Playoff Mission: Blow Up the "Wing"

If you like three yards and a cloud of dust football, you're going to love Austin Prep. Although instead of a cloud of dust Tuesday night, you'll get a little puff of ground up tires on the artificial turf at Reading High School. The Cougars run the Double Wing, which means tight splits, pulling lineman, misdirection and running the football. Lots of running the football.

AP scored 34 offensive touchdowns this season, and 28 of them came on the ground. The offense is relentless and is happy to pick up 2-3 yards per carry. They just keep pounding on the defense until they wear them down or find a crack for a long gainer. AP is more of the pounding type since 19 of their 28 rushing TD's have come from inside the 10 yard line.


The Double Wing offense is almost exclusively a running offense. In fact the quarterback is not asked to do much passing and is really just another running back. Of course the Pioneers can't completely sell out against the run against AP since they have scored six passing touchdowns.

The offensive linemen must be mobile and aggressive. They may have to drive block on one play and then pull out and lead block the next. Most double wing offenses run a limited number of "core" plays that they disguise by moving backs around in the formation prior to the snap. A double wing offense also needs to have three or four good running backs, because the ball could end up in any of their hands.

AP fits that bill and more with five.. Ray Acciavatti is the best of the lot. He is fourth in Division 3A scoring with 124 points. He has tallied 18 touchdowns and 8 two point conversions (more on that later.) The other Cougar backs that will get carries are Matt Mulcahy who has four TD's, Nick Dell'Anno who has three (he also has one receiving and one on a fumble return) and Bill Maradei who has four. The Cougars started the season with Ryan Havey at quarterback, but now go with J. R. Richard.

If you'd like to see what the offense looks like in action, here's a link to a six and a half minute video of AP's game against Arlington Catholic in November of 2008. Not all the players are the same as this year, but the formations and plays are. What is also interesting is that AC runs a spread offense like Lynnfield's, so you can get a chance to see what that type of offense looks like against the AP defense.You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the appropriate game.  AP vs AC - 11/15/2008

There is a ton of information out there on how to run and stop the double wing, but here are a few basic things that most coaches agree are needed to defense the Double Wing. The key for the defense is staying at home and reading the guards' blocks. The nose guard is also a key and the Pioneers are in good shape there with Evan Panzero. If he can blow up the center and disrupt the guards either trying to pull or double team him, that will leave the linebackers available to fill gaps and make plays. That's where George Hennessey, Jon Roberto and Jeff Gannon will have to clean up. This is where having A. J. Roberto back in the lineup would be huge. There is a very slim chance he could play in this game and that would certainly boost the Pioneers' chances of slowing down the Cougars. The ends, Dante Padovani, Joe Hennessey, Freddy Shove and Mike Pescione need to crash down and break up the power sweep.

According to everything I can find on the double wing, the bread and butter play is the power sweep, where the guards pull and leads the blocking. But if the defense gets sucked in to a pulling guard, the offense will come back with a counter trap right into the spot the defense has vacated. So it comes down to discpline, staying at home and actually defending against the blocking schemes rather than keying on the what the backs are doing.


AP has been running the offense for a while and is successful at it. They've scored 291 points this year so the Pioneers will certainly have their hands full.

On interesting oddity regarding Austin Prep is their complete lack of a kicking game. They attempted a point after kick following their first touchdown of the year and failed. They have not tried another one. They only go for the two point conversion every time they score. They apparently have no placekicker so the field goal is not a weapon in their arsenal. That will be different for the Pioneers who spent the year playing teams that all had kickers so once a team got inside the 20, they were a threat to score. That will not be the case with AP. If as expected the game is close, the Pioneers having LHS record breaking kicker Steve Ullian and the Cougars not having such a weapon, could be a huge advantage for Lynnfield.

"We have to prepare for a very good team," Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman told me after the Thanksgiving Day game when he knew they would be playing AP. "We know basically what they do and we just have to learn their personnel a bit. Obviously anyone you play at this point is a good team. We are going to have our hands full. Hopefully the kids and the coaches will be up to the challenge."


I'll leave the final word to the most objective voice I could find, that of North Reading head coach Jeff Wall. The Hornets are the only team to play both Lynnfield and Austin this year so I felt he would be perfect to assess the matchup. North Reading lost 36-6 to AP and 35-14 to the Pioneers.

"Both teams are good and both did a number on us," he told me after the Thanksgiving Day game. "Lynnfield probably has more weapons."

I asked him how he thought the Lynnfield defense would handle the Double Wing. "I think they will handle it very well," he replied. "Their linemen are big enough to handle the double team blocks and the linebackers are quick enough to fill the gaps. I think they'll do well but I think it will be a close game."

Game time at Reading High School is 5:15 pm.

One final note, South Shore champ Cohasset (9-1) who lost to Hull on Thanksgiving Day will face Tri Valley champion Holliston (11-0) at Bridgewater-Rayham at 5:15. The two playoff game winners will play for the Division 3A title in the opening Super Bowl matchup at Gillette Stadium at 9 am on Saturday.