Thats One Strange WingT

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Thats One Strange Wing-T by Jeff Cziska
Southeastern Regional Hawks South Easton, MA I
began my coaching career in 1990 and I was lucky
enough to begin my career under the tutelage of
my good friend Frank Gracia. Frank was one of my
high school coaches and a friend to the family.
That season I was primarily a gopher. Instead of
being called a coach I was better suited to the
role of glorified cheerleader. However, that
season of looking, listening and Saturday
scouting prepared me better than if I had just
been thrown into the fire as an assistant with
full coaching responsibilities. After that
season I floated around a bit going from college
to college (I have always hated school), playing
a couple of seasons and coaching another season
at my alma mater. It was not until 1999 that I
would have the opportunity to coach with Frank
again. In 1999 I was hired at Old Colony Voc-Tech
as the offensive line coach. I had some learning
to do before the season even began, as Old Colony
would be running the Bay City T. I had seen the
offense run to perfection over at Wareham with
their amazing quarterback Stephen Cooper (current
linebacker for the San Diego Chargers) under
center. We were one of three teams in the state
running this offense and knew we would give teams
fits. The season opened with a thrilling 16-8
win over Monty Tech. The next week we lost a
tough one 18-8 to Nashoba Valley. The night
before I went to scout our week 3 opponent, the
Austin Prep Cougars. I traveled all the way up
to the Manning Bowl with another assistant coach
to scout Austin Prep. Upon entering the stadium
I noticed the field wasnt even lined. Well,
Lowell Catholic came out onto the field and they
were both young and low in numbers. Austin Prep
didnt look much more impressive. Well, the
Cougars got the opening kickoff and came out for
their first offensive play. Surprisingly they
came out toe to toe on the line, like us, but
instead of the T they had two wings. We joked
about how the fullback could smell what the
quarterback had for lunch. They really did
nothing fancy. Toss right, toss left followed by
an occasional pass and a trap. This offense they
were running was a joke. We were convinced that
the only reason they had scored 40 points was
because Lowell Catholic was just that bad. Next
week would be a cake walk when we went to play
them. Their strange version of the Wing-T would
be no match for our Power T. Just as I had
predicted it was indeed a cake walk. Austin Prep
took a commanding 30-0 lead going into the half.
Early into the 3rd quarter it was 38-0 and we
salvaged a little dignity by scoring 8 points in
the last fleeting minutes of the game. Ive been
on the wrong end of scores like this before, but
this was just embarrassing. How the hell did we
lose to this team running just three plays? I
was convinced we just had a mediocre squad at
best. Our final 4-7 record cemented that in my
mind. That strange offense we faced that
afternoon was nothing special and I had soon
forgotten about it. The next season my mentor
Frank took over as head coach and we made the
switch
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to the Wing-T. Within months I became one of
those crazy Wing-T Disciples and I knew in my
heart of hearts that there was no better offense.
In 2001 we were 7 points away from playing for a
State Championship with just a 21 man roster. It
was a long season and like the last several was
taking a toll on my health. In fact, I had major
neck surgery just 4 months before that season. I
realized my health was failing and there was only
one thing I could do. With a heavy heart I
decided I needed to step back and retire from
coaching. I had been surfing the internet since
1995 and I was always looking for more football
stuff. Its amazing the plethora of information
that exists out there. Now out of coaching I
found myself spending more time on the web. One
day I came across this amazing tale of some team
that had scored 880 points. It more than
intrigued me. The more I researched the offense
the more I changed my thinking about offense.
Soon I became an advocate of the Double Wing and
tried to show it to everyone I knew and sang its
praises. The first taker was my friend Don
Herman at Marthas Vineyard. He installed the
system in 2003 and won a Super Bowl that very
season. The next taker was my current head coach
Ned Scaduto. I had met him at physical therapy
and when he suffered a 51-0 loss to Marthas
Vineyard that season, he too was convinced of the
power of this great offense. He installed the
system in 2004, but was having less than
favorable results. Two games into the season his
team was 0-1-1 and had failed to score a point.
This phenomenal offense I had sold him on was
proving to be a worthless. He asked me that
weekend if I could come down and just check
things out. I told him I would stop by when I
could. Honestly, I had to go by and figure
something out. Not only was his season on the
line, but so was my good name. I was there the
Monday after their game.
The problem the team was having was understanding
their blocking assignments. I tried without luck
to explain it to the offensive linemen. These
kids didnt want to understand and really didnt
care for this offense where they couldnt even
score points. Despite years of 2 win seasons,
those previous teams at least scored points. It
was do or die time. I simplified things a bit
more and
showed them just how easy it was to block any
front they faced. This snake oil salesman was
getting through and making believers along the
way.
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After our little session we went outside to watch
the JV team play. Ned called a timeout and
quickly explained the blocking adjustment to the
players. The next play a Super Power went 40
yards. Not only were those kids believers, but
so were all the varsity players watching the
game. After the game we went back to the coaches
office and talked a bit while the players lifted.
As I was leaving offensive lineman Tony Vincente
approached me and asked if I would be back
tomorrow. How could I say no? How could I say
yes with my health as lousy as it was? See you
tomorrow Tony.
Well, we made it through the week and played our
first game that Saturday against the defending
Super Bowl Champions the South Shore Vikings.
With such a formidable opponent I think the main
goals that week were to score a touchdown and try
and keep it close. Well, we ended up losing the
game as we failed convert on the 2-point
conversion after scoring with no time left on the
clock. It was a loss in the books, but showed
everyone that it could be done.
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As each week passed the offense improved. We
scored a high of 47 points at Homecoming and two
weeks later we faced my last employer Old Colony.
Of all the games we played, this is the one team
I really wanted to beat. A year after I had left
Old Colony a coach on the staff as well as former
coaches there conspired to get rid of Frank as
the head coach. With his dismissal brought my
utter disdain for those guys over there. I
wanted a little payback. Luckily for them Ned is
a classy guy and did not run the score up. We
could have easily scored 100 points, but the
45-14 victory was quite satisfying.
One month later we found ourselves where no team
in school history had ever ventured. On December
3rd of 2004 we were playing for the Division 4
EMass Super Bowl Championship against the Hyde
Park Blue Stars. Despite playing a team bigger,
faster (their DT/WR blocked 3 punts and an extra
point) and stronger we emerged triumphantly with
a 13-0 victory. A year later we defended our
title with a 28-7 victory over the OBryant
Tigers. A season later we outscored both of
Super Bowl squads and last season we earned
Runner-Up status in the Large School Vocational
Super Bowl. Southeastern Regional use to be the
team that everyone wanted on their schedule. The
same teams that use to schedule the Hawks, and
put one in the win column before the game was
even played, now refuse to play us. Its
unlikely they ever will again. That strange
Wing-T is no joke.