Jefferson County’s elite offensive line will aim to lead the Warriors to their fourth consecutive win this Friday

The Warriors' O-line has led the way to 151 points in the team's recent 3 game winning streak.

***This special feature was produced with the help of Robert Drew and Dameon Key, the founder of CSRA All Star Week. The eighth annual week of all star games and practices will be back December 10-15. And Thursday night AugBball will announce a special partnership with CSRA All Star Week.***

At Monday afternoon's practice, Jefferson County head coach J.B. Arnold explained perfectly his team's new offense, which since being adopted has led to 151 points in the last three games, all region wins:

"At the point of attack, we've got a line..." coach Arnold began.

Here I'll interrupt him to provide some details about that line. Jefferson County's "single wing" system consists of 7 linemen (pictured above) who sport an average weight of 306 pounds!

"But then we also have 3 people filling the hole in front of the guy carrying the ball," coach Arnold continued.

Ten players get in front of the ball carrier and block. Every play. That's the defining feature of Jefferson County's new offense.

Jaden Jenkins piled up 326 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns in last Friday's win over Harlem.

The single wing was only first used in Louisville after the Warriors suffered a pair of season opening losses. The offense, which was invented more than 100 years ago by Glenn "Pop" Warner himself, fits Jefferson County's personnel perfectly. The formation and its main play is painfully simple, but it also has to be painful for the defense to stop as well. Below is an x's and o's diagram of what Jefferson County did - over and over - in last Friday's 38-28 win over Harlem. Note there are 8 players to the right of the "tailback," which is the 210 pound Georgia Southern commit Jaden Jenkins in the Warriors' case. Jenkins simply ran (to the tune of 326 yards and 4 touchdowns) behind the center and the 7 other guys to his right. Easy to explain. Difficult to stop.

Jefferson County's base formation and play.

Jefferson County's 7 man offensive line:

Tareek Curtis - 6'2, 290 lbs; Richard Stavely - 6'2, 270 lbs (Weakside Tackles)
Bryant Partridge - 5'10, 235 lbs; Cole May - 5'11, 240 lbs (Weakside guards)
Rod Lopez (Center) 6'0, 310 lbs
Jerrod Davis (Strong Guard) - 6'2, 300 lbs
Inside Tackle - 6'2, 335 lbs
Micah Lawson (Outside Tackle) - 6'4, 342 lbs
Javeon Carr (Blocking Back) - 5'10, 240 lbs

Micah Lawson, the "outside tackle," stood out in the video footage from last Friday's game. At six feet four inches tall and 342 pounds, he's hard to miss, as you can see in this spotlight video:



But when we marveled out loud with coach Arnold at the prospect of a 7 man line averaging 300 pounds per man, and 3 more backs blocking for a speedy 210 pounder, coach Arnold quickly pointed out a key contributor:

"The H-back, the guy that plays up front and does a lot of the lead blocking, he may be our best lineman. He’s a bulldog!” Arnold said.

That would be “blocking back” Javeon Carr, who, at 240 pounds, proves that weight is not the determining factor in the success of every lineman in Louisville.

More so than the raw poundage, the straight forwardness of lining up and running 11 guys at the heart of the defense for four quarters must easily become demoralizing for defenses.

“We’re not gonna do handoffs. We’re gonna catch the ball (out of the shotgun) and we go in that direction (points straight ahead). That’s what we started doing. If you can stop it, I’ll pat you on the back and shake your hand.” That was how coach Arnold answered a question about whether he planned to change his system again.



“We realize that they are definitely going to run off tackle. They do an outstanding job of it,” Hephzibah coach William Harrell told us Monday evening while his Rebels squad prepared for Friday's home game against Jefferson County, a matchup between 2 teams with 3-0 records in class 2A, region 4 play.

Harlem, the last undefeated-in-the-region team to meet the Warriors, made its game against Jefferson County as close as possible for as long as possible. But at moments the amount of size loaded up on one side of the line was so overwhelming that it broke open gaping holes you don't usually see at the line of scrimmage, like this one:



Hephzibah will have to stop that straightforward attack. The Rebels will have their own weapons to employ, not least of which should be its home field advantage as Hephzibah has a chance to do something it hasn't done in a long time, which is to take the inside track on first place in the region standings should they top the favored Warriors.

Coach Arnold claimed in our interview that Hephzibah will match up fine with Jefferson County's size. I have to side with coach Harrell on this one, who shared in our interview later that evening his assessment of the size matchup:

“Well, I mean for us, they’re huge. We’ve got a couple guys that have some size on them. But across the board, we’re not going to be as big as them. But we’re hoping to use our technique, be physical… and operate with 100% effort.”

The winner of Friday's game will stand at the top of the region standings at the midpoint of the season and have the inside track on the league's number one seed in the state playoffs, which guarantees one or more home games come post season time.