From The Houston Chronicle

Aug. 24, 2004, 11:13PM

SEA CHANGE

Clear Lake has wind in its sails

Falcons settled into new offense, ready for Tomball opener and 2004 season

By L. SCOTT HAINLINE
Chronicle Correspondent

When Clear Lake football head coach Troy Aduddell brought Paul Lanier in as the Falcons' offensive coordinator in the spring of 2003, entire worlds were turned upside down.

The Falcons had been pass-happy in a wide-open, spread attack before the former Ball head coach's arrival, but Lanier was an option coach, and Clear Lake's offense was headed to the other end of the spectrum.

"Everyone was so surprised," said senior quarterback Scott Oswald. "But we felt like we had the talent to do it."
It was especially important to have Oswald on board, given his responsibilities in the offense - and it wasn't always a given that he would buy into the new way.

Oswald started all 11 games for the Falcons last season, but going into 2003 he had serious misgivings. He had moved to signal-caller before his junior year, when Clear Lake switched from the spread to the option.

"The move was tough at first because Scott was so into being a wide receiver, and he had a good friend who was going to be a quarterback in the old offense," said his mother, Diane. "Scott still likes being a receiver, and he wishes he could catch a pass every now and then."

Since middle school, Oswald had been plugged in at wideout.
"I took a couple of snaps at quarterback in the seventh grade, but that was about it," he said. "When we moved to the option, the coaches looked at a lot of people at a lot of different positions, and they knew I had good hands as a receiver, and they felt like I could make good decisions and I could be a leader."

Still, there were other things to consider - including a mother's natural inclination to worry about her son's health.
"My first reaction when he moved to quarterback was that he's going to be hit a lot more, but my husband, Steve, told me not to worry, and that Scott was doing it for the good of the team," she added of his father, who played college football at the U.S. Naval Academy. "(Steve) had to switch positions when he played in college, and he said everything would work out, and it has."

"We feel a lot better about everything this season, and with 10 seniors starting on offense, we're hopefully going to score 30 to 40 points per game," said the quarterback. "Our goal is to score 40 every time out."

Oswald quickly picked up the running part of the option last season, but throwing the ball was still an area that needed improvement. Even though there's not much passing in the option, it's still critical to be able to throw it as well. Oswaled focused on his passing skills in the heat of June and July.

"Passing was a little awkward. I really couldn't throw that well at first," Oswald said. "It was the part of my game I really worked on this summer."

Joining Oswald in the Clear Lake backfield are varsity veterans and seniors Elrick Jones, Daniel McCalib and Devin Williams at running back, and Geno Blow, the only junior starter on offense, at fullback.

In last week's scrimmage at Marshall, Aduddell decided to hold out right guard Ben Volk and right tackle Josh Hayes.
"They both had minor injuries, really just tweaks, and we didn't want to take a chance, but they'll be back for the opener at Tomball on Friday (7:30 p.m.)," Aduddell said. "That left us with only one returning starter in (senior) center Scott Nimmons, but we were able to march the ball down the field a couple of times and score once with basically a new line. We felt good about that."

The Falcons face a Tomball team in Friday's opener that also uses an option attack.
"Coach Pat Patterson does a great job at Tomball, and they may be opening up their offense a little bit," Aduddell said. "They do have some big offensive linemen, so they'll still be running the ball."

Tomball, a 6-5 playoff team last year, is picked to finish second behind Jersey Village in District 17-5A this season.
"Marshall threw a lot of different looks at us in the scrimmage. They even ran a couple of reverses, and we've made some alignment corrections on defense this week," Aduddell said. "Our returning veterans played well last week, but the new kids who are replacing people are going to have to play themselves into a varsity role."

Coaches liked what they saw from senior strong safeties Bobby Hamilton and Cary Chiampi against Marshall.
The Falcons visit La Porte Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. before facing Baytown Lee in their home opener Thursday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at District Stadium.