Fourth-year DeLand coach Rick Darlington likes to run the football. Always has. Always will.
He does it old-school, in the single-wing offense, like the leather-headed guys of yesteryear, who would grind it out and dare teams to stop them.
It’s nothing fancy, or so Darlington will tell you. Hand off the football, block the guys in front of you and run.
Sure, he’ll tell you he will disguise things once in a while, snapping the football out of the I-formation, or sending receivers out in the spread.
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Darlington, whose Apopka teams battered their way to state championships in 2001, 2012 and 2014, said this isn’t the best rushing team he has ever had, but the numbers being put up by undefeated DeLand after four games are rare.
The Bulldogs are averaging 354 yards rushing per game and are scoring at will. Talented runners Marceles Carey, a senior, and Taihj Moore, a sophomore, lead the way, along with seniors Ryan Joseph and Ladamion Bletcher.
There are a lot of experts who believe DeLand sophomore running back Taihj Moore will be a special player by the time he is a senior. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
Moore has a chance to be special. He leads the team in rushing with 497 yards and 10 TDs on 53 carries. That’s a whopping 9.4 yards per run.
Carey, who has 467 yards and 8 TDs on 44 carries, has an even better average at 10.2.
“We do run the ball well, and whatever formations we’re in, we’re gonna run the ball,” Darlington said. “The funny thing is that I’m running the same schemes now that I have run my entire career. The difference now is that we’re always in an unbalanced line, so the schemes become more powerful because you’ll have extra gaps, or an extra blocker.
“Everybody runs power and outside zone. I’m not saying our system is better than anyone else’s or that it’s unstoppable. We just teach it a little different. We’ve been stopped by lots of different kinds of defenses but we’ve also put up 50 points on lots of different kinds of defenses.”
The offensive line is key to the set-up and each lineman has a responsibility to call out plays when his particular number is called. It’s a scheme that Darlington and his assistants start teaching with freshmen. It’s a unique concept.
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“There are different calls associated with each play, so each one of our linemen has to be an expert at one play,” Darlington said. “We built this system in 2007 and we just decided this is how we’re gonna do it. We try to improve it every year but for the most part it’s the same thing we’ve been doing for 20 years.”
Darlington had three straight seasons (2013-15) with three 1,000-yard rushers at Apopka. Nobody does that. DeLand won’t do that this year, but probably could if the load was shared a little more.
Moore and Carey are the top-end ball carriers. Still, Belcher and Joseph have combined for 313 yards. That’s more than some high school teams have rushed for this year.
DeLand quarterback Gardner Nordman helps keep defenses honest so they cannot solely concentrate on the Bulldogs’ talented running backs. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
The extra caveat with DeLand this year is quarterback Gardner Nordman. Teams can’t just line up and stack the deck against the run because the Bulldogs also have a true passing threat. Last week at Appling County (Georgia), where the Bulldogs won 46-30, Nordman completed 8 of 11 passes. The three incompletions were throw-aways. Nordman is 25-of-37 (68%) for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns for the year.
DeLand runs so much, Darlington has to make sure to remember to keep his quarterback involved.
“One game this year Gardner was standing next to me for at least half, if not more, of the game,” Darlington said. “Because I can have three better running backs in the game, but then I’m taking away any threat of the pass, and also, I’m kind of wasting a pretty good quarterback.
“So that’s what I’m always trying to figure out, is how can I stay true to our concepts but feature the guys that we have. We have four legitimate backs.
Apopka coach Rick Darlington and his son QB Zack Darlington celebrate after defeating Cypress Bay 53-50 to become the Class 8A State Football champions at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla. on Saturday, December 15, 2012. (Joshua C. Cruey/Orlando Sentinel)
Darlington likens this type of type of talent to the years when his son, Zack, was Apopka’s quarterback and led the Darters to the 2012 state championship as a junior. The Darters had three legit running threats back then Jevric Blocker, Chandler Cox and Robert Thomas.
DeLand, No. 7 in the MaxPreps Class 7A ratings, is poised to make a playoff run, but the Bulldogs are behind district rival Spruce Creek (4-0) and reigning Region 1 winner Lake Mary (2-2) in the rankings.
“We’ve still got a lot of tough games to play. We have [Spruce] Creek and Mainland and those two teams will give us a better indicator of what we are, offensively,” Darlington said. “And then defensively, we’ve got to continue to improve.”
It’s a good thing the offense is so good because the Bulldogs are giving up points. DeLand scores 45 points a game, but is allowing 30. The running game does help the defense by keeping the clock ticking.
Moore, Carey and Bletcher also play defense out of necessity, because DeLand doesn’t have much depth. Darlington has labeled his team the “Dirty Thirty.” He said he has only 30 varsity players.
“We hog the ball. We run the clock. We don’t put (defense) in bad field position,” Darlington said.
He
He’s not shy about leaving his offense on the field on fourth down.
DeLand football coach Rick Darlington has the Bulldogs off and running to a 4-0 start. (Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel)
“We don’t go for it every time, but more often than not,” he said. “But I’m not that coach that says, ‘We’re going for it on fourth down every time. We’re never gonna punt.’ No, I’m not that. The best way to win a game is not to lose it.”
DeLand hasn’t lost much since Darlington came aboard in 2023. The Bulldogs are 26-12 and reached the 4S semifinal when the Metro/Suburban split was in play. This year the experts are thinking DeLand has a shot to get to the title game with 7A looking to be wide open.
“Right now, 4-0 means nothing. We haven’t played a district game yet,” Darlington said. “So we’ll see. I’d rather get credit at the end than get any credit now. That’s that rat poison. We don’t want any rat poison.”
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
