Passing Time

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Don’t pin that cliche on Dennis Gossard.

The offensive coordinator at Crescenta Valley High has been coaching football on the high school and junior college levels for 30 years, primarily with a philosophy of run, run, run until the defense takes the wing-T away.

“You always fall back on what you’re comfortable with,” said Gossard, a former coach at Pasadena City College and Crescenta Valley. “And I know how to run the football.”

But Gossard, a former dyed-in-the-wool, double-wing-T advocate, has taken a different route in recent years.

After years of trying different run-oriented schemes, Gossard has joined the pass-happy crowd.

With an emphasis on happy, Crescenta Valley is 4-0 thanks in part to a productive run-and-shoot offense.

“This is the first year we’ve really committed to it,” Coach Alan Eberhart said.

While Hart, the most prominent run-and-shoot program in Southern California, has struggled at times this season because of inexperienced receivers and linemen, Crescenta Valley has flourished with nine first-year offensive starters.

The most notable newcomer is Gossard’s son Hudson, who ranks sixth among region quarterbacks in yards passing.

Hudson has been a rock for the Falcons, who have posted impressive victories over Thousand Oaks, St. Francis, Simi Valley and La Canada.

The 5-foot-9, 160-pound junior has completed 58% of his passes for 896 yards and 11 touchdowns, third most in the region behind Jack Swisher of St. Bonaventure and Rick Clausen of Taft, who each have thrown for 12 touchdowns.

Gossard is on pace to break the school season record of 2,025 yards passing set last year by Scott Vossmeyer, a freshman quarterback for ninth-ranked Oregon.

Eberhart expects the record to be surpassed because of Gossard’s command and feel for the offense. Eberhart said he knew his young quarterback would be a force after watching Hudson guide the Falcons to their first passing tournament title in more than a decade.

“Hudson is very proficient,” said Eberhart, in his eighth season. “He’s the first legitimate quarterback we’ve had. He changes the play a lot, he knows when to take off. . . . He’s just very intelligent.”

While Vossmeyer worked within the run-and-shoot system for only one season, Gossard is a veteran.

“I’ve known this offense for the past three years,” said Gossard, who led his freshman and junior varsity teams to Pacific League championships.

“Each year it changes a little bit, but the structure of it stays pretty much the same.”

For Dennis Gossard, who took over as offensive coordinator four years ago, his run-and-shoot offense is a work in progress. He toyed with it in 1996, but always reverted back to his trademark “Breaker offense,” running from a double-tight end, double-wing-T set.

In 1997, Crescenta Valley, led by running back Kenny Pritchett, ran roughshod over its competition to a 10-0 record and a league title.

But when the Falcons were shut down by Santa Maria Righetti in a first-round playoff loss, coaches went back to the drawing board.

“We talked about it a long time and we decided we’re not going to win at the high school level if we can’t throw the ball,” Eberhart said.

The next season, a year after Pritchett left for UCLA, Gossard reintroduced the run-and-shoot without completely abandoning his double-wing offense.

When it became obvious during the first half of a league opener against Muir that the Falcons couldn’t be proficient at both, Gossard scrapped the Breaker offense for good.

“From that point on, we’ve never run Breaker again,” Gossard said.

“I finally got rid of the pacifier, threw it out. And it wasn’t easy, believe me.”

Crescenta Valley has been in four- and five-receiver, one-back or no-back sets ever since.

But only now is Gossard feeling confident about his decision.

“I don’t think it was so much Scott [Vossmeyer], but me who didn’t grasp the offense as well as I do now,” Gossard said. “If I knew last year what I know this year, [Vossmeyer] would have thrown for a hell of a lot more yards.”

Reaping the benefits of Gossard’s growing knowledge are his son and the Falcons, who average 33 points and 306 yards a game.

Hudson Gossard has been a student of the game since diapers.

“I’m convinced that he’s watched game films instead of cartoons,” Eberhart said.

Considering Dennis Gossard has been coaching since 1970, it’s no surprise his son was reared on football.

“He’s been a football coach all my life and when he comes home, he watches [game] film and I always watched with him,” Hudson said.

Hudson’s football roots can be traced to the day his parents named him after Hudson Houck, offensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys.

Dennis Gossard and Houck, a USC assistant coach from 1970-72 and 1976-82, have been friends since they met as Crescenta Valley teachers in 1970.

But Dennis Gossard balks at the suggestion he groomed his son to be a blue-chip quarterback. In fact, he’s not sure he can take credit for Hudson’s success.

“So far, he’s done a great job,” Dennis Gossard said. “But what has really surprised me is he’s got a poise about him that I never had. I’m a very high-strung individual. And he is very business-like, very focused.

“He must get it from his mother because I’m a nervous wreck.”