Good coaches check out their talent and then adapt their system.

Don't have any big men on the basketball team? Go with a four-guard offense, run at every opportunity and take a lot of 3-point shots.

Don't have any power hitters on the baseball team? Play small ball, bunt runners up whenever possible and use what speed there is available to the team's advantage.

Don't have many skilled players on the soccer team? Take the skilled players who are available and put them on defense and try to win every match, 1-0.

Tim Keefer is a good football and basketball coach. He took a look at the players on his Oliver High squad and quickly realized he did not have a lot of linemen. What he did have is guys with quickness and speed.

"We went to the Pitt camp and the W&J [Washington & Jefferson] camp and we looked at some different things we could do," Keefer said. "We decided to play that '33 stack defense' that West Virginia uses and it's worked well so far."

For those not up on the 33 stack -- we didn't know what the heck it was either -- it's a defensive alignment that uses three down linemen, five linebackers and three defensive backs. It relies on quickness and deception because the other team is never sure which of the five linebackers might rush the quarterback.

Using the 33 stack, the Bears have put together a 4-1 record. They are tied for first place in the City League standings after knocking off rival Perry Traditional Academy, 12-6, this past Friday.

"A lot of times it looks as if we are out of position on defense, but we've got every gap covered," Keefer said. "This is the first year we've used it and, really, we are still figuring things out."

Coming up with big plays on offense and defense is something else Oliver is doing this season.

The Bears have scored 10 touchdowns on plays of 20 or more yards. Against Perry, Ed Mathis scored on a 60-yard fumble return. In a 46-12 win against Langley Dante Jeter scored on a 90-yard kickoff return and Tyrail Morgan ran 45 yards with an interception return. Against Westinghouse, David Marshall had a 60-yard run and Tyrek Morgan hauled in an 80-yard pass from Jeter.

The only game Oliver didn't come up with a big play was in a 6-0 loss to Schenley.

"It's been crazy. We've had a lot of different guys score touchdowns," Keefer said. "And we've scored on returns, interceptions, halfback passes, just about every way you can think of.

"We've had just about every bounce go our way this season. That wasn't the case last year, but this year we seem to be getting all the breaks. It happens that way sometimes."

The Bears have City League games remaining against Carrick (2-2), Brashear (4-1) and Peabody (3-1). What's interesting is that none of them are under the lights.

The Carrick contest is at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 16, the Brashear game is noon Oct. 24 and the Peabody game is at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 30.

Oliver was scheduled to play at Wheeling (W.Va.) Central Catholic tomorrow night. But when Keefer called the coach there this past weekend to set up an exchange of film he learned that Wheeling Central had scheduled a game against Stuebenville Central for this weekend.

"It was just a scheduling mixup. I don't know that it was anybody's fault," Oliver athletic director Ron Layton said. "We thought we were going there until Tim called their coach.

"We got up and looked on the internet but the only openings out there were for junior varsity games. So, we're off this weekend."

There are four teams in the WPIAL averaging 40 or more points a game. Leading the way is Gateway at 43.4 ppg. The Gators are followed by Clairton (42.8), Jeannette (42.2) and Thomas Jefferson (40.4).

Twenty teams in the WPIAL are still looking for their first victories heading into week six. That includes Butler, Highlands, Knoch, Summit Academy, Northgate and Quaker Valley. The Class AAA Greater Allegehny Conference has three winless squads with Indiana joining Highlands and Knoch.

No WPIAL team has numbers uglier than West Shamokin's. It has been outscored 3-250 and shut out by scores of 63-0 (Burrell), 48-0 (Ford City), 43-0 (Valley) and 40-0 (Deer Lakes).

Deer Lakes, by the way, comes the closest to perfect balance. The Lancers (2-3) are averaging 20 points on offense and giving up an average of 20.8 points on defense.

There were 55 games last Friday involving WPIAL teams and 15 of them ended in shut outs. That's a pretty high percentage (27.3 percent) considering that on an average Friday evening there are 10 shutouts.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.