Proliferation of no-huddle offenses dot area landscape
Offensive numbers in the local scholastic football scene are beginning to pile up — in a hurry, if you will.
A big reason is the proliferation of no-huddle attacks that have sprouted up in recent years.
This season, virtually half of the area’s 13 teams run some form of a no-huddle offense.
Perkiomen Valley is the proverbial pied piper of the helter-skelter set, having run the hurry-up for the past three seasons.
Spring-Ford went no-huddle this year, as did Hill School with the arrival of coach Dave Rackovan (a successful proponent of the offense during his tenure at Central Bucks South over the past four seasons).
The uptempo style has also helped Daniel Boone win four of its first seven games.
“I think it’s just something that people have come around to that can give themselves a competitive advantage,’ Spring-Ford coach Chad Brubaker said.
You certainly can’t argue with the results at Perkiomen Valley, which has put together a 24-7 mark since going to the no-huddle attack.
“Within our league, we felt we could use our numbers to our advantage with an uptempo offense,’ Vikings coach Scott Reed said. “It creates a different rhythm in practice. There is less standing around.’
Pioneer Athletic Conference-leading Perkiomen Valley (6-0, 6-1) has utilized the hurry-up attack to amass an area-best 270 points. The Vikings — who haven’t been held under 20 points this year — have racked up 201 over their past four games.
Spring-Ford, meanwhile, has used the rapid-fire set to average an area-best 423 yards per game.
In Saturday’s 49-20 victory over Methacton, the Rams accumulated 482 total yards and ran a staggering 87 offensive plays in lighting up a strong Warriors defense.
“We’ve always had a two-minute package, but this is the first year that we are running it exclusively,’ Brubaker said. “We knew to be successful this year, we were going to have to do some things differently.’
Though Hill School has yet to win in four games, the Rams offense is certainly not the problem. Quarterback Devon Kennedy is averaging 241.3 passing yards per game and wide receiver Bryce Allen hauled in 14 receptions for 145 yards and two scores in Friday’s 24-16 loss to Peddie.
“It’s like anything else in football; people like to stay with the trends,’ Rackovan said. “The positives are that you get more practice reps, it forces defenses to prepare differently, and it’s fun for the players.’
“It creates confusion for the defense,’ said Phoenixville coach Evan Breisblatt, who has the Phantoms running a variation of the hurry-up. “It’s very hard for defensive coordinators to get signals into the defense. It creates a tempo where players have less time to think and have to just react.’
Not all of the aspects of the no-huddle trend have been positives, however.
As Reed pointed out, it can be hard for teams to switch gears from full throttle to ball control as they attempt to close out games.
In addition, the nature of the no-huddle (more passing, more plays, more penalties) has translated into significantly longer games.
Whether the no-huddle endures for generations to come or flames out remains to be seen, though its shock value is beginning to diminish, according to Rackovan.
“Defenses are starting to catch up as they see more of it, and changing the way they practice, prepare and call the game,’ he said. “The bottom line is that you still have to block and tackle, and you must be fundamentally sound and have good players. The good teams have all of those ingredients.’
