MUSKEGON TWP. - Reeths-Puffer senior Owen Moore can tell you just how grueling it is to play on the offensive line - yet he loves to do it, week in and week out.
It’s probably a genetic thing.
He always knew his dad, Lance Moore, was an offensive lineman in high school. He just didn't know how good he was for a long time, until he reached high school himself.
“I didn’t find out about it until my freshman year,” Moore said with a laugh. “A girl sent me a picture of his photo on the wall at Oakridge High School, and it said he was All-State. When I asked him about it, he said, ‘Oh yeah, I was an All-State lineman.’
“He was very humble about it, but it pumped me up a little bit.”
R-P's Owen Moore
Moore does not sugar-coat what Friday nights are like for an offensive guard. While other players are scoring points, making tackles, or doing other stat-worthy things, the O-linemen are simply charged with protecting their quarterback and clearing bodies for their runners, and every play is a war.
“It’s hard,” said Moore, who has been preparing with his R-P teammates for Friday night’s Homecoming game against Grand Rapids Union. “There is contact, play after play, and you’re just trying to move the other guy.
“Then there’s pulling, when we have to wrap around the line and run into a different defensive player as hard as we can. It might be a linebacker who’s blitzing, or we might have to run in front of the running back to clear a lane.
“You’re just getting beaten up every play. There are really no plays off. It’s pretty bad sometimes. I wake up the next day with bruises, and it’s hard to sit down. You’re just kind of sore everywhere.”
As rough as that sounds, Moore wouldn’t have it any other way.
Moore (75) gets ready to pop a Grand Haven player.
“I was really small in middle school, but I loved every second of it,” he said. “That’s when it really clicked for me how much I loved football, and how much I loved being a lineman.
“I think every lineman dreams at one point or another of being a running back, but it’s probably not going to happen. I am proud to do the hard work. There are a lot of us who put our heart and souls into this. We are all proud to be linemen.”
Moore has always had an extra handicap as a lineman, due to his size. At 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, he repeatedly crashes into much bigger opponents every week
The size disadvantage makes it even more fun, Moore said.
“I love a good challenge,” he said. “There are a lot of dudes bigger than me out there, but they don’t have the heart that some of the smaller linemen do. Sometimes it’s harder, but you just have to come off the ball lower and faster, and just beat them with skill and strength.”
Moore tries to clear a lane against Muskegon.
Moore noted that he’s not the smallest of the R-P offensive linemen. He gives a ton of credit to sophomore Jackson Husted, the other guard, for overcoming a huge size disadvantage.
“He must be 180 pounds on a good day, but he puts in the work,” Moore said. “He is showing us he can pull his weight.”
Moore will not end up as an All-Stater like his dad, but he has definitely caught the attention of R-P head coach Cody Kater this season.
Moore spent a little time with the varsity as a freshman and sophomore, but never saw the field. He became a starting guard last year as a junior, but struggled a bit in his first season of real varsity action, according to Kater.
This year he’s become an anchor of an improved O-line, which also includes tackles James Helferich and Recko Walker and center Troy Swingley.
Moore gets an arm on a Mona Shores defender.
“Owen is someone who has grown a lot in the last six months or so,” Kater said. “I think some extra time in the weight room has helped, along with some clarity in what really matters to him. He has developed into a more consistent football player. He knows his job and does it well.
“I would say he’s most improved in run blocking and his paths as a guard. He has to take different paths to run base plays, and now he really understands where to go, and understands leverage. He’s 230 pounds, going up against guys who are 275-280 or even reaching 300. It’s a really tough task for him.”
Moore said it was just a matter of maturing a little bit over the past year, and knowing he had to really focus to help the offense improve, and help the entire team bounce back from a tough 2-7 season.
He started hitting the weight room more, paid closer attention to his diet, and came in 15 pounds heavier this year, with more muscle to use along the line.
“I think it’s mostly just confidence, and an emotional maturity thing,” Moore said. “Last year I got in my own head a lot and had trouble focusing on what I needed to do. This year I have almost completely eliminated that. It’s been a lot easier for me to do my job."
Moore helps clear space for R-P running back Dre Sanders (3).
He was also confronted with the realization that he was suddenly becoming a senior, and only had one more year of playing the sport he loves.
“I think about that quite a bit,” Moore said. “It’s kind of a gut punch. After all these years of playing with my friends, only have this last year with them. I want to make it count.”
The Rockets, now 2-3, are coming off two pretty one-sided losses to Muskegon and Mona Shores in the past two weeks.
They now have four games remaining, including several against teams they have a real chance to beat. A berth in the state playoffs remains a real possibility for R-P.
After Grand Rapids Union (1-4) on Friday, the Rockets will visit Forest Hills Northern (2-3), host a very tough Byron Center (4-1) and visit Whitehall (1-4).
Moore prepares to collide with a Shores player.
Moore says making the playoffs is a huge goal, for himself and the team.
“That’s my main focus right now, just making it to the playoffs,” he said. “I was there my freshman year when we made it, but I never got to play. It would mean the world to me to play in a playoff game.”
But are the Rockets good enough to get at least the three more wins that would probably be necessary for a playoff spot?
“One hundred percent,” Moore said. “I believe in my brothers next to me. We can do whatever needs to be done to make the playoffs. It’s going to take some hard work. We just have to put our heads down and plow through it.”
