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An offense with some 'flavor'
Published November 16, 2007
Don Gatian was talking apples and oranges — and it had nothing to do with fruit salad.
“Last year, they were just starting to run the offense they are using now,” the Lanier coach said of Tivy’s spread offense, which was unveiled for a bi-district game the Voks won 21-17 with a second-half rally at Antler Stadium. “They’ve had a full year to work on it now, so I know it will be more effective than what we saw last year.”
That’s what Mark Smith is banking on when the Antlers get a second postseason shot at Lanier in the Region IV-4A (Division II) game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio.
“It’s evolved tremendously from what we started with — not just from last year, but as this season as progressed,” the Tivy coach said. “What we’ve been able to do is hone in on what we do well and focus on that.
“Last year, we really didn’t have a full grasp of what we could do with it. It was more a case of it being something that we thought could help us in that game.”
From simple ideas come great results.
The difference between the Antlers’ fledgling steps in that playoff game last season and the full-blown offensive machine it has become this season is, well, fairly fruity.
In that playoff loss to the Voks, Tivy finished with 315 yards in total offense, but 185 of that came in the first half, when the Antlers bolted to a 14-0 lead.
Tivy threw the ball more in the first half of that game, with Colton Palmer — then a sophomore — hitting seven of 10 attempts for 107 yards, including a 19-yard scoring connection with Henry Johnson.
But, the Antlers rushed for only 48 yards in that half. They picked up a more productive 73 yards in the second half, but the passing game cooled, with Palmer hitting only six of his final 12 throws for 57 yards.
Tivy did not reach the end zone in the second half. Lanier tied things up with a 46-yard scoring run by Josh Gamez and by cashing in on a short field after an interception.
The Antlers appeared to survive the brownout when Jordan Vick — older sister of this year’s junior kicker, Logan — hit a 29-yard field goal with 1:52 left, but the Voks scored the winning TD on a short run by Gamez with 13 seconds to play.
“That offense? Nothing like what’s happening now,” Gatian said.
Not even close.
The evolving Tivy attack averages 192.8 yards per game passing — it finished with 194 in the playoff loss — but also gets a balanced 171.4 on the ground for a 364.2 average.
Palmer, who finished last season’s playoff game 13 for 22 for 164 yards, is hitting 71.4 percent of his passes and has thrown for 21 touchdowns this season.
“I think we’ve had a lot more time with it, so we’ve gotten a lot more comfortable running it,” said Palmer, who has thrown for 1,755 yards and run for 565 yards this season. “Everyone knows more what we’re doing, so were a lot more confident with it and we feed off each other.”
As well, the rudimentary approach from last season has become more versatile and refined.
“We started the year really simple,” Palmer said. “But, as the weeks progressed, we started adding new formations and new plays and trying new things as we got more confident with it.”
All a part of the repetitions and all part of a still-evolving process.
“Week in and week out, we’re working on a lot of the same things,” Smith said. “You have to give our offensive coaches credit for the work they’ve done with the kids. Plus, the line has continued to improve — not much changes for them from week-to-week, but they are doing a lot of things better in terms of pass blocking and picking up blitzes.
“It was new to the offensive staff last year, too, and they have been learning as the season has gone on. The difference between last year and what they have the kids doing now is pretty amazing.”
It’s given the Antlers’ fruity attack a little fruit punch.
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