Question: Given you both plan spread attacks for today’s Vermont-New Hampshire all-star gridiron game at Castleton University, how quickly do you hope to start your next play?
Grady: “We snap the ball about 6 or 8 seconds after the play clock starts.”
Leonard: “Our goal is to do it every 12 seconds.”
Enter Spartan Stadium for today’s 63rd Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl at your own risk. Perhaps keep the number for a lawyer specializing in whiplash injuries on speed dial.
Vermont turned to Grady seeking to break a 15-year drought in the contest. After all, Grady engineered the Green Mountain State’s last Shrine win, in 2000 at Dartmouth College, employing the same type of spread offense that produced a record-setting 47-40 victory.
The head coach at Rutland’s Mount St. Joseph Academy then, the head coach at Fair Haven Union now, Grady’s methods haven’t evolved so much as sped up. He points to a stretch as a Castleton football assistant a few years ago when, as offensive coordinator, he got the Spartans moving so quickly between plays, they ranked third in the nation in snaps per contest.
“Same kind of stuff,” Grady said on Friday after Vermont’s final workout. “We’ll be more up-tempo than we were in 2000.”
Huh? That squad, with MSJ’s Mike Keenan at the helm, set team marks for points and individual QB records for completions, attempts, touchdowns and passing yards.
“On a normal start, we would make a play, we would huddle and we’d be snapping the ball 14-15 seconds after the play clock started,” Grady recalled.
The idea of quick play-calling also appeals to Leonard, the head coach of the Epping-Newmarket cooperative team in NHIAA Division III. Admittedly a defensive coach first, Leonard grew to like speed-up football because it suited the athletes he had at E-N.
“I would say we are pretty similar; we’re going to go no-huddle, like they are,” said Leonard, a first-time Shrine coach. “When I was at Epping-Newmarket the first year, we had a tight end, we had a wingback, we had a tailback, we had a fullback, and it really didn’t fit our athletes. So I transitioned, and I really ended up enjoying it.”
To make it work, both teams will need big games from their respective quarterbacks.
Grady has called upon Fair Haven left-hander Ryan Alexander along with Rutland’s Andy Kenosh to reprise Keenan’s role from 16 years ago. While both can throw, Leonard noted both signal-callers also are capable runners.
“It won’t be bad,” Lebanon High defensive end Calvin Hunnewell said. “For Lebanon, I played both ways. Coming out here, we have lots of D-ends that are pretty skilled, and we’re only playing one way so we’ll be switching in and out. I think we’re going to stay fresh and give the Vermont O-line a good run for their money.”
It’s still been a learning experience for Upper Valley players more accustomed to more physical style of football, one not built on amassing triple figures in snaps over a 48-minute high school game.
“It’s completely different,” said Hartford High’s Tanner Potter, who’ll be part of a rotation on the Vermont offensive line. “We ran a wing-T, so it was slow, grind-it-out. This is a good tempo. You get in a rhythm and you get going. You go from one broad end of the spectrum, wearing the play clock down to 5 seconds before you snap. It’s different.”
As fit as he is from a winter of state championship wrestling, Newport wide receiver Stephan Nix has found Leonhard’s schemes aerobically challenging this week.
“I’ve always been the kind of receiver that tries to catch every pass thrown to him,” Nix said. “I try really hard to get the ball thrown to (me). But there’s a great group of receivers out here, a great group of guys, and I may not be the first one looked at, but I will always try to get myself open, always work hard out on the field when I’m out there.”
St. Thomas quarterback Stephen Hedberg stands in line to captain the high-speed good ship New Hampshire today. Hedberg won last year’s NHIAA D-II player of the year award after, guiding STA to last year’s NHIAA D-II title after a run to the finals in 2014. Although listed as a safety on the Granite State roster, Merrimack Valley’s Ian Curtin also ran a spread offense in high school.
“Our defense has just been asked to come out, play our hardest, make sure their quarterback doesn’t get much breathing room,” Hartford High defensive lineman Justin Pero said. “We want to be able to cover everybody, hopefully force them three and out. But they’re a good offense, so hopefully it comes down to a good battle and, hopefully, we come out on top.”
Grady believes Vermont can do that by keeping the clock numbers small and the scoreboard numbers large. The digits attached to New Hampshire’s Shrine win streak don’t matter.
“I take the same approach with the kids: They’re not part of the losing streak,” Grady said. “That group is not 0-15 against New Hampshire. That group is 0-0.
“It’s a new year. Most of those guys were 2 years old the last time Vermont won.”
Start working those neck muscles.
Extra Points: Both teams plan to regularly rotate players because of the speed-up nature of the game, an artificial turf field and expected hot temperatures. “If it’s another 80-point game and we’re up by one, I’m happy,” Grady joked. … Grady last coached the Shrine game in 2007. This is his seventh time on a Vermont Shrine staff, something he never envisioned doing until he realized Brattleboro’s Darrel “Squirrel” Sawyer also participated in seven Shrine contests. … The contest will utilize high school rules, including a 12-minute period clock, but will employ the college tiebreaker (four plays from the 25-yard line) if required. … Game time today is 5:30 p.m. As is tradition, the day kicks off with the annual pre-game Shrine parade through downtown Castleton starting at 3 p.m.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.