Very few schools get the privilege to learn from the nation’s best…in anything. For Tehachapi and their elusive Wing-T offensive attack, the weekend of June 20-22 provided just that…a chance to learn from the best.

After making a stop at Fallbrook High School in 2002, the Golden State Wing-T camp came beckoning to Mountain Football country for ’03, marking the first time in 16 years that the camp has been hosted by Tehachapi.

“Coach Steve Denman has always been a reliable source in many capacities for the instruction that is done annually in the early summer,” said Golden State Camp Instructor Mike Schonewolf.

“With the rules changing a bit for southern California, having location change in Tehachapi gave some of the schools that ran the Wing-T in San Diego and Los Angeles a chance to come up. Coach Denman’s program has been a participant for seven years, so we thought that Tehachapi would be a perfect place to instruct for the upcoming season.”

Tehachapi was one of five locations to host a camp in 2003, with the other locations as far north as Washington and as far East as Utah. Specifically, Mariner High School in Everett, Washington and Olympus High School in Salt Lake City, Utah were the hosts for those perspective states. In California, Escalon, Sutter, and Tehachapi shared the duties during the month of June.

“A camp like this is an exciting time for our players,” said Warrior Head Coach Steve Denman. “The players get a chance to develop cohesiveness and consistency, while getting an early opportunity to lock helmets with some good wing-t teams in the southern section.”

The teams that Tehachapi played host to included two teams from Los Angeles (Roosevelt and Narbonne High), one team from San Diego (Granite Hills – El Cajon), and East Bakersfield, which featured the wingback skills of highly sought-after collegiate Division-I recruit Le’Andre Matthews.

“It’s not easy to run a camp of this magnitude, especially with over 200 players in attendance, but with Tehachapi’s help it was an enjoyable experience. Our goal for the camp is to teach the fundamentals of the wing-t offense, and hopefully make each team a successful ambassador of its concepts”, added Schonewolf.

The Wing-T has original roots stemming from the University of Delaware, where head Coach Harold R. “Tubby” Raymond installed the then-revolutionary offense with his Blue Hen team during his tenure from 1966-2001. Raymond, who coached his final season just two years ago, compiled a 300-119-3 record in 422 games with Delaware, winning the UPI small college national championship in 1971 and 1972, and the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1979.

With the retirement of Raymond in 2001, K.C. Keller moved in to audition a new spread offense for Delaware this past season, marking the first time in 35 years that the Blue Hens ran something other than the wing.

With the founding school going a different direction, the concept of the offense did not stop other teams from taking notice of Raymond’s work, especially at the high school level.

Many teams bought into the wing-t system in hopes of producing more successful results in their respective divisions. One of the teams that took on the wing-t concept locally was Clovis West High School, who successfully transformed their football crazed town into a title winning machine with heavy running, more running, and even more running…(ok…there was some pretty good passing too). With Clovis West as a barometer of the offenses success, many teams like Garces, East-Bakersfield, North-Bakersfield, and Tehachapi bought into the winning system.

For Tehachapi, the results have been abundant for the team runners, with the highlights in scores being Dustin McBride collecting 27 touchdowns in his varsity career in the 1999-2000 seasons, Jared Romo 25 touchdowns from 1998-2000, Anthony Gonzalez 21 touchdowns in 1996, and more recently Tanner Hutchinson 19 touchdowns in 2002. In total yards, the results are too many and too much to even mention in one article…(but don’t worry, everyone’s accolades will be on the website soon.)

The hope for Tehachapi and the Golden State Wing-T camp is that execution of the offense equals yards, which equates to points, which translates into wins. The Warriors would probably love to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their last CIF championship with another trophy to add to the case.

With the Wing-T as the firepower, and the nation’s best instructors providing the ammo, the season could get off to a promising start early.

	Want to see some more photos of the spring practice and Wing-T camp?  Thought you might.  To see some of the pics that were halfway decent, click here.  If you have a slower connection to the internet, you might have to wait a little while.  Some of the pics are repeats, but some are new.
	For those hardcore Warrior fans out there, there is plenty of reference material out there for your disposal to brush up on the wing. For a taste of the reading out there, you can click here.  Knowledge is power…
	Some of you that may have driven by Coy Burnett Field might have seen some stakes sticking out of the field. New sod? Well…no…not quite. But the field is getting it’s annual re-seeding for the upcoming year. Green grass beats dirt any day, right Warrior fans? As we all know though, the wet days of fall and winter will undoubtedly pummel the ground to it’s familiar muddy state come playoff time, but enjoy the crisp-green texture while you can in early season match-ups…
	Haven’t heard anything yet on the Kern County / Fresno County All-Star Game roster set for July. The Tehachapi coaching staff submitted three names for consideration by the selecting committee, Jon O’Brien, Josh Christy, and Jedd Ingraham. If any of the three players are selected to suit up for some mid-summer football against some of last year’s all-area Senior class…hopefully they’ll get a call soon. I’ll keep you posted.

Warriors will be hitting the weight room for the next month, with the Varsity scheduled in the morning from around 6am to 8am, and the Junior Varsity from 5pm to 7pm in the evenings. Practice officially starts Monday, August 11th. The season will be here before you know it! Write to you all in August…