Note: To watch the game between Vista Ridge and Pueblo West live Friday night, come back to gazettedev.gazette.com.

Even though the program has been in existence since only 2008, Breon Michel can still remember the old days of Vista Ridge football.

Just give it to the running back and let the line wear the defense down. Then repeat.

“I wasn’t excited about being a wide receiver in the Power-I,” Michel said. “I’d be blocking a lot, and that’s it.”

But when Michel and his senior teammates were in eighth grade, then-Wolves coach Les Johnson hired Army veteran and former Falcon assistant Jerimi Calip to run his offense and requested an overhaul to better fit the roster.

Welcome to the new age of Wolves football. Just air it out, baby.

“It’s just now coming full circle, and you can see the work they’ve put in,” said Calip, in his second season at the Vista Ridge helm. “There have always been athletes here, but you can’t just jump into a spread. It’s been a process. You’re giving a 16-year-old kid the keys to the car.”

Three-year starting quarterback Elway Tubbs has driven this car since 2013 and has guided an offense that has averaged more than 30 points and reached the playoffs twice. Friday in its home opener, Vista Ridge (1-0) hosts Pueblo West (1-0) in hopes of further fine-tuning its complex multiple-look offense.

“I can already see a big difference from last season to now,” said Tubbs, who completed 21 of 29 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in Week 1. “We made a lot of mistakes last year. Our offense is clicking more. We’ve all been playing since the third grade. There’s chemistry between me and my receivers, just knowing what they like to do and where they’re going to be on the field.”

Michel caught nine of those passes for 98 yards last week and also returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the Wolves’ 48-21 win at Northglenn.

Despite the wide-open look that can feature four receivers, Vista Ridge doesn’t overlook the fundamentals. The Wolves know that to be successful in the air, it first must get Louie Quinones and the ground game up and running.

“There’s a big misconception about those who see us in the spread,” Calip said. “They think you just throw the ball all over the field. It’s the total opposite. We go into every game knowing that we have to establish the ground game. But if a defense backs off and lets us throw the ball, we’ll do that. We practice throwing the ball 50 times a game.”

That would suit Michel just fine, though he understands the team needs to hand off the ball. But it would make things more exciting than just locking up the opposition’s defensive back on repetitive running plays.

Now, any one of a handful of players can gash their opponent for a big play.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t want to game plan a defense on our offense,” Michel said. “We have a lot of weapons. Our running game is really important, and once we establish that, the defense can’t anticipate the run and that opens up the field. I wouldn’t know how to game plan our offense.”

All Michel and the rest of the team want is a deeper playoff run than the past two years.

Three seasons ago, Calip watched the Wolves win nine of 10 games in the regular season with the spread still in its infancy. A team led by a talented and senior-laden class then nearly knocked off eventual 4A state-champion Monarch in the second round but fell five yards short as time ticked out in a heartbreaking 28-21 home loss.

The team has been rebuilt and restocked. Only time will tell how far the car will go.

“This is the first group in which I implemented this offense,” Calip said. “This team has drawn comparisons to that 2012 team. Now, this is the part where they get to prove themselves and enjoy it.”