Lovell: Offensive linemen are football’s unsung heroes
If you were building a football team from scratch, where would you start? What position would you fill first?
Quarterback? Everyone seems to want a flashy signal caller these days.
Running back? The importance of a good workhorse back can't be understated.
Cornerback? Who wouldn't want a lock-down corner?
Alas, my answer is those three positions is the same – no thanks.
Give me offensive linemen – five of them, to be exact – every time.
This fall I've had the pleasure of covering the Southington football team week in and week out. I write a few articles each week and have touched on the team is this column once or twice.
In the past two months covering the Blue Knights, I have tried to highlight as many players as I could. But there is one unit that deserves plenty of recognition, and that's the Blue Knights' offensive line.
By default, being an offensive lineman brings with it ... well ... not a whole lot on the surface. The players are largely overlooked and the credit for offensive success always goes to quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.
But watch closely. You'll see the offensive line opening holes for the running backs and keeping their quarterback's jerseys clean.
It's what they take pride in. And Southington's line is no different.
Left tackle Dave Bielewicz, left guard Shane Duncan, center Ryan Pickney, right guard Greg Cop and right tackle Brandon Boudreau have formed not only one of the best offensive lines in the Herald's coverage area, but this reporter would argue in the state.
The numbers don't lie. Quarterback Connor Butkiewicz has been sacked less than five times this season, while Dylan Danko is picking up yards on the ground at a 5.7 yards-per-carry clip.
All five of them are seniors and all five of them have known each other since Midget Football, a bond that is essential for any successful offensive line.
"Five people in one, that's what we always say," Pickney said after practice Wednesday. "We don't even have to talk to each other to know what we're doing. I just look over at Shane or Cop and we already know what to do."
And what they've been doing this season is terrorizing a lot of opposing defensive lines. Danko has eclipsed 100 yards rushing in four of the Blue Knights' seven games this year, including a season-best 196 yards against Middletown two weeks ago.
Danko, also a senior, shares a close bond with his blockers even off the football field.
"It's us five and him," Bielewicz said. "He's like an offensive lineman."
The quintet joked that they "sometimes" hang out with Butkiewicz, but, just as the five of them take care of Connor on the field, it's only fair that he take care of them off it.
"We're still waiting on Connor's offer to come up on the table," Cop said with a laugh.
"We're still waiting for that meal he offered us," Duncan immediately added.
"He's got to save up some money," Pickney chimed in. "We're big dudes."
In talking with these guys Wednesday, I almost started to forget they were football players. It simply felt like I was talking to five brothers.
As they joked about weight lifting (Duncan can lift the most, if you wondering), girls and Madden football, it became clear how close-knit this group is. And there's little doubt that's why they have reached the success they have this season.
"Literally, we've all been friends since the sixth grade," Cop said. "I've known these guys most of my life basically. That helps, especially at our position. You need to have five guys who know what they're doing and know each other well."
At the high school level, it's somewhat of a cliche to say, but these guys are the proverbial "band of brothers."
Even outside of Southington games and practices, they make time for what they affectionately refer to as "Fatty Football."
"It's a 20 by 20 piece of grass," Duncan explains.
"We're too fat to play on a normal size field, so we shrunk it down," Cop said. "It's backyard football. Fat kids playing skill positions."
Fatty Football, which has resulted in the destruction of a back-yard fence and, presumably, the playing field, can be played in two-on-two or three-on-three style they said.
But these five guys aren't itching to play the so-called "skill" positions. They're happy paving the way for Danko and keeping Butkiewicz upright.
So too are their coaches. Bill Mella, Southington's head coach and a former offensive line man himself, has routinely praised the line's play this season.
"It's pretty intense," Pickney said of playing for Mella and offensive line coach Tony Mazzarella Jr. "[Mella] always reminds us that it's always us that never gets the credit, but we have the hardest job around."
While that may be the case usually, let this column serve as just a little recognition for a job well done by the guys up front.
It's well deserved.
