Unorthodox approach

Milford's 'stack' defense leaves offenses at a loss

Milford coach Tom Cullen goes over plays with his team during a timeout in Sunday's game with Westborough High, a 7-0 win for the Scarlet Hawks. (Robert E. Klein/Globe Correspondent)

Slowly creeping up to the line of scrimmage in the pouring rain on Sunday, his Milford High team clinging to a 7-0 lead over visiting Westborough with a minute to go, Evan Burns stormed into the backfield nearly unscathed and blindsided the quarterback for a loss of 10 yards, and his first sack of the year.

The senior linebacker called his play "the best feeling in the world."

The call by coach Tom Cullen from the sidelines was simple: bring the heat, and Burns delivered.

On the next play, Cullen told his linebackers to stay home, no blitzes, and Matt Cristino secured a game-ending interception.

In a 2-1 start, the Milford High defense is playing loose, playing fast, and playing inspired. The Scarlet Hawks have recorded two shutouts and allowed scoring in just one quarter, in a nonleague loss to Franklin.

With athleticism at every position, Cullen is once again using a rather unorthodox defensive scheme that is slowly gaining popularity at the high school level.

Three years ago, Cullen, as the defensive coordinator under then-head coach John Dagnese, implemented the "33 stack" scheme. Three linebackers line up behind three down linemen, with two more linebackers playing on the edge, and three defensive backs cover upfield. The result of the 3-5-3 formation is an aggressive attack, with a seemingly endless combination of blitzes, and the ability to switch gears on the fly.

In some ways, the scheme defies convention. Junior nose guard Jake Brucato, for instance, is hardly the biggest kid at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds. But he perfectly fits the mold at Milford - quick off the ball, and versatile.

Brucato, as Burns noted, "plays like a 330-pounder."

Said Brucato, "I just look for movement on the ball. I want to be the first one up."

As more teams turn to the spread offensive attack, a number of coaches feel that "33 stack," or a variation, is the way to defend.

But some coaches, like Cullen - who played alongside future professional football Hall of Famer Howie Long at Milford High, and whose coaching stops have included college stops at Youngstown State and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst - say they shifted to the formation for personnel reasons.

That was what Jim Girard was thinking when he implemented the system four years ago, working as defensive coordinator under Scott Parseghian at Wayland High School, when the team's players lacked size but were athletic.

"It's a defense that can really beat teams with speed, if you have it. We were fortunate to have those types of athletes," said Girard.

The Warriors rode that defense to a Division 1A Super Bowl title in 2006 and were in the Dual County League hunt last season before finishing 10-2. This year, the Warriors are off to a 2-1 start, and have received solid play from linebackers J.J. Przybylski, Ethan Aaron, and Chris Keeler.

"We basically want our best 11 athletes on the field," Parseghian said. But Parseghian defers all the credit to Girard, in his first year as head coach at Dover-Sherborn High, where, with linebacker Andrew Perlmutter and nose guard Ted Ouellet anchoring the defense, the Raiders (2-2) have already matched last season's win total. And they often use the 33 stack.

At Milford, Cullen moves his athletes all over the field. Alex Avery has made the switch from cornerback to linebacker; in Sunday's win over Westborough, Cullen gave Tom Leung his first start at quarterback, moving incumbent senior Brendan Casey exclusively to linebacker.

"It literally saves some guys' careers," Cullen said of the 33 stack. And players seem to love the defense, too. Says Casey, "Coach Cullen gets us fired up, especially on defense."

In the trenches

On Friday night, two of the area's top senior prospects, Holliston defensive end Andrew Barrett and Dover-Sherborn's Ouellet, at left offensive tackle, banged heads in the trenches of their Tri-Valley League matchup.

Both are courting offers from at least one Division 1 program - Barrett from Bryant University in Rhode Island and Ouellet from Bowling Green State in Ohio.

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Barrett registered seven tackles in Holliston's 28-14 win, but he didn't record a sack going up against the 6-3, 250-pound Ouellet.

"Ouellet is a good one, no doubt about it - probably the best lineman I have ever coached against," said Holliston coach Todd Kiley. "For Andrew to do what he did, I was proud of the way he played. That was a big assignment for him this week, and I thought he did a nice job."

Dover-Sherborn coach Girard on the matchup: "Watching it on tape, they really got after each other, but not to the point where it was about them. A lot of people really watched the matchup. It was fun to watch, and both of them have a bright future."

And the win was quite an emotional one for a Holliston program that has had to deal with two deaths in the first month of the season, junior lineman Joey Larracey and honorary manager Tim O'Connell.

"You could just see it in the kids' faces, and the coaches as well," said Kiley.

"I know myself, I had nothing left in the tank after the game. You want it so bad for the kids, because of all they've been through."

Pitching shutouts in Medway

Through the first three games, Medway has outscored the opposition, 81-12, recording two shutouts. The last time the Mustangs registered two shutouts in the first month was in 2000, when they didn't allow a point over the first two games.

The key is undoubtedly harder than it sounds. Medway coach Dave McSweeney says he doesn't complicate the game plan defensively.

"We just get a lot of guys to the ball. We're pretty basic on defense," said the first-year coach. "The kids just play well. They know their jobs and do their jobs."

Quick hits

Marlborough High's squad has started 0-3, but the combination of QB Graham Asum and top wideout Caanan Severin has shown promise. "I'm encouraged by the potential that we have. But we have to convert that to production," Marlborough coach Sean Mahoney said following last week's 34-7 loss to Leominster. Leominster coach John Dubzinski called Asum "the best quarterback we faced out of the first three games."

With his 150 yards on 23 carries in Friday's 21-7 loss to Gardner, Nashoba Regional senior tailback Travis Patterson is averaging 183 rushing yards per game. Should he keep up the pace, he would shatter his own single-season mark of 1,405 yards set last season.

Brendan Hall can be reached at bhall59@hotmail.com.