Nauset Deploys Two-QB Scheme, Surges Back Into Season

NORTH EASTHAM – John Madden, the Hall of Fame football coach and commentator, is credited with expressing a proverb of the game that rules teams with two quarterbacks actually don't have one.

An offense electing to utilize multiple quarterbacks is usually a sign that neither of those players has stood out enough to warrant serving as the sole starter. Chemistry becomes a concern with two guys throwing the passes, delivering hand-offs and making the reads. The scheme can become complicated.

Plus, who has ever heard of all those countries with two presidents, corporations with two chief executive officers, or sports teams with two head coaches? The list isn’t long. That’s generally how the idea attributed to Madden goes.

John Madden never saw the Nauset Football Warriors.

Injuries at one point this year pressed Nauset’s third-string quarterback into action, but the team has since settled into a two-quarterback rotation with junior Lyle Blatz and senior Fin Parker. It’s partly vaulted the Warriors (3-4) into a full-blown season turnaround.

“We both know we can just come in and make plays,” Parker said Friday after the newly-installed alternating-QB approach helped lift Nauset over Falmouth 12-2.

What happened was this: Blatz stepped into game reps upon an injury suffered early on by the starting quarterback, junior Oliver Accettullo. Blatz then got hurt himself Oct. 2 during a 21-12 loss at Sharon. Enter Parker, the backup-backup.

Under a switch to a run-heavy double-tight end offense with Parker (normally a wide receiver) taking the snaps, Nauset beat Nantucket 22-6 for their first win of the season and, a week later, upset West Bridgewater 14-7.

The Warriors had found an identity of smashmouth offense and hard-nosed defense — and Blatz, who can sling the football but also likes contact (according to head coach Jesse Peno), was returning from injury heading into the Falmouth game.

Parker and Blatz, who are buddies, both apparently didn’t feel strong inclinations to claim the job outright, and Peno all week saw the two pumping one another up, being each other’s biggest supporter. 

It made him feel comfortable that they could pull off the back-and-forth tandem. He figured why not give them both a shot.

“They're just such high-character, unselfish kids,” Peno said.

The two-quarterback style was something Peno had seen before but that Nauset had never done — until last week. 

It worked. Junior Max Furman ran in a touchdown, junior Karson Gilley caught a touchdown thrown by junior Malachi Bradley on a halfback pass, and the Nauset defense recovered three fumbles in the win over Falmouth — all while Blatz and Parker essentially alternated every offensive snap. 

The rotation allowed Peno, for the first time in years, to actually speak with his quarterback(s) on the sideline. That’s previously been hard to do with one QB who plays offense in addition to defense and is therefore always on the field.

Relatedly, since the two players’ snap counts are naturally somewhat reduced by the partnership, they both in turn tire less, according to Parker, who’s also a defensive back.

“Both of us are able to play [the] other side of the ball really well because of that,” he said. “Especially, I go typically every single play of the game — having that play off, play on, play off has been incredible.”

For all the talk about two passers, though, a third arm actually happened to enter the fold and put the game out of reach for the Clippers.

Bradley, a running back, for three years has been saying he can throw the football — joking around during practice that he is the team’s QB1, Peno said.

It turned out to be not so much of a joke. 

On Friday, the Warriors designed to run enough sweeps to the outside to get Falmouth’s defense to start creeping up. They noticed the corner flying forward, and the safety basically stopping. 

On third-and-6 up 6-2 midway through the third quarter, Nauset ran another sweep. Bradley motioned behind the snap and took the toss to the right from Parker.

Instead of making a run to the edge, he shuffled a few steps and flicked a pass to Gilley, one of Nauset’s top receivers, who snuck into the formation at tight end. He made the catch just past the line to gain and cut around traffic to complete the 51-yard touchdown pass trickery.

“I'm thinking, ‘Hey, might get a first down out of this,’ but [Bradley] made a great throw on the money,” Peno said. “[Gilley] caught it and took off. It won us the game.”

Meanwhile, the Warriors defense all but pitched a shutout. The only points conceded to Falmouth (a safety) were scored by Nauset’s own doing.

And the safety itself served as a testament to the confidence they had in the defensive unit. 

At the end of the first half, the Warriors were pushed up on their side of the field and, rather than risk a congested, potentially disastrous punt attempt, opted to simply run the ball backwards into their own end zone — then send the ensuing kickoff deep to Falmouth and trust the D, who finished with three turnovers (including fumble recoveries on back-to-back Falmouth plays).

“I don't think I can name a dude on this field that didn't show up today,” said Parker, who picked up the first of those three total fumbles on what was Nauset’s homecoming and senior night. “That was awesome.”

The decision to take a safety was a tip of the cap to defensive coordinator Brett Labonte, who had been on top of Falmouth’s offensive scheme all week, according to Peno. 

The Clippers run many different formations, he said, and Labonte had the percentages all charted out. The Warriors defense played prepared.

“That's total credit to him and his gameplan,” Peno said. “The kids love him. He's a great coach, and they responded. They played physical. They played tough, and guys showed up.”

The Warriors have conceded single-digit point totals in three consecutive games (15 points combined).

“I think our kids have just bought into that mentality — every game is going to be a rock fight,” Peno said. “It's going to be tough. We're going to have to grind. But they just persevere, and just they're tough kids and I'm super proud of them.”

Earlier this month, the Warriors were 0-4 and down to their third-string quarterback. They were injured, had dropped every game by at least two possessions and were staring down the barrel of the second half of the season.

Now they’re surging, able to hang their helmets on a sturdy defense plus a ground-and-pound offense operated via the eminently unique alternating-quarterback system.

“I think if we were playing this way earlier in the year, we'd be an undefeated team right now,” Parker said. “I see just the confidence in the locker room. Dudes going out there, not being scared of not making a play. Going out there ready to make a play. Dudes really filling into their positions, filling into their roles.”