For a moment, Andrean seniors James Metro and John LaMere are next to each other.
By Friday night, though, there’s no telling where these two legacy athletes will line up when the 59ers play visiting Adams Central in a Class 2A semistate on Friday.
“Our offensive line just goes everywhere,” LaMere said.
Sometimes that’s according to plan, sometimes that’s out of necessity, but Andrean’s offensive line has been an ever-changing group since the beginning of the season.
The 59ers (9-4) stunned previously unbeaten Lafayette Central Catholic, the top-ranked team in all the 2A polls, in the regional championship game last week by rushing for 211 yards, likely led by a much different quintet of linemen than the original five that coach Chris Skinner expected.
“I bet that, in our first eight games, we didn’t have the same combination of linemen in consecutive weeks,” Skinner said. “It’s obviously not ideal. But in a way, it’s made us more versatile because we’ve played guys all over.”
LaMere, a 5-foot-10, 185-pounder, is usually the center but has spent some time at tackle, fulfilling his goal to be on the field, no matter the position.
“I played center last year, but I really didn’t know where I was going to play this year,” LaMere said. “I just made a commitment to myself that I was going to start somewhere on the offensive line.”
That came to fruition in part because LaMere has been available for every game.
“I don’t think there’s been one offensive lineman who’s been healthy the whole year — except for John LaMere,” Skinner said.
That includes the 5-10 Metro, who said he bulked up to 210 pounds in the offseason after playing at 170 last year. He missed the first five weeks of the season after swelling was discovered on his spine.
“I played the whole summer with that injury lingering,” Metro said. “But it finally came to a point where I just wanted to back off so that it didn’t become serious.”
Metro’s return came right around the time that 6-6, 320-pound junior tackle Ben Novak — who announced his commitment to Wisconsin in October — missed three games with an injury, continuing the revolving door on the offensive line.
Metro said his position can change in the middle of a game.
“Last week, I switched from right to left tackle midgame, and I knew what to do because we put so much time into that,” he said. “In practice, we go everywhere, so when you get into the games, you know what to do everywhere.”
Metro and LaMere don’t share only a position group. Each is part of a multigenerational family legacy at Andrean. Metro’s father, Jim, played for Andrean in the 1980s. The Andrean alumni in LaMere’s family include his cousin Duke, a 2005 graduate and current assistant.
Given those family ties, LaMere said he and Metro have a similarly strong desire to leave imprints on the program’s history books.
“A couple of weeks ago, our coaches were talking about how, if we became sectional champions, we’d be sectional champions forever,” LaMere said. “And we talked about cementing ourselves in Andrean’s history.”
The 59ers have since added a regional title to the concrete still being poured to cement this team’s place in history. Semistate, where No. 4 Adams Central (11-1) awaits, is next.
“I don’t think anybody on this team cares about anything more than winning this Friday,” Metro said. “I can’t wait.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
