By Tommy Palmer, Palmermediagroup.com
Special to MaxPreps.com
The Charlton County Indians in Class AA were the only 2005 Georgia Championship football team to buy into the West Coast offense last season. Rich McWhorter's Tribe, AA runner-ups in 2004, love the controlled passing game that the games' newest offense affords.
Larry Campbell's Lincoln County Red Devils, the Class A champions, prefer the pro set, while the Lowndes High Vikings of Valdosta, the AAAAA champs ran the tried and true winged-T en route to a 14-1 mark.
Two of the state's traditional football powers offer a totally different perspective than most would suspect when it comes to the running game. The Statesboro High Blue Devils, last season's AAAA champs and 29-1 over the past two seasons, run the power wishbone, and it's worked wonders for them over the past seven years (85-11-1). Thomas County Central of Thomasville has made the states' playoffs each year for the past 15 years while running the Houston Veer.
Statesboro Head Coach Steve Pennington (122-79-4) likes the West Coast offense, "For all practical purposes...it's a running game through the air. You can do a lot of things out of that offense...but I feel it puts a lot of responsibility on the quarterback to perform at a peak level on every play."
Heading into his third season as the head coach at Statesboro, Pennington likes his power wishbone offensive scheme much better.
"It has served us well over the years...it reduces turnovers and for us to win, we have to have a positive turnover ratio, since we depend on a physically demanding style of play on both sides of the ball," Pennington said.
Ed Pilcher (189-75-1) has led Thomas County Central to five state titles and a second place finish over the past 15 years and would not consider running anything other than the Veer offense.
"I like it (veer) because you don't have to have big physical linemen to run it...that helps...but it's not imperative," Pilcher said. "The offense enables you to get some great double-teams up front and if you get great reads from your quarterback you can move the ball on most teams."
Consistency is the key word in any offensive scheme and each philosophy has valid arguments. For Lincoln County, Charlton County, Thomas County Central, Statesboro or Lowndes of Valdosta, there will be no changes. Look for all of these teams when the 2006 Georgia state playoffs begin.
Tommy Palmer is President/Owner of Palmer Media Consulting Inc. (www.palmermediagroup.com) Palmer Sports Media produces high school-related programs to radio stations across the state of Georgia, including "The Georgia High School Football Scoreboard," a live two-hour show that airs each Friday night.