MASSILON, Ohio — As technology evolves, so does the way football teams use it, and at Washington High School in Massillon technology is being used to quickly change tactics during games.

Massillon Director of Football Operations Randy Berkley has four cameras he uses to get film on practice and games.

“Two in the press box, one in the end zone and a spare,” Berkley said. 

And the footage takes seconds to upload to tablets during a game, letting coaches make quick adjustments. 

“We might have a scouting where this guy is more over the center,” Berkley said. “Well, during the game, OK, he’s more shaded on the guard, so they’ll adjust their blocking assignments.”

He said this kind of equipment isn’t in the budget. Berkley said the school got the funding for this from an anonymous donor.

“The tower and the camera and stuff unit is $6,000 by itself,” Berkley said. 

Massillon also can assign film to players to watch on their phones at home. Offensive line coach Jon Mazur said they can even add notes on what the player can improve on the play.

“It’s so valuable because you can’t watch the film every single day with the kids, you know, especially in season,” Mazur said. “They work from home.”

Berkley sets most of the gear up by himself. Headsets are also a must with the cameras. Staff cram themselves into a room at the top of the stadium and analyze what they see on the field. They have a better vantage point of the action than the coaches at field level.

“Offensive coach will look at it between series,” Berkley said. “And they’ll take all that down at halftime and take the iPads in the locker room and go over stuff. ‘OK, this worked, this didn’t work.’”

Instead of just preparing at the half, they can adjust based on what they capture on camera between quarters.

“For the quarterback, OK, we call this pass play,” Berkley said. “This corner did this, so next time we run it, look for him to do that and make your adjustment where you’re throwing the ball.”