Things are certainly changing around the Hazen football team. For the better? Only time will tell.
The Highlanders have a new coach in Drew Oliver, a new offense in the Wing-T and a new attitude about how to compete.
“It’s a lot more positive than last season,” said Hazen’s Jordan Bumgarner. Bumgarner is a captain who will start at left tackle and middle linebacker. “There’s just a lot more teamwork and a lot more unity. It’s working out really well so far.”
The Wing-T is characterized by a wingback slightly behind the tight end and a split end on the other side of the formation. The system relies on misdirection to confuse defenses.
Oliver is happy with the progress he’s made with the team since installing the new offense.
“We’re miles ahead of where we were in the spring,” Oliver said. “It’s night and day.”
Oliver hopes the new offense will bring some KingCo flavor to the Seamount. Oliver is a former assistant at Newport, where he helped run the Wing-T and also got to see one of the best Wing-T practitioners in the nation, Bellevue High School, regularly.
So far the progress has been good and the coaches aren’t putting too much on the players’ minds yet.
“We haven’t put anything real elaborate in there right now,” he said. “It’s all real vanilla. We just want to run our stuff and run it right.”
Junior Travis Johnson and senior Tyler Woodbridge are battling for the starting quarterback spot. Johnson started last year and passed for 714 yards and four touchdowns, against 13 interceptions.
Senior James Holland returns as Hazen’s most accomplished offensive player. He rushed for 845 yards (5.71 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns last year. Anthony Pina looked strong in limited action rushing the ball last year. Holland, Pina, Tyler Snow and Isaiah Talley give the Highlanders a number of good options to rush the ball.
Hazen has good experience on the offensive line. The group is led by 6-foot-3 Bumgarner, who will play left tackle. Jordan Hjelman and Tyler Searles also return to the line as a starter. Lucas Humphries, Bradley Smith, Victor Najera and Kevin Chen return and give Oliver choices to fill out the line.
More about the Wing-T
Bellevue High School made the Wing-T famous in Washington and the Wolverines have used the offense to win six state titles since 2001 (including last season). There are many different variations on the offense, but it basically presents a number of rushing options then using fakes and misdirections hides where the ball is going. It is traditionally thought to be one of the most effective offenses for teams that struggle with size, though any team can use the Wing-T with success as long as its execution is strong.
There isn’t much experience at wide receiver, but with a strong offensive line and talented running backs, the Highlanders should be able to make the Wing-T work.
Getting off to a quick start will be vital, especially since the Highlanders have been streaky the past two years, twice suffering through losing streaks of at least five games.
In 2007, the team started the year 0-5 before turning around and winning three of its next four games. Last season the team followed the opposite trend by starting 3-0 before dropping five games in a row.
“It’s very important to get off to a quick start,” Oliver said. “Everything is new and fresh and we want to stay on top of it.”
Hazen starts the year with Evergreen, Highline and Foster. The three teams combined to go 7-22 last year.
“We want to win,” Bumgarner said. “We want to win every game and we want to go to the playoffs.”
