5 Best Single Wing Plays For Youth Football

Here are my 5 best Single Wing Plays for Youth Football and the best part is they are free youth football single wing plays for you to use and enjoy. In this post, we will be discussing the Unbalanced Single Wing formation ( UBSW ) and top single wing plays from that power running offensive formation.

Many of you know I am a huge single wing offense fan running my Power Wing Beast Offense based on the Yale Single Wing. The UBSW is a more traditional approach to the Single Wing formation popularized by Pop Warner in the early 1900’s. For UBSW purists, some of my UBSW plays below may not be exact to the UBSW Bible due to my multiple offensive playbook.

Unbalanced Single Wing Formation & Plays

#1 Unbalanced Single Wing Play – Sweep

The Unbalanced Single Wing TB Sweep is the #7 play on my Best Youth Football play list. This UBSW power sweep play is a thing of beauty when you see all the blockers lined up in a row ahead of the ball carrier. I had a really fast tailback about 10 years ago and this play worked great for us. We also had the blockers too. This is why the Power Sweep is one of my 5 best Single Wing plays.

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At the time, we were running a Double Wing variation, the Beast Single Wing and the Unbalanced Single Wing. Since we had a big QB that was like a fullback we switched the QB and FB in the traditional position alignments which gave us flexibility to run spin series and pass like our DW formation. The Sweep was a nice play for us since many opposing teams thought when we went to the UBSW we would run Wedges and more inside plays and give up the edges. So they tended to stack the middle and then we ran the Power Sweep.

Below is youth football game video of the 2008 Arvada Pirates 10u pee wee football team running the UBSW Power Sweep play for a touchdown. Sweep plays in this league were tougher since we played on a small narrower field at this age group. This was a nice score against the other top team in our league from Highlands Ranch.

Even though the power sweep play isn’t the top play for many UBSW teams, this was one of our best single wing plays we ran that season.

#2 Unbalanced Single Wing Play – The Wedge

I personally love the Wedge play in youth football. What’s funny about this play to me, is that I started playing football when I was 8 through High School and I never ran the Wedge as a player.

My youth football teams practice the Wedge from all of our offensive formations not just the UBSW. I am a strong believer in blocking. If your pee wee football team can block well, your team can run the Wedge. I judge my power blocking on the Wedge.

We have scored so many extra points, touchdowns and gotten first downs running the Wedge, that is why the Wedge is on my top 5 best single wing plays list.

The Wedge is always good for a short yardage play, but I love to run it on a first down. Sometimes my first play of the game or second half. Defenses hate the Wedge, especially youth football defenses hiding minimum play players in the A gaps. Perfect time to run the Wedge play.

#3 Unbalanced Single Wing Play – Quick Pop Pass

The quick pop pass to the backside tight end in the unbalanced single wing is usually a surprise play to the Defense. They are never expecting a pass play from the power running formation. We perfected this play in our 2008 season and the Defenses were almost always surprised by the pass from the Single Wing.

Sometimes, we would even out the offensive line or bring over the 4 back or 3 WB to sit low behind the TE. This helps with blocking the backside. But honestly, the pass should get off very quickly for little need of blocking.

This quick pass or the Wedge were our go to plays for extra points in 2008. For this reason, the Pop Pass is on my Top 5 Best Single Wing plays list.

#4 Unbalanced Single Wing Play – Inside Counter

I love misdirection plays in youth football. Misdirection is one of the Single Wings top formation qualities. The Inside Counter play is a formidable play from the double wing and single wing formations. We ran the play successfully from both formations.

Sometimes, we would even out our offensive line in the UBSW to help with the backside blocking on this play, so we did not need to pull as much. You can adjust the blocking as needed. But if you have set this play up with the Sweep, Stretch and Power Dives on the overloaded side and the Defenses shifts, the Counter play will work like butter most of the time. The Counter play is usually a big play.

Because the inside counter play can be a game changing play, this is why it is #4 on my best single wing plays list.

#5 Unbalanced Single Wing Play – Inside Power Lead

The Inside Power Lead play is one of the best plays from the Unbalanced Single Wing offense. I run similar plays from many formations with double leads isolating the one linebacker. I love to find the biggest or weakest bubble in the Defense. You are looking for a gap or gap and a half opening on the line of scrimmage and a lone linebacker that might be a tad timid. If you find it, then this power lead dive is the perfect play for a big gainer. Pound and Ground.

So this play could be a 22, 24, or 28, just depending on the weak bubble. If you have two big tackles, you should use them to run behind and pound the defense into submission. When they start putting more men in the middle, then hit them with the Sweep or Pop Passes.

Since I am a power running nut and clock control freak, I love the inside power lead plays. This is why the 26 Power Lead Dive makes my best single wing plays list.

Check out my Best / Top / Favorite Youth Football plays article series.

• Best Offensive Plays in Youth Football
• 5 Best Single Wing Plays For Youth Football
• Proven Top 5 I Formation Plays for Youth Football
• The Base 8 – Best Beast Plays
• Top 5 Double Wing Plays for Youth Football

Check out the the top youth football offensive formations here.

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So, were any of these best single wing plays your favorites too? Did I leave your favorite UBSW play out of this top 5 list? If so, leave me a comment below. Or Contact me anytime to chat coaching youth football.

Remember to Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!
Coach Parker
Fort Worth, Texas / DFW