[Football1]

Smash mouth runs to set up one of 4 passes in a game. That about sums up the offensive strategy for most mountain teams. But if Mountain teams are ever going to beat teams in NKY and other places that pass more we are going to have to modernize our approach to offense. Its great when you have a scat back like Davenport or Jude who can sweep for TD's against slower corners. But that will not win you state titles any more. It will make you look great in regular season against weak opponents. That is all though.

Mountain teams would serve each other by going to balanced attacks that employ less predictable play calling strategies. Throw from the traditional run formations and spread to throw out of any down. No reason to abandon the run but it has to be balanced. When mountain team start doing this against each other they will be forced to learn how defend these teams who do this so well now and win titles doing it. Until then the king of the mountain will be runner up in the state - no matter if you are 4A or 1A.

Further, with the typical size and strength advantage teams like Harlan Cnty, Bell, Knox, and Clay bring to the line position - if they modified their offense to ensure they are passing at least 50% of the time it would force teams out of 1 deep coverage to 2 deep to defend pass which would open up the run even more. Until this happens mountain teams will not win state championships.