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Bryan, Piedmont's coach, and Steve Humphries, the director of football operations, had developed an offense in which all 11 players on the field potentially are eligible to catch the ball. Though they weren't certain it was legal when they first concocted the idea, they were willing to implement it for the 2007 season.

After compiling a 7-4 record and a first-round playoff appearance, Bryan and Humphries now call their innovation a success.

"Going into the season, we thought that either we're going to get fired or we're going to transform the game because of the innovative aspects and the wealth of ideas," Bryan said. "Luckily, it turned out to be the latter."

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Why not put two quarterbacks in a shotgun formation and make every player on the field a potential receiving threat?

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What developed from that brainstorming session was the "A-11 offense" - as in all 11 players potentially are eligible.

The base offense is one in which a center and two tight ends surround the football, three receivers are split right, three more split left and two quarterbacks stand behind in a shotgun, one of whom has to be at least 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

A description on the offense's Web site - Welcome To The Online Home Of The New A-11 Offense - describes it as "an innovative offense blending aspects of the spread option, West Coast and run and shoot."

Yes, per the rules of the game, only five players are eligible to catch a pass during a particular play and seven players have to set up on the line of scrimmage. But in the minds of Bryan and Humphries, you can develop an infinite number of plays with an infinite number of formations.

Talk about confusing a defense.

"It presents a different set of challenges for defenses because they have to account for which guys go out or might go out," Bryan said. "Those guys who are ineligible to go down the field and catch a pass, they can take a reverse pitch or a negative screen or a hitch behind the line of scrimmage.

"We've opened up the game to the extreme with the rules already in place."

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First, though, Piedmont coaches had to make sure this offense was actually legal. Bryan and Humphries scoured the rulebook, met with league officials and submitted the concept of the offense to the National Federation of High Schools and the California Interscholastic Federation.

"We had a 99.9 percent feeling that it was legal," Bryan said. "After it was approved, there was a sense of, 'OK, now what do we do?' "

First, they had to install the offense during spring practice and during the summer. Bryan said it wasn't pretty. Even into the first two games of the 2007 season, contests in which the Highlanders lost while scoring a combined nine points, the coaching staff continued making adjustments.

Then, something clicked and they went on a seven-game winning streak, using the A-11 offense about 60 percent of the time and a more traditional formation the other 40 percent. This season, Bryan said he wants to use the A-11 offense 85-90 percent of the time.

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