SAN MATEO — There was a silver lining for Hillsdale after its 31-0 loss on Thursday night: The Knights held Woodside to its lowest scoring game all year.
With a bye week to prepare for the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division opener, Woodside coach Justin Andrews had time to research the Wildcats’ season start and discovered their now 6-0 opening is its best since the Julian Edelman-quarterbacked team went 13-0 in 2004 and won the Central Coast Section Medium Division title.
The Wildcats have mostly suffered since, with years in the lowest tiers of the PAL until this year’s promotion to the Ocean Division – the third level of the five-tiered PAL – and an unblemished record.
“This is, for our regime, uncharted territory,” Andrews said.
Andrews took over in 2014 when Woodside was in the midst of 13 consecutive non-winning seasons, including an 0-10 record in 2017. But a 2019 change in offense was the program-altering catalyst.
“Looking at our roster that year, we didn’t have a lot of quarterbacks or the skilled talent to really justify the spread,” Andrews said. “So we decided, let’s change it up.”
The result was a switch to an unbalanced single wing attack.
“The first season we ran it, we saw the potential,” Andrews said. “And every offseason since, we’ve continued to research, study, and build. The kids love it.”
On any play, the snap could go directly to any of three players. Designed as a run-oriented scheme, Woodside offers its own twist – a two-quarterback system that takes advantage of the skills of whomever is in the game. For the Wildcats, that’s junior Charlie Dalrymple, more of a pocket passer, and sophomore JJ Lange, more of a dual threat.
“It’s a system that doesn’t need a traditional passing quarterback,” Andrews said. “We’ve adapted it to take advantage of passing quarterbacks and so it’s a whole new offense when one quarterback’s in versus the other, and in terms of what the defense has to be aware of. It’s another way to keep them off-balance and just makes it tough to defend.”
Lange scored the first two touchdowns on Thursday and all-purpose back Daniel Torres scored another and had two interceptions against Hillsdale (2-4, 0-1).
Andrews said improvement has been apparent over the years even without the victories. But success is now much more defined. The Wildcats won the PAL Lake Division crown in 2022 to launch a stretch of four consecutive winning seasons and now average 45 points per game.
Torres adds another variation to the attack. He lines mostly in the slot, but could end up anywhere. He has 15 touchdowns in six games and averages 150 all-purpose yards with much of them coming from behind Manny Navarro, a “wrecking ball,” Andrews said, at right guard.
“Daniel is one of the most versatile football players we’ve had in a while,” Andrews said. “Any time you get the ball even near that kid, good things happen. And this offense allows us to find ways to get him the ball but also use him as a decoy. Move him around. Force the defense to always account for him and know where he is. And then even use that against them.”
Lange said the playbook was difficult to learn at first, but “once you know the set, and the plays in that set, it’s pretty easy.”
The calls come from the sideline, but Lange said he has the freedom to change or alter the play, even after it’s begun, based on reads he sees in the secondary and the defensive line.
“It’s a lot of deception, but it’s a lot of smashmouth too,” Andrews said. “It’s tough to defend.”
