Old-school offense working for Chowchilla, Stone Ridge Christian

Two years ago, Art De Jager planned to use a spread offense at Stone Ridge Christian. That was until quarterback Luke Lange blew out his knee in the first game of the season.

Without a quarterback, De Jager had to make drastic changes to the offense. Ultimately, he went back to what he and his sons and nephew, who are all assistant coaches, knew – the double-wing.

Art was an assistant coach for Scott Donegan, who ran the double-wing at Chowchilla. His sons, Anthony and Alex, and nephew David all played for Donegan.

Two offenses couldn’t be more different than the spread and double-wing. The spread is en vogue with so many teams putting up gaudy statistics, throwing the ball all over the field and lighting up scoreboards in high school and college football.

The double-wing is an old-school, smash-mouth running attack with all 11 players bunched near the football.

Since switching to the double-wing, Stone Ridge Christian has compiled a 27-8 record and won back-to-back Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII championships.

“My boys and my nephew played in the system,” De Jager said. “We lost our quarterback and had no depth at the position, so we went to what we know. This is our third year, and we’ve stuck with it and it’s been very effective.”

Chowchilla coach Alex Pittz went back to the double-wing this year after running the shotgun wing-T in recent years. Pittz wanted the Redskins to get back to their roots with a more physical brand of football. The only difference is Chowchilla runs a shotgun double-wing.

“It’s not going to be flashy,” Pittz said. “I think it can work at all levels. It’s pretty simple blocking schemes. It’s really great for instilling a toughness mentality.”

Both teams are still going strong. Chowchilla (10-2) travels to Washington Union (9-3) on Friday to play for the Central Section Division IV championship at 7 p.m. Stone Ridge Christian (11-1) will host Mission of San Francisco in a NorCal Regional Bowl play-in game at Castle Field on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Chowchilla and Stone Ridge Christian are similar. They are built around strong offensive lines and explosive running backs, which happen to be two key ingredients to running a successful double-wing.

“In small high school football, it’s a very effective offense,” De Jager said. “Running the football is paramount unless you have the athletes to run a passing game. We want to be a more physical type of team. That’s what it comes down to in small-school football. Chowchilla is where we learned it initially.”

It starts up front and begins in the weight room, where both teams have put a big emphasis in building their programs.

The strength of the Knights is their offense line: William Vander Woude, Robbie McKee, Travis Hooker, Sybrand Vander Dussen, Luke Jenkins and tight end Mark Hooker.

They’ve made it possible for the Knights’ three 1,000-yard running backs – Shane Casillas, Jonathan Collazo and Austin Rees – to rack up yards and score touchdowns. The trio has combined for 4,776 yards and 67 scores.

According to De Jager, the key to the double-wing is you don’t have to have the biggest offensive line. They just have to learn the first step. They work daily on that first step all season.

The double-wing is a lineman’s dream offense.

“They love it,” De Jager said. “In high school football, offensive linemen would rather run block all day long. Pass blocking is more difficult. You have to be skilled to do it. When you’re run blocking, you get to fire off the ball.

“Our line is strong. They’re not big, but they’re strong and persistent. Our offense is OK if we’re only getting three to four yards per play. By the fourth quarter, we’ve taken the wind out of the sails of the other team.”

Despite only throwing the ball 31 times all season, the Knights average close to 53 points per game.

“They are running exactly what we were running when they played here,” said Pittz, who was a junior varsity assistant with De Jager in Chowchilla in 2001. “It’s cool to see the success they are having.”

The Redskins are back in the Valley Championship game for the first time since 2008 because of their hard-nosed approach.

Chowchilla has been led up front by Gary Nieuwkoop, Gabe Sanchez, Matt Johnston, Dylan Reese, Tanner Hill and tight ends Bernardo Bustillos and Jason Cantrell.

“When I first got the head coaching job in 2011, we tried to spread it out a little more with the shotgun wing-T,” Pittz said. “We incorporated a receiver and we weren’t foot to foot compared to how we are now. It’s hard, especially at the small-school level, to get that quarterback and the skill guys you need around him each year. With this type of offense, you can stay consistent year in and year out. The years you have the skills guys, you can open it up and spread out more.”

The Redskins have special skill guys to break the long runs in Anthony Stewart (1,424 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns) and Alex Gutierrez (713 yards and 10 touchdowns).

Chowchilla has averaged 272 rushing yards and more than 37 points per game.

“It helps to have guys who can run the ball,” Pittz said. “It starts in the weight room. You have to have a good, strong offensive line. You need guys who are tough and you need backs who can run the ball downhill. You’re going to break some long runs, but the offense is really designed to get that three to four yards in a cloud of dust. In the years that are special, you have the backs that can break the long runs.”

When you’re still playing in December, it’s been a pretty special year.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Old-school offense working for Chowchilla, Stone Ridge Christian."