Campbell football transforming offense with an old look

There is no secret to what the Campbell High School football team wants to do to the opposing defense this season.

How the Cougars are going about doing might be a different story.

Through two games this year, Campbell has piled up almost nine hundred yards of offense, with almost all of that yardage coming on the ground.

A run-oriented offense makes sense when the Cougars have as many as five capable ball carries in the backfield at a time, running behind an offensive line that averages about 220 pounds, and for the first time in a while, has some depth.

What's causes even more problems for the other team is the formation that Campbell (2-0 in Division III) is using to run the ball.

"It’s the single wing," Campbell coach Greg Gush said when asked to describe the formation. "It’s a direct snap and we have a couple of options of who we can snap it to. Our guys bought into it. It gives us an extra blocker and does a lot of good things for us. Our guys are good at taking a look at what we are and coming up with an offensive set that fits what we do and fits our personnel."

Not many teams at any level of football still employee the single wing formation, which was created by Glenn "Pop" Warner in 1907 when he was coaching the Carlisle (Pa.) Indians. The formation was used in college and professional football until the 1950s, and there are still some high school teams that run it, a list which included Londonderry under former coach Tom Sawyer.

While the coaching staff had to hammer out the details, the transition started for the players at the beginning of summer. Although it was something some of them had never seen before, it started to grow on them the more they learned it.

"I’ve never seen anyone else run it," Campbell senior Ryan Yanuszewski said. "A couple of weeks before camp, our offensive coordinator told us and we were like ‘let’s try it out’ and it clicked. We’ve got the right weapons to do it. If everyone does their job, it’s a perfect offense."

Yanuszewski lines up a few yards behind the center alongside quarterback Adam Breton, with one of the two receiving the snap. From there, it's anyone's guess, as both can keep the ball and run with it, or hand it off to either Keegan Mills, Nick Boucher or Devin Ventura, who are also lined up somewhere in the backfield.

The Cougars have even shown an ability to throw out of the formation, as Mills and Boucher connected for a touchdown pass in last Saturday's 42-0 win over Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough.

"From a defensive standpoint, if we were playing a team like that, that we had to prepare for, it would be a challenge for that week," Gush said. "Teams that are one dimensional, it’s easier to defend them, so I think we pose a challenge because we can hurt you a couple of different ways."

The ball carriers are only half the equation for Campbell. The offensive line - made up of starters Nick McCarthy, Leo Carten, Matt Graveline, Logan DeCarolisa and Jake Pucillo - has also bought into the game plan and is proving to be a formidable one for D3 opponents.

"It all starts up front," Gush said. "They’re killing themselves. The backs get all the glory, and those guys are in the trenches and the love what they do. They’re very proud of the way they play football."

After opening the season by outscoring the opposition 83-0, there are plenty of Cougars feeling good about the start they are off to. But after this Saturday's game at Farmington-Nute (0-2), the schedule gets a lot tougher, with four consecutive games against teams that Campbell will be battling for the playoffs.

"We’re not going to have a game like this every single time," Gush said.