What you are actually looking for
You are not trying to know everything about the other team. You are trying to answer about eight questions well enough to practice against them: what fronts and coverages will we see on each down, what are their six best plays, what do they do when they are behind, who is the player we have to account for, and what do they do on special teams that could lose us a game. Everything you chart should serve one of those.
Getting the film
Most leagues exchange film through Hudl or a similar service, and the rule of thumb is to ask for their two most recent games plus the one against a team that looks like you on offense -- what they did against a spread team tells you little if you run the wing-T. If there is no exchange, a parent in the stands with a phone at midfield is worse film than you want and far better than none. Failing all of that, the previous year's film still shows the coaching staff's habits, which change more slowly than the roster.
Charting film
Two games is enough to see tendencies; three is better if one of them is against a team that plays like you. For every snap, write down:
- Down and distance, and where the ball was (own side, midfield, red zone).
- Hash: left, middle, right.
- Their formation and personnel (how many backs and tight ends).
- The play, in your words -- 'inside zone left', 'four verts', 'toss right'. Their terminology does not matter.
- The result, roughly: gain, loss, incomplete, turnover.
- On defense: the front (4-3, 3-4, Bear, nickel), the coverage shell (one high or two), and whether anybody blitzed.
A spreadsheet with those columns is the whole tool. One coach can chart a game in about ninety minutes the first time and under an hour once the abbreviations settle. Split the games across the staff and it is a Saturday morning.
Counting tendencies
Once the chart exists, the report writes itself as a set of counts. The ones that change how you practice:
- Run/pass by down and distance. 'First down: 70% run, and 80% of those are inside zone' is a sentence your defensive line can use.
- Their top plays overall, and their top play from each formation. Most high school offenses run six plays for two-thirds of their snaps.
- What they do by hash -- many teams run to the field side almost exclusively.
- Their defense by your situation: what front and coverage they showed on third and long, in the red zone, against trips. This is the list of fronts you will draw your game plan against.
- Blitz tendencies: which down, which side, which player. A linebacker who blitzes on every third and long is a screen waiting to happen.
- Special teams: their punt formation and who the gunners are, whether the kicker can reach the end zone, how they field kicks.
The one-page report
Whatever the chart says, the staff will read one page and the players will read half of one. Put the fronts and coverages at the top with a diagram of each, their top six plays with a diagram, the four or five tendencies that matter, and the two players to account for. The full chart lives behind it for whoever wants it; nobody needs it in the meeting.
From report to game plan
The report tells you which fronts you will face. The game plan is your plays drawn against those fronts -- not a fresh play per front, but your 31 Blast with the blocking rules shown against their 4-3 and again against the Bear they run on short yardage. Those drawings are what practice runs against Tuesday, what the scout team lines up in, and what the call sheet is built from Thursday. If the drawing tool keeps the fronts inside one play, this is an hour; if every front is a copy, it is an evening and you will skip it by week six.
Scout yourself too
Run the same counts on your own call sheets from the last three weeks. If you have thrown on 90% of second-and-long, the team across from you knows it. The fix is usually one or two calls moved between boxes, and it is the cheapest edge in the building.