1, which deals with the snap, makes no mention of the subject. I think it is reasonable to have a rule book on hand so you can ask an ignorant ass like that who claims to know the rules so well to show you the specific rule that applies. If he doesn't know the rule, and where it is in the rule book, how can he claim that there even is such a rule, let alone enforce it? HW *********** A youth coach writes... "Their only score came on a blocked punt against our second team with 2 minutes to go. Now that I think about it, we didn't practice punting very much. (Our defensive coach) gave me a hard time earlier in the game when I went for it on our own 25(He wanted his D shutout). So the next time I thought I would punt it away.... Oh well, I still don't want to get use to that punting thing." You don't want to "get used" to punting, in the sense that that is negative thinking, but there comes a time in every coach's life when you have to get one off. I believe in practicing a couple of punts a day from our own one-yard line. If we can get one off from there with confidence, we can punt from anywhere. HW *********** One question, as the season goes forward, what will defenses do to try and stop us?  I imagine they will key on motion, which we can turn off or on at any time.  The only thing I can think of is possibly moving with the pulling guards. Coach- This is the one area we can't be sure of. In some 14 years of running this, I have seen it all. It isn't so much a matter of adjusting to different defenses - that's giving them way more credit than they deserve - but understanding the rules and applying them to whatever you see. I do, however, suggest shortening up motion to the bare amount necessary. As for reading the guards, that may go on for a brief time, but players - especially younger ones - can't maintain that kind of discipline for an entire game. And we do have some "key-breaker" plays for those teams (page 114). *********** Coach, We have played two games and we are 2-0. We won the first game 26-0 and the second game 46-0. The second game we had 40 points at the end of the first half. Over the course of the two games we have only run less than 40 offensive plays. Our offensive is beginning to click, but the most impressive thing is our defense thus far we have held teams to -188 yards total offense. In our second game my A-Back was 4-134-3 td's and in our league the PAT if kicked is 2pts, and our kicker was 5 for 5 in that game. Thought I would drop you a quick note. I will update you throughout our season. Jason Clarke, Millersville Wolverines 105#, Millersville, Maryland *********** I'm running this by you before I address it with the Head Coach. I do not like what is going on in the JV team.The other coaches are a guy who just got out of college and a guy who graduated high school last year.There is no distinct leadership or anyone seen as the person in charge in the Head coaches absence.Basically since this is not established I'm seen by the kids as a substitute teacher.Baby sitting until they get to varsity.Varsity coaches only help with special teams and if we need them.I run the offense, the young guys defense.Playing around, trying to defeat me and what I'm trying to do on offense.I really can't say much because they are my equals.But,The community.Parents,etc.Think I'm running the JV, .so it all reflects on me.Yesterday was the worst practice I've ever had in football.The disorganization is starting to show.I will address it with the head coach this weekend I just wanted to run it by you first. Also like Coach Lombardi said winning is an attitude, but so is losing.The kids that I have come from a middle school program that has not had a winning season in 6 years, so as long as they play they do not seem to care. I can change all of this if given the authority. Don't you think there needs to be an established JV coach? that in the absence of the Head coach he is the man in charge? I do not see how it can work any other way.Especially when it is established that whatever happens in jV good or bad it will fall on my shoulders.Believe me the whole community is watching. I haven't heard of many systems with a "co-coach" that really work/ A football team - ANY football team - is like a submarine. SOMEBODY has to be in charge. SOMEBODY has to have the power to make the final decision. SOMEBODY has to have overall responsibility for the operation. In the case of a football team, SOMEBODY has to be accountable to the administration, to the head varsity coach, and to the parents. High school kids simply don't deal well with a situation in which no one is in charge. Neither do most high school coaches. If there's one thing I cannot f--king stand, it's defensive guys who get their jollies trying to screw up the offensive practice. While you're in the huddle trying to sort things out, they're over on the other side of the ball howling and nyuk-nyukking and playing grabass. And I'm talking about the coaches. They are destructive forces on a team, because to them the rivalry between "their" defense and their own team's offense and defense is more important than the success of the team. Only fools are unable to grasp the understand the concept that there are times when it is the offense's job to service the defense, and vice-versa. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with many guys like that, and it's been a long time since I have. I think that you have got to get to the varsity coach right now. I know he is busy, but SOMEONE has to be put in charge, and EVERYONE needs to know that. This needs to be dealt with now, because it isn't going to get better on its own. This is a train wreck about to happen.  *********** Sometimes officials have stones, too --- Hi Coach, During Friday's game I had a discussion with the referees at halftime about cutting below the waist. Ed Benson was the head ref. I told him that some of their players, that were not on the LOS at the snap, were cutting below the waist. He told me as long as they are in the FBZ, that they could do that and that the LOS had nothing to do with it. I very firmly told him that the rule book says they have to be at the LOS (after being kind of harsh, I backed off and said maybe I read it wrong...of course knowing I was not wrong...I just didn't want to show him up in front of his peers)...he jokingly said that he was wrong once before and he would read the rule at halftime. To his credit, after halftime, he said I was right and they would be looking for it in the second half. The other team didn't do it in the 2nd half anyways, but I was very impressed with Ed and his professionalism, he is a credit to his profession. Other, less secure refs, would have probably told me to buzz-off. John Lambert, La Center, Washington (John, who was once a student, and player, then an assistant under me at La Center, is one of the top high school coaches in the state of Washington. Think I ain't proud? HW) *********** Coach Wyatt: I know you've written of the Suhey family of State College, PA in the past and thought you might enjoy this wrap up of a local football game that I attended last Friday night. The sportswriter did a good job of describing the key play of the game which involved young Joey Suhey, son of former Chicago Bears running back, Matt Suhey. As the son of a former pro football player, Joe Suhey is certainly aware of the impact the legendary "Immaculate Reception" by Franco Harris had for the Pittsburgh Steelers back in the 1972 AFC playoffs. What Suhey accomplished Friday night at Bob Naughton Field can only be described as Immaculate Reception II. The Loyola Academy sophomore grabbed a deflected pass for a 66-yard touchdown play with 4:14 remaining to clinch the Ramblers' 24-12 victory over New Trier in front of a crowd of more than 5,000 in Northfield. Just like Harris, Suhey was in the right place at the right time and scored his first varsity touchdown as Loyola improved to 2-0 and won neighborhood bragging rights in the first meeting between the two schools since 2001. By the way, in addition to Joey Suhey, Loyola Academy is attended by Jeffery Jordan, Brock Duerson, and Horace Grant's son (I'm sorry, I don't know his name). Suhey, Jordan, and Duerson played in the Deerfield Young Warriors youth football organization when I coached there. I think Loyola will be pretty good in basketball this year, also. Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois (Joey Suhey's dad and uncles were Penn State standouts, and his dad played fullback for the Bears. His grandfather, Steve Suhey, was an All-American guard at Penn State, and his grandmother - Steve's wife - was the daughter of long-time Penn State head football coach Bob Higgins. Keith Babb, incidentally, was Jeffery Jordan's youth football coach; out of respect for the Jordan family'r privacy, we made no mention of this at the time, other than to note - with Mr. and Mrs. Jordan's permission - that Michael Jordan didn't think football was too rough for his two sons. HW) *********** A question regarding 7-C:  The book shows the C back faking outside 47-C.  Some of my assistants are questioning whether that's a good idea since we're trying to "sell" 88 and the C back moving in the opposite direction muddies that "sale".  I told them that more often than not you had a good reason that I missed . . . What do you think?  How about sending the C back after a safety instead? My concern is the playside corner hanging in there and making the tackle, and the outside fake (of what for us is 29 g-o-reach) may occupy him, while also setting up the kickout block. But I don't consider 7-C to be refined to the point where it is as good as it can possible be, and I am open to anything that might improve the play. *********** After our game on Saturday I thought that my wife would be happy.  She was very disappointed that we didn't pass more.  I told her look we ran the ball something like 46 of the 54 plays that we had the ball, not including extra points and won the game. I also told her that the other team passed almost every play and look where it got them.  Her response was that their QB will be ready for HS while our son won't..    PS - No tactful way to say this - your wife may be her son's mother, but she is also a coach's wife, and every good coach's wife knows when to butt out. This is definitely one of those cases. The last thing a coach needs is a Little-League parent living under his own roof. HW *********** Where can I find your list of questions for the referees? As you know this is my first year coaching offense. Last night I scouted some teams and as I looked at there defenses my wheels started turning. Your offense made so much sense to me. All of a sudden I was saying to my assistant , "Tight Rip 3 trap at 2 will work on them or Tight Rip 88 super power" Thanks for all of your help. Go to my HOME PAGE and look for "USE WITH CARE" (It really is fun looking at a defense from a Double-Winger's perspective, isn't it?)      A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 14, 2004  "It is better to wear out than to rust out." Bishop Richard Cumberland   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** Madison High (Portland, Oregon) at Eagle Point. After a five-hour drive home following Friday night's game, I was up after three hours' sleep to watch Saturday's college football games (which come on at 9 AM on the West Coast). How'd we do? Let me put it this way --- if you'd told me we'd run 67 offensive plays, rush for 339 yards and pass for 91 (430 total), and roll up 24 first downs and score 26 points, I'd have put the win in the bank. Andy Jackson caught two passes for TD's, and broke a 79-yard TD run (88 Super Power). Tony Stutevoss threw the two TDs, and was 4 of 11 for 91. B-Back Damien Young had a TD, and C-Back Grant Meyer ran hard, picking up a number of key first downs. This was really my first time ever calling a game from the press box, and I think it was the best game I've ever called. Unfortunately, Eagle Point also had 430 yards total offense and 24 first downs, and they scored 40 points... We simply weren't prepared defensively for the speed at which things happened. But our kids kept their poise, handled themselves well, and competed right down to the wire. All in all, a great test for us. Eagle Point was a decent team. They may not win their league, one of the state's toughest, but they're going to be competitive. The trip itself was something I'd rather have avoided. 300 miles each way. Five-to-six hour bus ride. The bus had to stop three times on the way down because of overheating. It had a VCR/monitor system, and Tracy had some tapes to entertain the kids, but the system didn't work. Oh, yes- and the air conditioning stopped working. And there were no windows. And it was 85 degrees (very hot by our standards) in Southern Oregon. And our team had to be there in time to play a 4 o'clock JV game. (Varsity game at 7.) Lots of standing around with nothing to do until it was time for the varsity to dress. And then, because of ICC regulations, our driver had to have a certain amount of rest before heading back, which meant the return trip couldn't depart until 11:30. They were back by 5:30 AM Saturday. All in all, though, a great experience for our kids, many of whom had never been out of Portland before, and a great chance to play in front of a good crowd in a nice small town atmosphere. THIS WEEK: The Dalles, Oregon at Madison *********** Okay, okay, Call me a flip-flopper... A week ago, after Oregon State's near-win over LSU and Bellevue High's defeat of DeLaSalle, I strutted and crowed about how it might surprise some people, because of the relative isolation of the Pacific Northwest, but we played a little football out here, too. Let's just say I got my comeuppance this past weekend. Oregon State has size-18 bootprints all over its ass after a Friday night visit to Boise State. (Question asked on the air by a Portland radio guy - I am not making this up - "Boise State.... Boise State... What city is that in?"). Oregon, a 20-point favorite, lost to Indiana. It was the Hoosiers' first road win in 14 tries. What was scary was the resemblance (in uniforms, I mean) between Indiana and Oklahoma, the Ducks' next opponent. I predict that the Ducks will see a slight difference in the men in those uniforms when they visit Norman next Saturday. Washington's opening-game loss to Fresno State doesn't look quite so bad after what the Bulldogs did to K-State this past Saturday, but the Huskies still sucked. Washington State invaded Husky territory Saturday, nearly selling out the Seahawks' Stadium to "host" Colorado, in a game so poorly played that it should have been played back in Pullman, in a locked, empty stadium. The two teams could manage only one offensive TD between them. You could attribute that to great defense, but it was really offensive ineptitude. The Cougars held the Buffs to 125 yards in total offense, yet dropped eight passes, fumbled three times, gave up eight sacks, missed two of four field goals, had two punts blocked (one partial, one run in for a touchdown) and gave up a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown. Oh, yes - and to cap it off, on third and eight, with 15 seconds left and no time outs, all his receivers covered, the WSU QB thought it might be a cool thing to try to run for the score. He made it to the one. And there he fumbled. So far, with only a scarcely-deserved WSU win over New Mexico, the Northwest schools are now 1-5 overall. Yes, as I said, we play a little football out here. Unfortunately, sometimes it is very little. (On the other hand, as my son, Ed, wrote from Australia, "May I suggest the following...'It must have been a great weekend to be a football coach in the state of Indiana..." IU, Purdue, Notre Dame all winning.'") *********** Kerry the sailboarder/windsurfer comes across as such a phony when he tries to talk Joe Six-Pack sports ("Lambert Field") that it is refreshing to run across a government figure who really follows his sports. Or in this case, her sports.. Condoleezza Rice, who while a dean at Stanford became good friends with then-Cardinal coach Tyrone Willingham, was in Portland recently, and someone on the radio got her going on the subject of college football. The announcer turned the focus to the Northwest schools.. "Oregon, Oregon State and Washington." "What about Wazzu?" she asked. Now, you would have to know your stuff to know who'd been left out, and you would definitely have to know your stuff to know that out here, Washington State - WSU - is often affectionately referred to as "Wazzu." *********** Indiana's players and coaches deserved to celebrate their win over Oregon. They earned it. The Ducks sucked, but they were beaten by a well-prepared team. My advice to the Hoosiers is to savor every win they can, before their new AD, Rick Greenspan, tries to put his stamp on the program. Greenspan, recently hired from Army, is the weasel who fired Bob Sutton, a good man and a good coach, on Broad Street in Philly, right after the 2000 Army-Navy game, and replaced him, after a search that didn't get beyond Normal, Illinois, with Illinois State's Todd Berry. (Surprise - Greenspan had been the AD at Illinois State.) After three years of abject failure and lame excuses, Berry was let go and - through no doing of Greenspan - replaced by Bobby Ross. And now Army men everywhere exult because they are finally rid of Rick Greenspan, too. A word to the wise: Watch out, Hoosiers. And watch your ass, Coach DiNardo. Todd Berry, who, last I heard was offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Monroe, is tanned, rested and ready. *********** After all that Colorado's Gary Barnett has been through, you would think that he'd be a bit image conscious, but I'll be damned if a large bunch of his hired thugs didn't go out to midfield of Seahawks (okay Qwest) Field before the game and dance all over the WSU logo painted there, smudging it and nearly precipitating a pregame brawl. It's proof either that the feminists were right - he doesn't have control of his program - or that he's a horse's ass. Either way, he's lost my support. *********** Coach, Wanted to let you know that the Guilderland Pop Warner Colts ( ages 11 - 13 ) won their first game of the year in convincing fashion Saturday night with a 19 - 0 shutout of the Rensselaer Rams. "A" back Mitchell Dickson gained 102 yards on 12 carries with one TD and "C" back Christian Hyrny rushed for 74 yards on 10 carries and 1 TD. QB Pete Quinn was 2 - 5 passing with 1 TD and no INT. The defense held the Rams to only 4 first downs and 137 total yards ( 46 on 1 play ). The Colts also forced 4 turnovers. The kids love the "DW" and the parents are really happy with what we are teaching them about the game. I can't thank you enough! Our team is planning a trip to West Point to see the Army play Air Force on November 6th. Perhaps you could give me some tips on what to see there? Also, will you be attending that game? Again, thanks for everything! Mike Cahill, Head Coach / Guilderland Colts Pop Warner, Guilderland, New York (There is a lot to see, just wandering around the campus. One thing I would suggest if you have kids with you is to try to strike up a conversation with a cadet. You will be impressed, and so will your kids, with the kind of young Americans you will find there. The Cadet Chapel is impressive. Because of my appreciation of military history and West Point history, I enjoy walking through the cemetery. MIchie Stadium is pretty neat, of course, and so is the Holleder Center, right across from one end of it. It houses Army's basketball and ice hockey arenas, and is named for Don Holleder, whom the Black Lion Award honors. HW) *********** In view of the fact that a young Seattle-area football player died last week after helmet-to-helmet contact, I found the following report from Glade Hall, of Seattle, who attended a game between Lakeside and Archbishop Murphy, to be rather alarming... One player for Archbishop Murphy scared me to watch every time he went on defense. He led with his head every chance he got. One play he came across the field and timed the hit perfectly. The LS player was de-cleated as his helmet flew off his head in the opposite direction. I've got the play on video and have watched it many times. He came in with his head down just under the runner's face mask, forcing the helmet up and off the Lakeside kid (he was ok). A big pig pile commenced by the ABM kids, high five'in' it all over the place. Of course the crowd is all up on their feet thinking this was great. This kid stayed on the field and tried to repeat the trick on a later play. I hope coach Terry Ennis (of Archbishop Murphy) talks to his kids and reminds them to keep their head up on tackles. It was very scary. I felt like the only one in the place who had a whole different take on the play. In light of what happened this year, you'd think coaches would review tackling techniques. Ya Think? *********** Coach Wyatt, Greetings Coach. It's been a long time since our last talk, I have many thing to say, so I'll just get right to it. First, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Being a former Army Veteran nothing can make me happier to hear that West Point is going to hand out The Black Lion Award. What an honor! All of your hard work has really paid off Coach, that is a great accomplihment. Again, CONGRATULATIONS, you truly should be PROUD. (My winner from last year, Frank Renardo was excited to hear about your accomplishment as well Coach). Second, I must apoligize for not keeping in better touch with you. I missed the Chicago clinic because one of our coaches, Steve McGinnis, got married that day. I also got a new job within the police department, the Narcotics Division, which I have been waiting over three years to get into. It has been a lot of very LONG hours, very LONG. It is a very rewarding job, I get to see the results daily. The only unfortunate thing are the hours, they can vary daily. We go on the crook's scheduele which is unpredictable to say the least. It almost forced me out of coaching because it was hard to make a commitment. I basically go into an area where they had a previous gang shooting or murder, buy dope from a street level dealer, then interogate him untill he'll give up information on the shooting/murder. So far our team has cleared up nine murders and countless other shootings, as well as getting a ton of drugs and guns out of the streets. On the plus side, I have not been shot at in over a year, so this is cetainly safer then the tactical unit. The most recent thing tying up my time is my newborn son, Gavin Quinn Murphy (27 Aug 04, 21 inches, 8.5 pounds) We were asked so many times if we were Irish I just started making things up. Hungarian-Scottish and Polish-Bohemian were my two favorite. Gavin already has the makings of a fine double wing player, he really likes to ice pick and uses both arms. So I have truly been by enough, to where I can say it, and actually mean it. I try to read the news page as much as possible. As far as football goes. First, if I may, please enroll the Queen of Martyrs 7/8th Grade Wildcats in The Black Lion Award. We are truly honored to be in such an outstanding award program, for EVERYTHING it stands for. My best wishes go out to you and to your team this year. Again, Congratulations on West Point starting the Black Lion Award. An excellent accomplishment Coach. Sincerely, Bill Murphy, Queen of Martyrs Wildcats, Chicago, Illinois *********** I'm having trouble with Tight Rip 6G. My B back is a very good runner but has a tendency to stand up and not stay low before accepting the hand off. Got any drills or suggestions to help remedy this? Try putting your B-Back where you want him to be, and in the stance you want him to be in, when he gets the ball. Then run the play, telling him to stay just like that until he gets the ball. *********** No sooner does Arnold the Governator bring the phrase "girlie man" back into circulation, than I find myself noticing more and more young boys with long hair. I mean lo-o-o-o-ng. I see their pictures in the newspapers and keep mistaking them for girls. What the f--k is going on here? *********** I never thought it would come to this in America - certain schools in Florida, left by storms damage without the means to prepare food, are telling parents that they are going to have to feed their kids breakfast and send them to school with a packed lunch. Can you imagine that? Here we are, the greatest nation on earth, and parents are actually being asked to take responsibility for feeding their own kids? Watch James "Serpent Head" Carville accuse George Bush of arranging all this hurricane business just so he could stick it to the poor by starving their children! ***********Bet you don't have headlines like this where you live: MAN CHARGED IN CIRCUMCISION TRY "Try," my ass. He did it. A Vancouver, Washington man is in jail after circumcizing his 8-year-old son. With a hunting knife. Said he'd been reading the Bible, where he got the idea. Finally called the police when he couldn't stop the bleeding. (Now, I've been through the Bible, cover to cover, and although I don't want to be held responsible for anything I might have missed, and I do know that circumcision is a matter of great importance to the Jews, I can't remember reading about a guy going about it like that. Some things are better left to doctors.) *********** Have you tried orienting the ball east-west and snapping it that way? The rules prohibit it. Rule 7 Sect 1 Art 2 "The snapper... may not.. fail to keep the long axis of the ball at right angles to the line of scrimmage." *********** Coach - Good Luck as you start your season. Great 'News' articles this week, especially moving and difficult to read was the story about DeShawn Smith. I am surprised at the resistance I am getting in teaching tackling this year. I have 1-2 parents going home at night telling their sons to get low and wrap the legs with their head to the side. I am getting pretty fu@king irritated with this and am considering ordering your tackling tapes (maybe 1-2 copies) to give to them (the parents to watch with their kids) as homework. When I correct these kids, I hear "My dad told me not to tackle that way, so I'm going to do this instead." Maybe your article on DeShawn Smith might help. What are your thoughts? Mark Bergen, Keller, Texas (Time to be the classroom teacher. If I teach the kids something in my classroom and they go home and the parents teach them something else, I am still going to grade them solely on what I teach. They wouldn't dare pull that crap on a classroom teacher, and they are no better qualified to do it with a football coach. HW) *********** Christopher Anderson, who has relocated to the Left Coast, writes, "The Stanford band staged a polygamist wedding and was booed by the raucous contingent of BYU fans." Nice kids. With all the things right there in San Francisco that they can make fun of, those spoiled brats have to resort to insulting their guests. Typical liberals (betcha a poll of members would show them 90 per cent for Kerry, with the rest split between Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich). In their PC-America, it's okay to poke fun at a group - so long as it's Christian. Think of the uproar there'd have been if the BYU band had staged a mock transsexual wedding. HW *********** SI Article on Bobby Ross and Army football --- http://goarmysports.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/090904aae.html *********** CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING SECTION: Urgently Needed: Will pay top dollar for Typewriter, any make, manual or electric, pre-1973. Must have: ability to create superscript "th" and "st" after numbers; proportional spacing; curled apostrophes; ability to center lines of type when typing letterheads. Must have proof of date of manufacture or original bill of sale (or reasonable facsimile thereof). Price no object. Call CBS - (212) 975-4321 - ask for Dan *********** Hello there Coach. Just writing to give our weekly update (4th game of the season) and it went pretty well. Let's put it this way...the other team's best offense was our defense...and our penalties. Man I'll tell you...we are much grayer up top now. Even through all the errors and penalties, we didn't allow a score (second straight week). We scored on our first possession with 88 SP. They heard through the grapevine that to stop the Double Wing they need 10 men in the box. Unfortunately for them, they put all ten inside our tackles??? I'm not sure what they were thinking, but it wasn't sound advice that they received. We only ran about 13 plays from scrimmage, if that; because midway through the 3rd, one of their players injured his back falling on a teammate's helmet. The rescue had to come off and backboard the player...this was a big downer. I don't like any players getting injured in our sport. We were up 39-0 at this point and their coach asked if we would be willing to call the game because at this point we had waited 20 minutes and both teams were getting cold and he felt that his players wouldn't be able to focus after this injury. So, we didn't play half of the third and any of the fourth. What we did like was the fact that their team lined up, as youth parents like to do after games to allow players to run through, to cheer the injured player off the field and our boys joined them along with our parents. All through the day we had been mentioning that football is indeed "just a game" compared to life itself and being that we played on the third anniversary of September 11th, we felt that our boys lived up to the "play with dignity and honor" code we set as a team. We also scored on XX56Counter and Stack 88. We took two INT's for touchdowns. The boys look solid and we can't wait until next Saturday. So until then, have a great week. Coach Marvin Garcia, Albuquerque, New Mexico *********** With time running out and no timeouts left, Ohio State tried frantically to get set for another play so the QB could spike the ball. While at least one of his players was still getting set, the Ohio State QB called for the ball and spiked it. The clock was stopped, with two seconds remaining. Smart play by the QB. It would have taken the last guy another two seconds to get set, and time would have run out. Sure, Ohio State was penalized 5 yards for illegal procedure - but they got what they really wanted - they still stopped the g-d clock, enabling their kicker to make a 54-yarder. It's something the rules makers never could have foreseen when they allowed the QB to spike the ball. If that were still intentional grounding, as it should be, instead of a cleverly-disguised extra timeout, as it now is, Marshall might have beaten Ohio State in OT. Sign Me, HOSED IN HUNTINGTON *********** COLORADO - Lyons 20, Bennett 14 *********** NEBRASKA - Washington 22, Bennington 15 - We won our opener as well at Washington, running only double wing. Gosh, it sure feels great to say that again. We had 264- yards rushing on 56 carries and two touchdown passes on 3 of 9 attempts for 82 yards against Belleville (Class 3A - we are 2A) to win 34-0. They were very big and set on stopping the super power and trap, so we ran criss crosses and threw 58 Black GO. Also, we went with super power reach a few times with success because they were really closing down hard. Anyways, thank you kind sir for everything. God bless. Steve Cozad, Washington, Nebraska *********** NEBRASKA - Stanton 30, West Poiont Central Catholic 7 - Coach, Just a quick note to keep you updated... The Stanton Mustangs moved to 2-0 by beating the preseason rated West Point Central Catholic Bluejays. They were rated anywhere from 2nd to 5th. The were upset in their first game by one point, but will be a playoff team again this season. We ended up winning 30-7, playing good defense and rushing the ball. Their only score was a 96 yard KO return. We rushed for 314 yards on 57 carries. We went 0-6 passing though. Gotta get that fixed. We capitalized on their 5 turnovers. The bad thing was that we fumble 3 times also. One was right before half when we were running our 2 min. shotgun offense. Fumble the snap. The kicker was when the game was over for all practical purposes and our kids didn't want to let them score in the last minute. 1st and goal a the 8 yardline, and we held to keep the defense from being scored on!!! 47 Base QB follow is an awesome play!! you gotta try it. By the way, how is your team doing?? Good luck and GO DW!!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska *********** NEW JERSEY - McCorristin Catholic 35, Maple Shade 0 *********** NEW JERSEY - Bishop Eustace Prep 34, Palmyra 6 *********** WASHINGTON - Coach, We opened up our season with a 50-0 win over Lynnwood North. I've got allot of new kids in the offense this year. But fortunately they've played for me in lower divisions and have a grasp of what we're trying to do. We have a ways to go yet before the kids execute it on auto pilot. I'm happy with the way they played as many of the kids had first game jitters. Our line is young and need to improve before we play some of the tougher teams. On Saturday we ran the 88 and 99 powers, 38 G, and had success with 47 Lead XX. Glade Hall, Seattle *********** IOWA - Coach Wyatt, I just wanted to pass along to you that your clinic in Minneapolis last spring was the best clinic money I have ever spent. What I learned about cleaning up the way we had been running 6&7 G and dealing with crashing defensive ends has been invaluable this season. We are currently 2-0 and averaging 388 yards per game. We face the first of three top ten ranked opponents in our district this week, so we have a tough row to hoe from here on out. However, the kids are playing with more confidence than ever, and no matter the outcome, we will play good football. Thanks again and best wishes to you. Sincerely, Paul Hansch, Head Football Coach, Clarion-Goldfield H.S., Clarion, Iowa *********** IOWA - Galva-Holstein 57, Gehlen Catholic 12 *********** MARYLAND - Coach Wyatt, La Plata Warriors 1-0 after coming back from being down 18-7 last week against Chopticon HS. What was awesome was that we came back running the DW exclusively. 250 yards rushing, and 27 passing for the evening. This equals the win totals for the past two seasons. (1-9, 1-9). The Media is going crazy, even the Washington Post is writing about the "turnaround". To take the cake, the article for our local paper ran the headline- "The Davidson Dynasty" begins. I could have died when I read the headline, apparently one of my kids could not articulate, or did not know the difference between "ERA" and "DYNASTY". Needless to say I spent a significant amount of time telling my players the difference between the two. Very positive energy from the kids, faculty, and community. Also I would like to sign my team up for the Black Lion Award. Talk to you soon, Chris Davidson, Head Football Coach, La Plata HS, La Plata, Maryland *********** MASSACHUSETTS - (Fellow Yalie and "retired" DW coach Lou Orlando attended the big game between perennial Boston-area power St. John's, and Malden Catholic, now under Double-Winger Matt Durgin, and sent this report: "Malden Catholic smoked St. John's of Shrewsbury Friday night (I think 25-8 but I'm not sure if that was the exact final score).. The paper reported that MC rolled up 252 yds rushing... what was funny was that one of my asst. coaches from my 1st season in Sudbury had a son playing for St. John's. I saw him in the stands and when I asked him if he recognized MC's offense he just rolled his eyes and said something like '4 years ago I thought you were nuts but now I know you were on to something..' it was great." *********** MISSISSIPPI - Coach Wyatt, we are now 3-0 after defeating hancock 42-0 friday night. we had great balance in our attack, 256 yards rushing and 204 yards passing. Also of note, Coach Pruitt, my former DC is also 3-0 at mclaurin hs. he has run the dw for 3 years. The dw is alive and well in Mississippi ! Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi *********** MINNESOTA - Benilde-St. Margaret's 48 &endash; Brooklyn Center 20 - The BSM Red Knights scored early and often as they cruised to their first win of the season. Led by sophomore A back Mike Durkin's 157 yards, and B back Ryan McCarthy's 86 yards and 3 touchdowns the Red Knights rectified the mistakes that plagued them in their first game loss and emptied the bench by the end of the third quarter. Durkin filled in admirably for injured senior Shane Fox (pulled hamstring in game one), and junior C back Rudy Luther provided balance with 82 yards and a TD. BSM's offensive line continually opened gaping holes and controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the game. The Red Knights only pass attempt was a completion for a two-point conversion off a 2 Red Pass. Joe Gutilla , Minneapolis *********** NEW YORK - Lansingburgh  36, Schalmont 6 - slow start to our offense only leading 6-0 a the half . we came out in the 2nd half ready to play. you know, i went over the pre game checklist with the officials and tried to be a gentlemen telling them no one on defense who isn't in the free blocking zone can cut my pullers or kick out guys. I say all this before the game and you know what happens? my  b back is getting cut  by olb's and my guards on counters were getting cut. at halftime i screamed at the refs and told them they were missing a great game. i told them the safety of my kids is the most important thing. what do you know, we finally get 4 calls for illegal cutting. I guess you have to act like a lunatic to get your point across b back Neil Keels 15 carries - 156 yards  2 td's, a back kenny youngs 10 carries  71 yards 1 td, c back mike hepp 9-61 yds Lightning was there all day and my qb was 3-6 for 60 yards passing, Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh, New York There are coaches all across the country who would like to have you on hand to act like a lunatic when people pull that crap. *********** NEW YORK - Coach, Queensbury 22 Gloversville 12 - 1 pass and it was a screen. It was also a TD. Glens Falls next week. HUGE !!!! Thanks, John Iron, Queensbury, New York *********** ILLINOIS - Coach Wyatt, Ridgeview is now 3-0. We rushed for 335 yards on 61 carries and our QB was 7-12 for 72 yards. A good test tonight for our team. We are getting there. We have gotten a little better each week, hopefully we will continue to improve. Mike Benton, Colfax, Illinois *********** VIRGINIA - Cave Spring (Roanoke) 37, Northside 7 Listen to this, from a story by Robert Anderson in The Roanoke Times: Jim Hickam has been the football coach at Northside High School for 30 years so he knows history. Hickam dusted off the books Saturday night after Cave Spring steamrolled the Vikings for a 34-7 nondistrict victory. "I know what Poland felt like in World War II," Hickam said. The Knights (2-0) flatted Northside like a Panzer division, piling up 17 first downs and 37 running plays from scrimmage in the first half alone. Cave Spring's weapon was a double-wing offense popularized by West Coast prep coach Hugh Wyatt that features tight splits and wedge blocking in the offensive line. Northside (0-2) never forced the Knights to punt all game, and Cave Spring quarterback Beau Austin burned the home team for two touchdown passes and 126 yards through the air in the easy win. Austin fired two completions to tight end David Redick, the second good for a 13-yard TD that put Cave Spring up 27-0 at halftime. Redick, a junior who had not played football until this season, made his mark with three catches for 31 yards. His older brother, Duke basketball star J.J. Redick, was in the stands. Austin hit Will Osborne on a 34-yard TD pass with 10:26 to play before Foutz let his reserves finish the game. At that point, Cave Spring had outgained Northside 297-40 and had committed just one penalty. The Knights' new offense was a well-oiled machine. "It was ugly at the beginning [of practice] but we've gotten better," Foutz said. "It is deceptive, and at the same time we've got some backs to go with it." (Great article. Added Cave Spring assistant Armando Castro, "Well coached big, tough team. Their home opener after getting beat in opening game away. Powers,Super powers,g-o reach.Traps,7g. Everything thrown at them worked. Beating this team like this has sent shock waves thru the Roanoke Valley like nothing that has happened in a while. We are FIRED up at Cave Spring High School." Congratulations to the kids and coaches at Cave Spring High in Roanoke, Virginia. I imagine that's the closest I'll ever get, football-wise, to the words, "West Coast." HW) *********** Speaking of West Coast, the only time Nebraska's vaunted new West Coast offense did anything at all was (1) when they lined up in an I and ran power, (2) when they threw play action passes, and (3) when the QB ran. Wait a minute - am I missing something here? Isn't that the offense that got Frank Solich fired? *********** "But so long as he brought up the subject of "borderline unethical," I would like for Coach Tedford to take a polygraph test and swear that his offensive line coach doesn't teach his players to hold. " You got that right!! Man..I watched that game, and was thinking "if my kids held like that, I'd be yelling my lungs out at them! "Ice picks! Ice picks!" I don't care what the score is, I really, really like Air Force football. Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas *********** I have to know...what does "It takes a set" mean? Back in 1996, Doug Moister, an old coaching friend from Abington, Pennsylvania, made the decision to run the Double-Wing, but after taking a look at his team when they lined up in it, he said to me, "You know, it really takes a set of stones to run this offense." *********** Coach, Bought your tackling video and I have to say it's the best investment I've made on coaching aids. We just do 4 or 5 of the basic drills and the kids hit like animals. When we go into tackling sessions without the bags and the kids make a bad tackle or make a tackle where they had to fight to bring the guy down it is very easy to point out the mistake. (Didn't hit with numbers, went to knees, etc.) The kids are begining to know their mistakes when we stop them. I'll never teach tackling any other way. Thanks for the material. Tom Davis, San Marcos Barons Pee- Wee (10 - 12), San Marcos, California  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2004 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THE BLACK LION AWARD)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 10, 2004  "The four laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation and repetition." John Wooden   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** Let me save Peyton Manning the trouble this time: "IDIOT KICKER!" *********** GREAT article about Bobby Ross and Army Football in this week's Sports Illustrated! *********** From a coach who won big in his opener - (-------) ran a 3-5 against us to start the game...can you say '88 and 99 SP'. We could have run that all day long. We only ran 2 counters...both for TD's. Sheesh. College teams run that because they never see anything like us. Hell, you see so few colleges with even one tight end nowadays that anything with two tight ends throws them into a panic. *********** If he swings the way he throws, what's the worry? At midnight, following President Bush's address to the Republican Convention last week, weenie Kerry came out swinging, we were told. And so he did, after a fashion. Still unable to deal with the fact that his "Most Liberal Record in the Senate" was well-earned, he went right back to Vietnam - he's a war hero, you know - and tried nailing President Bush for his service in the National Guard. (These are the same Democrats, understand, who didn't think it mattered that Bill Clinton was a draft dodger. But that was when he was running against authentic war heroes in George H. W. Bush and Bob Dole.) I think it's pure jealousy. Kerry saw that slo-mo video of George Bush standing on the mound in Yankee Stadium and throwing a strike. The same Kerry who stood on the mound at Fenway Park and bounced it to the catcher. If only his French nanny had taught him how to throw a baseball.  *********** He really ought to stick to polo and sailing... Excuse me, but I am still rolling on the floor laughing at girlie man Kerry's latest. The "How 'Bout Them Buckeyes?" rallying cry - in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of all places - was funny enough; so was his pathetic, puny one-hop attempt to throw a baseball from the pitcher's mound to home plate at Fenway Park. Oh, yes - and then there was his visit to Green Bay, where he referred to the home of the Packers as "Lambert Field." But now, he has really done it. Trying to convince a bunch of West Virginia coal miners that he is really gun-friendly, just like them, he told them with a straight face that from the time he was 12 years old, he'd hunted "beasts and foul." Say, "BEASTS?" What the hell was that all about? Now, although I own several guns and like target shooting, I'm not a hunter. But I've lived in some serious hunting areas - still do - and I've known a lot of serious hunters, and I'll be damned if in all my years I have ever heard any hunter ever use the word "beasts." I pictured those crusty old miners standing there, bewildered, as they looked at this tall stranger from the world outside West Virginia, telling them about the weird things they hunt back where he comes from. *********** DeShawn Smith, a 15-year-old sophomore running back for Tyee High School in SeaTac, Washington, died Tuesday of head injuries suffered in a helmet-to-helmet collision in a game last Saturday against Foster High of Tukwila.. His coach, Pat O'Grady, said DeShawn had just taken a short pass and turned up field, where he was tackle by three defenders. "He took a hard hit and went down," Coach O'Grady told the Times. "He was slow to get up, but not so much that we said, 'Oh, my gosh, something's wrong.' We didn't run onto the field to see what was wrong. ... It was typical of a lot of hits you see on game nights across the state." The player returned to the huddle, but there he was told by the referee he needed to go to the sideline. "He was upset the referee sent him off," Coach O'Grady said. "I told him, 'DeShawn, just take a couple of plays off and get some water.' His eyes looked fine and everything." After reportedly drinking some water and pouring a little on his head, he then collapsed. Paramedics were called to the sideline and they eventually took Smith to Harborview, where he died. Tyee players had been made aware of the severity of DeShawn's condition, but were still unprepared for the news when O'Grady told them Wednesday morning that he had died. Mike Shannon, Foster coach, told the Seattle Times that the players who made the tackle are having a difficult time dealing with De Shawn's death. "I told them, 'This was a terrible accident. This is not your fault.' ... The hard part is it just doesn't make sense. I'm an educator, but I'm at a loss to help them understand the rationale. It defies logic." Said Coach Shannon, "In 31 years of coaching, I've never been involved in anything like this." It gets sadder. When DeShawn collapsed, one of the first people to get to him was Robert Smith, a volunteer coach. And DeShawn's dad. "At that point he might have been gone already," the elder Smith said. Dad is a former high school, college and semi-pro player. He understands that football is a tough game. But he's lost a son, and he knows enough football to know why. "It's something that needs to be talked about," he said. "It's important talking about it at the high-school level. You need to emphasize to the kids how dangerous it is to use your helmet. Sometimes it takes something like this, something that's tragic. It's unfortunate it has to be him to get it changed." Said a dad in his moment of deepest sorrow, "You don't think about this happening, When you're that age you think about running around and chasing girls and stuff." (A brief editorial - while there are occasions in a game when accidental helmet-to-helmet contact is unavoidable, much of it is preventable. By coaching. I often hear from coaches who try to wiggle out of their obligation to teach heads-up tackling by asking me, "what if the runner lowers his head?" I answer, "all the more reason for your kids to keep their heads up." Meantime - and not in any way accusing either of the coaches in the instance above - I wonder how many coaches look the other way when their runners lower their heads. HW) *********** A coach who thumped his opening-game opponent noted that his kids gave up 75 yards passing - "45 of those came against my JV going against their varsity...imagine that - another coach who expects that I call the dogs off and yet leaves his in." *********** "We are having our first "real scrimmage". Would you script the entire play calling prior to game? Also shpould I concentrate on 5-7 or so plays  (wedge, 47c and 88/99s) or should we try at least once each play (total playbook is 20)? " This is one of those things for which there is no hard and fast answer. I have approached it in every way possible myself. You have a couple of choices, and they are totally yours... Since it is only a scrimmage, you can approach it as a chance to look at everything, and decide which plays to get rid of (20 sounds like a lot) because you simply can't be good at all of them, or you can pare down even before the scrimmage to those plays you simply have to be able to run. And you can script it, one play after another, or just go from a ready list, calling plays and random fashion but making sure that you get to see everything you need to see. *********** Hugh, My son and I went to LSU to witness the best argument ever for a return to Lou Groza-style PAT kicking. And then, of course, no one wins at Tiger Stadium if the officials can help it. I'm not real sympathetic to Mr. Serna. He has a very simple job. Jud Blakely, Mobile, Alabama (Jud Blakely is an Oregon State alum who has written a screen play about the "Giant Killers," Oregon State's 1967 team that upset #3-ranked Purdue and #1-ranked USC, featuring a tailback named Simpson.) *********** I keep seeing and hearing about DW teams cutting crashing ends with their end and then toppling them with their WB.  First of all how does the TE set up the cut block (I am assuming the DE is in a 9 or crashing 7)? Second what do you tell the FB and OL - to go outside???  Third and most importantly -- how do you explain to the officials that this is legal (as opposed to high then low) -- do you have a handy quote from the rules?? The rule book only lists everything that is prohibited, and not everything that is legal. The two men - TE and DE - both start out in the free blocking zone and they both start out on the line, and the contact takes place in the free blocking zone, so it is legal. Confirm it with the officials if you like, and get them to show you where it is prohibited. The burden is on them. There is nothing needed to set it up - the end throws at the outside knee. Since this is an "ON" call, calling for a TE-wingback double-team, of course the play goes outside them. *********** Nick Daschel, a long-time friend who writes for the Vancouver Columbian, attended the recent Bellevue-DeLaSalle game, and wrote me to ask if Bellevue runs the same offense I teach. Here's how I answered: Bellevue's offense is essentially the same as what I teach. The "mother offense" is the Delaware Wing-T, which I ran at Hudson's Bay High for five years before adjusting it slightly to run it as I do now. Our Bay offense was nearly identical to Bellevue's. Sid Otten at Tumwater has run it quite successfully, and the new guy at Mountain View (Vancouver, WA) is running it, as well. The major difference between us now is in the formation from which we run - ours is more compressed, with two tight ends most of the time and nearly-nonexistent splits between our offensive linemen. The Delaware Wing-T is an old offense. It was invented at Maine by a former Michigan player named Dave Nelson, but popularized when he moved to Delaware and shared his invention with a former Michigan teammate, Forrest Evashevski, who won a couple of Rose Bowls running it. Ironically, one of the offense's co-inventors was Dave Nelson's line coach, Mike Lude, who as Washington's AD presided over the Huskies' golden age of football in the 1980's. Its principles go all the way back to the Princeton and Michigan single-wing of the 1930's - even back to Pop Warner himself, when he coached at Stanford. It is often derided as obsolete, and it is unpopular among those who insist that their football must look like the NFL or a video game, but it continues to win all over the country. It is a run-first, pass-when-they-least-expect-it offense which combines misdirection and intricate blocking schemes to enable teams with average talent to be successful. When Wing-T teams happen to have good talent, as in the case of Bellevue, they are very hard to beat. Some coaches dislike it because it is a high-maintenance offense that requires constant attention to detail. Many parents dislike it because they can't accept the fact that it is a team offense and is not designed to showcase the talents of any one particular player (such as their son). *********** From the Seattle Times - "The (Washington-Fresno State) game was attended by just 65,345, the smallest Husky Stadium crowd since 1989, about half of whom were gone by the time the game had ended, likely thinking they needn't come back any time soon." Ouch! I don't like the Huskies in their present state, but I fear that the same thing that happened to Arizona State could happen to them. Michigan excepted, the Huskies remain the only major college team to outdraw a pro team in the same market. *********** We had our jamboree last week. We moved the ball effectively. Yet have a way to go. Anyway, I was writing to you in regard to parents. I had a recent meeting with a parent who basically said the offense is the problem. We should be spreading them out and throwing. His son would be quarterback then. He said the only way to keep my job is to win and he will make sure I am out if we don't. Next time you see that asshole, remind him that Bellevue doesn't seem to feel the need to spread it out. Parents like that are like mosquitoes in Minnesota or black flies in Maine. You simply can't let the annoying little bastards change the fact that you're in a great place, doing what you want to do. HW *********** A youth coach writes--- I wanted to know what advice you can give to me in terms of furthering my career. I plan to become a teacher and will have my degree in 2 years. My concern is that I lack coaching experience and I am young, but feel I have much to offer to any HS program. Like I said, this is my first year coaching, and I plan to coach youth football for at least one more season after this one. I would like to be a position coach (DB, RB, WR) at a local HS, then move up from there. My long term goal is to coach in the college ranks. I am on the right track so far? And are my hopes to high? Thank you for your time. You are on track, I would say, to get into school coaching. Youth coaching can provide an excellent base, and with a degree you will have a shot at a teaching position. (TIP: try to get certified in some field beside PE. Those PE jobs are really few and far between.) Next, you need to get out and introduce yourself to high school coaches in the area, and ask if there is any way you can help them as a volunteer. This will give you exposure to the way a high school staff works, and it will enable the head coach to get a look at you and the way you work, I assume that you are dilegent and smart and hard-working, in which case people will notice and remember. Then, when a paying job comes open - wherever - you will be able to use that coach as a reference. I can't emphasize too much the importance of having good references in this business. I don't want to throw cold water on your college coaching aspirations, but it will be difficult to do because you are not on the right track for that. That track nearly always entails work as an graduate assistant in a college program - I'll bet 90 per cent of all college coaches have worked as a GA someplace - and GA's are usually recent graduates, usually former players. Occasionally schools will hire high school coaches as GA's. And occasionally they will hire a high school coach as an assistant, but usually it is an experienced head coach with an impressive record. Not to discourage you, because it is possible for you to get there, but the odds are against you. To be frank, a college assistant's job is not what you might think it is. In fact, I concluded long ago that it pretty much sucks. Your life is not your own, and unless you really luck out and make it big, you will spend your entire career working on year-to-year contracts. High school coaching has its drawbacks, but there is still a lot to be said for it. I know a lot of former college coaches who are now happily coaching in high schools. *********** Prior to the game I knew we were in trouble when a young referee was bragging to another on how he throws flags and how often, etc. Well first play of the game was a wedge and yes this little pr--k threw a flag. Said we were "locking arms". I said NO we are not. Second play, wedge and he threw another flag. I asked to talk to the white-hat and told him we do not "lock arms" because that is cheating and we do not cheat. He said he would watch this. Third play we ran wedge and the white hat AND the young pr--k both threw flags. The white hat said "I saw them lock this time...". I told him he was wrong again. That it was nearly impossible to "get off the ball as fast as we do and then lock arms and then keep up the speed of the wedge....impossible". I do not get mad often at officials but I was fuming at this point. So we are first down and about one mile to go. They all think wedge again. Run 29-G-O and we score on an 80 yard TD run. I love this offense! John Torres, Lathrop, California *********** Some of our less intellegent parents have been grumbling that our offense needs to be opened up.  I guess winning football games isn't enough around here.  One wise parent told one of my assistant coaches that we will never get to (the state championship) with that offense.  My Assistant asked the parent when we had ever been to the state championship before I arrived.  The answer was never.  The issue came up because our youth programs have been struggling.  These parents believe that it's important that we win at the youth level.  I think winning is great but it's important for all the kids to play.  We will continue to run the Double Wing here at (------) because it's the best offense that can be run for us-period!  That's not to say I'm not open to new things.  Our record at (-------) before I arrived was 44-61.  Since implementing the Double Wing we have gone 30-14 with four straight playoff appearances.  I guess you can't please everybody! You got that right.. If you were throwing the ball and winning, they'd still be unhappy if their kids weren't the stars. Damn shame that winning isn't enough, the way it once was, back in the days when a coach could stay at one place for 30 years, and his authority - and knowledge - were unchallenged. Now, of course, everybody gets 100+ channels, every one of which has a John Madden of one sort or another providing them with expert advice. Consequently, everyone is an expert. You know and I know what you've accomplished. But Knute Rockne himself would have had a tough time with today's expert fans and parents. *********** From a long-time high school coach who had great success running the Double-Wing and is now coaching in D-III Coach, It has been pretty wild for me at the college level even at D-111. We opened with a 42-12 win over Westminster College of Fulton ILL. They were returning 17 starters off a conference championship season last year. Mr. Suckow (Neil Suckow - my Black Lion Award winner last year) had an awesome debut. 4 rushing touchdowns, 20 carries for 225 yds. a 60 yd punt return for a TD and also had a 60 yd TD run called back. He totaled 347 all pupose yards in his first collgiate game. Needless to say he was our offensive player of the game. He was also named the Iowa Collegiate Conference male athlete of the week. My son Tyler playing from his defensive back position was named the defensive player of the game. He recorded 13 tackles, intercepted a pass in the end zone, broke up 2 passes and caused 1 fumble. Fredericksburg was well represented in this win. We have our home opener this Sat. against St Thomas of MN. Another very good team that came very close to beating the national champions, St Johns of MN. The Tommies, as they are called missed a field goal early in the game when their holder fumbled the ball. They ended up losing 15-12, fumbling inside their own 10 with only seconds remaining in the game. The Johnnies kicked the winning FG with no tme on the clock. Hope everything is well with you. Coach Steve Staker, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (I have no connection with Coe College, so there is no way anybody can nail me for illegal recruiting, but if you have a kid with talent and decent grades and you want him to get good coaching in a nice small-school environment, you should consider contacting Coach Staker at Coe College. HW) *********** After Cal thumped Air Force, Cal head coach Jeff Tedford, referring to the Falcons' low, "cut-blocking" style, accused Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry of teaching "questionable blocking techniques. " Tedford told the Oakland Tribune, "It's borderline unethical. From time to time, it looks like they're trying to hurt people. They have a history of blowing people's knees out." Tedford said he was so concerned about the tactic that asked game officials before the game to watch for certain below-the-waist blocks. And yet, Tedford complained to Cal's weekly media luncheon, after all that, "They called two chop blocks." Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry defended his team's blocking style, saying, "People knock us off our feet, and we don't whine and complain about it and make a big deal out of it. It's legal, nothing unethical or immoral about it. The bottom line is again, I think that's part of the game." I don't think I understand the problem. College rules clearly permit blocking low, so long as the defender is not already engaged by a blocker. I suspect that Tedford's bitching might have something to do with the fact that all Cal's other opponents, like Cal, feature 300-pound pass-protecting linemen who couldn't throw low if they had to, for fear they'd never be able to get up after they did, while Air Force's low blocking requires his defenders to employ block-protection techniques they won't need the rest of the season. The truth, I suspect, is that Tedford is one of a bunch of sharp West Coast coaches with designer shades who would just as soon the running game were outlawed entirely. But so long as he brought up the subject of "borderline unethical," I would like for Coach Tedford to take a polygraph test and swear that his offensive line coach doesn't teach his players to hold. I rest my case. *********** ALABAMA - Hi Coach, We won our 3rd straight game Friday night 27-0. The amazing thing about this win was the 490 yards of offense! You'll love this... 475 yards was rushing. We threw 2 passes, 1 for 15 yards and 1 incomplete. We pulled our starters out early in the 4th quarter and were able to play all our young kids quite a bit.The best decision I ever made was to drop everything and go to the double wing in midseason 2 years ago. Thanks again Coach for taking time talking to me when I made that first phone call to you inquiring about the double wing offense. I'll keep you posted as the season goes on. Good luck to you. Barry Gibson, Ardmore, Alabama (Two years ago, Coach Gibson installed the Double Wing in one week of practice, and that Friday night Ardmore ended the state's longest losing streak at 38. HW) *********** ILLINOIS - Bill George Youth Football League - 115 NFC Gold Division - Bloomingdale Bears 40 Buffalo Grove Bills 6 - The Bloomingdale Bears picked up where they left off with a convincing win against an over confident Buffalo Grove Bills team. QB Erick King threw 2 td passes to C back Clay Cooper on a 45 yard Red Red and to WR Kendall Lane on a 50 yd Thunder pass XY cross that was perfectly executed by the Bears. C back Clay Cooper continues to show why he is one of the best backs in the league scoring 3 td's and rushing for over 100 yds. A back Nick Campanella also had 100 yds rushing and had some nice runs off of our SP plays all day long. B back Chris Jasinski came back to make our trap and wedge plays go for big yards and really got our SP plays going with huge kickout blocks on the Bills ends all day long. The Bills bragged all week on how our offense was a gimmick and that they knew how to shut it down and that our team was highly overrated and they would not only win the game but completely shut down our DW? Well, coach many have tried and many have failed and in the end all you have to do is look at the scoreboard and see that we didn't get shut down and another team bites the dust! They had their defensive linemen shooting at our ankles all day long to stop the pulling guards on our SP plays and to try to stop our wedges but as you can tell by the score it didn't work:) We could have scored at least 3 more td's but ran our 2nd and 3rd team backs and took a knee with over 8 minutes to go in the game. Big game next weekend up in Wheaton should be a good game. Hope all is well coach. Take care and talk to you next week. Stacey King Bloomingdale Bears, Bloomingdale, Illinois *********** Hugh, a funny thing happened at practice yesterday/ as you know the coaching staff I work with are very qualified coaches from the head guy all the way down to the young ones which are close to 30. Anyway the offense installed shotgun because they wanted to give the QB a little more time. They were having a hell of a time getting the center to snap it back to the QB/ everyone putting in their opinion. I took the O-line coach aside and showed him how to flip the ball back like you have shown. I demonstrated it a few times and it was perfect . He tried and it was good. So he took the center, showed him what I said to do and the center has not even come close to missing the QB. In fact he has his head up to make sure of his pass blocks. Now some of the coaches went on about how it doesn't look right etc. etc. But the results have been 2 days of scrimmage and just practice, and no miscues. Even the QB told me that he likes it because it is easier to catch the ball and get ready to throw. I never said a word to these guys but I just let the results do the talking. I just thought you would get a kick out of that. Hey I may not be able to run the DW but I can do something that is part of it. Take care, Mike Foristiere, Boise, Idaho *********** IOWA - Alta 14, Battle Creek-Ida Grove 6. A-Back 12 rushes, 60 yards. C-Back 17 rushes, 56 yards. B-Back 8 rushes 26 yards. QB 9 rushes, 0 yards. Passing - 5-7 99 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int. A-Back 3 receptions, 58 yards. B-Back 1 reception, 7 yards. X Tight End 1 reception, 34 yards, TD. We did a lot of things to shoot ourselves in the foot. We had 4 fumbles, lost 3, and the one we recovered stopped a drive. We also had 10 penalties which continuously put us in offensive situations we didn't want to be in. BCIG is a larger school that is much improved over last year and had a good scheme against us. Once we got over the fact that we couldn't run down their throat with 9 in the box we passed the ball very effectively. The TD pass came on a tight rip 38 G-O reach boot and our x-end was 10 yards past everyone. Tight rip stop red/red A screen left was very effective as well. We've got to get our kids to work on running their feet after the initial block but we are ahead of where we were last year at this time. Rory Payne, Alta, Iowa *********** IOWA - Galva-Holstein 45, Woodbury Central 0 - Coach Wyatt- Kids played well, still a lot of little things that need to be fixed, and/or polished. Ran opening kickoff back 72 yards for a TD.- A Back- 11 carries for 78 yards and a TD B Back- 7 carries for 72 yards and a TD C back- 13 carries for 107 yards and 2 TD's QB- 3 carries for 7 yards and a TD 43 rushes for 298 yards; 1-4 passing for 3 yards; Defense gave up 95 total yards. Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa (Galva-Holstein is ranked #1 in Iowa Class 1A. HW) *********** Coach Wyatt: Even though there were several games prior to it, last night's game between the UT Volunteers and UNLV was the start of the 2004 College football season for me. All I can say is WOW! Brent Schaeffer is the reincarnation of Condredge Holloway. And that Ainge kid from your neck of the woods ain't too bad either. Of course, it will be a miracle if both of them stay Volunteers for all 4 years of their eligibility. However, last night was exciting. I'm sure if those commentators did all of the research they claimed, then the football playing exploits of Mr. Holloway would have been re-lived. Since they weren't and comparisons were made to Michael Vick instead, I don't think those guys did a lot of homework. Oh well! That's why Al Gore invented audio streaming - so a Vol fan can listen to the actual Voice of the Volunteers, instead of the overpaid national broadcast celebrities. As I've mentioned numerous times before, you have a way of anticipating news events in the 'News'. No sooner do you mention De La Salle HS's 151 game win streak and they end up losing their opener. I'm trying to figure out which had more influence, your comments or the 7 page spread in Sports Illustrated. Keep up the cutting edge commentary which has the 'News' as number one on my 'blog' list. Regards, Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois (Coach Babb is right. The announcers - or the producers who feed them their info - blew this one. Lo-o-o-ong before there was a Michael Vick, there was the Artful Dodger, Condredge Holloway of Tennessee, first black athlete to start at QB in the SEC. HW) *********** NEBRASKA - Coach, Hope all is going well for you. How's your team doing? The Stanton Mustangs are doing well so far. We played Fullerton last Friday night and we won 56-7. We ran just the base stuff all night with 3 strings of players. We were up 34-7 at half. Our defense gave only 156 yards all night vs. a pass happy offense. Their only score came on a fade route that our corner misplayed and the safety overran. Kind of a fluke play. We rushed for 494 yards on 50 carries and completed 4 of 7 passes for 70 yards and 2 TD's. Our defense allowed 23 yards rushing on 26 and 133 passing in 8 of 27 passing with 2 int's and should've been 2 more. 70 of those passing yards were on one play!! We did have 11 penalties for 90 yards but most of those were on defense.. Pass interference penalties, some were bogus. The funny thing, is that I've told by more than one person and teachers (who don't know squat about football) that we didn't look sharp and we have a long way to go!!! I know we can improve always, but come on, we rushed for 500 yards!! Weird how everyone in town becomes a football expert and critic when you start winning alot of games. The good thing is that winning has now become an expectation here in Stanton. Good luck Friday night and GO DW!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska *********** Hi Coach, I went through your website as I was searching for possible places I could go to enhance my career as a football coach. I want to learn about the techniques of being a coach and so would like to go for training and possibly earn myself a coaching certificate or license. I have played football in the past at various level and have good interpersonal skills. Please kindly let me know where and how to go about it. In football, as in most American sports, thre is no certification. It still follows the age-old apprenticeship model, in which you learn from a master. I would suggest you contact a successful coach in your area and ask if you can work for him as a volunteer assistant - and then do everything you can to make yourself useful, while keeping your eyes and ears open (and your mouth shut). HW *********** I have sympathized with the guy, and deplored the FireRonZook.com Web sites, but Florida's Ron Zook has lost all credibility he had with me with his latest "disciplinary" action. Some time ago, he suspended two players for one game. Now, to most coaches and players, that means the next game on the schedule, which for the Gators was to be against Middle Tennessee, this past weekend. Hurricane Frances intervened, however, and the game was postponed until October 16. So were the suspensions. Turns out that in Zook's mind, they were for one specific game. Now, with Eastern Michigan coming up this weekend, the players have been reinstated. Not so much to beef up for powerful Eastern Michigan, I wouldn't think, but to have them sharp and game-ready for Tennessee in two weeks. What a wanker. Why didn't Zook just come clean in the first place and say that he was suspending the two for one meaningless, walkover exhibition game? *********** Coach: Once again, thanks for all the great stuff on your web site. We opened up last Friday with a 41-12 win against Peyton, Colorado. I have been running the double wing since 1997 at Skyline High in Longmont, Colorado. This is our second year at Lyons High. We only have 6 seniors so no one expects us to do much this year. (we refuse to use the "rebuilding" term...we prefer "replacing talent with talent") Anyway, we had all three backs over 90 yards rushing in 3 quarters, 360 total rushing yards. We also get a lot of questions about defensive linemen "root-hogging" and grabbing our linemen. To counter that, we also have our linemen off the ball as far as legal which seems to solve it most of the time. When we just get tired of it, we run "88 or 99 Stampede", which is just a toss sweep with everyone pulling. It looks like a mess but we scored from 24 yards out Friday when we were just trying to make a statement to the defense. Now it's our linemen's favorite play. Thanks again for all your help. and I had a feeling that the team that beat that California dynasty was running some version of "real football". Gary Creek, Offensive Coordinator, Lyons High School, Lyons, Colorado (Thanks to Coach Creek for an excellent tip! HW) *********** Hi Coach The following line was in Joe Sullivan's column in the Manchester Union Leader this week. "No high school football coach in the state receives more unwarranted grief for the offense he runs than Scott McGilvray of Memorial." I believe Joe is talking about a double wing team there, isn't he? Steve Tobey, Malden, Massachusetts (Hah. Guilty as charged. All Scott and his staff and kids have done with that offense is turn a near-dead program into a state power. Now, if in addition to winning he was supposed to earn style points, too, he should have been told that in advance. HW) *********** Coach Wyatt, Good afternoon. I have two things to share with you. First, congratulations on the Cougs victory over New Mexico...that was a tough loss for us...talk about dumb mistakes. I saw a tackle from one of our DB's and I swear he led with his helmet and the announcers (ESPN flunkies) stated "what a superb tackle"...what idiots. Anyway, if I was Coach Rocky Long I would give him a class on tackling. Second, we had our third game of the season and after last weeks valiant loss followed by a week of tough practice, we beat the Wildcats (expansion team) 52-0. It was a tough game because we knew we weren't going to see major competition. We didn't want our boys to get lazy knowing that they were dominating. We ran XX47C and XX56C for touchdowns and ran 29GO Reach for a TD. We started off the game throwing out of double wide formation. Before the game, we talked to one of their coaches and he said he came in for this game only because he was an "expert" at stopping the double wing...called himself the wedge buster...no $h--! Uh, huh...and then that double wide with a pass to the C back went for 36 yards on our first possession...I swear I heard him saying "what the...". We ran 2 wedge and 3 wedge only twice the entire game. I hope they didn't waste a lot of time on that during practice. We also scored on a Kickoff return, an INT returned for a TD and on 7X. I hope the rest of the teams we play bring in defending the Double Wing experts... Talk to you soon. Respectfully, Coach Marvin Garcia, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Haw! "Wedge Buster!" Make me laugh. HW) *********** I'm at my wit's end with high school officiating. I don't want this to sound like sour grapes because we lost our opener, heck, we made enough offensive mistakes in that one game to last us an entire season, and no matter what the officials did or didn't it do might not have made that much of a difference! However, I AM getting sick and tired of having a pre-game meeting with the officials to give them a heads-up regarding an opponent's penchant for dirty tricks and illegal play, and not have it have ANY effect during the game. As I mentioned to you in my previous letter we played a team that is notorious for having their defensive line use the submarine tactic and try and grab our pulling offensive linemen's legs. I made it a point to tell the officiating crew of it at the start of the game, and to tell them that in the last two times we've played this team they have held true to form. Naturally I got the ol' nod of the heads, and the "yep, that's defensive holding so we'll keep a close eye on it coach!" statement from them. To no avail. I watched repeatedly during the course of the game their defensive linemen grabbing our offensive linemen's legs. I pointed it out to the official on our sideline and he told me he would tell the official responsible for making the call. Two quarters and a bunch of grabs later there were still no calls. I reminded the sideline official again, only this time a little more emphatically, and his only response was "it's not my call coach." Frankly, I'm getting sick of this crap. It may not have had a lot to do with how we played Friday night, but as a coach I certainly expect the officials to maintain a level playing field for both teams. What kills me is that after the game a parent came up to me and told me he could tell I was upset with the officiating and he didn't blame me. He told me he walked by two of the opposing team's coaches after the game and overheard one say laughingly to the other, "we sure got away with a lot of sh-- out there tonight!" I've already brought this up to our AD this morning and told him I do not want that crew to do another one of our games. He told me it wasn't his call because it wasn't our home game. He told me if I have a gripe about it I should contact the other school's AD and get the name of that crew's association director and contact him. I've always tried to be a stand-up guy on the sidelines and carry myself in a very professional manner when it comes to officials. I've seen irate coaches get ignored by officiating crews and NOT give them ANY calls, but at the rate it's going I think I'll start taking my chances because I'm not getting any calls being a nice guy!! Any advice you could give me on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. I join you in frustration, and I'm not sure what to tell you, because I think our game is being put at risk, and it is not the fault of the officials. It is the fault of unethical, unscrupulous coaches, who refuse to play football, but instead choose to play some hybrid, make-up-your-own rules sport. "The rules of sport define what you are doing, and if you break those rules knowingly, you're not playing the sport you claim to be playing." Andrew Edgar, Director, Center for Applied Ethics, Cardiff University, Wales I think that somehow, coaches should volunteer to take a pledge to teach their kids to play the game hard and by the rules. And I think we should stop being buddy-buddy with guys who defile our game. They are certainly perverting the development of the young men entrusted to them. If they will cheat in a game that is designed to teach kids to play hard and play fair, they are not carrying out their mission as educators, and it is no longer possible to justify spending taxpayers' money on our sport. They need to be reported to their administrators for the cheaters that they are. Let them call us crybabies. But let them also justify cheating. Coaches are supposedly educators. Any teacher who taught his kids to cheat on standardized tests would be gone in a heartbeat. What's the difference?    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 7, 2004  "If your parents never had children, chances are you won't either." Dick Cavett   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** Ahem. If this sounds like bragging, well... let's just say it was a great weekend to be a high school football coach in the Pacific Northwest. (We play football out here, too, in case you who hadn't heard.) Hillsboro, Oregon native Eric Ainge, a true freshman at Tennessee, shared the starting QB assignment and wound up completing 10 of 17 for 118 and a TD. The Oregon State Beavers, 18-point underdogs, went into one of the toughest places in America to play, Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, and came within a whisker of a win over defending national champ LSU. Finally, on Saturday night in Seattle, Bellevue, Washington, defending state 3A (not even 4A) champ, ended De La Salle's 151-game win streak by kicking ass, 39-20, in front of 25,000 people in the Seahawks' Stadium. So completely did the Bellevue Wing-T running game (460 yards on the ground) dominate the USA Today 2003 National Champs that the Wolverines (uniforms and helmets just like Michigan's) didn't punt or pass. Not once. Bellevue senior J. R. Hasty, son of former NFL defensive back James Hasty, rushed 30 times for 271 yards and three touchdowns, and scored another TD on a 74-yard kickoff return. Anyone willing to bet me that there aren't parents at Bellevue bitching because (1) they need to open things up, and (2) their sons didn't play enough? (Can't you see all these fools who said you have to spread it, out showing up at clinics next winter, trying to find out how to run the Wing T?) Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff, incidentally, is a former youth coach, and he does not teach. His five-year record at Bellevue is 45-5. *********** (A REPEAT) ARMY FOOTBALL: In case you didn't know, Coach Bobby Ross inherited a huge turnaround job. His predecessor, Todd Berry, tried to implement a pro-style passing attack at a school long-known for power football, but his efforts, to say the least, were unsuccessful - he was 5-42 in four years - and he was let go at the end of last season. Army didn't win a game last year, and won only one game the year before. That's 1-24 over the past two seasons, and Army's current losing streak of 15 is now the nation's longest. The 2004 season starts out tough, with the Cadets opening against powerful Louisville, picked to win Conference USA. Things are going to get better, I know, and if you are a Black Lion team and you or your kids would like to send a good luck message to their Big Brothers at West Point, you can e-mail it to -ARMYFOOTBALL@usma.edu - Mention that you are a Black Lions team. Major Bill Lynch, the football operations officer, will see that your message gets to the team. (For those who didn't hear the news... Army - the US Military Academy - West Point - is a Black Lions Team. With the approval of Coach Ross, the Army Football Club will be presenting the Black Lion Award annually to an Army football player! JOIN UP NOW - Black Lion Award) *********** Deepest sympathies to the Bowdens, a great football family, on their tragic loss. *********** Another season is about to kick off for me and the school where I coach, Madison High in Portland, Oregon, this Friday night, at Eagle Point, Oregon. Last Friday night, we took part in a jamboree in Scappoose, Oregon (a good football town and home of Oregon State QB Derek Anderson). W e are a small Class 4A team, and we played against three Class 3A teams - Wilsonville, picked #1 in the pre-season polls; Scappoose, picked anywhere from #2 to #5; and Tillamook. We were limited to 12 offensive plays against each team, but we put on good drives against all three teams, and once our brand-new defense settled in, we were respectable on both sides of the ball. If things break right for us, it could be a surprisingly good season for the Madison Senators. *********** THIS FRIDAY NIGHT, ANYWHERE IN AMERICA: "C'mon, honey - we'll be late for the high school game if we don't get going." "Awww - it's such a hassle - parking, and standing in line waiting to get in. And it looks like rain. Why don't we just stay home and watch the Miami-Florida State game?" There's an old Arab proverb about not letting the camel stick his nose in the tent or before you know it, the whole camel will be inside. Remember when ESPN first announced that (on an experimental basis only, you understand) it would be televising a few non-BCS conference college games on Friday nights? Remember the righteous indignation of the major college coaches who vowed that they'd never stoop that low? No, they assured, us, they'd never do anything do anything to harm the high schools. Well, fast-forward a couple of years. It's now 2004, and it's no longer Ball State-Northern Illinois on a cable channel. Now, it's Miami-Florida State. On ESPN's big brother, ABC, an over-the-air network that reaches every home in the US. The game was originally scheduled for Labor Day evening (Monday night), but with Hurricane Frances bearing down on South Florida, it had to be moved. Moved where? More to the point, moved when? Why, to Friday night, of course. Why not? Hell, the only other thing going on then is high school football. And so the admission of Miami is already paying off for the ACC, the All-Cash Conference. And except for the Florida HS Association, there hasn't been a peep about it. Fellas, the camel is inside our tent. *********** Coach Wyatt, just wanted to say thanks for your system. This will be my fourth year using your system. I have used it with 8,9,10 yr. olds (7 w 3L), 10, 11, 12 year olds (8 w 2L), 11,12,13 yr. olds (7W 3L) and the freshman high school football program (4w 4L). Thanks again and thank you for always returning my e-mail questions. Charlie Martin, Apple Valley, California *********** WASHINGTON - Lakeside 28, Selah 14 &emdash; Sean Whitsitt rushed for 192 yards on 17 carries, and scored two touchdowns, one of them a 90-yard first-quarter dash. *********** WASHINGTON - Returning state semifinalist LaCenter, Class 2A, beat Prairie, Class 4A, 39-3. *********** MISSISSIPPI - Ocean Springs 35, New Orleans DeLaSalle 35-6. (Seems this wasn't a good weekend for DeLaSalle in Ca. either) We have really had some big plays in our two wins this season. The defense has scored 3 TD's and a safety. We were ranked #13 in the state and #2 in South Mississippi last week. 4 teams in the state poll ahead of us lost. We are at home again this Friday. We host Hancock. (Brett Farve's old school) I took a fun trip this weekend. I flew out of New Orleans at 5:00 am Saturday morning.(2 hours sleep) My destination, "THE BIG HOUSE" in Ann Arbor. I was there to see Miami take on the Wolverines. Miami suffered 7 turnovers, 6 lead to UM points. Cory did not play, but was on the sidelines. His time will come. He is just a red shirt freshman. Miami actually outgained the Wolverines. The big ten officials also seemed a little biased. 11 calls on Miami, deleting 4 big plays including a TD. Michigan had 2 penalties. The game was 24-10 with 12 minutes left, and Miami on the UM 16. A picked off pass went for a TD and that pretty much sealed the win. It was a great experience to sit with 110,813 others watching a college game. I'll keep you posted on the progress of our season! Your friend! Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi *********** NEW YORK - Queensbury 60, Albany Academy 19 (I kidded Coach John Irion, a real perfectionist, asking hoe many different plays he ran - three? Or four? He wrote, "I ran superpower about 35 times , trap, GTO (our sweep) and a few 6 and 7 G's. 57 total plays for 511 yards rushing. Passed twice-1 a pick for a 96 yard TD against us and a 25 yarder by my soph QB. From my 3rd TD on I had 5 "O" players that were sophs. Center, QB, A, B and C back." *********** NEW YORK - Lansingburgh 33, Scotia-Glenville 14, A-back kenny Youngs 9 carries - 166yds 3td - he's only a freshman, B-Back Brandon Canty 9-45 yards 1 score; c-back Mike Hepp(sophomore) 8-101yds rushing; qb-matt Weber 2-3 49 yds passing 2 tds passing and 1 running; We executed well. g-o reach worked well as did 6 and 7g follow - (first year running it and worked well); Its only one game though and we got alot of things to fix. Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh *********** NEW YORK - Oakfield-Alabama Hornets (NY) 27, Alexander Trojans 0. It was a hard fought game over a much improved Alexander squad. We had a heck of a time getting the Offense going. Well, the first drive we broke a 65 yarder on 56 xx. But then it all dried up. I was doing quite a bit of "probing"--- perhaps a bit too much. They played a 4-3 cover 2 -- but they had the LB's maybe 1-2 yards off the ball and the corners outside the wings. Basically 9 men on the line (they sent the LB's almost every play). My center told me he couldn't get the backside tackle - plus they were sending the MLB all night. We could have down blocked - but I tried Super -O and it worked pretty good. At the half we decided to run only super-O and 47/56 instead of lead 47/56 (to help contain the backside chase). We also used Rip 77 and Liz 66 Superpower nicely. We came out in the second half and ran 88/99 super-O up the wazzu. We scored on a super-O and a G (and a 56-C that got called back because they said the man in motion jumped - bad call). We ran 39 runs for 232 yards and our QB went 2 of 4 for 17 yards. Not a stellar night for the Double Wing - but very workmanlike. Our Defense really dominated as did our special teams (our kicker kicked a 37 and 40 yard field goal -- both of which went an extra 10 yards). I will keep you up to date coach. P.S. the 7-G and 56-C that got called back were scored by sophomores. Oh yes -- I almost forgot. A bunch of people told me we didn't look to good on offense (funny - we wore em down and put up 21 + two FG's. ) -- they got used to our fast backfield scoring 70 yards runs last year I guess. John Dowd, Oakfield, New York *********** ILLINOIS - Coach, The Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans continued their winning ways again this week, although in more convincing fashion than they did last week. They beat the Abingdon Commandos, at Abingdon (first time in 12+ years to win there), 35-6. The Commandos stacked our left side to stop our all-state running back (80 yards on 11 carries, not terrible), giving up the right for our other wing, a 210lb bruiser. He carried 16 times for 105. The middle was open, too, allowing our fullback to get 82 on 14. In addition, our quarterback ran for 22 on 4 carries. All in all, we rushed 56 times for 300+ yards. And remember that right side they left a little weak? Well, our all-stater caught two passes for 95 yards (our qb was 2 for 4). So, we had 400+ yards offense on 60 plays. Play calling became pretty easy: super power, super power, wedge...and on and on. Once again, thanks for your continued support. I've stolen so much from you recently, and it all came at the right time. We used the trapper drill last week (I call it the MYA - Move Your Ass drill - my little slogan for what you're supposed to do if you don't know what you're supposed to do - stolen from PA basketball coach named Dick DiVenzio). Also, we saw a crashing DE this week, so I just told the kids to do what you suggested in your News section, chop with the TE and bowl him over with the W. I am watching Purdue/Syracuse and noticed something funny: 4th and short and Purdue goes away from four wide/shotgun to tight ends, tight splits, and I-backs. They changed their philosophy in one of the most crucial parts of their drive (you talked about this last year with college and pro short yardage plays). It made me think that the most important offensive plays are the short yardage ones, not he long yardage, air it out, chuck and duck ones. Glad I don't have to change philosophy when it really counts. Good luck this week. Sincerely, Todd Hollis, Elmwood/Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois *********** ILLINOIS - Coach, The Ridgeview Mustangs are now 2-0 on the season after a 61-12 victory over Woodland. 5 different players scored in the game for us as we were able to work alot of kids in. Our QB Michael Kellar was 3-4 for 111 yards and a TD. (who says we cant air it out?) We scored on 7 Brown O and 6 Black O. Next week we play Tremont, a perennial powerhouse in our conference. Mike Benton, Colfax, Illinois *********** ILLINOIS - Gday Coach, The Hanover Park 100# Gold 31- Elmhurst Eagles- 0. Jake Didier got the Canes on the board after a 6 minute drive with 2 wedge. A mix of Lead XX56C , 6G , 47C , kept the Eagles on their heels constantly. They had a hard time picking up where the ball was... Many carries by Alex Morrow, Aaron Tabateau, Javon McDonald, and Keith Wilson capped the other TD's. Total yardage today was 380 yards with the Canes controlling 3 of 4 quarters. Their defense was hot and tired by the end of the game. Next week a tough Downers Grove team. Got a little trickeration headed their way as I know they were out scouting us today. Rgds, John Urbaniak, Hanover Park, Illinois *********** KANSAS - Colby 34, Atwood 14 - Coach, The Colby Eagles are 1-0 after a solid 34-14 opening game victory at Atwood. Our first TD came on a 61 yard Criss-Cross 47-C (untouched). We also scored on a 2-wedge, a 29 G-O reach, a 99 super power, and an 88 super power. We converted two 2-point conversions with 58 black O. We ran 55 times for 347 yards. Sophomore C-back Sam Munderloh ran 21 times for 152 yards and 3 TD's; freshman a-back Mitchell Tuma ran 12 times for 83 yards, and senior b-bak Weston Foltz ran 10 times for 82 yards. Also, the 3-3 Twin-Tilt Defense was very effective. Our kids were fired up and played with great enthusiasm, and we have great fan support heading into our first home game next Friday vs. Hoxie (also a double-wing team). We can't be content so we will work hard to improve in practice this week. Good luck to you and your team. Greg Koenig, Colby, Kansas *********** GEORGIA - Nathanael Greene Academy 38 Curtis Baptist 0 - Hugh, we just keep getting better on "D" and the offense keeps rolling. We make little adjustments here and there for the things we see defensively, but most can be handled with play calling. We beat our 3rd AA team in a row. The kids are still flying high and loving our offense. We made history Friday night for it is the 1st time in the school history to win the first three games. Power and G-O were the flavors for the evening, and were quite bitter for our opponents. They were packing the box as usual and squeezing and the outside yielded many, many yards. We ended up with 380 yards of total offense, with 367 yards of it rushing. Our stats makes it look like we can't throw, so I'll just let folks think that, if they want to. I'll keep you posted and we just hope to keep this thing rolling. We play the defending state champs Friday, Robert Toombs Academy. They are a broken bone (GA Southern) offense and very strong defensive team. The challenge will be great! Thanks, Coach Larry Harrison, Head Football Coach, Nathanael Greene Academy, Siloam, Georgia *********** Northwestern-TCU - The Wildcats go down in OT as their kicker misses 5 FGs, two of them in OT. *********** Prairie View won!!! *********** Colorado-Colorado State. Easily the Ugly Uniform Bowl. Colorado's all-black-with-old-gold-helmets has to be the worst look in all of sports. (Sorry. I just saw Kent State.) Anyhow, what was CSU's Sonny Lubick thinking, down there on the goal line? Down by three, first and goal on the one, under a minute to play, and CSU, with no timeouts, spikes it on first down. The second-down play, a dive at the left side, comes up short. The clock's running, and on third down, the Rams try what looks like the same play, and it, too, comes up short, as time runs out. Question: why didn't they also spike it on THIRD down, and then either send in a play or choose to kick a field goal? Give Gary Barnett credit. He's been to hell and back over the last several months, and he was not about to pile on a fellow coach. Asked afterward about Lubick's decision, he said, "He went for the win. I admire him." *********** Congratulations to Sylvester Croom on his successful debut at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs played solid football, and finally wore Tulane down, to give him his first win as a college head coach. *********** Whoopee-do. The Husker faithful must really be excited about Nebraska's win over Western Illinois. Yes, a good I-AA club, but a I-AA club nonetheless. *********** Notre Dame-BYU - pure ugly. How ugly? A Notre Dame punt return man fielded the ball on his own ONE. I don't particularly care for Notre Dame and its go-it-alone TV deal, not to mention the favored treatment it gets from the BCS, but I do like Tyrone Willingham, and I must admit it doesn't look good for him. *********** Did you see the ESPN promos for "Hustle," a story about a baseball player who bets on baseball games.? Did you see the weenie in the Reds' uniform that we're supposed to believe is Pete Rose? *********** We had a jamboree Friday night, so I taped the WSU-New Mexico game for later viewing. But I got one quarter into it and I'll be damned if they didn't start ramming this Katie Hnida sh-- down my throat. Aargh! She's the female kicker that Rick Neuheisel brought into Colorado, then left behind for Gary Barnett to have to deal with. She's also the one who claimed she was "date-raped" by a teammate. She's now at New Mexico and, female announcers like to tell us breathlessly, she kicked an extra point last year! Announcer Rod Gilmore almost had me ralphing on my living room rug as he told us how pony-tailed Katie did "all the lifts the guys did" in the weight room, how he's not just a kicker, she's an athlete. He was so effusive that I got the impression somebody from the network had handed him a script - written by a woman, of course - and stuck a gun to his head and said, "Read this." *********** The media out here have been pretty tough on the Oregon State kicker. He won't get much sympathy from me, because if he'd made a couple of kicks and the Beavers had won, we'd have seen his photo on front pages all over the United States, as if he'd single-handedly won the game. But in their haste to blame the kicker, they show a remarkable ability to let the real perps off the hook. Perp Number One: Any time you need an example for your players of how selfish play can kill a team, point to the Oregon State player who caught a touchdown pass against LSU and instead of handing the ball to an official, took it with him to the sideline, both arms wrapped around it. As a souvenir. Thanks to Mister Me the Souvenir-Seeker, the Beavers were penalized five yards on the PAT for delay of game. No big deal, ordinarily. Except the Oregon State kicker had hit the right upright with an earlier kick, and damned if he didn't do the exact same thing this time. Without a doubt, though, if he'd been kicking from the normal distance, his kick would have been good. Oh, well. They might have lost in second overtime, anyhow. And this way, some mother somewhere has a nice souvenir of her son's first college touchdown. That's the most important thing. Perp Number Two: Coach Mike Riley did a masterful job of preparing his team for the toughest season opener imaginable, but he did sort of choke at crunch time. Any baseball coach with marginal intelligence knows that when a guy has whiffed - badly - in his first two at-bats, you don't send him up to the plate with the game on the line. Any basketball coach knows that a guy who has made a third of his free throws is not the guy to send to the line to shoot a "T". Now, Mike Riley's kids had played their asses off, but they were clearly worn down. Baton Rouge is never a good place to have to play if you're a visitor, but the heat and humidity of early September are always shocking to visiting teams. Two thousand miles from home and down by one point in overtime to the defending national champions, it was clearly time to put it all on the line and go for two. Instead, Riley timidly put the game in the hands of a terrified freshman, who did as expected and peed his pants. Riley said afterwards that he wanted to call time out to "discuss" going for two, but with all the noise and commotion, he couldn't get the officials' attention. Videotape of him gesturing frantically appears to bear him out. But "discuss?" Hell of a time for that. And what was there to discuss? The decision - either way - should have been made well in advance, like when they went on offense in OT. And based on the way his kids were dragging, it looked like an easy one to me. Blame the kid? Who put him in there? At the least, instead of hanging the kid out to dry, Mike Riley should admit that he may have made a bad decision. *********** Or do I have the wrong coach? John Cooper on the La. Tech-Nevada game, asked how Oregon State was dealing with the devastating loss to LSU, said that "Coach Bellotti" is a heck of a coach and he'll have them ready for this week's game. *********** The Beavers and Coach Riley play their Asses off and only to lose a heart breaker down at Baton Rouge!! Riley had the Beavers ready and prepared to Go, I tip my hat to him they did not look intimated at all. What a shame to lose the way they did ( in the 4th qtr they did look they were playing NOT to lose instead of to Win,the play calling was NOT as aggressive) Bill Doba and the Boys pulled out a solid Win against that A-hole in New Mexico And What the Hell has Happened to Washington ?,they Got Slapped around by Fresno ST. ( which is nothing to be ashamed of Fresno St is a SOLID program,but WASHINGTON is WASHINGTON !! ) See ya this week coach - John Muckian, Lynn, Massachusetts (The Huskies are paying the price for the affirmative action/diversity-is-our-strength hire of Barbara Hedges as AD years ago. She is the major reason why Don James left, and under her "leadership" - she hired Skippy Neuheisel - Washington hasn't been the same since. HW) *********** Now, I am not going to dwell excessively on the officiating in the LSU-Oregon State game, which was, to say the least, "uneven." It is entirely possible that they really did see Oregon State defenders holding LSU receivers on key plays - twice - in the Tigers' overtime drive. And I suppose you would have really had to be impartial to call a ball that slid out of the QB's hand a fumble, rather than an interception, as the good old boys saw it. But I watched LSU's so-called All-American, #76 Whitworth on every play, and that big SOB put on a performance worthy of Rulon Gardner. Or The Rock. Finding out early that Oregon State's Bill Swancutt was too much for him to handle if he played the game straight-up, Whitworth chose instead to claw, grab, grope, tackle. Damn near every play. And he was called just once for holding. I am left with two burning questions: (1) Who in the OSU athletic department ever agreed to let an SEC crew officiate? (2) When two SEC teams are playing each other, how do the officials decide which team to screw? *********** Bob Holman has built a nice program at Camas, Washington, the town I live in. Last year's team made it to the playoffs, so it came as something of a shock when five seniors decided not to turn out this season. And then two more guys came up academically ineligible. No matter. As part of the opening card of Saturday's big football fest at QWest Field (the Seahawks' stadium), Camas, a 3A school, shocked Mead High of Spokane, ranked number 8 in the state 4A pre-season poll, 27-14. Said Camas running back Nikko Listek afterward, "We don't need those guys. We're a strong team. We're better without those guys." That's the beautiful thing about football. Sometimes you add by subtracting.    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  September 3, 2004  "Whatever shortcomings you have... people are going to notice them. Whatever strengths you have.. you're going to need them." President George W. Bush   2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS     *********** (A REPEAT) ARMY FOOTBALL: In case you didn't know, Coach Bobby Ross inherited a huge turnaround job. His predecessor, Todd Berry, tried to implement a pro-style passing attack at a school long-known for power football, but his efforts, to say the least, were unsuccessful - he was 5-42 in four years - and he was let go at the end of last season. Army didn't win a game last year, and won only one game the year before. That's 1-24 over the past two seasons, and Army's current losing streak of 15 is now the nation's longest. The 2004 season starts out tough, with the Cadets opening against powerful Louisville, picked to win Conference USA. Things are going to get better, I know, and if you are a Black Lion team and you or your kids would like to send a good luck message to your their Big Brothers at West Point, you can e-mail it to -ARMYFOOTBALL@usma.edu - Mention that you are a Black Lions team. Major Bill Lynch, the football operations officer, will see that your message gets to the team. (For those who didn't hear the news... Army - the US Military Academy - West Point - is a Black Lions Team. With the approval of Coach Ross, the Army Football Club will be presenting the Black Lion Award annually to an Army football player! JOIN UP NOW - Black Lion Award) *********** "I'm listening to Sen. Miller (D) from Georgia -- the BEST speech I've EVER heard in my LIFE!!!!" Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas (If not the best I've ever heard... damn near! It took me back to the days when American was run by real men. On both sides. Zell Miller is no girlieman. Zell Miller is a real Man of Stones! HW) *********** Loudmouth Chris Matthews had conservative columnist Michelle Malkin on his show a week or so ago, and treated her rather rudely. Not that she isn't up to dealing with louts like him, but Matthews ("Hardball" he calls his show, for those occasions when he thinks he can beat up on a female columnist; "No Balls" is what he should call it for the way he questions Democrats) found that Senator Zell Miller can play hardball, too. After Matthews tried his usual tactic of shouting down Senator Miller, the gentleman from Georgia, a Man of Stones, replied, with anger in his voice, "I wish we lived back in the days when we could duel... don't try pulling that stuff on me that you pulled on that young lady." *********** By now, many of you are probably aware that legendary fight promoter Don King has been conspicuous at the Republican Convention as a supporter of President Bush. My wife and I were listening to a radio interview of the guy, and we sat, absolutely dumbfounded, as this man of unquestioned street smarts showed, in his staccato style of speech, that he was also a man of considerable education. Wow - In the space of maybe a minute, he made reference to the three-fifths compromise (whereby slaves were to be counted, for the purpose of representation, as three-fifths of a person), to John Paul Jones ("I have not yet begun to fight"), and to Rip Van Winkle, who slept through the American Revolution. But just to show he's still a guy who can consort with prize fighters as well as presidents, he urged President Bush to carry the fight to his oppponents: "When you in it... you in it to win it!" *********** More from Mike Bianchi, of the Orlando Sentinel: "And speaking of pathetic, Ricky Williams is now playing the "kid" card when the subject comes up of the Dolphins trying to recoup $8.6 million Williams has been paid in incentives. Williams told ESPN: "Well, let's see what can happen in terms of a court of law deciding that the NFL deserves that money that I earned in incentives instead of my three children." Puh-leeze. Hey, Ricky, if you're so worried about the financial well being of your kids, why did you give up a lucrative football career so you could smoke dope on a mountain in Tibet? By the way, Ricky now says he's headed to India for a couple of months. Do you think his kids are going with him?" *********** Coach - More NFL intrusion on pure football... Right now (Wednesday 9/1/04 4:00 - 5:00 CST) there is a replay of the 2003 NFL Pop Warner Super Bowl on the NFL channel. Grrr....... %$#! They have NFL Youth Football Week.... Regards, Mark Bergen, Keller, Texas (Mark my words - the NFL Octopus will one day control all football - professional and amateur - in the world. HW) *********** On Tuesday I wrote, "If all you can run is a power play one way, a counter coming back the other way, and a wedge, and your kids know what they're doing, you will be a lot better off than if you try running a bunch of things and the kids don't know what they're doing. " Immediately came this reply: I now know that I've been reading your stuff too long! We have 5 practices until our first game, which will give us a total of 8. Remember -- this is an "expansion" team where most of the boys have never played before. Sunday, I gave a "play sheet" to one of the dad's who is helping me this season (I don't have a real "assistant" this year -- it's just me) -- it has THREE plays on it -- TR 88 SP, TR 47C and 2Wedge. I told him we would install 88 tonight, 47C tomorrow night and the Wedge Thursday. Then we had 2 more practices to rep the crap out of them. Now, between us girls, I'm sure I'll get 99SP and RED RED in as well, but I feel confident we can compete with those first 3 plays. What a great game this is! Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas *********** OK. I have purposely waited on writing you to let you know how Providence Football's been going because I did not want to be premature with my enthusiasm. But after last night's game, I have to write. It's 3:00 am and I can't sleep- still too pumped. Hugh, as you may recall when I attended the Atlanta clinic I told you about our school (Providence Christian School) in Dothan, AL and the addition of football to the sports we play. We also have moved to the Alabama High School Athletic Association in all the sports in which we compete (a huge jump from the small, Christian league we were in) just this year. Of course the naysayers all predicted failure or at least an embarrassing introduction of the sport (we are playing junior high ball for 2 seasons and plan on fielding a varsity team in 2006). We have 36 boys on the team and not a single one of them quit in spite of a hotter than usual August in south Alabama. 20 of the 36 have never played football before this season. You can understand my concern then, when our 36 upper middle class and very Caucasian athletes took the field last night against a local school football power that is a classification higher than Providence. In what would appear at first glance to be very poor scheduling on my part in playing our toughest opponent of the season in the very first game of the year (and first in history of the school) - and our only home game of the season (due to our not having a campus stadium and needing to play on the city park field), we more than survived. Defensively, we gave up 4 long TD's to our opponents. Several times we were in situations 1 on 1 where our boy(s) was/were overmatched physically- certainly by speed and often by size and age. This resulted in breakaway runs and scores. Our boys never quit. As my good friend Kenny Keith - the O.C. at a local high school that runs the DW said to me after the game: "they (our opponent) just got doublewinged." Despite being outweighed and outmanned we owned the LOS when on offense. We never had a play for negative yardage. We mostly ran superpower. (Our opponent's ran a 5-3 with the ends in 9 techniques.) We ran the ball 42 times for 305 yards. We threw 4 passes. 3 went for T.D.'s. My 8th grade A back had 160 yds rushing on 14 carries. The C back (also an 8th grader) had 70 yards on 9 carries and caught two TD passes. The home side was completely full. 3 of our high school boys came in with painted bodies in school colors complete with drums. Fans cheered all night for our boys and stayed when the game was over to give them a standing ovation after the postgame meeting in our end zone to show their appreciation for not quitting. Final score: Long Jr. High 41, PCS 32. The best of it now is 36 young guys who are believers in our system and in themselves. Thanks to you and also to my DW friends who have encouraged me over the years. Also, I have no paid assistants. One staff member whose son plays (who has never coached before), one local guy who is charge of equipment, and one of my former players that just graduated from college and is awaiting admission into medical school and is helping coach my inside linebackers. Otherwise, it is just me. As I discovered in my previous head coaching experience, it is better to do it virtually alone than to have to deal with issues of loyalty. Emory Latta, Providence Christian School, Dothan, Alabama (Coach Latta has to be one of the few high school coaches in the country to be succeeded by a former major college head coach. Nothing against Mike DuBose, the former University of Alabama coach, but after taking the place of Coach Latta, a good high school coach, he went out and lost every game. HW) *********** Indiana has been looking for a new AD, and rumor has it Army AD Rick Greenspan is about to be named. I join a host of Army football men in congratulating Indiana on the wisdom of their choice, and I strongly urge them to hire Rick Greenspan. Immediately. Please. Hurry up. *********** Yee-haw! College football is rolling! Never thought I'd see the day that Utah would kick the sh-- out of Texas A & M. TCU-Northwestern was one of those games where I wanted both teams to win and didn't want either team to lose. *********** I thought I would take some time to enlist your advice regarding how we counteract their defensive line play.  When they play us their coaches teach the "submarine and grab" technique.  Illegal. Yes.  We have our linemen as far off the ball as possible yet Holy Angels still insists on playing us that way.  I always tell the officials before the start of the game, yet we still don't get any calls.  Anyway, what other play suggestions do you have that can help us counteract this tactic? I would down block, and I would aim for the knees. Or lower. Works great on powers and counters. Sure does piss people off, and subnmarining linemen are helpless against blocks from the side. Your kids will enjoy it, and it's legal. *********** ILLINOIS - Coach, You'd have thought the football was a greased pig (pigskin) last Friday night when the Elmwood-Brimfield Trojans took the field against the North Fulton Wildcats. We fumbled six times, losing four. They scored four touchdowns (26-13 at the half). See the correlation? When we had the ball, we did very well, though. We got a handle on things in the second half and our conditioning really paid off. While the Wildcats were busying running out of gas, we were busy running over them, scoring three touchdowns in six minutes during the fourth quarter. We outgained them 413 to 180. I had to thank the team after the game for bailing me out after I made a stupid call. Following a great goal-line stand (following one of our fumbles) at the end of the first half, I got greedy and tried to throw out of our end zone. The qb was hit, the ball dropped, and they scored. It went against everything I tell our kids about our offensive philosophy. My greed/stupidity could have really cost us. But, the kids rebounded, came back from a two touchdown deficit, and even hung an "insurance" td on them late, and saved my butt. Believe me, it won't happen again. On a side note, our junior varsity team beat North Fulton's 33-0 last night. Nice way to start the season for both squads. Good luck to you, your team, and all fellow double wingers out there. Todd Hollis, Elmwood, Illinois *********** GEORGIA - Coach Wyatt, Good news from the deep south. Our team opened the season against a team that has finished either 1st or 2nd the last 2 years in our county league. We won 46-14. I placed extra emphasis on the shoeshine block by our TE's this year on the super power plays and I never saw any penetration by their backside tackle or end. We averaged over 6 yards a carry last night on 88 and 99 superpower. Because their LB's played 5-6 yards deep it was tough to wall them off, but we slowly bled them to death. We also scored on 2 red and basically ran the ball down their throat. Our third team also scored a toughdown against their 1st team defense. The only "trick" play we used was 58 and 47 C. I think we had about 15 yards a carry on those two plays. We even kicked a couple of extra points. I told our "football" player that also kicks that he may have come out for the team to kick (soccer player) " You are football player that just happens to be able to kick." He laid out one of the other players on a kick off return. I think he got more of a kick out of that than kicking the extra points. Dan King Riverside Middle Eagles, Evans, Georgia *********** ALASKA - We picked up another game in Delta Junction, but that road trip is a crazy story. It should make a great column on your website. Basically we leave here on Friday night, fly to Anchorage, get to Anchoage at 10:30 PM, ride a bus for 6 hours into the interior, sleep on a gym floor for a few hours, play the game, and then another 6 hour bus ride back to Anchorage, followed by a flight back to Ketchikan, all in all 44 hours, which includes 12 hours of flying and 12 hours of bus rides. Richard Cropp, Ketchikan, Alaska *********** KENTUCKY - Coach Wyatt, Thank you for the (8-Man) tape, it was a tremendous help. My 14 player team has "stormed" to a 2-0 start. We have played an 8-man and regular strength game. In the 8-man game we defeated a team (Arron Academy) which had beat us twice last season easily. The two halfbacks both rushed over 100 yards, and we finished with 291 yards rushing, and 71 passing (2-5, with 3 drops). We wore them down so much that with 4 minutes to go they gave up. Beth Haven 44 Arron Acad 20. Then we traveled 4.5 hours to Knoxville. Grace Christian was huge, and had 30 players. Our best player could not play, and we only had 13 able bodies. We pushed a lead at halftime to 26-6, and held on to win 26-13. With 11 men, I could use the b-back, and I did. He controlled the LOS for 2 solid drives. He finished with 16 c 80 yards, 1 td. My a-back had 16 c 100 yards 3 tds. We played great defense. We held them to 97 total yards. Not bad for a team that didn't block correctly. On power the te and wing base blocked, thus the pulling OL just stood around in a mess. We blocked 3 basic well, and 6 G. But everything else needs alot of work. We do not have a varsity game for 3 weeks, so I am back to the basics. Build a wall, pull hard, and follow your blockers. I told them to imagine if we executed well. My problem: we fumbled 7 times, and lost 5. The QB is not getting out fast enough, and I refuse to slow the line. He is pigeon-toed, pulls to the gut, but still hits his OL at times. He blames the center, and I am lost for ideas. I am just working on repetition. The kids are excited, and are very coachable (With these kids I teach throughout the game If the make a mistake, it is not for a lack of effort but a lack of knowledge). I have them teaching the middle school the plays. I hope this will develop ownership, and led to a better understanding. I'll let you know how it goes. Again thank you. I would like to take this opportunity to register Beth Haven Christian School to be a Black Lion team. This is something I have looked forward to since 1999 (last time I was a head coach). Thank you. Ron Hennig, Louisville Kentucky TAKE CARE AND GOD BLESS - I CORINTHIANS 10:31 (Coach Hennig was at the first clinic I ever gave, in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, April, 1997. HW) *********** In case you're one of those people who wants to use the most up-to-date terms, it is now known as "sex reassignment" surgery. *********** Hi Coach, Not sure if you saw Monday's USA Today, but as part of its series "10 Things to change in sports" the NFL's sudden death (or as I like to call it "Golden Field Goal") overtime procedure was discussed. The report explained that only 40 percent of all overtime games were decided on the first possession and 30 percent last season. The statistic I would have liked to see was not mentioned, however. I wanted to know the percentage of overtime games decided on a field goal as opposed to a touchdown. Nowhere in the story (which was rather short) was the college or high school overtime discussed. Assuming the NFL never even considers the high school or college overtime, I would like to see one change: The first team to score six points wins. If a team can put together a drive that results in a touchdown on its first possession, great, I have no problem if the game ends like that. If the best a team can do is a field goal, keep playing. Other proposals the USA Today staff had were drop the Pro Bowl; one week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl; unconditional free agency; revive the XFL; allow end zone celebration; shorten the exhibition season; retain challenge if instant replay proves coach's objection; eliminate fair catch; drop TV timeouts before and after kickoffs and widen hash marks. As far as the Olympics is concerned: I'm not sure I agree about water polo being a girlie man sport. I've never played it, but it's my understanding it is quite a rough game. I remember reading about a particularly brutal game in the Melbourne Olympics between the USSR and Hungary that took place shortly after Soviet tanks invaded Hungary. You are right in general, however. The Olympics the way NBC covers it is sports for people who don't like sports. And the next time some lunatic in a kilt decides to interfere with an Olympic event, could he please try messing with archery, javelin or shooting? Have a good day Steve Tobey Malden, Massachusetts (Apologies to water polo and swimming - water polo can be rough and swimming requires immense amounts of work - but they do feature the smoothbodies that today's women supposedly like. Same with gymnastics. Those guys are unquestionably good athletes and strong as hell. (Although I've heard way too much from Paul Hamm. I think he should lay off the helium.) Maybe I should have called this the Metrosexual Olympics. The Games Between (Mostly) Heterosexual Men Who Are in Touch With Their Inner Female. Men Who Use Moisturizers. Men Who visit spas and Get Pedicures and Have Chest Hairs Removed by Electrolysis. Good letter. The NFL simply will not stood for borrowing an idea that it can't claim as its own, so college/HS overtime is out. I like your first-team-to-six solution. HW) *********** Can you explain "Reach?" A "Reach" block enables a blocker to get outside leverage on a man lined up on him or even slightly outside him, so that the play can go outside. him It requires the blocker to get his helmet outside the defender's helmet, and get into him, then from that point drive him upfield. To get the helmet outside, we teach a 45-degree first step to the outside, and then driving into the defender. And we stress keeping the shoulders square, not trying to "turn" the defender, because in doing so, we could"open the door" and allow him to penetrate. *********** Three cheers for the women's basketball team. If the WNBA women all looked like the Aussie women - I'm talking about those uni's - instead of wearing those ungodly baggy shorts, it wouldn't be more than two or three yeare before they were subsidizing the NBA, instead of the other way around. *********** We had a white hat tell us we could not run 47-c and criss cross with an inside handoff. That screwed up the 11/12 team until the half when we retrained on "outside" for both plays. His point was that one person couldn't handoff to another inside if both players were parallel with the line of scrimmage at the time of handoff. What a stupid official - the handoff is, of course, legal, and has been since the invention of football. A forward handoff is NOT legal beyond the line of scrimmage or on kicking plays. Seems to me an extensive rules test ought to be required of anyone wanting to become an official. At the very least, if they don't KNOW the rules, you'd think they'd shut the f--k up. HW    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD