“I’m used to it at this point,” Stephan said.
“We’re the most selfless players on the field,” Funk said.
At the end of Tuesday’s practice, Sellers wore a T-shirt that read: Embrace The Grind.
“It means embrace everything we do like work hard, play as a team,” Sellers said. “This is our football family here. Embrace it with everything you got.”
The slogan is for the entire team, but the offensive line leads the way. Their plan, as one said and others repeated, is to “physically dominate.” Then another said “stack pancakes” in reference to a block that flattens a defender. And they all happily agreed to that.
“It’s a huge advantage for us to have four guys returning,” Xenia coach Maurice Harden said. “It allows us as an offense to feel very comfortable knowing that we got guys that understand the scheme and understand the concepts. The offensive line is one of the toughest positions to learn for us schematically with all the different ways that we block stuff depending on how the defense aligns to us. So having that is a great asset for us.”
Funk is the biggest lineman at 6-foot-6 and 295 pounds. He committed this summer to Division I Appalachian State. Martin has Division II offers, and Ivy League schools are interested in Stephan. Sellers wants to play in college as well, but he has battled injuries, including missing the first two games this season with a dislocated knee. He will start Friday at home against Sidney.
“It means everything,” Sellers said about this season. “I love football. I’ve been unlucky this past couple of years with injuries and stuff. So out here with the guys means a lot.”
Xenia (2-0) rolled to the program’s first 10-0 season last year in the program’s 124th year. They earned a No. 2 playoff seeding in Division II, but they were upset by 3-7 Little Miami in the first round.
“We definitely did work hard, and we came into that game thinking that it was going to be easy, but you can’t take anything lightly,” Martin said. “We’ve done that. And this year, we’re ready to go and win some playoff games for sure.”
That loss isn’t the only chip on their shoulder. They are fighting history. Xenia made the playoffs for the first time in 2019 and has made it every year since when every team made it 2020 because of COVID and the field was doubled in size in 2021. The Buccaneers have won only one playoff game.
“Most teams last year really disrespected us, but we’re getting definitely more respect this year as we go on in the season, proving that we’re actually worth something,” Funk said.
The fifth spot at left guard is being share by sophomores Tommy Ehrsam and Kadyn Robinson and junior A.J. Anderson. Ehrsam and Robinson, especially, played a lot the first two weeks because of Sellers’ injury.
“For what we’ve been able to give them and what they’ve been able to grasp and understand, they’ve done a really good job,” Harden said.
Bringing the young guys along is part of the leadership role the veteran linemen have to play. They embrace that role, and they embrace the shared job of protecting junior quarterback Gavin McManus and opening holes for new starting running backs Elijah Johnson and Jace Jones.
“No other position on the field has to talk and work together as much as we do picking up blitzes, understanding stunts,” Stephan said. “And also making sure we’re friends off the field as well because if we’re friends off the field. we’ll perform better.”
If you watch Xenia play and see, left to right, No. 65, No. 61, No. 63 and No. 68, now you know who they are.
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