Braden River's success starts up front

EAST MANATEE — When Dakota Wilson heard the news, he through his arms in the air.

“Yes! We finally get a story,” said Braden River’s junior left guard. “We read stories about our quarterbacks and running back, but never about us. We never get (any press).”

That is, until now.

The Pirates’ offensive line has opened gaping holes for tailback Tevin Bryant, who has rushed for 1,450 yards, and the unit protected quarterbacks Stephen Fischer and Ryan Fischer all season long.

And it’s safe to say the Pirates wouldn’t be preparing for the first home playoff game in school history if not for the unsung heroes up front.

Braden River hosts Lake Wales (10-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a Class 3A-Region 3 semifinal.

“We know we’ve done good when someone writes an article about Tevin,” said Josh Spence, a senior center. “We know we’ve done our jobs.”

A team scouting the Pirates (7-4) at the beginning of the season could key on the team’s run game because the passing game hadn’t fully developed. The offensive success starts up front, and the offensive line made steady progress throughout the season.

The unit may have peaked last Friday, allowing quarterback Ryan Fischer to complete 10 of 20 passes for 86 yards, including a 10-yard scoring toss to Sharrod Neasman-Glover that enabled Braden River to squeak past host Winter Haven 24-21 in a double-overtime victory in the 3A-Region 3 quarterfinals.

“You probably would have expected it to be a run play,” said senior right guard Caleb Parker. “But as we get farther into the playoffs, we can see that a lot of teams think that we are going to run a lot, but we have to get better at the passing game.”

The offensive line — made up of Wilson, Parker, Spence, Dillon Romine and Michael Pulawski — averages 242 pounds, which is nowhere near the largest unit you will find in the area, but the Pirates proclaim there’s no unit tougher than them or more conditioned than them.

Over the summer, the Pirates worked their way from 12 100-yard sprints up to running 48 100-yard sprints by the first official day of fall practice. It’s synonymous with the team‘s motto “48 to State”.

“In the beginning, people threw up” said Pulawski, a sophomore right tackle. “But we all had that mental toughness that if we wanted to be a good football team, we had to work through it. So we feel now that there’s nothing we really can’t handle.”

Braden River coach Ed Volz describes the unit as the “lunch pail kids” and his most “consistent unit on the football team week in and week out.”

Volz is quick to point out that the offensive line was his biggest concern in the spring, but players put an end to his nervousness.

“Offensively, they’ve been our backbone,” the Pirates’ first-year coach. “We’ve changed quarterbacks, we’ve had to develop at wide receiver, but they’ve been a tremendous security blanket for us offensively. We know what we can do with those guys up front.”