I'll be calling Harrisburg vs Creswell in 3A PacWest action Thursday at 7 PM on Ustream, and it'll be my first time really watching, much less describing the Double-wing offense in action (Creswell runs it), so it should be an adventure!
According to DoubleWing.com, it's the "highest scoring offense in the history of football." I just gave myself a crash course on it from what little free info I could find on google, and from what I've seen, it's smash mouth football mixed with semi Chip Kelly-esque where's-the-ball?! trickeration. It's about 9 guys at the point of attack and using angles and misdirection to create ridiculous running lanes for the ball-carriers. Some of the base plays that youth teams use a lot in the formation remind me a little of Jacquizz Rodgers and the Oregon State run game too.
That said, it should be no surprise that Creswell runs the football...a lot. But again, it's not just old school, three yards at a time football-there's lots of exciting, big plays and scoring-The Bulldogs are 3-2, but they're still averaging more than 26 points per game-and they were also averaging over 400 yards per game through their first four games. (I don't have team stats for their last game-a beating by the state's top 3A team.) Creswell's Coach, Paul Goldspink, is so team-oriented that he didn't even want to give me individual stats or talk about standout players, and the double-wing fits that attitude well with so many different players touching the ball.
I don't know much about the visiting Harrisburg Eagles-they're 0-4 on the year, but Coach Goldspink stressed that they're better than their record and always play the Bulldogs tough-for 60 minutes regardless of the score, and that gives them opportunities to make things interesting that lesser-willed teams wouldn't have. Unless they've drastically changed their offense from last year, they will run the ball a whole lot too. The Eagles scored 15 touchdowns on the ground last year and had almost three times as many yards rushing as passing. They threw but one touchdown pass in '09-However, when they go to their running backs through the air, it's for big gains.
Harrisburg is hurting from the loss of running back Ryan Lynch who averaged 103 yards per game last year, was second on the team in receiving, lead the defense in tackles (28) and interceptions (3), and was their primary and dominant kick/punt returner too.
The Eagles are also very young with only five seniors on the roster and 18 underclassmen (11 of them freshman), but with the PacWest's two undefeated teams still on the schedule, Harrisburg knows they need this one if they want to even have a chance at more than three wins in 2010, and I expect them to play like it. The Eagles are also scoring 18 points per game, so I definitely expect to be entertained.
The game kicks off at 7 PM Pacific tonight, with pregame starting around 6:45 on Ustream.tv/channel/MKSports
Good luck coach K
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