E.A.T. to win

Effort. Attitude. Toughness.

That’s the mantra the starting offensive linemen for the Coeur d’Alene Vikings — all five of them seniors — live by.

So far, so good.

Six games into the season, even with a few heavyweights dotting their nonleague schedule, the Vikings are 4-2, averaging 38.2 points and 479.5 yards per game, heading into Friday’s 5A Inland Empire League opener at home vs. Lewiston.

“We play nasty,” Coeur d’Alene right guard Gabe Zanetti said. “We play with a chip on our shoulder, and want to hurt people.”

- • •

The Viking starting offensive linemen, from left as their opponents on the defensive line would see them:

- Logan Hendren, right tackle, 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, started one game last season.

- Gabe Zanetti, right guard, 6-0, 200, second year as a starter, also played some as a sophomore.

- Jack Bloom, center, 6-0, 220, first year as a starter.

- Spencer Weisel, left guard, 6-1, 270, first year as a starter

- Noah Gunn, left tackle, 6-4, 290, second year as a starter, also played some as a sophomore. Last summer, he verbally committed to play at the Air Force Academy.

- • •

Dustin Shafer has been the offensive line coach at Coeur d’Alene since 2008, and has been a Viking assistant coach since 2000. He said it’s the first time since he’s been at Cd’A that the Vikings have started five senior offensive linemen.

“There’s certain games they’re asked to pass block more, and there’s some games where they’re asked to run block more,” Shafer said. “That game vs. Mead, they tied the school record for rushing (401 yards). Obviously if you hand the ball to Caleb (Beggerly) and Shilo (Morgan), and you have Colson (Yankoff, the quarterback) back there it makes things a little bit easier, but it starts with them. Then the next game we don’t run the ball much and they pass block really well. I guess their strength is their versatility, just being able to do what’s asked of them each week.”

Whatever it is, they have to do it fast. Like most teams, the Vikings don’t huddle. They throw quick passes, they pop quick-hitting running plays up the middle ... fast, fast, fast.

“We practice fast, so we’re good for the games,” Bloom said.

“On a pass block you want to set and have your eyes up more, and you’re looking to push the guy away, keep him outside the pocket,” Zanetti said. “On a run block you’re just trying to pancake people, get them on the ground, move to the next guy and make them hurt, too.”

Hendren had his own unique take.

“We’ve done it for so long, it’s second nature,” he said. “Pass blocking’s like eating breakfast, and run blocking’s like ... eating lunch.”

Weisel, Zanetti and Hendren have played together since fifth grade. However, their first start together this season didn’t go as well as they had hoped — though it came at Folsom, one of the top teams in California. The Vikings lost 56-33.

“It’s good though, because it shows you stuff you need to work on,” Weisel said. “When you play a team that good, it kind of exposes you a little bit, then you know where you need to get better.”

After that, Weisel said, the Viking linemen dedicated themselves to the E.A.T. motto.

“We always break on “E.A.T.”, Weisel said. “It’s sort of the life we’ve been living.”

Also, Zanetti suffered a fractured ankle in the Folsom game. Zanetti said a lineman that was rotating in for Weisel missed a block, and the defensive lineman dove at the running back’s legs, missed and hit Zanetti in the ankle instead. He also sprained both sides of his ankle on the play.

As a testament to his toughness, Zanetti missed just two games (vs. Central Valley and Mead), and has been back for the last three games.

“It feels good to have the family back together,” Weisel said.

Bloom, a 4.0 student, makes the line calls.

“He’s really smart in his calls, and he can figure stuff out on the fly,” Zanetti said. “Half the time, before the defense lines up, he already knows where they’re going to go.”

“He’s reliable,” Weisel added.

All take snaps on the defensive line as well.

Hendren starts at nose guard. Zanetti, before he was injured, started at end, and is working his way back into that spot. Weisel rotates in for Hendren at nose guard. Gunn also plays a little bit on the D-line.

Two of them — Hendren and Zanetti — wrestle. Hendren competed at heavyweight (285 pounds) last year, but hopes to wrestle at 220 this season, and is considering wrestling in college.

They said wrestling helps them as linemen — with leverage, for one thing.

“Because in wrestling you don’t want to end up on your back, you don’t want to get thrown, so you want to keep a good forward lean,” Hendren said.

“I’d also say a lot of the handfighting you do in wrestling helps with getting defensive hands away from you,” said Zanetti, who played basketball as a freshman and sophomore.

“And his junior year, he went out for the wrestling team, because he knew it would make him a better lineman,” Shafer said.

Zanetti said he’s been talking to some Division II and III schools, and NAIA schools, about possibly playing next year. Weisel said he’s been talking to some D-III schools.

Gunn said you can’t beat the education you can get at a school like Air Force. He’d like to follow his dad and get into the medical field.

“I want to be a nurse anesthetist,” Gunn said, “and while I’m there, I’m thinking about getting my drone license.”

On Wednesdays, the offensive and defensive linemen get together at one of their houses for a lineman feed. They even invite the quarterbacks.

So they eat on Wednesday nights, and E.A.T. on Friday nights.

“We have had a lot of good offensive lines in our time at CHS and this group of kids wants to live up to the standard that has been left behind by the guys in front of them,” Shafer said. “It is a good group of kids that does everything that is asked of them week in and week out.”