Washington team runs perfectly executed hook-and-ladder … to its center
OK, now Prep Rally has seen it all.
In the midst of a tight game in Washington state, one team ran a perfectly executed hook-and-ladder trick play. That may not seem out of the ordinary, but the player who ran the ball in was; it wasn't a quicksilver wide receiver or an agile running back. It was a big, beefy center.
As reported by the Seattle Times, during Mercer Island (Wash.) High's 29-15 victory against Interlake (Wash.) High, Mercer ran a picture perfect hook-and-ladder play with a rather unlikely ball carrier as the recipient of the final pitch. After Mercer Island receiver Matt Orehek caught the original pass, he sent over a pitch to center Alex Emanuels, who took the ball and carried it down the sideline for a big gain that helped lead to a Mercer Island score.
If Emanuels looks big in the video above, that's because he is. The Cornell-committed center stands 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds, yet he also has the agility to break tackles. That was part of the thought behind getting him the ball in victory.
Was Emanuels' one-off reception more successful than a similar play being run with the help of a second wide receiver or a running back? That's hard to tell. It was certainly more surprising … and entertaining, so long as you weren't the Interlake defender trying to wrap up the 6-foot-3 inch ball carrier.
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