Nashua North’s offensive line is taking care of business

Of all the pleasant surprises for the Nashua High School North football team this fall, one tops the list as far as head coach Jason Robie is concerned.

He was pretty confident in his skill players on offense. He envisioned Andre Williams emerging as one of the state’s premier running backs.

He saw the quarterback combination of senior Dylan Brodeur and junior Brandon Karkhanis being a potential two-headed monster for opposing defenses.

He also knew he had enough speed and skill at the four wide receiver positions in Jamar Gathright, Trevor Rancourt, Anton Marinchik and Eric Muite to make the spread offense work.

But it would all fall apart if a somewhat untested offensive line didn’t come together.

It has – beyond the expectations of Robie, line coach Chad Zibolis and offensive coordinator Dante Laurendi.

“It was definitely the biggest question mark coming into the season,’’ Robie said. “We lost a few starters to graduation. Nick Cummings was the only kid back who started every game last year.’’

Another big blow was the loss of senior returning two-way starter Kevin Rosenberg to a back injury. Rosenberg has returned on defense, but so far the Titans have been able to limit him to one side of the ball.

Having Cummings back was a key because he’s the center in the shotgun offense.

“He calls all the defenses, he calls all the blocking schemes up front,’’ Robie said, “and he calls the snap count. The quarterback doesn’t say anything.’’

Then Cummings has to make sure the snap gets to the quarterbacks hands while at the same time worrying about the defensive lineman a few feet away.

The transformation came from traditional center to spread offense center during the spring of Cumming’s sophomore year.

“Once he knew he came to school each day and did 100 shotgun snaps,’’ Robie said.

And the snap itself is just the beginning.

“The toughest thing is to learn how to shotgun snap then run block,’’ Zibolis said. “It’s a hard thing to do and you need a special kid to be able to do it.’’

The Titans were able to find the right combination of players to flank Cummings. On the left are 6-foot-4, 245-pound junior tackle Zach Hunnewell and 6-2, 230-pound guard Tim Coy. On the right, James Murphy, a guard who checks in at 6-4, 245, and 6-2, 215-pound senior tackle Mitchell Gaffney.

Each has his own story. For Gaffney and Cummings it was how close they came to giving up football.

Cummings was making such good money working with his father during the summer following his freshman year he didn’t come to summer workouts and was on the verge of giving up football.

“One of my buddies on the team said, ‘Nick, you have to come out,’ ’’ Cummings said. “I thank him so much now. I don’t know what I would have done without football.’’

Gaffney, who never played football before high school, actually took his sophomore year off.

“I was a tight end as a freshman and didn’t see the field that much,’’ Gaffney said. “I was a little discouraged, so my sophomore year I decided I really didn’t want to do it.

“Then I came back my junior year. It’s the one thing I regret about high school, taking that year off from football.’’

They have become a tight group of friends. The members of the offensive line hang out together, watch film as a group and have pasta parties hosted by Zibolis.

Sure the headlines go to Williams, Brodeur and others, but it’s a fact of life offensive lineman learn to live with.

“I think they understand it,’’ Zabolis said. “We grade them each week, we count their pancakes. That’s how they get their recognition.’’

There are other measures of course. Williams and Brodeur have combined for close to 2,000 yards rushing, each averaging well over 7 yards per carry.

Karkhanis has had the time to pick out receivers, hitting close to 65 percent of his passes. Add to that the fact that you can count on one hand the number of times he’s been sacked all season, and the line is definitely doing its job.

“We knew what we had coming into the season,’’ Robie said. “And we knew our success this year would be dictated by how well we did up front.’’

The Titans are 9-1 going into Saturday’s Division I championship game at Salem, so it must have worked out pretty well.