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CAMERON - The old adage goes 'you can't teach size,' and while that may be true, the Cameron Dragons are going by a different slogan- 'you can't teach heart.'
The Dragons are eyeing up a state title game appearance on Friday, having gone 12-1 to this point in the season, and defeating No. 1 seed Tug Valley 36-0 in the semifinals. They've done it all with an offensive line that is smaller than the opposition's more often than not.
Along the offensive line on Friday will be, from lightest to heaviest on their official listings, Carter Paczewski (5-11, 155), Colin Magers (6-3, 170), Brendan Carroll (6-4, 205), Brody Hill (6-0, 210) and Hunter Wright (6-0, 245).
Though not the most physically imposing unit, it is one that has been an asset to Cameron.
Far from only surviving, the Dragons offensive line has been thriving, paving the way for a high-scoring offense and nearly 1,200-yard rusher in Klypsan Wallace.
The Dragons' success goes back to three things- brains, conditioning, and heart.
"It all starts back in the summer when we start running and lifting in the weight room," Hunter Wright said.
"You build strength, and then you come down here with coach [James] Rogers and work on drills- hips, hands, head and heart, those are the four H's of offensive line and you need to have all four of them if you want to play here. We're a smaller offensive line and we need to know what we're doing."
Rogers, along with many others on the Cameron staff, have helped shape the five-man unit into one fit for a title contending team.
"He's a Cameron legend around here," Wright said of Rogers. "Used to be the head coach, now he's the offensive line coach. He's a wonderful man, love having him around, teaches us a lot. He's what you want in a coach."
"You get to know your kids, and you talk to your line coaches," Cameron head coach Tim Brown began. "Coach [Matt] Burge, our offensive coordinator, he goes down with the line all the time. They communicate, they talk to each other- 'this play will work, but we need to make this little adjustment.' Instead of this split, they get that split. Instead of you taking a 45 step, you need to take a 90 step. It's just the intelligence of the coaching staff and being able to communicate that to these linemen."
The intelligence does not stop with the coaching staff.
"The stereotype is of 'dumb linemen,'" Brown said. "That's not true- some of your linemen are your smartest kids because they are the ones who have to make the adjustments and they're the ones who have to get the play started.
"They've just done a great job of getting better and better as a unit. Then you see guys like Hunter Wright, [Carter] Paczewski, they're teaching the other guys, 'remember, coach said this,' or 'when we want to do this, here's the call.' Paczewski's one of the most intelligent kids in the school building, and he's out there telling the guys what to remember, what to do. They're definitely not your stereotypical big, dumb lineman. They're smart kids, they're athletic, and they communicate well and that's a tribute to Jim Rogers and Gibbs Davidson and coach Burge and how they communicate with those guys in practice."
With all that brain power also comes self-awareness too. Instead of trying to be something they're not, Cameron's offensive line has one more adage up their sleeve- 'there's more than one way to skin a cat.'
"We're always going to play teams with bigger lines," Brown said. "If you don't make adjustments and have great technique, you're going to get mauled. You have to adjust and use your quickness, and that's why you get a guy like Jim Rogers, he's 77 years-old, he's experienced, been coaching for 45, 50 years. Gibbs Davidson's been around forever and coach Burge is just a great offensive mind.
"Those guys coaching our kids, all the things they do in the offseason makes them stronger, faster, more agile. We know we're going to be the smaller dog in the fight so we have to be the more prepared dog in the fight."
Since losing their first game of the season to Fort Frye, the Cameron Dragons' offensive line has found their groove and blazed a trail to the championship game, the first appearance in their school's history.
"Nobody's made it there in 115 years," Wright said. "We were only the third team to make it to the semifinals. It's going to mean everything if we go down and win this thing, everything to this community, the school, it's just going to be incredible if we can pull it off."
"Guys stepped up into their role- Colin Magers, Brody Hill, Carter Paczewski and newcomer Brendan Carroll. We started off a little slow in the beginning of the summer, new guys had to learn a couple things, but we have just come a long way as a unit. We've made it this far, I think we can win one more with this unit."