Offensive line is important piece for JFK
COLUMBUS — John F. Kennedy senior Evan Boyd had a Division VII state championship rushing record of 166 yards on 36 carries with two touchdowns in Saturday’s 24-6 victory over Minster.
The JFK running back knows the success is not all his own as the Eagles captured their second football state championship, the first coming in 1991.
His offensive line opened holes in the Minster defense, especially in the second half, as Boyd rushed for 118 yards in the final two quarters.
“Every play I’m always telling them how good their blocking is, especially when we’re moving the ball,” Boyd said. “I know every one of those guys has the heart. They’re not so big, everyone would say. They’re a great blocking line and I wouldn’t take any line over them. I know they got my back. I got theirs. They’re a great blocking line. That’s what we had good success running the ball.
“They did a great job.”
JFK offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Rod Greenamyer said the Eagles (14-1) ran a pro-C set with two tight ends, and where one guy is a wing.
“It makes the defense declare what they’re going to do,” Greenamyer said. “There’s a few things we’ve done out of it. They did a pretty good job in the first half of stopping it. They made a couple of adjustments at halftime.
“We’ve been in tough situations before. We’ve always been able to grind it out in the second half and win the game. With the defense and special teams we have, our goal on offense is take the ball. Ball control. Play field position. Do stuff like that.”
He got to see the line’s plays develop from his position in the coaches’ box high up in Ohio Stadium.
Facing Minster (10-5), things were an unknown.
“You never know until you get on the field with somebody,” Greenamyer said. “I have all the faith in the world in our guys. We’re not the biggest, the strongest, but we are the toughest. We come to play. I couldn’t be happier with a group of kids in my life.”
Minster took a 6-0 lead after one quarter, but that’s when the JFK offensive line knew it had respond.
“I don’t think we came out that well,” JFK senior lineman Bruce Johnson said. “Once they scored six we knew we had a mission to do. The key was I had to get my guard to go over me. Better blocking, doing it better. That’s what we did and we won the game.”
JFK dominated time of possession 31:22 to 16:38. The Eagles dominated the clock at halftime as well, 15:37 to 8:23. As a team, JFK had 55 carries for 219 yards.
“They’re a group of guys that aren’t very big, but they have a lot of heart,” JFK coach Jeff Bayuk said. “We always talk about trying to end the game with the ball.
“We had a couple of penalties. Had a couple of situations that hurt us. We really took some time off the clock in the second half there. It’s a great job by Bruce Johnson, our right tackle; Dominic Morello, our right guard; our center Chris Urchek; our left guard Luke D’Amore; our left tackle Alex Hernandez. They did an excellent job, including our tight end John Millard.”
Johnson said when he’s done blocking he’s looking up for Boyd to see if he can take off downfield.
“Once I see him take off, I want to sprint downfield after him myself, tackle him in the end zone,” Johnson said.
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