alaskacat
10-16-2009, 08:22 PM
Stars, Kardinals to battle for crown
By MATT TUNSETH
mtunseth@adn.com
Published: October 14th, 2009 10:40 PM
Last Modified: October 14th, 2009 10:41 PM
Galen Brantley's ping-pong game relies heavily on deception. During a recent lunch period at Soldotna High School, the Stars head football coach showed off his skills against a mop-topped high-schooler, using a variety of serving styles to pull out a tight 26-24 victory in the school's gym.
"That's just one of my many duties here," joked Brantley, who also serves as the school's athletic director.
Brantley's deception on the table tennis scene mirrors his team's baffling offense, which has racked up more than 3,000 rushing yards as Soldotna has played its way into a fourth consecutive state small-schools championship game. Soldotna on Saturday plays rival Kenai at noon at Anchorage Football Stadium.
Known as the "Olivet Power-T," the offense relies on five basic plays to roll over opponents, who often have no idea who the ball carrier is.
"What I really enjoy about it is it's so deceptive," said Soldotna running back Chis Nolden, who has run for nearly 1,000 yards and scored 13 touchdowns this season. "All of our plays look like every other play."
Soldotna's coaching staff installed the offense five years ago after noticing that a tiny Division III college in Michigan, Olivet, led the nation in rushing.
"It kinda landed in our lap," Brantley said.
The Stars already ran the Delaware Wing-T, a similar run-first offense designed around fakes and ball control. But instead of having a wing back lined up off the line of scrimmage in the backfield, Soldotna's basic set starts with a seven-man line, a quarterback under center and three running backs lined up three-wide in the backfield.
At the snap, each of the running backs not getting the ball carries out a fake, often with one, two or even three defenders following blindly behind as another ballcarrier takes the football in another direction. Soldotna often breaks long scoring runs where it's not immediately apparent who has the ball. On one play in the Stars' 44-20 semifinal win over Homer last weekend, an apparent touchdown was blown dead by an official, who thought a tackled player had the ball. He didn't.
"It's just like blocking them," Nolden said of the myriad fakes run in the backfield. "But it's easier to carry out the fake and take two people with you than blocking two people."
The offense often results in long touchdown runs and high-scoring games. The Stars have six running backs with at least 200 yards rushing and -- despite having two losses -- have outscored their opponents 423-131.
To stop the Soldotna juggernaut, Kenai assistant coach Jim Beeson said his team will have to play extremely disciplined defense.
"The biggest issue is being in position and everybody doing what they're supposed to and making tackles," Beeson said.
That's easier said than done. Soldotna has won three consecutive state small-schools titles and hasn't lost to a small-schools team since 2004. Beeson said the tricky part of slowing the Stars down is eliminating the big play.
"They just keep pounding the same stuff until someone slips through," he said.
One advantage Kenai might have is it faced the deceptive offense earlier this season, when Soldotna won the regular-season finale 52-27.
Saturday's noon showdown between Kenai and Soldotna will match not only crosstown rivals but also the winners of the past seven small-schools crowns. Kenai had a four-peat from 2002-05 before the Stars took over the division, winning the past three titles.
While the Stars rolled to those championships, this season has been a bit different. Soldotna lost twice during the regular season (albeit to large-schools playoff teams West and Colony), and Beeson said he believes the Kardinals have the horses to hang with the Stars.
"Physically we're a lot closer to being equal with them than we have in the past few years," he said of his team. "This is the first year in the last two or three years where we haven't taken every second off the play clock to try and shorten the football game."
Kenai can also counter with an offense as balanced as any in Alaska. With the emergence of sophomore quarterback A.J. Hull, the Kardinals average 391.6 yards per game, tops in the state. Hull has thrown for more yards than any quarterback in Alaska, while Kenai running back Billy Kiefer leads the state with 1,338 rushing yards.
That balance makes Kenai a dangerous opponent, Nolden said.
"The closer they get to 50-50 passing and rushing, it's harder to guess what they're going to do," he said.
Many of Kenai's yards have come against inferior competition. And Beeson is quick to admit Soldotna's difficult nonconference schedule, which also included a win over large-schools semifinalist Palmer, could give the Stars an advantage.
"The difference in the two football teams is, number one, the schedule they've played, and just the fact that they've won three years in a row," said Beeson.
Brantley said the unique challenge of having to stop both the run and the pass will challenge his defense. Despite Soldotna's 25-point cushion in the first meeting, he would prefer Saturday's championship remain a low-scoring affair.
"I definitely don't want to get into a track meet," he said.
http://www.adn.com/sports/prep/football/small/story/974098.html
By MATT TUNSETH
mtunseth@adn.com
Published: October 14th, 2009 10:40 PM
Last Modified: October 14th, 2009 10:41 PM
Galen Brantley's ping-pong game relies heavily on deception. During a recent lunch period at Soldotna High School, the Stars head football coach showed off his skills against a mop-topped high-schooler, using a variety of serving styles to pull out a tight 26-24 victory in the school's gym.
"That's just one of my many duties here," joked Brantley, who also serves as the school's athletic director.
Brantley's deception on the table tennis scene mirrors his team's baffling offense, which has racked up more than 3,000 rushing yards as Soldotna has played its way into a fourth consecutive state small-schools championship game. Soldotna on Saturday plays rival Kenai at noon at Anchorage Football Stadium.
Known as the "Olivet Power-T," the offense relies on five basic plays to roll over opponents, who often have no idea who the ball carrier is.
"What I really enjoy about it is it's so deceptive," said Soldotna running back Chis Nolden, who has run for nearly 1,000 yards and scored 13 touchdowns this season. "All of our plays look like every other play."
Soldotna's coaching staff installed the offense five years ago after noticing that a tiny Division III college in Michigan, Olivet, led the nation in rushing.
"It kinda landed in our lap," Brantley said.
The Stars already ran the Delaware Wing-T, a similar run-first offense designed around fakes and ball control. But instead of having a wing back lined up off the line of scrimmage in the backfield, Soldotna's basic set starts with a seven-man line, a quarterback under center and three running backs lined up three-wide in the backfield.
At the snap, each of the running backs not getting the ball carries out a fake, often with one, two or even three defenders following blindly behind as another ballcarrier takes the football in another direction. Soldotna often breaks long scoring runs where it's not immediately apparent who has the ball. On one play in the Stars' 44-20 semifinal win over Homer last weekend, an apparent touchdown was blown dead by an official, who thought a tackled player had the ball. He didn't.
"It's just like blocking them," Nolden said of the myriad fakes run in the backfield. "But it's easier to carry out the fake and take two people with you than blocking two people."
The offense often results in long touchdown runs and high-scoring games. The Stars have six running backs with at least 200 yards rushing and -- despite having two losses -- have outscored their opponents 423-131.
To stop the Soldotna juggernaut, Kenai assistant coach Jim Beeson said his team will have to play extremely disciplined defense.
"The biggest issue is being in position and everybody doing what they're supposed to and making tackles," Beeson said.
That's easier said than done. Soldotna has won three consecutive state small-schools titles and hasn't lost to a small-schools team since 2004. Beeson said the tricky part of slowing the Stars down is eliminating the big play.
"They just keep pounding the same stuff until someone slips through," he said.
One advantage Kenai might have is it faced the deceptive offense earlier this season, when Soldotna won the regular-season finale 52-27.
Saturday's noon showdown between Kenai and Soldotna will match not only crosstown rivals but also the winners of the past seven small-schools crowns. Kenai had a four-peat from 2002-05 before the Stars took over the division, winning the past three titles.
While the Stars rolled to those championships, this season has been a bit different. Soldotna lost twice during the regular season (albeit to large-schools playoff teams West and Colony), and Beeson said he believes the Kardinals have the horses to hang with the Stars.
"Physically we're a lot closer to being equal with them than we have in the past few years," he said of his team. "This is the first year in the last two or three years where we haven't taken every second off the play clock to try and shorten the football game."
Kenai can also counter with an offense as balanced as any in Alaska. With the emergence of sophomore quarterback A.J. Hull, the Kardinals average 391.6 yards per game, tops in the state. Hull has thrown for more yards than any quarterback in Alaska, while Kenai running back Billy Kiefer leads the state with 1,338 rushing yards.
That balance makes Kenai a dangerous opponent, Nolden said.
"The closer they get to 50-50 passing and rushing, it's harder to guess what they're going to do," he said.
Many of Kenai's yards have come against inferior competition. And Beeson is quick to admit Soldotna's difficult nonconference schedule, which also included a win over large-schools semifinalist Palmer, could give the Stars an advantage.
"The difference in the two football teams is, number one, the schedule they've played, and just the fact that they've won three years in a row," said Beeson.
Brantley said the unique challenge of having to stop both the run and the pass will challenge his defense. Despite Soldotna's 25-point cushion in the first meeting, he would prefer Saturday's championship remain a low-scoring affair.
"I definitely don't want to get into a track meet," he said.
http://www.adn.com/sports/prep/football/small/story/974098.html