Colerain obviously has some serious athletes. In reality they might have the best team in the nation. I have my doubts because of the style of offense they run. If there was ever a truly one-dimensional offense they are it! Abilene and SLC would put up more yards passing in one game than Colerain did over the entire season. In Texas as of late even the running oriented teams that are in the elite have a respectable passing attack. This was the case with last years Katy team that won the Div. II title over SLC. The best teams in Texas have speed as does Colerain. But it is the defensive gurus who take the speed of those players and put the stops on other teams. Abilene faced two rediculously fast players for Midland Lee and it caught them off guard for two quarters. But Abilene had speed as well and with some half-time adjustments they scored no more. They couldn't pass to save their lives. Lee had put up some gaudy numbers and points on the other teams they had played (50, 60 and even 70 points), but the one-dimensional offense haunted them when they played a team with a fast defense and a guru defensive coordinator. I am not saying Abilene is better than Colerain. I am sticking up for Texas football. The polls are mythical and if there ever were a matchup between Ohio 5A and Texas 5A champions I am saying you better bring a two-dimensional offense. Once again, I figure Colerain has some great athletes and I wish I could see them play SLC or even Abilene. It would be hair raising I am sure.
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Teams know going into a Colerain matchup that Colerain will only pass a handful of times in the game. Even so, they can't stop them. Look at Canton McKinley. Colerain played them on McK's home field for the state title. McK was giving up an an average of just 10 ppg. Colerain torched them for 50 even after fumbling 3-4 times in the first quarter.
Even very good defenses like Elder and Moeller were helpless, and they see very good offenses frequently (Calpreps ranks their schedules as two of the three toughest in the country). Colerain put up about 5 TDs on each of them and probably could have put up more but the games were over by the half.
I think perhaps the difference you need to account for is that Colerain's offense isn't a power-running game you might see from a typical Ohio or Texas team. It is a sophisticated option game. The o-line is unusually widely spaced and manned by big, strong and (for their size) mobile kids. Deception is a key element of the game (who has the ball? the QB? the RBs? which way do I go?). The defense is forced to spread their defense somewhat to compensate. And Colerain will throw, albeit only a little. They'll complete 3-4 passes per game (66% completion %) with an average gain of nearly 20 yards to keep you honest. This is disheartening to the defense because when they realize they can't contain the running game, they can't flood the box either or they'll get torched in the air.
And, at the end of the day, trying to stop Colerain's offense is the least of your problems. Scoring is the big obstacle. I think the most points given up by Colerain's 1st string defense this past season was 10. And their average equivalent ppg surrendered was about 2 or 3. Even with their starters on the bench for much of the 2nd half, Colerain's offense averaged 46 ppg. That's a huge gap.
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