The Spread of the Spread

Many area coaches spent the offseason diagramming the spread offense. Its proliferation is one of the key story lines of the upcoming season in District, Maryland and Virginia high school football.

Virginia AA Dulles District teams always found it a challenge to play against Park View last season.

Under Coach Andy Hill, the Patriots were one of a few teams that employed a spread offense, and defenses often struggled to match up with the four- and five-wide receiver sets. The result was a 10-2 record for Park View and a career season for quarterback C.J. Leizear, who passed for 3,095 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Now, those opponents will face that problem more often than just against Hill's Patriots, as Loudoun County is one of many areas where the pass-first offensive system is becoming more popular.

Potomac Falls, Freedom-South Riding, Loudoun County and Broad Run will all employ some variation of the offense this season, joining the likes of teams across the metropolitan area including T.C. Williams and Bishop Ireton in Alexandria, Quince Orchard and Bethesda-Chevy Chase among many in Montgomery County and several others throughout Virginia, the District and Maryland.

The upswing in the use of the offensive scheme can be traced both to copycatting the success of the spread offense at higher levels -- NCAA programs such as Florida, Texas Tech and Hawaii have found success employing the spread -- and out of necessity for schools that lack sizable players but have a surplus of skill position players.

"It's the evolution of the game," Whitman Coach Jim Kuhn said. "You're trying to create mismatches and get guys into open spaces. You don't have to be bigger than everyone else, and it's exciting for the kids."

Coaches said they aren't sure if the spread is just a fad or whether it will stick, but for now they'll play it if it gives their team the best shot at winning.

"I think every year you've got to reinvent yourself a little bit," Broad Run Coach Mike Burnett said.

Stewart's Last Stand

Anacostia Coach Willie Stewart plans to retire this season after 40 years on the D.C. Public Schools sidelines. Known as the "Godfather" in D.C. football coaching circles, Stewart has won more than 200 games.

Stewart played at Dunbar from 1963 to '65, then at Elizabeth City State (1965 to '68) before joining Eastern as an assistant coach. In 1976, he took over the Ramblers, and the following year led them to the Turkey Bowl title. They won again the following year, and, after his job was transferred to Anacostia in 1981, he added titles in 1984, '85, '88, '89 and '95. Stewart has taken his teams to the Turkey Bowl 13 times, more than any other coach.

Nearly two dozen of his former players have gone on to play professionally, either in the NFL or the CFL, the most recent being 1997 All-Met Defensive Player of the Year Cato June, a linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And eight of Stewart's former assistants have gone on to become head coaches at DCPS high schools or middle schools.