Bravehearts

Patrick Laverty

Estancia High Coach Craig Fertig said he was a little apprehensive

about how his players would perform prior to the Eagles’

season-opening victory against Magnolia.

Of particular concern was an offensive line that was being asked

to lead a team that was attempting to establish a powerful running

game out of the I-formation.

“We put in a whole new offense,” Fertig said. “We wondered whether

they would catch on. We obviously coached them, but you never know

how’ll they play in the first game.”

Estancia’s offensive line performed better than Fertig could have

imagined as the Eagles rushed for 218 yards and collected 339 total

yards on offense.

“I was really pleased,” Fertig said. “There were very few blown

assignments.”

Fertig knew he had good size and experience up front, but

considering that Estancia has won just one game in the last two

seasons, he wasn’t sure how his linemen would adjust to game

situations. The system that the Eagles coaching staff put into place

requires the linemen to make a lot of blocking calls at the offensive

line to adjust to the defensive line’s positioning. The Eagles

senior-laden front five had little trouble with the task.

Left tackle Ian Morton (6-4,270), left guard Landon Pulizzi (6-2,

220), center Yousif Muradian (6-0, 230), right guard Gary Strawn

(6-2, 300) and right tackle Gary Jones (6-1, 280) continually opened

holes for running backs Bubba Kapko, David Moreno and Mike Cahill.

They allowed Kapko to amass a career-high 160 yards, causing his

smile to grow as wide as the holes his lineman were opening.

“I know Bubba [liked it] and so did Mike Cahill,” Fertig said.

The game plan going into the contest was to establish the run and

even after the Eagles did so, Magnolia failed to make the necessary

adjustments against Estancia’s offensive line.

The Eagles rushing total was 64 yards more than they had in any

game last season. Their total yardage was 38 yards more than they had

in any game last season. The highest rushing total for an individual

last season was Kapko’s 81 yards against Magnolia and by scoring 24

points, the Eagles surpassed their highest point total of 2002 (19).

While those are all impressive numbers, they also show how much

Estancia struggled in 2002. All of this year’s starting offensive

line was on that team, but their development since Fertig took over

the program has been crucial to the team’s success.

Fertig said there is no singular leader among the group and all

five of the players can make blocking assignment calls at the line of

scrimmage.

“I think they’re sort of a group,” Fertig said. “I think they’re

all leaders. I have four seniors up there. Ian Morton’s the only

junior.”

For the seniors, this is their last chance to turn around a

program that has gone 1-18 in the last two seasons. If they can block

like they did in the season opener, they may just do that.