Editor’s Note: Offensive line is one of the most unheralded and underappreciated position groups in all of sports. There are no numbers to quantify the performance of the group and the only time the boys up front are recognized is when they’re penalized or make a mistake. Moving forward, Lootpress will identify one offensive line group every week based on their performance and recognize them as our “Offensive Line of the Week.”
With the personnel that made last season’s spread offense potent now playing on Saturdays, there’s been a schematic shift back to the run game for Beckley.
It’s paid dividends.
Through five games the Flying Eagles are 4-1 – their best start since to a season since 2012 – largely because of their offensive line play.
Through five games the hog mollies have paved the way for 1,719 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground with Friday’s performance against Lincoln County no exception.
Against the Panthers, the Flying Eagles racked up over 340 yards on the ground in a 48-8 win.
For their efforts the Beckley offensive line has been named the Lootpress Offensive Line of the Week by the Lootpress sportswriters.
Experienced, four of the starters on the line are seniors which has played a part in the Flying Eagles’ success. As the Flying Eagles have shifted their offensive philosophies, the line has embraced the challenge of improving in the run game.
“They were a young bunch last year and people talked about our run game and how it wasn’t very effective at the beginning of the season,” Sarrett said. “We knew they were young guys and inexperienced and as we went on we adapted some of our wing-T stuff and those guys took it personally and they took pride in it in the offseason and what they were going to do to improve. Those guys worked hard and they’re inseparable – they’ve been together all the way through youth league and middle school and they just bonded together.”
The change to a more ground and pound attack has aided the line in giving them an advantage. The spread required different responsibilities while the current schemes cater more effectively to their attributes and physical traits
“When you’re a spread team you have to try and run some zone concepts,” Beckley head coach Street Sarrett said. “You’ve got to have some bigger guys and all of our guys, they’re not 6-foot-6, 290 pounds across the front. They’re just a bunch of average high school kids that are tough and strong. I think the wing-T with our gap scheme stuff, they’ve adapted to it well and they like it and it fits them to a tee.”
Will Elkins (left tackle), Tyree Fowlkes (left guard), Bryant Hill (center), Christian Burks (right guard) and Drake Bowling (right tackle) man the trenches but are joined by Caiden Wallace and Alex Blankenship who man the ends in the double tight set. In unison they’ve paved the way for a trio of backs that have rushed for over 200 yards each with Matt Moore and Darmonte Mitchell over 400 each.
“We’ve been blessed with a lot of great backs and those guys buy in and get behind that line and understand the blocking schemes,” Sarrett said. “Some weeks one will be hot and the next its another. Our guys follow the base rules and we feed who’s hot.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
