So, what have we learned from the first few weeks of the high school football season?
Nothing much except that teams continue to pile up points at a rapid rate. Check out the scoreboard, which requires a whole crew in the press box just to keep up.
• Pulaski Academy 84, Springdale Har-Ber 68
• Joe T. Robinson 66, Rogers 58
• Lake Hamilton 63, Malvern 34
• Searcy 62, Batesville 42
• Brentwood (Tenn.) Ravenwood 61,
Pulaski Academy 47
Rogers quarterback Hunter Loyd threw seven touchdown passes in a game his team still lost. Rogers coach Mike Loyd, who's played or coached at every level of football, said it was the first time he's ever failed to win a game after scoring 58 points. Even in junior high -- where every halftime score used to be 7-6 -- low-scoring games are as rare these days as a drop-kick for field goals or extra points.
So, what's changed? Spread offenses, mostly.
"Everybody's in the spread," said Loyd, a longtime high school and college coach who reached the NFL as a quarterback with the St. Louis Cardinals. "It's just evolved. They're even playing for state championships now in 7-on-7."
The spread forces teams to play the whole field instead of 22 players trying to outmuscle each other in a small area. I saw firsthand the growth of the spread offense in Arkansas from innovators like Gus Malzahn, Barry Lunney and Ronnie Peacock, who won a state championship at Greenwood before Rick Jones arrived and turned the program into a dynasty. Peacock took a former center, put him in the shotgun and developed him into a quarterback who threw for nearly 3,500 yards.
Malzahn took a kicker and made him into a top receiver who continued to catch passes in college. Lunney took a Fort Smith Southside team that finished 1-9, put them in the spread and led a remarkable worst-to-first finish in 1997 when the Rebels won the Class AAAA state championship with a 12-2 record.
The rules today favor the offense and hurt the defense, even on plays that would've been considered routine a few years ago. I've become so accustomed to targeting calls and pass interference that I automatically look for a flag seconds after the play.
The emphasis on passing has made the game of football more enjoyable for fans and players at all levels, including high school. Instead of pounding on each other in practice each day, players actually get to throw and catch the football like they've been doing since they were kids in pickup games.
That's a good thing. But, my goodness, where are the stout defenses like those Pine Bluff teams of the early '90s under Marion Glover? The Zebras were mean and intimidating, especially the 1993 team that went 14-0 and outscored their opponents 451-60.
They were the Arkansas high school version of the 1985 Chicago Bears, the "Monsters of the Midway," who went 12-1 and used their defense to embarrass New England 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. I don't see many defenses that scare anyone these days, but that doesn't mean the pendulum can't begin to swing back the other way.
"I think it can," said Har-Ber defensive coordinator Travis Moreland, whose unit was dominant in a 49-0 victory over Russellville on Friday. "A lot of it depends on the scheme and how simple you make it for the kids. The offenses are trying to be complex, but we try to keep it simple on defense and just let our kids play. The simpler it is the faster they play and the more comfortable they feel."
Makes sense, and Har-Ber will be tested again on Friday against fast and elusive athletes from Pine Bluff.
The concept of basketball on grass (or turf) has never appealed to me. I'm an old pinball player in a world of Xbox and Nintendo. But I'll argue forever a goal-line stand is still among the most exciting action in football at any level, even pee-wee.
Additionally, wouldn't it be something to watch a scoreless game decided on a drop-kick for a field goal like the ones Jim Thorpe used to do in the early 1900s?
Wouldn't that be exciting?
Wouldn't that be great?
I didn't think so.
Preps Sports on 09/15/2019