Commentary: Bellevue is darn near impossible to catch

TACOMA — Even after all the discussions, warnings and reviews, nothing could quite prepare the eyes for Bellevue’s Wing-T offense.

You could stare at quarterback Tommy Castle all you wanted, and still not be certain where the ball went on his hand-off. You would be certain that a running back was taking it up the middle, then realize it was still with Castle as he headed down the far sideline. And just when it seemed that Union made a great stop, the play was actually breaking open 20 yards downfield from where you were looking.

And that was the view from the second level of the Tacoma Dome.

Imagine how it felt from field level amid the chaos of Union’s 35-6 loss to the Wolverines in Saturday’s 3A football championship game.

Stopping Bellevue’s offense was the football equivalent of a shell game, and could only be compared to the chicken-chasing scene from Rocky — where a straightforward task turns into a challenge that makes even the best efforts look futile.

The only difference: Rocky eventually caught his chicken.

“It’s confusing for sure,” said Titans defensive back Dex Homer. “It just seemed like we were a couple seconds short every play.”

And that was not Union’s fault — understand that point before reading further. Sure, the Titans can wish they tackled better, or perhaps made better reads. But Bellevue’s offense is designed to exploit a defense exactly like it did Union’s — by forcing just enough time for an opponent to think through a play to gain an advantage.

Bellevue had the athletes to run a more modern offense. The Wolverines were physical enough to wear down most defenses. And they were good enough with their misdirection and deceptive handoffs to even confuse the Union coaches in the press box, who on at least one play called out that Castle had the ball on a sweep, while another player broke a run down field.

And by the time you could track where a play was headed, the ball was already 3 yards down field or ...

“... in the end zone?” Union coach Cale Piland finished with a hearty, yet dark, laugh.

If only he didn’t have so much experience from which to speak. Because a glance at Bellevue’s scores on Saturday would lead most people to believe they had aired it out for touchdown receptions of 89, 27, 41 and 34 yards.

Yet those were all first-half runs.

“You prepare for it the best you can,” Piland said. “And bless our kids, they gave us the best look in practice they could. It’s just really difficult to replicate the speed at which it’s run.”

And remember, this is an excellent Union defense, which gave up 14 or fewer points in 10 of its 13 wins. The Titans shut out Ferndale — which was averaging 45 points per game — in the second half two weeks ago, and held Lakes to one first down in the second half of last week’s semifinal win.

Union knew what it was up against this week, and tried to replicate the Wolverines’ offense with a scout team — loosely nicknamed the “meat squad” — that took pride all year in preparing the regulars for each game.

But there was no realistic way to understand what the Titans were up against until Bellevue was in front of them.

“The difference between what they showed us and what Bellevue did, it just was too big,” said Union linebacker Ryan Maddox, “and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

Take heart, though, because few teams have done anything about it while Bellevue has wracked up six football titles in the last eight years.

They’re simply a chicken that even Rocky might fail to catch.

Columbian reporter Brian Hendrickson can be reached at 360-735-4528 or brian.hendrickson@columbian.com.