Huddle up: Speed and conditioning prevail over strength

Marques Hunter

Huddle up

Speed and conditioning many times trumps strength and size in high school football. Such was the case when the Peninsula Seahawks faced the Sumner Spartans last Friday in Peninsula’s season opener at Roy Anderson Field.

As I listened to KGHP-FM football broadcaster Leland Smith announce the starting players, I could tell the Spartans were much bigger up front and had a 245-pound tailback named Alex Griffith.

That kid was a load to take down. It took at least two Peninsula defenders to tackle him each time he ran the ball.

I was a little bit concerned before kickoff that Peninsula — with its undersized team — would be physically out-matched at the line of scrimmage. But then I remembered this was a team that prides itself on conditioning and spreading the field to maximize its speed.

On their first offensive play, Peninsula junior quarterback JR Grosshans threw a 37-yard strike to senior Jonny Johnson. Had he not stepped out of bounds on the far side of the field, his speed would have taken him to the end zone.

In the second half, Johnson caught a 36-yard touchdown and burned the entire right side of Sumner’s secondary.

Peninsula was clearly the faster team — with and without the ball.

In the first half, Griffith was hard to stop. He averaged 5.4 yards a carry and seemed to be wearing down the Seahawks’ defense.

But Griffith played on both sides of the ball, a linebacker on defense. And those types of players do a lot of chasing.

Had he not played iron man football, Griffith’s presence would have been much more noticeable in the second half.

Grosshans, who improved his speed during the offseason, looked more comfortable running the ball than he did passing it. He totaled just as many yards on the ground than he did through the air.

And when you factor in the interception he threw, I’d say he had a better day rushing, since he had two scores and ripped off a 48-yard touchdown.

Peninsula head coach Ross Filkins agreed that Sumner was fatigued in the second half.

“We take a tremendous amount of pride in our physical conditioning,” Filkins said. “We knew at halftime, we had the edge in conditioning. The second half showed.”

In high school, some tailbacks and wide receivers play both sides of the ball. So if you’re not in tip-top shape, the other team will prevail in the latter part of the game.

Sumner had a total of 22 carries for 110 rushing yards the first half. In the second, the Spartans had just 26 rushing yards and considerably fewer carries.

Any time you control the time of possession, the defense doesn’t get a chance to rest. Peninsula scored on three consecutive possessions and never had a three-and-out series on offense.

You have to wonder, though, what Peninsula will do against a perennial powerhouse like Lakes this week.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Reach sports reporter Marques Hunter at 253-853-9246 or by e-mail at marques.hunter@gateline.com.