Baptist Hill Coach Marion Brown decided at some point there was one way and only one way to run his offense to maximum efficiency. One way.
The Bobcats are a huge anomaly in 1A football where offensive philosophy is concerned. In a classification that still features dozens of wing and bone variations and skews heavily to running the football, Brown's team runs a wide-open spread attack. They don't spread to run...the shotgun, the multiple receiver sets and the often empty backfield never make way for power formations as they do at Lewisville and C.E. Murray (two of Class A's other more prolific passing teams). In short yardage or long yardage, in the red zone or backed up against their own end zone, they throw the ball all over the field. This isn't a dink-and-dunk offense like many high school spread attacks, either. The Bobcats certainly have screen passes in their repertoire but their preference is to attack vertically, as is evidenced by the fact that they average 20 yards per completion on the season. "We're a spread offense, very fast-paced. You just do what you do," said Corey Fields, the ultra-productive trigger man of the Baptist Hill air show. Brown said that nearly every play for the Bobcats starts with an intention to throw the football. That was on display in Friday's huge victory over C.E. Murray in the lowerstate title game. The Bobcats ran one counter play, one reverse and one draw play. Three called running plays. There were other running plays, all on scrambles by Fields that started off as passing plays. "Coach gives me the option of read-and-react football," Fields said. "It's about reading the defense. If there is an opening to the outside, I can run for it." "If there is five or more yards there, I want him to take them," said Brown, who stressed that otherwise the ball should be in the air. Having a preference for an aerial attack is nothing new for Brown, who says he has worked from a similar concept since becoming head coach of the Bobcats in 2008. He did make make one major change, though, and he believes it is what has lifted his offense from productive to unstoppable and his team from good to great this year. "I made a few changes about two-and-a-half years ago. I decided I don't want any wide receiver playing defense. I need them to be fresh," Brown said. It goes beyond even that. Fields, a very gifted athlete, only plays quarterback. Brown said he's probably the best punter on the team but he doesn't let him kick. He wants all his focus on running the offense. That is nearly unheard of in 1A football where most schools have enrollment at or under 300 students and varsity football rosters in the 20s. Having offensive skill players, who are usually a team's best athletes, go both ways is essential at some schools to field a team. Even Class A schools blessed with larger rosters often have guys start on both sides in an attempt to put the best athletes on the field. Before he was an All-American defensive end at Clemson and a second round NFL draft pick. Da'Quan Bowers was a 1,000-yard rusher at Bamberg-Ehrhardt on top of being a stud efensive lineman. Before starring at cornerback with the South Carolina Gamecocks and playing in the NFL for 11 years, Sheldon Brown ran for 2,000 yards as a Lewisville High senior in addition to being one of the state's best defensive backs. Stevo Squirewell played defensive end in college and went to camp with the Green Bay Packers last year as a fullback, but at Great Falls he was a fullback, offensive lineman, defensive lineman, linebacker and safety at various points of his prep career. Nearly every all-time great from the 1A ranks was an ironman that never left the field. Even this year, Nate Walker played running back and linebacker at Cross, ditto for Mataeo Durant at McCormick. Both of those players will take part In this year's Shrine Bowl All-star game. All of Lewisville's top players saw at least some time on both sides of the ball. Jacquez Lucas of Lamar (who Baptist Hill will face for the Class A title Friday) has multiple 200-yard rushing efforts this year and intercepted three passes in last week's upperstate title game win over Ridge Spring-Monetta. Brown said he knew when he made the decision that he was bucking convention, but when he saw the kind of talent his team possessed, he knew what he had to do. "We had a slew of guys come in who were wide receivers. Very talented receivers and I knew I had something special in Corey. I wanted to build the offense around the quarterback and I needed them to focus on offense," he said. Brown said he didn't worry at all that the move would adversely affect his defense. "The challenge I made to our coaches was 'do your job,' Brown said. "We have athletes, find four other kids who can play in the secondary." The way Brown saw it, having his skill guys only play offense would accomplish several goals. It would keep them from wearing down over the course of games and the season obviously. Running a litany of deep routes all game and having to cover and tackle on defense is a physical and mental grind on even the fittest, best-conditioned athletes. Only having to do one thing on game day also means only doing one thing in practice. The receivers had the chance to truly hone their craft, work on developing their route running and other subtleties without also having to budget time to learning coverages. They have a pretty good teacher on how to play wide receiver in Brown, who played the position in the NFL and USFL. "Being an ex-wide receiver myself, it gave me the opportunity to take my time and really work with them," Brown said. Fields said being able to focus only on one position accelerated his growth and allowed him to develop chemistry with his receivers. "During practice, I was able to work on making perfect passes for them," Fields he said. Brown said Fields and his receivers (and the rest of the team) completely bought in and dedicated themselves to year-round conditioning and "giving up their summers" for workouts and "every 7-on-7 tournament I could get us in." The results show that Brown's unconventional approach has worked exactly like he planned. After a few down years, the Bobcats put up huge numbers offensively on the way to a 9-3 season last year that included a trip to the second round of the playoffs. This year, the team is 10-1 (having had one team drop off the schedule and one game wiped out by a hurricane in the regular season) with the only loss coming against Oceanside Collegiate in a contest that saw Fields go out in the second quarter with an injury. Despite playing in only 10 full games, Fields has thrown for 3,830 yards and rushed for 800 while accounting for 60 total touchdowns. Had the Bobcats played a full 10-game regular season and not gotten a first-round bye, Fields would likely have set a new state record for total touchdowns. Receiver Richard Bailey has nearly 1,500 receiving yards and 21 scoring catches. Two other receivers have more than 40 catches. The specialization and the extra coaching really show on the field. Against C.E. Murray, receivers were often facing excellent coverage as War Eagle defensive backs ran stride for stride with them. When the ball was in the air, though, they consistently made plays and came up with big catches. There hasn't been an obvious negative impact on the team's defense either. Despite being paired with an offense that often scores quickly and puts them on the field often, Baptist Hill gives up just under 18 points a game. Tyler Scott has 10 interceptions. Now, the team is playing in the season's final game and competing for the school's first-ever football state title. If they reach the top of the Class A football world, they will have gotten there on a one-way ticket.
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November 2021
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