Football: Foothill Uses Double-Wing Offense, Beats Pitt 24-7

Foothill 24, Pittsburg 7

The Star: Cameron Rowland caught two passes — both for touchdowns — and ran for 55 yards on eight carries.

The Turning Point: Rowland's second touchdown catch gave Foothill a 21-7 lead with 1:08 left in the first half.

The Quote: "What we did for the last 23 years won't work (this year). (Quarterback) David Camerena is perfect for this offense." — Foothilll coach Matt Swenney on Foothill's use of the double-wing offense.

What's next? The Falcons hosts Novato on Sept. 10 at 7 p.m.

Bottom Line: Foothill's switch from a pass-happy offense to a grind-it-out double-wing squad caught Pittsburg off guard in the season opener for both teams. The Falcons won't have the element of surprise for the rest of the season, so it remains to be seen how well the offense will work.

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When Foothill High football coach Matt Sweeney took a look at his roster this offseason, it was clear he didn't have the personel to run the type of high-powered passing offense the Falcons have been accustomed too. 

So after 23 years and over 200 wins, Sweeney decided it was time for a change on offense. 

"We don't have a 6-2 quarterback who can throw the ball downfield," he said. 

What they do have is David Camerena. Listed at 5-foot-9, 155 pounds, the Falcons' new quarterback is a perfect fit for the double-wing offense — so that's what Foothill will run this year.

"(Camerena) is perfect for it," Sweeney said. "You got to use the talent you have and David is a scrapper."

Behind Camerena and the double-wing, Foothill wore down two-time North Coast Section runner-up Pittsburg en route to a 24-7 victory.

The offense didn't necessarily pay huge dividends as far as points and yards are concerned, but the deliberate style of play on offense helped translate to a more physical brand of defense.

Foothill held Pittsburg, which is generally considered one of the more physical teams in NCS, to 30 yards rushing and 173 of total offense. The Pirates reached Foothill territory just once in the second half.

"It's an attitude thing," Sweeney said.

For Cameron Rowland, who caught 80 passes for over 1,000 yards as a junior, the switch to the double-wing was actually welcomed.

"We wanted to run the new offense and make it work," he said. "I'm just going to do my job. Me and my friend, David, we've been playing together forever so we have that chemistry like I did with Sean (Mannion)."

On the first ball thrown his way — a slant from Camarena — Rowland turned it into a 25-yard touchdown to give the Falcons as 14-7 lead with 3:41 left in the first half. He added another touchdown reception less than three minutes later as Foothill took control of the game.

"I told Cameron he wasn't going to catch 80 balls this year, but he would get more touches," Sweeney said.

He responded by going for 22 yards on his first carry of the game and finished with 55 y ards on eight carries. Camarena ran for 25 yards on 15 carries, but came up big in short-yardage situations. 

Foothill tight end Stephen Ferrell caught five passes for 52 yards as the Falcons used the run to set up screens and other short passes. Camarena completed nine of 11 passes for 111 yards.

Neither team mounted much of an offensive attack after the half, but Foothill was able to pick up several first downs and chew away at the clock. 

Without the element of surprise next week against Novato, Sweeney knows it'll be a different challenge. 

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Foothill 24, Pittsburg 7

Pittsburg   0 7 00 — 7
Foothill 7 14 0 3 — 24

Scoring summary
3:04, 1st: F — Camarena 1 run (Castillo kick)

9:40, 2nd: P — Vunipola 10 pass from Mozzee (Mapp)

3:41, 2nd: F — Rowland 25 pass from Camarena (Castillo kick)

1:08, 2nd: F — Rowland 11 pass from Camarena (Castillo kick)

7:48, 4th: F — Castillo 39 field goal

Individual Statistics

Rushing (car-yards): P — Mozee 9-34, Turner 1-3, Brown 8-(-7). F — Rowland 8-55, Camarena 15-25, Jeffries 10-23, Kacinski 8-9, Ramil 1-5.
Passing (comp-att-yards-ints): P — Mozee 16-23-103-1; Watson 3-7-40-1. F — Camarena 9-11-111-0.
Receiving (rec-yards): P — Turner 6-45, Barnes 2-23, Mapp 2-18, Mozee 1-17, Soliz 3-13, Reneria 1-11, Vunipola 1-10, Brown 3-6. F — Ferrell 5-52, Rowland 2-36, Jeffries 1-15, Sieverding 1-8.

Team offense (rush-pass-total)

Pittsburg — 30-143-173

Foothill— 117-111-228

Fumbles/lost: Pitt — 1/0; Foothill — 1/0.

Records: Foothill 1-0, Pittsburg 0-1.

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