The newest innovation in high school football is the A-11 offense. But don't expect to see it here, at least not right away.
The A-11 offense, devised by a couple of coaches in California - Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries - makes all 11 players (wearing numbers 1-49 or 80-99) eligible receivers.
It features two quarterbacks in the shotgun formation with no one under center, thereby meeting the criteria for a scrimmage kick formation under National Federation rules.
Spreading the offense across the field forces the defense to account for every possible receiver on each play, although only five players can go downfield to catch a pass and at least seven players must be up on the line of scrimmage.
The coaches said they installed the offense to give Piedmont, with 800 students, a chance against schools twice its size.
"It's neat. We're pretty close to that now," said Kennett coach Jim Donato, who considered the A-11 offense in spring workouts. His team uses a no-huddle, spread offense. "We have wide splits. We may consider a version of it for next year."
"It's crazy," said coach Paul Meyers, whose Bishop Shanahan team is also using a spread offense. "I don't know enough about it, but I'm going to look into it."
Morrisville coach Jim Gober said he would give it consideration this year.
"I'm vaguely familiar with it," he said. "I read about it in a magazine article. We might revisit it as a mix-up play."
To discover more about the offense,
visit www.a11offense.com.
Contact staff writer Don Beideman at 610-696-2652 or dbeideman@phillynews.com.
