IT WAS A MOVE a long time in the waiting for Washington Township coach Mark Wechter. Now, he's able to let the dogs out.

Wechter played for legendary Township coach Tom Brown and then was a Brown assistant before taking over the helm in 2006. The theory was run, run and run some more. But later in Brown's career, he started to waver, thinking maybe there was room in the game for some passes.

"In 2003, when I was an assistant for Tom, we started looking at things that we could do in the 2-minute drill and in third-and-longs," said Wechter, whose team is 2-0. "Being a Wing-T team, we knew we needed to throw the ball sometimes, so we went to West Virginia and spent a couple of springs there. We had had a few games where we were behind and had to change to the throwing game and we realized that it put teams on their heels when we did. That kind of got things going."

Last season, though, Wechter's Minutemen had one of the area's best running backs in Brandon Colavita, and the spread offense was in the coach's mind. When the season was over, he pulled sophomore quarterback Nick Valori aside and delivered the news that throwing was now the priority in the Township offense.

Just to give a hint as to how stunning that is, it's like Eagles coach Andy Reid deciding to concentrate solely on the run game.

Valori was efficient in the first win for the Minutemen, a 21-6 decision over Winslow Township, completing 12 of 18 attempts for 105 yards and a touchdown. He really opened things up in last Thursday's win over Cherry Hill West, going 15-for-21 for 287 yards and three TDs.

"Nick's been a student of the position for quite a while, since the seventh grade," said Wechter. "When he came to us as a freshman, we moved him up to quarterback on the junior varsity and made him the backup on varsity. Last year he was our starter and, as we knew, was a very smart quarterback. But we had such a strong running game in Colavita and Uriah Brickhouse and Chalie Huff that we didn't have to rely on his passing too much. He is small [5-9], but his arm packs a punch.

"In our first game this year, I think there was some stage fright. But during that game, he started to show a lot of confidence, and I think the win over Cherry Hill West was good, not only for him, but for the whole team. This is an offense that when it looks bad, you worry. But when it goes good, it erases a lot of the mistakes you might make."

Two things have been constant in Washington Township football. One is winning, as the school has had 22 consecutive winning seasons. The other is running the football. The first doesn't appear to be changing. The second has.

"Really, the spread offense is easier to coach," Wechter said. "The no huddle affords you to get there and see the defense and run a play. The old way, in all honesty, you would call a play and hope that it works.

"It's also made our defense better, I think. They practice against the spread every day and we run a lot of plays. It keeps them on their toes and keeps them in better shape. I think the tempo in our practices is faster than it is in our games."

Let's hear it for the boys

 

While many may roll their eyes wondering how this could happen, let's give credit to the kids who do show up every day and practice. Word has it there were only 19 players available for the team last weekend.

Those kids deserve a tip of the hat.

 

Let's move it, move it

 

Halftime clocks are set for 12 minutes once the teams get off the field. The teams are supposed to be back on at 3 minutes to warm up and then the game starts after that. Only, that never seems to happen. Oftentimes, the clock is stopped at the 3-minute mark and then started again when the teams get to the field.

Again, this may only be a complaint by a sportswriter who is on deadline, but it also seems to take away from the momentum of the game.

Send e-mail to cooneyb@phillynews.com

 

We talked about this last year in this space but it deserves mentioning again. Why is it that halftimes of football games seem to go on much longer than they are supposed to? It's happening again.

Due to a lack of players, Lower Cape May had to forfeit its game against St. Augustine last weekend.