It looks like a pretty easy, simple offense to run.

You run a play, then hustle up to the line of scrimmage, get the call, snap the ball and run another play.

Then do it again. And again. Until, often times, your team winds up in the end zone.

Since the beginning of the 2018 season, when Derek Pearse took over as quarterback at Post Falls High, the results have been impressive for the Trojans.

Helped by loads of talent around him, Pearse and Post Falls made a surprise visit to the playoffs last season. This year, with most of that talent back, the Trojans are 6-2 and playing at Coeur d’Alene on Friday to decide the 5A Inland Empire League title.

All by playing fast.

“But we wouldn’t be able to if we didn’t have a quarterback like Derek,” said Blaine Bennett, in his fifth season as Post Falls head coach. “Because the signal happens fast, you have to move from one play to the next really fast, you have to be mature enough to let that play go — you can’t watch it, you’ve got to let that play go, get your eyes on me, get the call, and be ready to get your guys lined up and make the call. And then, once the call’s made, be able to give yourself a post-snap decision ... and obviously, any pre-snap decision that he needs to get people lined up or help out with.”

The 6-foot-3, 196-pound Pearse has broken several school records at Post Falls, including career marks for passing touchdowns (49; breaking Nate Buer’s record of 37 from 2016-17), passing yards (4,615; Nikk Reinhardt held the old mark of 3,111 from 2006-08) and total offense (4,883; Josh Mort totaled 4,480 from 1994-96).

“We run a very complex offense,” Pearse said. “I have a lot on my plate, and I know he (Bennett) trusts me a lot.”

Bennett played quarterback at Walla Walla High, and later played at Idaho before finishing at Whitworth. In addition to a couple of head coaching stints at colleges, he and his dad, “Shorty,” run the All Northwest Football Passing Academy, at which Pearse has been a regular attendee over the years.

Having played the position at a high level is obviously valuable in coaching the position.

“I think I can appreciate what he’s going through with his eyes, in the pocket ... the pocket presence, and some of the things a quarterback has to feel,” Bennett said. “He’s quite a bit better than I ever was.

“But it’s fun to coach quarterbacks — quarterbacks are a passion of mine. I had a chance to play for some good coaches, and learn the position, so I try to pass some of that wisdom on to whoever happens to be the quarterback.”

“It’s really cool,” Pearse said of being coached by a former college quarterback and college coach. “He knows what he’s talking about. I feel pretty lucky; he knows so much about the game. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Even if, by being a former quarterback, Bennett expects more out of his QBs.

“I’m traditionally pretty hard on quarterbacks, I would think,” Bennett said. “My expectations are high. But at the same time I give them a lot of freedom. I hope to always be able to put them in a position to be successful, because if you have a quarterback that’s successful, then certainly your offense is successful, and usually that means your team is going to be successful.”

In preseason camp in August 2018, there were three vying for the starting quarterback job at Post Falls — Jake Rutherford, then a senior; Alex Horning, then a sophomore; and Pearse, who had played quarterback all his life, from Junior Tackle on up.

Just before the season opener, Bennett tabbed Pearse as the starter. Rutherford and Horning both moved to wide receiver, so all got to play.

“We just thought at the time that would be best for the program, and it ended up being a good decision,” Bennett said of selecting Pearse as the starter. “He was the better of the three quarterbacks, and the other two were certainly the better outside receivers, so it worked out better for everybody.”

This season, Pearse is 191 of 308 through the air, for 2,501 yards and 30 touchdowns, with seven interceptions. He’s also rushed for 162 yards and three TDs on 24 carries.

As a junior, Pearse was 188 of 300 for 2,114 yards and 19 TDs, with 10 interceptions.

He broke his own single-season record for passing yards this year, and also has the record for single-season TD passes (Buer threw 26 in 2017).

Pearse’s six TD passes against Moses Lake is a school record, and his 431 passing yards vs. Lewis and Clark broke Darrick Pope’s record of 355 vs. West Valley in 1994.

“He was a young quarterback that wanted to be a quarterback, so he was doing all the right things as a seventh- and eighth-grader,” Bennett recalled. “He has all the characteristics you would like to have in a high school quarterback — he’s smart, football’s really important to him, so he’s got a real passion for the game, throws it well, and is really a leader by example.”

Pearse is the third of four children of Dan and Heidi Jo Pearse, and the only boy. Dan, who played football and basketball in high school, and played volleyball at Minnesota State, coached Derek in Junior Tackle and in arena football, and is currently an assistant coach at Post Falls High.

Derek boasts an impressive 4.27 GPA on a weighted scale which includes honors classes, and has never received any grade below an “A” in all his time in school.

“Ever since I was little I knew that academics were important, I knew in my future academics were going to come before sports,” Derek said. “I knew that sports were really fun, and really cool for me. But academics is what’s going to get me far in life.”

Derek said math and science are the subjects he’s most passionate about. After college, he said he’s interested in becoming a mechanical engineer, which includes designing buildings.

Pearse has an offer to play at Whitworth University in Spokane, as well as at a couple other NCAA Division III schools back East. A few other small area schools are also interested.

After a busy Friday night on the football field, it is not unusual to see Pearse up bright and early Saturday morning, refereeing Junior Tackle games. He also volunteers at Junior Tackle camps.

After all, Pearse was once that Junior Tackle quarterback, with dreams of some day becoming the varsity QB.

“That’s sometimes tough to get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes I’m a little sore,” he admits.

But ...

“It’s cool to go there and see some of those kids ... a lot of them know me, from camps,” Pearse said. “Kids that age, they need refs; they need me out there. I know some of them look up to me, as a high school quarterback.”

In past summers, it wasn’t unusual for Pearse to attend a 6 a.m. summer football workout — then catch both ends of a Legion baseball doubleheader.

He gave up Legion ball last summer to concentrate on football, but Pearse still plays catcher for the Post Falls High team — and plans to again this spring.

Post Falls made the state 5A playoffs last year with several junior starters, including Pearse, and even a handful of sophomore starters. The Trojans won a thriller at home in the first round — marking Post Falls’ first playoff win as a 5A school — before bowing out in the quarterfinals.

Just like last season, last week’s victory over Lewiston clinched a playoff berth for Post Falls. Last Friday, Pearse passed for 402 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winning 5-yard pass to Tommy Hauser with four seconds left. He also ran for 67 yards and another score.

“We knew even last year we could do it, so coming back with a bunch of returners, I think we can go even farther,” Pearse said.

Pearse said his arm strength and deep ball have greatly improved from working the Bennett.

“The thing that makes me the most proud is hearing what his teachers and teammates have to say about him,” Dan Pearse said. “Or going to watch him officiate a Junior Tackle game and watch all the youngsters from the Post Falls teams go up to him and talk to him like he is their friend — they all know him from the summer workouts.”

‘I just think he’s a quality kid,” Bennett said. “He makes excellent decisions off the field. He’s smart, he takes his academics seriously ... his parents have done a great job raising him.”