I can be a little nostalgic when it comes to high school football.
I miss little things that you don’t see that often in the game anymore.
I’m not talking about leather helmets or downfield contact by defensive backs.
I’m talking about huddles.
For those too young to remember, there was a time when football teams, in between plays, would group together 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage to talk about what the next play would be. And then they would line up and run that play.
And that was called “a huddle”.
It’s something we don’t see much of anymore, particularly among the larger schools.
Now, it’s all about speed, tempo, putting pressure on the defense. Teams will spread the field and attack defenses with quick passes and runs.
And the more teams have success with it, the more we see of it.
It’s not only working at wearing down defense, it also works even better at wearing down journalists.
Back in the day of all huddles, all the time, there was time to breathe in between plays. You could hold a conversation or grab a bite to eat between plays.
Not anymore. Now in a time when journalists are being asked to do more – track the plays, tweet, shoot video, update live chats – there is less and less time between plays to get that done.
This season, Clark County is filled with teams who have field generals at quarterback who can make things happen. Returning this season are five quarterbacks who passed for at least 1,500 yards and 18 touchdowns last season.
- Gunner Talkington of Battle Ground, 2,776 yards, 24 TDs
- Canon Racanelli of Hockinson, 2,694 yards, 33 TDs.
- Brody Barnum of Skyview, 2,097 yards, 18 TDs.
- Liam Nabors of King’s Way Christian, 2,029 yards, 22 TDs.
- Wyatt Harsh of Woodland, 1,576 yards, 19 TDs.
And that doesn’t even mention the quarterbacks who are stepping into the role of a varsity starter for the first time.
Also, we have several new coaches in the area.
- Rory Rosenbach at Union, formerly the head coach at Glacier Peak.
- Christian Swain at Columbia River, formerly head coach at Roosevelt of Portland.
- Kim Ulman at Ridgefield, formerly assistant coach at Mark Morris.
- Mike Woodward at Woodland, formerly head coach of Westview of Poway (Calif.).
- Colby Davies at King’s Way Christian, formerly assistant coach at King’s Way.
Most of these coaches like to push the pace and put pressure on the defense.
The fun starts on Friday night. I’m going to need to get into midseason form quickly.
So as you fans are enjoying the excitement on the field, please be sure to be thinking of us up in the press box.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached at (360) 735-4538, tim.martinez@columbian.com or follow his Twitter handle @360TMart.
