POST — John Wright's Post football program knows a thing or two about toting the rock.
The Antelopes have been a running-back factory in recent history, and this year's team may be deeper than ever. Post lost star Randon Curtis late in the third quarter Friday and still never got off track. Second running back Craig Byrd stepped in to do his part of the 500-plus-yard rushing night.
The reason for the seamless transition? The big guys up front.
Wright, in the middle of his fifth season leading the Bold Gold, said his offensive linemen take pride in the thankless work. Their efforts make it possible to plug and play in the backfield without missing a step.
"We make them look good; they make us look good," junior lineman Olegario Gomez said. "It's
an eye for an eye type of thing."
Gomez said he and his fellow O-linemen get plenty of love from teammates. That includes Byrd, who finished with 229 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in the 56-21 win over Hawley. The junior tailback took Post home after Curtis ran for 291 yards before exiting with 4:28 in the third quarter. Wright said Curtis twisted his ankle but "is gonna be fine."
"Being his backup, I've learned a lot from (Curtis)," Byrd said. "He's taught me a lot. He got hurt, so I had to step up and fill in his position and try my best. Big thanks to my linemen. They did the blocking for me."
Gomez entered the season as one of two returning starters on the O-line, along with Sebastian Martinez. The three newcomers played together on JV, so there was continuity built in. Senior Domingo Soto said the group continues to get tighter every day.
"We're real close," Soto said. "We're all best friends. We talk at school and everything, and it's pretty hard to do that. Some O-lines fight and stuff, some people blame each other. You can't blame each other. You just have to keep going with one another. That's how you win."
Wright said all of his starting linemen squat at least 500 pounds. They're all powerlifters, the same as plenty of the skill players. Wright said coupled with track, the consistency in the weight room is why Post's ground game is a mainstay.
"We spend a lot of time in the weight room, and that's something I take pride in," Wright said. "That translates to good running teams. Not only that, but being resilient to injury and things like that on the offensive line. It helps down the road to be strong."
Curtis averages 175 rushing yards per game, and Byrd showed Friday he's a more-than-capable understudy. Wright said he doesn't try to "reinvent the wheel" — his players have grown accustom to the smashmouth running scheme that has proven successful. It's helped power the Antelopes to wins in 25 of their past 30 games.
Post (4-1) has plans for many more. The Antelopes close non-district this week at Stanton (1-3) and are favorites to win District 3-2A Division I. That would fulfill one of the team's goals, but the ultimate aim is much higher.
"We've got a little goal chart on our wall in the field house that represents the main 17 goals that we have for the year," Wright said. "Sixteen of them are football games, and the 17th one is to win the 16th game. That's the expectation, and that's the goal in Post. We have lived in the shadow of the '19 and '20 state-finalist teams since the day I got here, and we want to achieve that, too.
"We want to leave our own mark on Post ISD."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Post football's big guys proud to be offensive linemen
