“Th e Ke e p e r s o f t h e Ga m e ” The New Blaine By Shannon Gerrety

After 24 years of running the same been taking them from the offense, change was not an easy thing offensive side of the ball to to do. The Wing-T Offense had been play linebacker on defensive our offensive trademark for a long time side. It’s our philosophy at and making the switch to a completely Blaine to 2-platoon our kids. new system wasn’t an easy decision to With that being said, the make. After the 2007 football season, talented halfbacks we used we thought it was time for a change. to produce were now on the The Wing-T offense had been very good other side of the ball. Over to us over the years, but with some of the course of a few seasons, the struggles we were having with our our prototypical halfbacks offensive production, we were looking for had changed. They were still something new. We are not suggesting good athletes, but the size of you cannot be successful running the the player had changed. They, Wing-T, but we were having a difficult consequently, had become a Our quarterback was returning and we time putting points on the board and smaller, more nimble kid. Athletic, yes; knew he was a playmaking competitor. sustaining drives. Time for a change. but as big and strong, no. Surround him with some skill kids, many In the early part of the 2008 preseason In our league, with the likes of schools returning starters on defense, the spread meetings I proposed a question. What as Champlin Park, Anoka, and Maple offense was an easy decision. With was our most productive offensive play? I Grove, the size of their defensive line commitment to the no huddle spread, thought we would be able say the sweep, requires a much bigger back to block the a sound defense is a nice “ace up your trap or waggle. None of those three plays edge and run the sweep. We don’t have sleeve” to have. A good quarterback that were as productive as I thought they those kids playing offense anymore, thus could help you with the transition is also needed to be. In our opinion, in order the time for change was inevitable. a nice thing to have. to run the Wing-T offense efficiently, When thinking about what type of With all of those variables to consider, you need to establish the sweep. Over new offense to install a lot of questions plus a staff that was eager and willing to the past few seasons, I felt we were not come to mind. First thing we had to put in the hours necessary to be prepared doing that well enough. Why? We had consider was what type of athletes we for a season, the decision was an easy one to address that precise question. Why have walking the hallways of Blaine. The to make. Blaine was changing to the no couldn’t we establish the sweep? We next thing to ask is how can get some huddle spread offense. knew the blocking rules, we knew the of those non football players out for the footwork, we knew the scheme, we had At a late spring team meeting, we team. With our old offense, we typically announced the change to our kids. Prior ran it for years, but we still were having had one receiver on the field at a time. a difficult time establishing the sweep. to the meeting we posted sign all over Most of the athletes, who we were the school announcing a big change to After much deliberation, I blamed it on a targeting as potential contributors to the philosophical reason. Blaine football. We tried to pique the success of our program, were the lean, tall, interest of current players and intrigue With other teams in our league athletic basketball player type of kid that news ones as to what was going on. spreading out the field and stressing could run. If you know anything about Coaches were asked not to leak the our defense, we had to change the type kids you can agree with the fact that kids change, but every once in a while they of kid we had on defense. We needed want to catch footballs in the end-zone. could let something slip out to some of to take some speed and size from our They want to score touchdowns and get the team leaders about a big change for offense and put them on defense. The their name in the paper. If we wanted the next year. Excitement was in the air type of athlete we were taking from the to attract those kids to football, we had and the school was buzzing. Kids were offense was the same athletes we used to to put a product on the field that they anxious as we gathered for the meeting. use as halfbacks in the Wing –T. The 190+ wanted to be part of. After some administrative topics were pound kid, who could run well, was no We also had some skill returning in discussed in our meeting, we showed longer in the halfback position. We had our program that we wanted to feature. a highlight video of other schools that

42 - Minnesota Football Coaches Association were running the spread and told our kids about the “New Blaine.” A loud cheer came from the kids. They were excited and ready for the 2008 season. Our next challenge was to keep them excited and have some fun with the install. I can honestly say the outcome was better than we ever expected. The kids took to the new offense and our season was very successful. We were Co- Blaine QB James Peterson executes the op- Champions of the Northwest Suburban tion from the shotgun formation. Conference, Section 7AAAAA Champions, and we played in Prep bowl XXVII. Our quarterback, James Peterson, was the AP and St. Paul Pioneer Press Prep Football Player of the Year, and we had several other great accomplishments along the way. It was a fun transition for our coaches, players, and fans.

Blaine center Max Chapman and the Ben- gal offense get signals from the sidelines.

Blaine QB, James Peterson finds an open- ing in the Champlin Park defense to con- nect with receiver Nick Rusin, #5.

Blaine WR Nick Rusin makes his way through the Eden Prairies defense.

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