“They do their job. They’re the meat and potatoes. Games are won in the trenches, right? You can have all the talent in the world, but you’ve still got to be able to block people."”

Tompkins coach Todd McVey

One of Tompkins’ core values this season is F.A.M.I.L.Y.

Forget about me, I love you.

It’s the foundation of a 10-1 season and second consecutive trip to the Class 6A area playoffs. And it starts with the offensive line.

“We love each other,” senior right tackle and two-year team captain Hayden Burke said. “We do this for the people behind us, not the people in front of us, so we’re just so close, and honestly that’s the biggest thing.”

With one more win, the Falcons can establish a program-best mark for wins in a season. If they are to beat Cypress Falls in the area round for the second straight year on Friday at Legacy Stadium, the offensive line will have a big say.

The Falcons’ starting O-line of seniors Burke (6-foot-3, 280 pounds), David Peterson (6-2, 230), Santiago Bohlmann (6-foot, 260) and Jarrett Resewehr (6-1, 241), and junior Tegan Coble (6-1, 230), has been dominant. They have 163 pancakes this season, an average of 14.8 per game. They have only allowed three sacks on 157 pass attempts by junior quarterback and Texas verbal commit Jalen Milroe.

They have made life easy by clearing runways for talented running backs R.J. Smith (1,050 yards, 20 touchdowns) and Marquis Shoulders (975 yards, 12 touchdowns). Combined, Smith and Shoulders average 8.1 yards per carry, in large part because the offensive line makes getting to the second level of the defense a smooth run.

“It comes down to play after play at practice,” coach Todd McVey said. “We have a senior-led group that takes great pride in protecting Jalen and blocking well for the running backs. It’s important to them. They not only want to get their pancakes, but they don’t want to give up sacks and stuff like that. It’s about pride within the unit.”

The Falcons’ offensive line is built upon strong relationships.

Burke and Peterson have played together since the seventh grade. Burke, Peterson, Resewehr and Bohlmann all played on the same team as freshmen.

“We’ve always had that family aspect, and especially this year, being our senior year, we’ve got to make it count,” Burke said. “I want to make it last. I’ve really tried hard to make sure this group together is tight-knit, because the better chemistry we have, then the better we’ll play.”

It starts with Burke, who recently verbally committed to continue his football career at Abilene Christian. In January, Burke initiated position group meals and workouts. Burke and Peterson would spend six days a week in the weight room.

“He’s a great leader. He keeps us structured,” Peterson said of his childhood friend. “As a captain, he brings energy, and even on days we don’t feel up to it, he’s always there to push us and make us better.”

Burke and Co. saw what the team accomplished last season—a breakout 10-3 campaign that finished in the third round of the postseason, led by the leadership and experience of senior offensive linemen Justice Cardenas and Rex Martin, among others.

“They took everything one step at a time and lived by the ‘1-0 every week’ thing. They gave perfect effort,” Resewehr said. “’Six seconds of effort’ (keeping the pocket clean for six seconds after the snap) is what we preached last year, and we’ve kept that this year. We’ve done pretty well so far. We help each other, we learn from each other, we work with each other.”

When he and Peterson made the varsity team as sophomores, Burke watched and studied senior tackle Brendan Robisch and his relationship with offensive line coach Eric Mikolajchak.

Mikolajchak has always emphasized family, togetherness. Burke took the responsibility of carrying that on personally, particularly after he felt the torch of leader of the offensive line was passed upon to him once Robisch graduated.

“We’ve all been best friends,” Burke said. “Chemistry, by far, is key for us. It’s huge. We’ve always been a close offensive line. This team goes as far as we go.”

That chemistry is tangible on the field. Bohlmann said the line does a better job this season “finishing every single play.” He also said the line commits itself during practice, mastering protections, and pre-snap and post-snap communication.

“We just want to make sure we get the most out of this,” Bohlmann said. “We want to make sure every single person does their most during practices and in the games. If we can do that, we can live with the results.”

By the looks of it, the results will be pretty sweet if things continue as they have.

“They do their job,” McVey said. “They’re the meat and potatoes. Games are won in the trenches, right? You can have all the talent in the world, but you’ve still got to be able to block people.

“They’re special, because they’re going to catch all the wrath and none of the fun sometimes. We’re blessed here with the guys we’ve had play O-line in that they embrace that. They don’t get the glory, except from all of us coaches and their teammates. We love those guys.”