Football fans planning to attend tonight’s Section 1AAAA playoff opener at Wescott Field might want to get ready for a track meet.

Tuesday, October 26, 1999

Football fans planning to attend tonight’s Section 1AAAA playoff opener at Wescott Field might want to get ready for a track meet.

In the fifth-seeded Rosemount Irish, the No. 4 Austin Packers (2-6) face something they haven’t seen all season – a spread offense.

"They spread all the way across the field," Austin coach Steve Knox said, "and they throw a lot."

The spread, a set that employs three to five wideouts and sometimes operates with no running back, is the most in-vogue offense in NCAA Division I football today.

Purdue University is staying in the Big Ten title hunt behind a high-scoring spread offense.

When effective, the offense neutralizes an attack-dog defense by forcing the defense to account for the wideouts by playing fewer men in the box at the line of scrimmage.

Rosemount’s spread should make for an interesting night, because Austin’s strength of late has been the defense’s ability to put up-the-middle heat on opposing offenses. The Packers almost sacked their way to an upset of John Marshall last week.

Against one-win Rosemount, something has got to give.

Knox is betting it won’t be Austin’s defense.

"We’ve been working on it all week," Knox said. "Our defense has been getting tougher. We think we can force the quarterback to scramble."

Expect Austin’s defensive backfield of Nick Rohne, Asham Bell, Mike Cunningham, Matt Schneider and Tony McDermott to have its hands full.

Knox is aware of at least one potential pitfall.

Rosemount coach Jeff Erdmann is formerly the coach of Winona, where he ran the spread as well.

"We came out ready to defend the pass against Winona one game," Knox said, " and all they did was run the football."

Films and scouting reports of this Rosemount team indicate that the Irish "pass time and time again," Knox said, "75 percent of the time."

On offense, Austin is sticking with the status quo, a mix of run and pass that ran up more than 300 yards of offense against JM.

In the other Section 1AAAA game tonight, No. 3 Farmington hosts No. 6 Albert Lea.

Nos. 1 and 2, Northfield and Red Wing, have byes.

The winner of the Austin/Rosemount game faces top- seeded Northfield on the road Saturday. The winner of the Farmington/Albert Lea game plays at Red Wing.