Triple-option a 2nd-time challenge
In state semifinal rematch, Shadow Creek takes on SA Wagner’s ball-control offense
If there is a proverb to live by when it comes to facing the triple option, Shadow Creek defensive end Alec Bryant found it.
“You see it time and time again, you get better at it,” the senior and one-time LSU pledge said. “That’s with anything in life.”
Not that Bryant has seen much of the triple option. And he guesses that if he’s in front of the scheme any time soon after Friday, he’ll be in a bowl game against Navy.
Shadow Creek senior outside linebacker Courtney Brown would be fine never seeing it again. Indeed, the triple option is annoying to face and a little frightening for teams used to track meets on the gridiron. And it’s what stands between the Sharks and another piece of the legend that is their first two years of University Interscholastic League varsity play.
Shadow Creek meets San Antonio Wagner at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio. It’s a rematch of last year’s Class 5A Division I state semifinal at NRG Stadium.
Programs immersed in the triple option seem few and far between in the land of videogame statistics and spread offenses. Even at the college level,
only a few programs — the service academies and Georgia Tech — are associated with it.
Yet calling the triple option antiquated is slightly off. There is usually some variation of it everywhere, and high school teams like Wagner have fully adopted it.
Wagner certainly tested Shadow Creek with it. Shadow Creek coach Brad Butler estimates his offense had only 40 snaps in that game, which the Sharks won 41-24 after trailing 17-7 in the third quarter.
One year makes a world of difference for the Sharks, though. Imagine a first-year varsity program never really facing the triple option and suddenly getting a week to cram for it ahead of a state semifinal. That hapened in 2018.
Along with players who remember last year’s lessons from Wagner, Shadow Creek saw bits and pieces of it from Angleton, Terry and Texas City.
It’s about ball control for Wagner, with the Sharks hoping to make the most of their chances to get Wagner off the field. Bryant said three-and-out drives are key if Shadow Creek’s defense is to give its offense time to work.
The triple option is difficult to replicate in a practice setting. Defensive coordinator Ray Garza, who, like Butler, has been with the team since 2016, said they’ve been training players’ eyes by practicing without a ball first.
“We took a couple of days just to make sure kids could train their vision on what they’re seeing and of course what their jobs are, what their one-eleventh is within the defense,” Garza said. “Sometimes when you have that ball out there, they just want to run with the ball.”
Shadow Creek might not mind facing the triple option 10 times over, considering the stakes and what it faced before becoming a full varsity program: 800- and 400-mile round trips to Midland in West Texas and Marshall in East Texas just to find a willing opponent.
Those were the first days of the program as an independent in 2016 and 2017. There were seniors on the 2018 team who had only one year to make varsity play count. The Sharks rolled to a state title game berth, halted by Highland Park, the Texas high school football giant.
This year’s team is only adding to arguably the state’s most impressive two-year start for a public school program, regardless of sport. Shadow Creek is 29-1 in two seasons and a win away from a second consecutive state championship game berth.
Shadow Creek’s future is in Class 6A, where it will compete in 2020 in accordance with the UIL enrollment cutoff numbers released last week.
For now, comprehending what has been achieved still is difficult even for those part of it.
“I knew we had talent over here, but I didn’t know it would shape up to be something like this,” Bryant said. “You know, one of the top teams in the state or even the country, some people would say.
“We knew we were going to be good. But we didn’t know we were going to be this good.”