Football coaches are always looking for ways to give their team an edge.

When a game is close, a slight edge can often times be the difference between victory and defeat.A look back at the first six weeks of the season shows just how fine the line can be between a win and a loss.So far this season, there have been 47 games played involving area teams, and 13 of them (28 percent) have been one-possession games.A touchdown here or a goal-line stand there could be the difference between a playoff berth or an early end to the season.The advantage a coach or team gains can come in a number of different ways, but one of the best is to tweak what you normally do on offense.Different formations, new personnel groupings, and trick plays are all ways to do something the opposition isn't expecting.Only three area teams picked up victories last week and all three benefited from doing exactly that.Northwestern had just 74 yards in total offense against previously unbeaten Saucon Valley, but it was enough to pull the upset and, in all probability, keep its District 11 playoff hopes alive.The Tigers' 15-6 victory came in large part thanks to their special teams and defense, as they returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and shut down the high-powered Panther offense for nearly the entire game.But Northwestern's offense did contribute one touchdown, and it came out of its "wildcat" formation where Phil Dangello replaces starting quarterback Deven Bollinger behind center and takes the direct shotgun snap. Dangello scored a TD running from that Tigers' formation."It started in the offseason, when Deven [Bollinger] and Phil [Dangello] were competing for the quarterback job," explained Northwestern coach Josh Snyder about his team's use of the wildcat formation. "We saw that Phil was athletic and we thought we could use that in some situations, and it's worked well."We've started to add some new wrinkles to it, and we're kind of letting it evolve as the season goes on. Last week, it was good for us because with the wet conditions, snapping the ball right to Phil and just having him go straight ahead was a good option for us."Snyder said that the Tigers might not be finished tinkering with Dangello's role or the way they use the wildcat formation."We may start using Phil as part of our regular backfield sets, because he's really growing in the role," he said. "We're also looking to expand some of the plays with the wildcat to see how we can take advantage of what Phil can do with the ball."We're always looking for ways to get more players involved in the offense and looking for plays that give us an advantage, so I think it will evolve for us. It's a matter of having the right players to use in a certain situation, and Phil has handled it really well."Speaking of getting more players involved in the offense and having the right players to use in a certain situation, Marian coach Stan Dakosty made a "big" change in his offensive backfield before Friday night's 48-18 victory over Panther Valley.The Colts moved 6-0, 250-pound lineman Kyle Plesh into the fullback position against the Panthers. The move paid immediate dividends as Marian, which had averaged just 67 yards a game on the ground coming into the contest, rolled up 262 yards and five rushing touchdowns on Friday night.Dakosty said the move wasn't a one-game adjustment, it was a permanent change."We were looking for a way to tweak some things offensively because we felt that we let opportunities slip away in some of our close losses this year," said Dakosty. "Kyle had been playing guard for us and doing a great job there, but he is an outstanding athlete and a great blocker, and we felt that moving him to fullback might give our rushing game a bit of a jump-start."I think it worked out even better than we could have imagined. It really sparked us offensively against Panther Valley."Not only did Plesh play a role in the Colts' Seth Paluck piling up 182 yards and three touchdowns, but he got to experience a lineman's - or in this case, a former lineman's dream - by scoring on a pair of one-yard touchdown runs."Kyle is a leader on our team and someone all the kids look up to," said Dakosty. "When he scored his first touchdown our sideline went crazy."So not only did the switch help us run the ball better, but it created a lot of energy and excitement among the players."Energy and excitement is something that Pleasant Valley coach Mark Versuk feels is a positive byproduct of his team's use of trick plays.The Bears pulled off a hook-and-lateral play for a touchdown on their first offensive snap of the game against East Stroudsburg South. A pass from quarterback Brandon Keyes to Justin Richardson was good for six yards. Richardson then flipped the ball to Mike Mitchell, who raced 73 yards into the end zone. It set the tone early in a 52-38 victory."We have a core of about five or six trick plays," said Versuk. "We practice them once a week on a Thursday. We can run all the plays out of a variety of formations, and we will tweak them from week-to-week based on what we think will work against that particular opponent."During our team meeting before heading out on the field last Friday, I diagramed on the board how we were going to run the hook-and-lateral against South. I told our kids that Mike (Mitchell) was going to get the pitch, run it in for a touchdown and then hand the ball to the ref. We were then going to make a two-point conversion and we would be ahead 8-0 after running just one play."It's was funny because everything worked out exactly as I predicted it would, so the entire sideline was pretty excited and pumped up."Versuk said the Bears have used four different trick plays so far this season, with two of them going for touchdowns and the other two picking up first downs."We have double passes, reverses, a Statue of Liberty play, and some other things that we haven't shown yet," said Versuk. "The hope when we run these plays is to catch the defense off guard and get a big play out of it."But I think another advantage is that the kids love to run them. It keeps them excited and interested - especially when they work like the hook-and-lateral play worked on Friday."************300 RUSHING YARDS ... Mitchell had a night to remember last Friday, rushing for 301 yards on 23 carries against East Stroudsburg South.Since 1988 (when the Times News began running individual statistics), Mitchell became just the seventh area player to collect 300-or-more rushing yards in a game. The others include Lehighton's Robbie Frey (who did it twice) in 2005, Joe Semanoff in 2000, and Vinnie Andrews in 2002, Tamaqua's Tyler Hope in 2013 and Jim Hope in 1989, and Northern Lehigh's Nate Farber in 2014.************OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION ... Led by Mitchell's big rushing game (see above), Pleasant Valley finished its win against East Stroudsburg South with 356 yards rushing and 261 yards passing.Over the past 30 seasons, the 617 yards of offense put up by the Bears is the most ever by a Times News area team. The most before that was 587 by Lehighton on Sept. 15, 2000 against Whitehall. PV's previous high over the last 30 years was 560 against Lehighton on Sept. 21, 2012.************PALUCK A WORKHORSE ... Marian's Seth Paluck carried 31 times for 182 yards in the Colts' big win over Panther Valley last Friday.Over the last 25 years, Paluck is just the third Marian player to record at least 30 carries in a game. He joins Matt Rizzo (who did it three times during the 2007 season) and Paul Martin (2011).************NO OFFENSE NEEDED ... Northwestern pulled off an upset last Friday when it knocked off previously unbeaten Saucon Valley.While the Tigers won the game, it wasn't because of a potent offense. Josh Snyder's team compiled just 74 total yards of offense in the victory, benefiting from a kickoff return, key turnover and a tough defense.Over the past 30 seasons, the 74 yards are the fewest in a Northwestern victory. The previous low in a Tiger win was 105 yards they totaled in a 12-2 decision over Hamburg on Sept. 3, 1988.************QUITE A CATCH ... Panther Valley's Danny Gilberry had a solid game Friday night.The Panther receiver caught six passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns.The last time a PV player had over 100 yards receiving was Nov. 4, 2011 (36 games ago) when Nick McArdle had nine catches for 135 yards.