Regional coaches reflect on some playoff teams they're all too familiar with.
By FRANK PASTOR
Published November 19, 2004
HUDSON - Mark Nash was an option quarterback in high school and taught the offense as an assistant at Dunedin.
So it wasn't much of a stretch for the coach to simulate the option for his team the week before Hudson played Springstead.
Nash didn't want his players to get banged up, so he donned a helmet and shoulder pads and stepped into the role of quarterback. A couple of his younger assistants served as fullback and pitch back.
"That's all we did all week long, work our defense against an option look," said Nash, whose squad defeated previously unbeaten Springstead 22-20 on Oct. 22. "You have to do that because you don't see the option all year long."
Athletically, Springstead (8-2) doesn't match up with 2003 state finalist Lakeland Lake Gibson (10-1), its opponent in tonight's Class 4A, Region 2 semifinal.
But, Nash said, the option could be the great equalizer.
"You talk about, "Shock the state,"' Nash said. "I'm not saying that it's going to happen, but Springstead is the type of team and has the type of scheme that could give a team like Lake Gibson fits."
Springstead is a true option team that can run the offense out of multiple sets, Nash said. Bill Vonada's staff can decipher how opponents are defending the option and make adjustments on the fly, and senior quarterback Ian Wald has become adept at making reads in his third season in the offense.
Hudson entered the game with a good defensive scheme and limited Springstead to 37 yards in the first half, when it led 8-0. But the Eagles made adjustments at halftime that turned the second half into a chess match, with each team continually adjusting to the other.
"They're going to run the option against you," Nash said. "It's just, Can you keep them guessing long enough to be able to do that?"
If Springstead has a weakness, it's its defense, Nash said. But the Eagles overcome their deficiencies by using the option to keep the chains moving and opposing offenses off the field.
"The option levels the playing field," Nash said. "If you are good at it, you can win with inferior talent."
