Midland’s new passing attack brings instant success

WYOMING - Before the football season, Midland Coach Casey Hack had a specific percentage in mind for how he wanted to divvy up the offense.

His initial plan called for 60-percent pass, 40-percent run - a significant change in direction from the run-heavy 2014 season.

But thanks to a breakout season from junior quarterback Alex Martens, Hack's offensive forecast turned out to be significantly conservative.

'I knew it was going to be hard for me to do,” Hack said. 'Because when you have a dynamic passing game, it's hard to stay (with) the run because you leave so many big play potentials out there.”

Big plays aplenty have come from the arm of the 6-foot-4, 170-pound Martens, who is just two yards shy of leading all state classes in passing yards (2,373), and is tied for third with 28 touchdown passes. Martens and Midland (6-3) open the 8-player playoffs at Turkey Valley (7-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

'I think our offense is firing on all gears right now,” Martens said. 'We've put a lot of new things in that can work, and our defense has stepped up in the last couple of games.”

This is Midland's first playoff appearance since 2011. This will be a rematch of an Oct. 9 district game in which Martens threw for 313 yards and four scores in a 54-48 home defeat to Turkey Valley.

Martens has experienced a striking surge in production from his sophomore year to now. Last season, Midland missed the playoffs with a 3-6 record and averaged just 26.2 points per game. Behind Martens and standout junior receivers Connor Harms (71 catches, 1,046 yards and 12 TDs) and Dawson Paulsen (781 yards, 11 TDs), the Eagles have doubled last season's offensive output with over 50 points a contest. Harms ranks second in the state in receptions and is fifth in receiving yards.

'If I get Dawson the ball in open space, he can make a guy miss and run for 20 yards,” Martens said. 'Connor gives it his best effort to go get it if I underthrow or overthrow it.”

Martens' offseason improvement included participation in quarterback camps, where he worked diligently on footwork and throwing mechanics. He has even started using his legs as a weapon. Through six games, Martens ran for just 21 yards. In the last three games, he has amassed 76 on the ground.

'He's starting to have a little bit of a run threat to him and that makes it a lot more difficult to contain,” Hack said.

Martens operates primarily out of the shotgun formation, which when combined with his height gives him the ability to survey the field for quick strikes to his receivers. The offensive objective is to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible, and with continued success comes the ability to add more options to the playbook.

'It gives us different kinds of threats,” Martens said. 'Instead of just having a shallow threat and a deep threat, it gives us a middle threat. If it's out of the backfield, a backside threat.”

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com