Cambridge head coach Toby Peer had this to say after his team lost their semifinal game at Greenway, "If any team is going to come into Fort Hill and win, you have to first win the weight room."
He was half right.
With some expansion on that notion, if any team is going to come into Fort Hill and win, you have to first dump the spread offense mentality. I said mentality. The spread is not a physical approach to football. Quite the opposite. Five receivers, shotgun every snap, not enough blockers on the line, no blocking backs, running the ball based on open space with ball carriers seven yards deep. Forget it!
The only offense in Maryland that dedicates this much importance to coaching running backs to block is Cumberland. The process has little to do with a weight room.
The weight room doesn't offer much offensively when the alignments and play calls are strictly based on skill and speed. There is no power game in the spread. That aspect is so far removed today we are literally seeing teams in shotgun on 4th and goal at the half inch line trying to power the ball against a goal line defense.
You're not going to see NFL teams running 100% spread. The physicality and strength of players will crush it. What is even more astounding about the spread is that most all teams using it have no clue how to line up under center. Why?
Watch the Fort Hill offense. Despite being a wing-T offense under center they spent a good 10-15 snaps in shotgun against Cambridge. Is it so hard to teach a quarterback and center to do both? Even the Josh Allen and Dak Prescott signal callers of the world have to also go under center to run the dad gum ball.
If you watched every single FH game this year, the only opponent who did not run shotgun spread was Northern -- Week One. By season's end they were spread too. Not sure what it is when 95% of all high school coaches feel this need to keep up with the Joneses by running what everyone else does religiously.
All these FH opponents do nothing but practice the spread, run the spread and defend the spread because everybody runs the spread. The closer you get to the metro areas the worse it gets. None of these teams know physical football, want physical football or like physical football. It's all parallel to the wussification of football whether it be due to safety concerns or a "feelings hurt" mentality or my kid can't get to college running and blocking.
No, I'm not saying the weight room doesn't matter. As mentioned already, Coach Peer is half right. Oh, it matters.
The weight room will only carry a team so far in this soft spread world mentality. When I hear any person, football educated or not, mention things such as Fort Hill needs to evolve and do what everyone else does by running the spread, I cringe while understanding that person knows very little about football. What also gets lost in such a statement is that FH does run the shotgun spread more than occasionally. They have just been coached to do it while also lining up under center and ramming the ball down your throat. Why other teams stick to being one deminsional shotgun is their own shortcoming both mentally and on the scoreboard.
Smashmouth football is a rarity. Not here nor at Navy - Marine Corps Stadium first week of December.
