GAINESVILLE -- Often times positives come out of negatives.
Such was the case for Bruce Miller and the Gainesville coaching staff for its struggling offense back in the first round of the 2006 playoffs.
Miller and his assistants watched repeatedly as his usually potent wing-T attack got stuffed time and time again in what would become a quick exit to Carrollton. In an effort to get anything going, Miller was forced to go to his little-used spread offense, which produced the only points in an ugly 41-6 loss.
"Carrollton just kept stopping us cold and every time we went to the spread we moved the ball," he recalled. "We only had about 10 percent of our offense geared for (the spread) so we didn't have a lot of options. But after that game and on the way home I told everyone we needed a new offense."
And thus the seeds for what has become one of the most dynamic offenses in the state were sown. The Red Elephants will bring their high-octane, record-setting, no-huddle attack to the Georgia Dome Friday in the Class AAAAA championship game against Ware County in hopes it can carry them to their first-ever state title.
COMING UP: Be sure to check back with Access North Georgia.com to catch all of the updates from this weekend's championship games, as well as video highlights and reactions from the Buford, Gainesville and Jefferson.
Gainesville (11-3) is averaging 45.1 points per game in 2012, eclipsing the 2009 team, led by Blake Sims, now at Alabama, which averaged 41.9 points that season. That team, however, managed just two touchdowns in a gut-wrenching 13-12 loss to Peach County in the Class AAA finals.
The Red Elephants come into the 2012 title game as the highest scoring team left in the playoffs. They have scored 41 or more 10 times and 61 or more four times so far, including twice hitting the 60-plus mark in the playoffs in wins over Kell and Harris County.
And it wasn't by accident.
"We like to come out and play fast and put the pressure on the other team as soon as we can," Miller said. "We try not to slow down or let up until we have the game in hand. The only time we huddle is when we need a slight gathering, something that can't be communicated by signals."
They will face a tough challenge on Friday in the Gators defense, which is allowing just 8.6 points a game.
The change for Miller and his coaches was not done lightly, however. Football coaches, Miller admitted, "don't like changing things," but he also knew he was skeptical whether they could reach their desired heights without some alterations.
"Me and John Kemp started talking and we both said if we're going to do this we have to go all-out. We didn't want bits and pieces of a spread. We wanted the whole thing," Miller said.
Two months after their loss to Carrollton, Miller and his entire staff took a four-hour trek to Nashville for a seminar with Tony Franklin, the mastermind behind Hall Mumme's pass-happy offense at Valdosta State and then for the Wildcats. It was love at first sight. Franklin had helped Hoover, (Ala.) implement the offense, helping lead them to four straight Alabama state titles.
"Just fell in love with it," Miller said. "Once we got an understanding of how it was really designed we decided there was no doubt about what we were going to do. We got his entire playbook."
That next season the Elephants again would lose in the first round of the playoffs but senior quarterback Justin Fordham had a career season, passing for over 3,200 yards and demonstrating that the new style could work. Along came Blake Sims a year later and Gainesville would advance to the quarterfinals or better in every year but one since (a second round exit in 2010), including one state championship game appearance.
But the offense may have found its perfect soul-mate in junior Deshaun Watson. The rangy, 6-foot-4 quarterback took to the offense immediately but has been nearly perfect in 2012, passing for 3,707 yards and is now just 17 yards shy of the all-time state record for career passing yardage. He has also tossed 47 touchdowns compared with just eight interceptions -- all while leading the team in rushing with 1,356 yards and 22 touchdowns.
"Deshaun is special," Miller said. "First of all, he's just a great kid. On the field he knows how to manage, organize, and play the game. He sees things out there that many kids his age can't.
"He has carte-blanche to call audibles, which he does about 10 to 15 percent of the time. He almost always get us in the right play for what the defense is doing. He has a great feel for the offense. The team has tremendous confidence in him."
While Watson is the face of the offense, he is not alone in making things happen. He has six receivers with 30 or more catches on the season, led by Rodney Lackey with 64 receptions for 938 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The Elephants have run 63 plays or more, an astounding number, in every game except one -- Salem -- and has used the big play often. The offense has a streak of having three or more plays of 20 yards or better in every game this season.
Kell, a 61-42 victim to Gainesville in the second round, saw just how potent the Elephants can be. The Longhorns led 35-21 at the beginning of the second half, but Watson engineered two quick scoring drives and the rout was on as the visitors scored 40 second half points to roll to a watershed win -- the program's first road postseason victory since 2004.
"To me, that was the game where I think we felt we could get to the Dome," Watson said. "We were really clicking in the second half. When we are on, I don't think we can be stopped. The only time I've felt we were stopped is when we make mistakes."
In a 19-15 win over Buford, the offense committed five turnovers, including two interceptions in the end zone. In a 35-34 loss to Flowery Branch for the Region 8-AAAAA title, the Red Elephants had four big turnovers to stop potential scoring drives. The defeat -- which cost Gainesville its fifth straight region crown -- came just days after a shocking 46-41 defeat to upset-minded Loganville.
"We can be stopped," Miller said. "When we don't execute we're just like everybody else. The Loganville game showed that. We played terrible in the second half.
"But the Buford game was a turning point for us because it showed we could beat the best teams. We've really been rolling in the playoffs."
Watson, who remembers his days of playing in the Big Red Bowl at City Park as a 10-year-old not too long ago, said he is glad his time is now and not back in the days of the wing-T that Miller used.
"I wouldn't have liked that offense," he said. "I probably would have asked to play defense. The wing-T is too slow.
"But when we're out there in the no-huddle, it reminds of the Big Red Bowl and just being able to make plays and move down the field quick. We're just having fun out there. I love it."
While the junior remembers winning the Big Red Bow, he has also had a vision that he hopes he can fulfil on Friday.
"I saw myself holding the (state championship) trophy," he said. "Now I just want to help us make that dream come true."
GAINESVILLE vs. WARE COUNTY
-- WHAT: Class AAAAA football championship
-- WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Friday
-- WHERE: Georgia Dome, Atlanta
-- RADIO: 1240 AM, 102.9 FM
-- GAINESVILLE (11-3, No. 2 seed Region 8-AAAAA): Defeated Whitewater 28-14 in the semifinals.
-- WARE (13-1, No. 1 seed Region 3-AAAAA): Defeated Northside, Warner Robins 24-17 in overtime in the semifinals.
-- HISTORY: This is the two teams' first meeting, though Waycross High -- in the county seat of Ware -- did defeat Gainesville in the 1960 Class AA title game.
Friday
May 10th, 2024
7:24AM
