It is my position that Salem can play up on "down" years because of the pro-I offense that they run. In the gap scheme blocking that Salem runs, it allows undersized linemen the ability to use angles and speed off the ball to overwhelm very good and bigger defensive linemen. It is a slow paced game speed that makes it so when opposing defenses best Salem's offense, Salem still manages to chew enough clock that high powered opposing offenses have less chances to get on the field and run up the score.
When watching the game last night, I would get focused in on interior O-linemen and I saw some good combo blocking of 3 and 1 techniques that got in the way of linebackers trying to crash in backside/playside. Salem's O-line was physical and despite the scoreboard they were getting some serious movement. I would have to watch the game film back to be sure but it looked like Fleming had some stud defensive ends and outside backers who could really set the edge and jam up the kick out block. Some slight adjustments during the next week could easily take advantage of the movement the interior line was getting.
One year when I played at Salem (early mag era) we started out 2-2 and all the same talk happened about Salem needing to get with the times offensively. Then I heard some people talking about us needing to emulate at the time c-burg and pulaski's flexbone (solid offensive schemes), but a football program means you trust what you do and you know new installs are VERY expensive real estate in practice time.
I would ask anyone looking to change Salem's offensive scheme to show me a program that runs one of the more "modern" offenses that has winning seasons year in and year out without consistent talent coming to those programs. I bet it would be hard to do. As an anecdote, look at the state runner up Broad Run team in 2021 and compare it to their 2-8 team the next season in 2022. Without knowing the in's and out's of that program or why that happened, it is my suspicion that as the talent left, so did their success. This is because having a good modern offense is often contingent on getting in quality playmakers with speed (not always a guarantee for Salem).
With Salem's pro-I, high end playmakers 110% make a difference but are not necessary for winning seasons because of the advantages of their offense that I have already described above in this comment. I also believe this changing systems suggestion is a bit dismissive of the adjustments that Salem's offense does install. The formation last year that put Lewis, Jones and Persinger in the backfield together was a huge change up while keeping in place the key rules of Salem's up front assignments. While I was living else where during the 2015-2017 threepeat and not able to attend games, I have watched some game film of those seasons and each of those seasons felt like a separate offensive identity (power 2017 with big full back and big halfback, balanced 2016 with a great and tenured QB, and finesse in 2015 with some serious speed). In 2020 and 2021, they would split the tail back out at WR leaving Cameron Leftwich as the single back which gave him more room to run as the defense could not stack the box as confindently. When Marty Bishop was fullback in 2011, Salem was predominantly a power run team and the next year in 2012 with Matt Hill at QB and Chad Fisher at WR, there were starting drives primarily out of shotgun formations. I trust the coaches know their players better than anybody in the stands and will make adjustments where they can, they do not want to lose games.
It is a bit disheartening to be at the Salem games and hear fans yell about the play-calling of the coaches of such an esteemed program. You would think the 40+ years of success would be enough to have the fans trust the program. I understand the more football on Saturday and Sunday has changed the more it looks like the Salem coaches are stuck in the past, so perhaps I can not blame them. But high school football has a completely different set of conditions (funding, talent, time, age, intelligence, speed, size, etc) than any football you would watch on a TV set which also makes the way you have to coach it essentially different.
I watched the LCA game on stream and the Franklin county game in-person and was very impressed by Salem's offense both of those games. Obviously they had a few set backs against LCA but seemed like they could move when they wanted to. I think it may be a little early to call this a "down" year for Salem. They have some serious explosive ability on Offense. They just played a really great Fleming team last night with a great defense.
Hats off to Nick Leftwich, have alot of love for him and his father coach Jeff Leftwich and really appreciate what he is creating at Fleming. I hope he builds up enough inertia there that they will be a strong program year in and year out just like Salem. Iron sharpening iron.
