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The Fairfax Journal                     Friday, October 2, 1998

Paul Bergeron's Weekly Football Picks.
No. 10 Park View (4-0) at Lee (4-0):
    Get there early to see Lee kicker Rob Collier warm up. And, bring your binoculars: Park View's single-wing offense can be confusing to watch. Pick: Park View.

High School Football Week 5 Preview
Lee hosts battle of unbeatens
by Preston Williams, Jounal Staff Writer
     Preseason talk about Liberty District football favorites usually started with Fairfax and ended with McLean, with no schools mentioned in between. Lee and No. 10 Park View were after-thoughts.
     Well, those after-thoughts have prompted some rethinking. The Lancers and Patriots are both 4-0 headed into their game tonight at Lee.
     The Lancers, winners of 16 of their past 18 games, are unbeaten thanks in part to convenient scheduling. Their conquered opponents are 2-15, and the foe's two victories were against winless teams. So Lee is as untested as it is unbeaten.
     Park View, off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1989, is confounding opponents with its new single wing offense that has rival coaches fumbling for information and strategy each week.
     The single wing got its name because one halfback is positioned on the wing, or flank, just outside the offensive end. One back lines up outside the offensive end. One back lines up about 5-yards behind the line, another back is beside him a yard or two away and the quarterback is about a yard behind the line of scrimmage between the center and the end.
     Theshotgun snap could go to any of them, so it is a difficult offense to read, and there is always an extra blocker at the point of attack. The offensive linemen rely more on athleticism than girth.
     "We're so confused we don't know what's going on," said Lee coach Joe Muskett, adding that, to avoid further befuddlement, he did not show film of the single wing to his team.
     "There kids have never seen it before. It's not like you can go home on Saturday or Sunday and turn on the TV and watch the single wing. This is my 22nd year of coaching and I've never seen it. We're going to stunt and hope for the best."
     After puzzling Liberty District opponents this season, Park View can do likewise to new guinea pigs next fall after they have left the region and return to Group AA.
     The flip side to the single wing is that Park View has no idea from week to week how teams will defend it, so the Patriots must practice against a variety of alignments.
     Park View reached the playoffsnine times between 1985-95. But 5-5 and 4-6 records the past two seasons, and the young flexible talent on hand, prompted coach Mickey Thompson to change the offense.
     "I thought this might give us a shot in the arm and excite somepeople, and I knew it would cause problems for other people," said Thompson, who has heard of at least two other schools in the state that run the single wing. "I had always been fascinated by it."
     Sophomore quarterback Nick Smith (310 rushing yards, 385 passing yards) and junior running back Nelson Stickley (79 carries for 624 yards and seven touchdowns) have done nothing to make Thompson regret his decision.
     "These guys were the reason we went to it, so we could take advantage of their talents," said Thompson, whose offense will lose only two starters off this team.
     "Everybody thinks the single wing [is why they're 4-0], but if the signle wing were the 'be all and end all' everybody would be running it," said Muskett, whose top back is senior Yonathan Moges (339-yards). "It's that they have great athletes."
     The Patriots has scored on their first possession in all four games, and they have punted only twice, both against Langley last week in a 14 - 10 win. Park View fumbled twice inside the 10-yard line to halt drives and dropped a kickoff around the 15 to set up Langley's lone touchdown. For the season, Park View has three fumbles and eight muffed snaps.
     Overlooked among all the offensive talk is the Patriots' defensse, which has allowed only 38 points. Senior inside linebackers Matt Stavish and Jordan Snow and senior defensive ends Jonathan Booher and Mike Valcour are the team captains.
     The games between Park View and Lee have been tight. The Patriots won 20-14 in overtime in 1996 and Lee squeezed out an 8 - 6 win last year. The Lancers had first-and-goal at the 5 in the third quarter and first-and-goal at the 1-foot line in the fouth quarter but did not score either time. Park View crossed midfeidlonly twice.
     If the game tonight comes down to a field goal, Lee will like its chances. Senior Rob Collier booted a 47-yarder last week with 22 seconds left in an 6 - 3 win over Madision.
     Before the Lancerscan think about kicking another game-winning field goal, they must stop, or at least slow down, the single wing. With Park View's success, might another region team or two install it next August?
     "It comes down to how successful we're been by the end of the season vs. the McLeans and the Fairfaxes and the Lees," Thompson said. "The true test is coming up.
     "Before I would consider it, I'd have to see it against some of the better teams."

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