DOVER-FOXCROFT — A solid offensive line helped lead Thornton Academy to the Class A state football championship last fall, and the similarly tough front was the foundation for a Sanford team that made the playoffs.
If the West team is to win the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl on Saturday, for the first time since 2012, it will also need to be stout up front on offense.
That’s where four local players step in, along with five more linemen on the West roster. Thornton Academy’s D’Andre Morgan and Ben Zuke, Sanford’s Dakota Chapman and Kennebunk’s Jake Boothby are all part of an offensive line that will be blocking for a potentially dynamic West offense.
Part of that potential starts up front.
“It all starts there and it ends there,” Chapman said of the offensive line’s part in the success of the offense.
The West scored just 13 points each in losses the past two years at the Lobster Bowl. Those are totals that Thornton Academy, Sanford and Kennebunk sometimes reached by the end of the first quarter in games over the past two seasons ”“ and line play was a big part of that.
The line was the heartbeat of Chapman’s Sanford team last fall, as line coach Keith Noel took over as head coach, and made sure that as the line went, so did the team.
“We try to go by playing kind of gritty. You drive and you drive and ”¦ just always shoving it down their throat, or whatever you want to say. I kind of brought (that mentality) here, knowing that it would probably be the same type of atmosphere,” said Chapman, speaking at Lobster Bowl media day at Foxcroft Academy. “Our coach is very consistent on seven seconds no matter what; finish with hands on the chest and feet moving. We live and we die by the line.”
Morgan said coaching had a lot to do with the Trojans’ success at the line as well.
“We took a lot of pride into it. We gave ourselves the credit, but most of the credit we have to give to our line coach Nick Tabor at Thornton,” said Morgan. “He was one of those guys where he would coach us up if we didn’t know what to do, and then he would praise us when it came to a point where we’re getting everything down on the first try, everything is going good, everybody is doing what they’re supposed to do. We transfer that over to games, and that’s what led us to our success, to a state championship.”
While coaching can lift a mediocre line to a good one, talent can take a line to even bigger heights. That’s something the quartet of local players have plenty of.
The four players average 275 pounds ”“ with the 6-foot-4 Boothby weighing in at a group-low 255 ”“ and have all been part of playoff-winning teams. Morgan and Zuke played on two state championship-winning teams, while Boothby’s Rams made it to a state final.
Morgan said that teaming up with such a talented group of road-graders makes the experience of playing in the Lobster Bowl even better.
“Being on an all-star line is pretty unreal. You get to bond with these guys like you did with our regular teammates during the regular season,” said Morgan. “Playing with guys like Zuke and the other guys, it’ll be fun. It’s going to be fun to have new teammates to become brothers.”
The West offensive line will be creating holes for two of three Fitzpatrick Trophy finalists, in Well’s Chris Carney and Marshwood’s Brett Gerry ”“ who won the award. Also in the West backfield will be Fitzpatrick semifinalist Kyle Flaherty of Oak Hill.
“We’re blocking for a lot of great players, and I’m blocking also with great players,” said Chapman.
Morgan said that there is still lots of work to be done on creating a cohesive unit, but that he doesn’t see the line as being a weakness for a hopefully-victorious West squad.
“It’s going to take time, but going into the game Saturday we feel confident that our line will lead us to a good game. Hopefully our skill kids can help us out and put some points on the board.”
— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.
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