During the nine-game 2008 season, the Tonganoxie High football team completed a total of 17 passes — less than two a game.

As usual, the Chieftains offense consisted of running the ball, running the ball and running the ball some more. Once in a while (roughly every sixth play from scrimmage), Tonganoxie attempted a pass, amassing 61 throws compared to 395 runs on the way to a 5-4 record.

In the past eight seasons, a span of 79 games, THS has completed 233 passes — 2.9 per game.

That trend might (emphasis on the might) change in 2009.

As the Chieftains took reps at camp and workouts this summer, players at skill positions couldn’t help but notice they were throwing the ball a lot more than they used to.

“We’re going to have a lot better passing game — I can already tell,” junior receiver Dylan Scates predicted.

But why change? With year after year of ground-oriented offense in the past eight seasons, during which THS was 50-29 and won three conference titles and two district crowns, why start passing now?

“Last year we kind of got shut down in the big games because they knew what we were going to do,” Scates said of Tonganoxie’s running attack.

Accordingly, THS coach Mark Elston inserted a lot more play-action in the offense, and was happy to see the players pick it up quite well.

But getting run-stuffed at times last season (the Chieftains gained 1,862 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground) wasn’t the only reason Elston might be looking to the air more for production.

When the 10th-year THS coach looks at his roster, he sees more breakaway speed at skill positions than he has ever seen before. Austen Holloway, DJ Lindsay, Jeremy Carlisle, Shawn Marin, Dylan Scates and Jeremie Maus, to name a few, can change the game in an instant. In the past, Elston said there never were more than three “gamebreakers,” able of scoring any time, on one team.

“This year we’ve got six or seven, eight guys that need to touch the ball every game,” Elston said. “We’ve not had that before.”

What’s more, the coaching staff feels comfortable throwing to all those guys.

“Me being the quarterback right now, I’m happy to hear that,” said Carlisle, a junior QB who envisions a more dynamic THS passing attack once the season starts in September.

Carlisle said more passes mean more fun and senior receiver Justin Jacobs couldn’t agree more. An increase in passing plays would make Jacobs happy because, he admitted, playing receiver on a running team can be difficult.

“You kind of feel like you have less of a role because every play you’re just running and cutting off the corner,” he said, “but now I’m going to be running (routes) and blocking.”

With play-action, Jacobs added, defenses won’t be able to load the box and stymie Tonganoxie’s runners before they get a chance to start.

“We’ll be more dimensional because we’ll be passing a lot more,” Jacobs said.

With speed and versatility in the backfield and at receiver, completing more than two passes a game shouldn’t be difficult.