Jack Lanham hands the ball off to Mike-Ryan Mofor plenty often. But that's not all. Salisbury athletics photo

By Joe Sager
D3sports.com

Salisbury likes to run the football.

That’s nothing new to opponents. With their triple-option offense, the Sea Gulls have ranked among the nation’s top rushing offenses this entire decade.

But, what foes are finding out, Salisbury is not just a problem to contain on the ground. The Sea Gulls (11-0) have taken to the air this year.

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“I think we have playmakers at every position. If we get the ball to anybody, we know they can make a play on offense,” Salisbury sophomore quarterback Jack Lanham said.

Salisbury’s triple-option has evolved over the past handful of seasons. This year, it took a dramatic twist. The Sea Gulls have nearly tripled the number of passes they’ve thrown this fall (120) compared to last season (46) in the same amount of games.

“Nowadays, the popular thing is to throw the ball and spread it out and let the ball travel everywhere. We understand that and love it, too,” Salisbury coach Sherman Wood said. “Ever since we brought Ryan Fleetwood back as our offensive coordinator (in 2017), he came in with some things that just broadened our horizons on the offensive side. It made it more player-friendly, so to speak. You don’t hear us use the word ‘triple’ anymore. We’ve just been adding a few things and polishing a few things and making our assignments simpler. I think that made us play much better.

“We really etched it in stone in the summer when got together to see what else we could do to lighten up our offensive philosophy.”

Airing the ball out has been successful for Salisbury. The offense has not turned into an Oregon-like spread attack, but it has boosted its passing yardage from 291 to 1,461 and aerial touchdowns from six to 16 in a year’s time.

“The passing game has been really explosive this year,” Salisbury senior superback Mike-Ryan Mofor said. “It’s the easiest way to score. Plus, it keeps the safeties honest and teams can’t load the box with too many guys because they have to respect the pass.”

Lanham has thrown for 1,273 yards and 13 touchdowns. Octavion Wilson (22 catches, 393 yards) is his top target. Hunter Cleaver (9, 228), Lenard Prue (9, 254) and Chad Gleason (8, 228) are next.

The Sea Gulls stung Union in last Saturday’s 62-41 win with a pass right away when Lanham found Prue for a 60-yard TD strike on the team’s third play.

“Our offensive coordinator says that the best way to score points is to throw it over the other team’s heads,” Lanham said. “Teams have to respect that and it allows us to run the triple even better.”

Make no mistake, Salisbury hasn’t abandoned its running game for a pass-heavy approach. In fact, the ground attack is very productive yet again. The Sea Gulls rank second in the country at 343 yards rushing per game and first in average yards per rush (6.87). Lanham leads the way with 682 yards, while Mofor is right behind with 670. Michael Fowler (471), Hopeton Mair (390), Shamar Gray (374), Damien King (275) and Gleason (438) all see a lot of carries.

“When you look through the statistical leaders on offense, Jack has 1,000 yards passing and teams know they have to defend the pass. But, teams know he can run the ball, too,” Mofor said. “It’s well distributed throughout the team. They can’t just really key in on one person. Anything that works in a game is what will have to happen because we just care about getting wins.”

It’s been a winning recipe for the squad. Not only are the Sea Gulls unbeaten, but they’ve cruised through their schedule in convincing fashion. They rank third in the nation at 51.1 points scored per game. They’ve outscored their first two postseason opponents, 145-41.

“We’re pretty satisfied with where we are. But, our offensive line coach (Doug Fleetwood) always said we can’t fall in love with ourselves,” Mofor said. “Even though we are scoring a lot, there are some things we have to fix on offense. We’re at the point in the season where can’t make too many mistakes.”

Since triple option offenses are about as popular as payphones these days, it gives the team an advantage, especially when teams are trying to prepare for the unique look in a short week. It’s a challenge Muhlenberg (12-0) faces this week.

“Once you get into the tournament, (our offense) can be an advantage, especially against teams that are traveling and basically have three days to get it done and figure out what’s going on,” Wood said. “That doesn’t mean we still don’t have to execute and do our job because we’re playing some quality people, in particular the people coming this weekend.  But, this does give us a slight advantage, in terms of preparation, I think.”

The Mules, who visit Sea Gull Stadium on Saturday, present a challenge of their own. Their defense ranks third in points allowed per game (9.8). The team has outscored its two playoff foes, 80-0.

“They’re not 12-0 for nothing. They are well-coached and have a great offensive system. They do a great job on defense and are very disciplined. They are very fast and they run to the football,” Wood said. “You can tell their kids are very confident in what they do. It’s going to be one of those things where whomever makes the least amount of mistakes and takes advantage of some opportunities will win the game.

“It’s going to be a challenge. I am just pleased with our kids and their confidence and what we can bring to the table,” he continued. “We’re hoping it’ll be a good game for everyone. It definitely has all the billings with what both teams are doing.”

Being at home again is a huge boost for Salisbury as well.

“We’re pleased to be in this position. We haven’t traveled yet and that’s been cool,” Wood said. “We had a pretty good body of work during the regular season. We beat Oshkosh, Wesley and Montclair for some of our big wins. We felt, not only did we win those games, but we won quite a few games convincingly. We just never stop playing. We got to point where we didn’t care about the score; we wanted to keep playing as a team. Our backups are challenged to do just as well as the starters.

“That’s the first thing I think about, the fact the committee respected what we did during the regular season. We wanted to prove to them they made the right decision. We still have one more hurdle ahead of us we have to get over.”