ABERDEEN – Some call Brody Beck confident. Others may drift into the realm of precognition and declare him an oracle.

The Aberdeen quarterback waltzed into the Tigers' huddle early in the fourth quarter of what became a 38-15 Tigers’ victory over American Falls with a proclamation.

Aberdeen was already up three scores when defensive back Jordan Villegas picked off Beavers’ quarterback Paddy Harwood. Beck could have congratulated his squad on a sure-fire victory or told them to run out the clock. But he was greedy. He wanted another score.

“Boys, we’re going to score right here,” Beck bellowed in the huddle. “Right now.”

The junior dual-threat quarterback called Pink L 48 Mesh Sweep. Tailback Cale Adamson took the handoff and busted right, into the secondary with the entire town of Aberdeen in front of him. The only worry was the pair of American Falls’ defenders behind Adamson, darting at him with an angle that looked good enough to catch up.

Then, all the sudden, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound former wrestler was gone. One second, the Beavers’ defenders were close – and then they weren’t.

“He turned it on,” Beck said. “I knew he was going to score.”

This spring, Aberdeen coach Jeff Duffin had his weights coach time the 40-yard dash for all his players. Duffin did a double-take when the marks came back. Adamson ran a 4.51. The same Adamson who started out at Aberdeen as a left tackle, who moved to tight end, who hadn’t played tailback since sixth grade? Yeah, that Adamson.

“Huh,” Duffin thought, “my biggest lineman is my fastest guy.”

Fast forward to Friday night. Duffin stood on the north sideline and watched his biggest player activate his nitro boosters. A new thought popped in his head: “We’re going to utilize him as much as possible,” Duffin said with a grin.

“He was making a lot of those kids out there look like middle schoolers,” the ninth-year Aberdeen coach added of Adamson.

The thing is, Adamson has only been at tailback for 10 days. Duffin expected his big man to play tight end this season, to secure the edges in a run-heavy offense. But injuries in the backfield forced Duffin to give Adamson some reps carrying the ball. A week and a half later, there’s no way Duffin can move him.

Highlighted by the long touchdown run, Adamson finished his first high school game as a starting tailback with 11 runs that accounted for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He was only bested by his quarterback, Beck, who ran for a game-high 190 yards and three scores on 21 attempts.

“Beck is pretty impressive,” American Falls coach Cory Hollingsworth said. “He’s everything. He’s not just fast and quick, but he’s strong. When we did catch him, all of a sudden, we had trouble bringing him down.”

That’s the secret of defending Brody Beck: No one person can bring him down.

The 5-foot-10, 165-pound junior quarterback can have a linebacker latch their arms around his waist or have a lineman tug at his ankles or maybe even have a bulldozer side-swipe him. Whatever it is, Beck will do the same thing.

“Just watch his feet when he’s running. Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop,” Duffin said, shuffling his feet in short, compact steps. “His motor is just going and he doesn’t want to go down. I kept thinking he was done and, all of a sudden, he’d bust out and drag another couple of guys and run for another 10 yards.”

What’s so fun about watching Aberdeen’s offense is the clear misconception it gives off. With long legs and a lean frame, Beck looks like the track star while Adamson’s burly figure gives off the impression that he’ll be the guy tossing defenders to the side like they’re dust on his uniform. They get on the field and suddenly flip all the preconceived notions.

Through one game, stopping the combination of Beck and Adamson seems like a futile task – which is an incredible thought knowing that Beck only became the starting quarterback a month ago because another kid quit and Adamson hasn’t even been in the backfield for a full two weeks.

“That’s kind of the beauty of our system,” Duffin said. “We’ve run the same system now for eight years, so they’ve all run it since grade school.”

Systems can breed success, but systems are no good when a ball-carrier is one-on-one in the open field – and that’s where Beck and Adamson were at their best against American Falls. They peppered defense with clashing styles and drained all hope in the process.

To call them thunder and lightning seems too cliché, but perhaps if they keep up performances like Friday, it’ll only be a matter of time until Aberdeen fans and opposing coaches start referring to the lethal duo with some combination nickname.

Beck and Adamson, though, aren’t there yet.

“It has not crossed my mind,” Adamson said.