The numbers can tell you just how good Columbian's offensive line has been this season.
The 11-0 record can do that as well.
And yet, maybe the best testament to the Tornadoes' blockers comes from tight end Jake Smith.
Smith, who is used as a blocker, puts it this way.
"I like telling somebody ... like I'll tell [right tackle Chandler] Hoover I have the outside backer, and the outside backer hears me," Smith said. "But he still can't stop the run. He knows where the ball is going, but they can't stop us."
No one has stopped the Tornadoes running game in 2012, and as a result, running backs Jack Jacoby Ryan Lynch have gotten plenty of attention. The two combined for 2,283 yards in the regular season, and 27 touchdowns.
But, as usually happens, the offensive line has been overshadowed to a degree. And the linemen themselves disagree (outwardly, anyway) on whether that's bothersome.
Left tackle Isiah Moore said it's no big deal, that the line gets enough credit internally. At the same time, the Division I college recruit said the pressure for the backs' success falls on them.
"If they get tackled in the backfield, it's our fault," Moore said. "If we do our thing, we win."
Senior center Brock Riggs was asked if the O-line gets overshadowed.
"Honestly, yeah, but it's OK, because they still give us credit outside," he said. "It may not be in the print, but it's all right; we know our jobs, and we know what we have to do to get the job done."
But while the running backs get the stats, coach Brian Colatruglio has been heaping praise on the guys up front for much of the year. And two days before the Tornadoes' regional semifinal game with Avon, he was doing it again.
"It's a group effort," Colatruglio said. "There's times where (the linemen) block those plays really well and we get those yards. There's other times when Jack and Ryan get into the secondary and do some things on their own and get some extra yards. But it's a group effort, and they work well together. Our communication with that group is really good up front."
Left guard Alec Lucius was asked about the line's cohesion.
"I'm not gonna lie, I don't know what 'cohesion' means right now," he said with a laugh.
But then, in describing the group, he gave an excellent definition of the word.
"We're all pretty close, so we're on the same page," Lucius said.
They're close enough, Lucius said, to accept criticism from each other.
"We get on each other a lot," Lucius said.
Riggs agreed, mentioning that this group has known and played together for years.
"It helps a lot. None of us are afraid to say something to somebody else, and we know what their upsides and downsides are, so we know what to help them on," he said. "We also talk a lot in the game and figure stuff out so we don't get confused."
Right guard Austin Thallman was asked if the line does anything different depending on who gets the ball.
"I guess we really don't change what we're doing for Jack or Ryan," he said. "We just change what we do depending on who we play."
A quick look at each lineman:
Isiah Moore, left tackle
The junior left tackle makes his presence felt, that's for sure.
"He's a dominant force," Colatruglio said. "There's a reason, when it's third-and-one, we run left. It's not a secret."
Colatruglio said one of the keys to Moore's dominance is that he is versatile.
"He's the total package. He can do every block. He pulls, he can run block, pass block," Colatruglio said. "He's the best offensive lineman I've ever coached."
Alec Lucius, left guard; Chandler Hoover, right tackle.
The seniors are grouped together because Colatruglio singled them out for their work ethic.
"Lucius and Hoover, they're the best guys we have in the weight room," Colatruglio said. "They are the strongest guys we have; the most dedicated in our weight room. They've gotten everything they can out of the God-given talent that they have. They've probably exceeded where we thought, three years ago, those guys could go."
Lucius said he thinks the line has gotten better as this season has gone on.
"I think we've improved a lot," he said. "We're staying on blocks a lot longer, and Jack and [quarterback] Mike [Rohrbach] are getting a lot longer times in the pocket to pass."
Hoover, meanwhile, admitted that he's probably the lightest guy on the line. Listed at 210 pounds, Hoover has been a standout on defense, where he's made 16 tackles for a loss and had four sacks.
On offense, Hoover said he takes a bit of a leadership role.
"We go out there, and I just try to push everybody, try to be a leader," he said. "We've got great chemistry as an offensive line. We're all like brothers, and that helps us to play better."
Brock Riggs, center
In his first year as a starter, Riggs has shined in his role, making the calls for the offensive line.
"I have to call out formations and which way the back has to go," he said. "Pass protection spots."
Colatruglio said Riggs has transformed himself over the past few seasons.
"He's completely changed his body, and he turned himself into a player as well," the coach said.
Austin Thallman, right guard
In a sea of juniors and seniors, Thallman stands out as the young one of the group, a sophomore who Colatruglio said has a bright future at TC.
"He's gonna be a really, really good football player," Colatruglio said. "We threw him in there. He probably wasn't ready when we started the season. We threw him in there, and we knew he would keep getting better, and he has."
Jake Smith, Tight end/Fullback
Even though he's done well blocking wherever the coaching staff has put him - tight end, fullback - the senior confessed he hopes to one day get a pass thrown his way.
"I'm basically just in as an extra blocker. I don't run pass routes and if I do it's just to take defenders away from the people who get the ball," he said. "I hope (to get thrown to), but not really ever. It doesn't happen."
And according to Colatruglio, it probably won't.
"He can keep hoping," the coach said, laughing. "We move him all around. He's playing some fullback, H-back, some tight end. Since we've moved him into those spots, there's a reason Ryan has had a lot of success the last three or four games, and that's because of moving Jake to that fullback spot."
Colatruglio was asked about Smith's comment about other teams knowing what TC is going to do and not being able to shut it down.
That, Colatruglio said, sums up the line.
"That's what we tell them," he said. "We want to know what we're doing. We don't care what they know."
