Teachers add to playbook

Edina's final touchdown last week came on a running play -- a sweep with a big block from a wide receiver.

But the play, which put the finishing touches on a 64-25 victory over Minneapolis Washburn, was not designed by head coach Kim Nelson or any of the other offensive gurus on his staff.

Instead, the credit goes to athletic department administrative assistant Terry Cords -- and, by extension, to Nelson for having the modesty and imagination to start the Play of the Week program at Edina.

Here's how it works: Nelson leaves a stack of blank play sheets in the teacher's lounge every Monday with simple instructions to design a play for the Hornets. Teachers gobble up the sheets and get to work. The coaching staff then reviews the plays and picks one each week to run in a game.

"I just wanted to give the faculty a chance to feel a little ownership in the football team," said Nelson, adding he got the idea several years ago at a coaching clinic but never tried it until this season.

Cords, who sees Nelson around the athletic office all the time, is "always telling him how I could be on the coaching staff and do better than them," she said, laughing. So when he came up with the idea, she decided to prove it.

With the help of her son and some football Internet sites, she crafted the play that resulted in an 8-yard touchdown. It was the first time the Hornets had used a Play of the Week; assistant principal Eric Nelson's play is slated to be used tonight against Armstrong, and the design is, according to Kim Nelson, "None of your business."

The details, though, are less important than the overall concept.

"It was so, so cool," Cords said. "The athletic office is next door to the weight room, and we know all the players. They were all stopping in Monday saying, 'Terry, your play worked! We scored!'"

The idea is to run the plays early in the second quarter, though Cords' play didn't make it in until the fourth.

"I was not a happy man in the first half," said Nelson, whose squad trailed 19-16 at the break. "Play of the Week was the furthest thing from my mind."

That's an example of the flexibility that allows something like this to work. Edina runs a spread offense, relying on team speed and the skill of quarterback Anders Lee to outscore opponents. That scheme requires some tweaking of the submitted plays.

Still, in the era of intense coaching scrutiny and pressure to win, some coaches probably couldn't imagine doing something like this even if they had ultimate authority over the play's use. Nelson happens to see things differently.

"A lot of coaches, and I'm one of them, have trouble giving up complete control of the playbook," Nelson said. "But as long as it's a play that makes sense and doesn't involve six handoffs, I don't feel bad about running it."

Nelson's ways might be unorthodox, but you also can call them something else: effective. The Hornets went undefeated in the regular season a year ago, winning the tough Classic Lake Conference title before falling to eventual state champion Eden Prairie in the section playoffs.

Edina is 2-1 this year and hoping for continued success thanks to a little boost from a large following.

"[Nelson] just has a knack for getting everyone excited," Cords said. "The faculty -- it's all they're talking about."

Indeed. He's created a monster.

"One guy gave us a wishbone play, which is about as far away from what we do as anything," Nelson said. "But it happens to be our principal, so I guess I'd better run it."