Tribe Trips Counter v 3-3

The Tribe Trips offense is built on layers: once we've established the sweep and dive plays against the 3-3, defenses inevitably start committing that extra defender—the fifth man in the box—to stop our base runs. Even the most disciplined teams we've faced begin overplaying the edge or flowing hard to the strong side, leaving voids elsewhere. That's when our counter game becomes lethal.

In six-man football, you can't stop consistent base runs without overcommitting numbers. When they do, the weakest link often shows up: the weakside cornerback (WCB). He's frequently out of position, slow to react, or abandons his pass coverage responsibility for run support. Our counters exploit that hesitation, faking one way and hitting back the other for explosive plays.

We have two primary counter concepts, both flowing naturally from our established sweep look.

Counter with FB as Decoy (Hammer Counter)

Our first counter uses the Hammer alignment we introduced earlier—lining the FB outside the OR to stretch the defense horizontally and force their SDE and CB wider. (Figure 12: Diagram showing FB in Hammer position outside Y, X and center pulling, Y blocking LB inside shoulder, QB blocking WCB outside shoulder, RB countering weak side.)

Figure 12

The FB becomes the decoy: he sells the sweep action hard, then blocks the DE (SDE) to seal the edge. The X pulls to block the WDE on his inside shoulder—coaching point: he must make the WDE spill out (force him outside, not penetrate across the face into the hole). The center pulls to block the DL, but here's a critical snap adjustment: the center must snap the ball straight back (not angled across the A gap) and prioritize a clean, accurate snap over speed. A bad snap kills the play before it starts, so we drill patience and fundamentals here.

Figure 13

The Y aims for the LB's inside shoulder to prevent him from scraping back to the counter hole—most LBs overcommit to our sweep fake, so this block seals him inside. But the most important block is the QB's: he must try to reach the outside shoulder of the WCB (see Figure 13). If the QB gets there, the WCB gets sealed wide, and our RB has a clear path to the sideline for big yards. If the QB misses or gets stuck inside, the unblocked strong-side CB (SCB) can crash and limit us to 4–8 yards. Still positive, but the home run comes from winning that QB-WCB matchup.

We used to teach a deeper cutback fake to mimic sweep, but it developed too slowly and gave defenses time to recover. Now we keep it simple: the RB takes one counter step toward the sweep side—enough to hold the LB—then plants and hits the weak-side hole. This play also works from our base formation: FB and Y block like a standard sweep, X and center pull the same way.

Counter with FB as Ball Carrier

Our second counter looks almost identical to sweep at the mesh point. (Figure 14: Base formation—X and center pulling to block WDE and DL, FB counters through the hole between their blocks, eyes upfield, can cut outside or north-south.)

Figure 14

Out of base alignment, it's a direct handoff to the FB countering weak side. The FB explodes through the hole created by the pulling linemen, then reads: cut outside if the edge softens, or go straight upfield if it collapses. We start drilling this in junior high: eyes upfield, never look at the handoff. In six-man, handoffs are rare—most plays involve pitch, pass, or direct run—so young FBs instinctively watch the exchange and lose vision. We rep "eyes up" constantly to train peripheral awareness.

Hard rule: Under no circumstances does the FB stretch outside the WDE. Take the hole, hit it hard, and make one cut.

Figuer 15

Variations add wrinkles:

• Hammer Shuttle Pass (Figure 12): FB lines up in Hammer position outside, we shuttle-pass him the ball (quick lateral toss). This takes extra practice for timing and ball security—remind officials pregame that a muffed exchange is an incomplete pass, not a fumble. We only use this against DLs backing up or sliding to the B gap ; an aggressive DL shooting forward can blow it up, so it's situational.

• FB Reverse Outside QB (Figure 15): FB takes the handoff on the QB's outside (reverse field action). In middle school, this is almost automatic for touchdowns—the WDE rushes upfield to contain the QB and never sees the FB circling back. The center can reach to block the WCB, creating huge lanes. Against disciplined varsity DEs who stay home, it rarely works, so we save it for undisciplined fronts where edges crash hard.

These counters punish over-pursuit. When defenses commit to stopping sweep and dive, they flow strong-side and leave the weak side vulnerable—especially that isolated WCB. Chain them off our base runs, and the 3-3 starts guessing wrong.

Next up: how we use targeted and customized passing to negate aggressive defenses.

Passing Attack -->