A hybrid way to get some of the benefit of scripting without giving up 2-3 possessions is to scout for just your base play and a handful of your “homerun” plays. An example would be on your off-tackle run, make sure and scout the playside defensive end, if he’s boxing keep running off-tackle, if he’s a rush end, run the sweep. On wedge plays see how hard the weakside defensive tackle is coming, if he’s charging hard, run a trap play, if not charging hard keep wedging. On sweep plays if the playside corner is sitting back keep running the sweep, if he is coming hard, throw the sweep pass. On the sweep, if the backside defensive end and corner bail out, run the reverse. All this is detailed in Chapter 13 my book “Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan” along with our “Quick Scout” and “Easy Count” scouting methods . Most youth football coaches prefer to “watch” the game rather than scout the game, you have to stay disciplined and watch your keys to determine what will work and what won’t. It is definitely more fun to watch the game than to properly scout it.

Another thing many youth football coaches fail to do well is to set up their home run plays properly. If you are running a play action pass, the run off that play has to be established well before you go for the throat on the play action pass play. In youth football, that means 5-6 times minimum. If you are running a trap or reverse, the off-tackle or sweep flow has to be there and it won’t be there if you have not run the off-tackle or sweep enough. The buck wedge series won’t work unless the wedge has been established, so on and so forth. Too many coaches get anxious and go for the throat when the opponent isn’t quite ready yet for the “kill shot”.