Name: John Hower
City, State: Omaha, Neb.
Youth League: Millard Athletic Association
Coaching Experience: 10 years
Base Offense: Double Wing (variation of Wing T)
Base Defense: 5-3
Type of USA Football membership: Coach, Administrator
Length of USA Football membership: 1 year
Name: Frank Jerasa
City, State: Perkasie, Pa.
Youth League: Pop Warner Bucks-Mont Youth
Coaching Experience: 20 years
Base Offense: Wing-T
Base Defense: 5-3
Type of USA Football membership: Coach
Length of USA Football membership: New member
Name: Ben Narramore
City, State: San Diego, Calif.
Youth League: Palomar Pop Warner Conference/Ramona Pop Warner
Coaching Experience: 9 years
Base Offense: Wing T
Base Defense: 5-2
Type of USA Football membership: Coach, Administrator
Length of USA Football membership: 2 years
In youth football, coaches encounter multiple situations that call for serious contemplation. Whether you're a coach directing the West Coast offense or the intricacies of the I-Formation, one of the beauties of football is that there's more than one way to win a game. Three youth coaches who are also USA Football members recently shared their ideas on how they'd attack various in-game scenarios.
"What If" ... you're trailing by a touchdown and you have possession and three timeouts. You're on the two-yard line and it's third and goal with 30 seconds left in the game - what do you call?
Hower: I'm going to run it. With the Double Wing, my offense is designed primarily for the run. With :30 seconds left, I would probably not run the wedge, which is my bread and butter, but I would probably run a small trap to the gap between the guard and the defensive tackle or the nose guard gap. If that doesn't work, we're probably going to come right back and run the same play.
Jerasa: It depends how the game is run, but I'll put the play in the hands of my playmaker, so I'll run the power play or a Bucksweep. If they bring nine guys into the box, then I'll have them switch to a pop pass, giving the quarterback the option to run or throw a short pass to the tight end. If that doesn't work, then I'd run to the left side on the next play.
Narramore: Fake Toss Left, Boot Right Pass - I used this play last year against a pee-wee team from Fallbrook, Calif. On this play, I had them fake the pitch to the right with my quarterback going to the left once he faked it. This misdirection definitely threw the defense off-balance in this situation - the tight end was wide open in the end zone and caught the pass as time expired.
"What If" ... there's 2:05 left in the game and you're down by a touchdown with three timeouts on your own 20-yard line - how would you initiate the two-minute drill?
Hower: I would run what I call a "Super Power," which is kind of like a sweep, to my right side. With this play, I've got a double-team with my wing and my end as the opposite guard and tackle pulling while the quarterback pitches it to the wingback in motion. This happened to us two years ago and we scored and won - it took us seven plays to go 80 yards.
Jerasa: With my two-minute drill with my age group, there are multiple plays in the huddle. It depends on my quarterback, but I'll run a short pass and go underneath the coverage and I'm going to have my receivers run ‘out' patterns. Because I run a Wing-T, the defense will crowd the line so I'm not going to have the ability to run the draw or a dive, so I'd like to get to the corners with misdirection plays.
Narramore: I run a variation of the Wing-T offense, so in this situation I would choose a fullback dive. This play uses the sweep and misdirection to spread the defense where the quarterback turns to his left, does a reverse pivot, and hands the ball off to the fullback. The worst-case scenario is you're going to get two yards and the clock will stop. The best-case scenario is your fullback will break loose down the field.