2008 Football Previews: Aztecs plan to go by air, land

NOTE: This is the second preview in our 17 days of football coverage. You can find more football content at www.hdvarsity.com

BARSTOW — Confusing a football soaring through the air with some other unidentified flying object wouldn’t have been hard as the Barstow High School football team practiced past sundown on Friday evening.

Passing hasn’t been this team’s trademark in years, but that’s about to change.

“The ball is going up in the air some,” first-year coach Jose Rubio promised.

Although the forward pass has been legal in football for more than 100 years, it wasn’t an option the Barstow High School football team used often in the last two seasons.

The Aztecs switched to the double-wing offense for the 2006 season when Jesse Ceniceros took over as head coach. Barstow continually pounded the ball, with quarterbacks severing more as another blocker than a thrower.

“I love that we got some passing now,” senior running back Jerrelle Green said. “It broadens our horizons. Gives us more stuff to choose from.”

Barstow is coming off a 4-7 season in 2007. Although the Aztecs raked up more than 3,000 rushing yards, an inability to hold onto the ball cost the team several games. The season ended with a 19-6 loss to Hesperia in the first round of the playoffs.
Ceniceros, who is now coaching at Norwalk High School, resigned after the season and Rubio, a BHS graduate, was named football coach in March.

For someone who claims to love the simplicity of the running-based double-wing offense, Rubio certainly has added a lot of options to the Aztecs’ offense.

Rubio envisioned a split between the double-wing and the triple-option when he took over the program. However, recent troubles at the quarterback position led Rubio to implement the jet offense which allows the Aztecs to take advantage of their athleticism.

With the jet offense, any number of players could end up passing or handling the ball. A running back could be the one who eventually throws the ball.

“I knew I wanted to bring in the triple-option, so we were already going to do that,” Rubio said. “Now after what we learned and went through with our quarterback, we put (running backs) Damario (Webb) and Jerrelle Green in there and let them alternate playing quarterback.”

Rubio opened up the quarterback competition to five different signal callers throughout spring practices and summer passing tournaments.

After the five other passers couldn’t claim the job, Tulilo Tofi was briefly named the starter on the first day of training camp. However, a knee injury to Tofi forced Rubio to look at more options. Ameer Hamdan, who was among the original five vying for the position, will now play quarterback.

Although Rubio’s added options, the new plays and formations aren’t all that different from what the Aztecs did before. Rubio said most of the terminology stays intact as the Aztecs switch into different formations, allowing them to give three different looks to the same play.

“(The jet offense is) like a double-wing just shifted into a gun,” Green said. “All the blocking and the running is the same.”

Running will still be crucial part of the offense. The Aztecs return seniors Green and Damario Webb and junior Curtis Webb. Brothers Damario and Curtis combined for more than 1,500 yards last season while their cousin Green sat out most of the season with a broken collarbone.

“I feel in tip-top shape,” Green said. “I feel real good. No problems, no injuries, no nothing.”
Defensively, junior Jonathan McPheron said the Aztecs are even tougher than last season already. The defense kept the Aztecs in several games in 2007 and allowed 16.5 point per game.

With no lights and sunlight waning, the Aztecs began to wrap-up practice on Friday. Although it became hard to see anything, it was clear in those final snaps as a running back planted his back leg to throw down field that the Aztecs will be passing in 2008.

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