All on the line

Flyer offensive line leads the way in 41-13 win

·         By Jack Molitor

·         Originally published September 5, 2009 at 5:21 a.m.

What a difference a week made.

And what a change by the offensive line.

Jack Lau, Patrick Garza, Travis Cole, Luke Villafranca and Charlie VanSickle, the offensive linemen for St. Joseph, made a goal to be the bodyguards for the Flyer ball carriers for Friday's game against the Schulenburg Shorthorns after getting a wake-up call in Zero Week's 21-0 loss to Refugio.

The Flyers won the game 41-13, scored on each of their first four possessions, had ball carriers rip off runs of 20 yards or more five times and ran the ball for more than 200 yards in the first quarter alone.

Mission accomplished.

"We just went out and got our blocks. We wanted this kind of game," VanSickle said. "It feels great to put last week behind us."

The linemen said they had a chip on their shoulders after being pushed around last week by Refugio. The offense was unable to move consistently against the Bobcats and the Flyers produced negative yardage in the passing game.

Aside from the difference on the scoreboard, the tables were turned against the Shorthorns. The linemen were displacing the Shorthorn defense and opening huge gaps for quarterback Kevin Daniels and running backs Kamen Ruelas and Don Paul Dubose.

Each of them mentioned how much better it felt to be moving the other side off their blocks instead of the other way around.

"We were more consistent with our offense all around," Lau said. "They emphasized this week that we need to fight hard and stay low.

Head coach John Mares, who was looking for the team to be resilient after an encouraging week of practice, said he was impressed with the line.

"You can't say enough about how they did," Mares said. "They put what happened last week behind them, and took a big step this week."

Villafranca said the bodyguard mentality worked well to get the unit motivated for the game.

"We need to be the bodyguards out there, and that's what we did," Villafranca said. "We really appreciate this win and we're going to build on it."

For a unit that naturally feels unappreciated because they don't get the statistical glory, Cole said their performance against the Shorthorns made them proud and gave them fuel for future games.

"I think it helped us a lot," Cole said. "Now we can get on the winning track and keep working together as a unit"

The smiles and excitement were visible on the faces of linemen after the game. Because the game was out of contention by the end of the first half when the score was 35-7, most of them had been on the sidelines for a while. Garza couldn't hide his pride in their performance after the game.

"The line did a great job this week," Garza said. "We moved the ball, stayed on our blocks, kept low and had shoots all the way.

"When the backs get that many yards, usually it's on the line."

But the linemen weren't the only ones smiling. Daniels, who scampered through the blocks for runs of 52 and 53 on the first two offensive possessions, said the win was on the line.

"You have to give all the credit to them," he said. "They were giving us holes all night to run through.

"I think after last week, we all got a wake-up call in practice and all week we worked hard."

NOTES

St. Joseph improves to 1-1, Daniels ran for 114 yards on four carries, while Ruelas added 95 yards on 15 carries and Dubose had 69 yards on seven carries. Ruelas ran scores in from four and one yards out, while Daniels threw two touchdowns for 10 yards to Steven Martinez and four yards to John Villafranca and ran for a touchdown for 52 yards. Hayden Vesely had two interceptions to make four on the season, while Kion Wells and Ryan Williams each picked up their first. Schulenburg quarterback Kyle Bludau left the game in the second quarter and was driven off in an ambulance. David Houston played quarterback the rest of the way for the Shorthorns.