OLD BRIDGE – During a football game, a group of players know the only time they will hear their number called is after a penalty. So is the life of an offensive lineman. Check your local sports store and ask for the demand of #62 or #71 jerseys over the years, and you will see this is a forgotten group of players on any football team. One group managed to earn the respect of their peers, not with touchdown celebrations or sack dances, but with a dominating demeanor on the field. The front five, plus one, of the Old Bridge Lions cap off a hard week of practice by battering the opposing defense into submission on Saturdays.

They say “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” but this unit came together rather quickly.

“They (the Lions) had a preseason tryout, and that’s how we got our linemen, from then on they started hanging out together and they got nice and tight and stuff,” offensive line coach, Nick Martisch said.

Only center Manny Batista, tight end Mike Meehan and guard Lou Gregoire knew each other before the tryouts, but once introduced to Robert Layton, Mike Savoye and Frank DiFranco, the unit quickly jelled. All of a sudden, the unit began meeting without the rest of the team during the week with no coaches because they want the ring this year.

“We planned a couple of social events for the team and organized separate practices just for the linemen.” Batista said.

The group is very coachable and improving is their only goal, each player has the freedom and lends a hand when things do not go well on the field.

“They all played high school football (except Layton)so it’s all about technique, they are going to the right spot, blocking the right guy, but their technique is off a little, that’s the main thing that I’m working on with them, their technique. They know when blocking a 4-3 defense, about going to the next level, to the right spot, not stepping to the man, but to where the man is going to be. They are a great bunch of guys, they all want to play the line, we make it fun in practice when we do drills, and I have to make it competitive for them.”

The linemen appreciate the challenging practices, they say the competition brings out the best in the guys and builds chemistry.

“I’ve never been on a team where I haven’t been able to relate to an offensive line coach like Coach Nick. The chemistry that we have with this offensive line is better than I have experienced in high school and college or anything like that and it is because of Coach Nick. He makes things easier for everyone to understand, he’s never down your back, but he stays on your a@@,” Meehan said, “I can go out for passes, but I’d rather run block with these guys all game long.”

The one player that did not play high school football is Robert Layton. Layton focused on another sport throughout his athletic career and recently decided to test his talent on the gridiron.

“I never played football before I had a scholarship out of high school for basketball so that’s all I played for my career. I just had an itch, just to see what it be like to play the sport in general. I came out to mini-camp and made the team, the next thing you know I am starting on the offensive line. This is pretty much my first run at football, but this group, we came together quickly,” Layton said.

With wide eyes, Meehan called it the most impressive transformation he has ever seen when reminiscing on watching his teammate’s transformation from a basketball player to a lineman.

“He’s just a pure athlete,” Meehan added.

The close-knit unit loves watching their opponent come apart at the seams during a game, as they pound away with relentless power.

“It’s happened with every team (two scrimmages and the first game), when they start breaking down mentally, they start yelling and screaming at each other I know that we pretty much have them beat,” Gregoire said.

“After going rep after rep in practice without subs, the game, the game was easy. The game was like a quarter of practice because we were going in and out (offense to defense) instead of going every rep the whole practice. Once we started to see a little bit of success it was all fun and enjoying being out there, we were just pushing forward and having fun,” Layton added.

According to the entire unit, the hard work put in during practice prepares the unit for game day in many ways.

“I think the biggest contributing factor to our success is we’ve gone against our defensive for three months. I think we have the best defensive line in the league and going against them every practice makes us that much better,” DiFranco said.

“The thing is, we are the only linemen, we play every down in practice together. We have come together faster chemistry wise than the other positions because we are not being substituted in and out we are together constantly. When we go up to the line, I know Frank’s on my left and Manny’s on my right and I know what the both of them are thinking, we do not really have to say anything. The thing about this team that makes us different from other teams is we religiously have 50 players showing up at practice. We (the line) are always at practice, the running backs are always there so you get those reps with everyone there so you know how it is going to be come game time.”

With all of the dry runs in practice, Batiste explained the fruits of all of their work.

“I love when I come down on a down block and I see the running back run past me and I turn around and I see Savoy planting somebody, and then I see DiFranco planting some body and the running back goes for 20 yards. If the play is to the right, you see Lou planting somebody and you see Big Rob (Layton) which a guy that big shouldn’t be moving the way he moves almost step for step with the running back, it’s a thing of beauty,” Batista said.