Often times these selfless, gentle giants are the biggest bodies on the field, yet they are also the first to go unnoticed.
When something goes right on offense, not a single word is heard about them. But when something goes wrong, one can bet they are the first to get blamed.
“The greatest thing about them is they are perfectly fine being tagged ‘The Line,’” said La Villa head coach Shawn Alvarez. “Their title is perfect for them because they understand their role and they know it (the offense) won’t go without them.
“I told them from Day 1 that we are going to be as good as our offensive line, and they know it. They know they’re not going to get their names in the paper every Saturday and they’re not going to get talked to by all the media, and they have accepted that and that, to me, is what makes them special.”
However, what the La Villa Cardinals’ offensive line has been able to accomplish this year has been nothing short of spectacular.
This season the Cardinals, who have rushed for more than 2,400 yards of offense and 21 rushing touchdowns, are 2-0 in District 16-2A, DI action and, most recently, picked up a huge 24-14 victory over previously unbeaten and unscored upon Corpus Christi London.
To put the victory into perspective, London had scored 223 points this season without giving up a singe point before the game against La Villa.
“We’ve been blessed this year with our offensive line; they have size and some experience,” said Alvarez. “We knew coming in that that was going to be our A-plus area.
“It really is special to know that we feature four running backs in the back field but, as anybody who knows anything about football, it all starts up front.”
In fact when Alvarez got to La Villa this summer from George West, he looked at his new team and thought to himself, “Wow, we’ve got some size.”
The offensive line that Alvarez inherited had been playing together for the past three years and some of them had even been playing together since they were 5 years old.
“The good thing about our line is that we are all experienced and almost all of us are seniors,” said Espericueta. “We’ve been around for a while so we know what we are doing and we’re just ready to dominate.
“In the beginning of the season we started off pretty slow, getting used to our assignments.”
This Friday the Cardinals will travel to Riviera to take on the 6-1, 2-0 Seahawks.