Why Mars football’s offensive line scoffs at being ‘the big, fat guys’ in high-powered offense
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Mars football conducts heat acclimation practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars football head coach Eric Kasperowicz talks to a player during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Ethan Kresinski participates in drills during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Colin Yurisinec passes the ball during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Ayden Yocum does footwork drills during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Ethan Kresinski takes a water break during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Gabe Hein works on catching during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Jameson Garvin tracks his man during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Luciano Cuzzocrea of Mars' tries to make a play on defense during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars offensive coordinator, Andrew Rossi, works with the offensive line during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Adam Budzelik competes during a drill at football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Dom DeBasi kicks a field goal during football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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Mars' Maddox Schumann catches a pass during receiver drills at football practice Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, at Mars Athletic Complex. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle
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(L-R) Mars’ Ethan Kresinski, Ayden Yocum, and Zach Dentel during the Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Butler Eagle sport’s writer Brendan Howe talks with Mars’ assistant football coach Ed Malinowski during the Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Zach Dentel shoots hoops during some down time at the Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Ethan Kresinski shoots hoops during some down time at the Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Zach Dentel during Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Zach Dentel during Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Ethan Kresinski during Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Ethan Kresinski during Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Ayden Yocum during Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Mars’ Ayden Yocum during Butler Eagle Football Media Day on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
There’s a football stereotype about the players wearing the blocky jersey numbers.
“People think we’re just the big, fat guys,” said Mars right guard Jonnie Maestra, a junior and second-year starter on the Planets’ offensive line.
The tight-knit five guys in the trenches are assigned the dirty work. They ram into opponents just as large in tight quarters for 48 minutes, yet they hardly ever hear their names mentioned by the public address announcer. Or see them in print.
Receiver Gabe Hein and tailback Ayden Yocum will get most of the credit for any of Mars’ success this season, but being a lineman requires plenty of athleticism, too.
“You put your body in the most unnatural positions. No other person starts down in a stance,” senior left tackle Sean Franklin said. “You have to train yourself to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”
“Haters gonna hate,” junior Jameson Dickman said. “People underestimate linemen so much. It’s absurd.”
Dickman, who adores Marvel comics and identifies with Juggernaut, slides in at right tackle as the only guy who didn’t start last year. Franklin and fellow senior Adam Budzilek will start at center and left tackle, respectively, as third-year mainstays. The same goes for Colton Ewing at left guard. Maestra, the right guard, is a second-year starter.
“You just got to go into it and accept that you’re not going to be the highlight of the game like all the skill guys,” Budzilek said. “You’ve just got to understand that you’ve got to be a part of it, be a team player more than for yourself. ... I wouldn’t want to play anything else.”
So Budzilek wouldn’t want a carry or two?
“Oh my God, no. I want the ball,” Budzilek said. “I ask my coaches all the time to give me a run play — on the 1-yard line. ... I’m getting in that end zone. (If) they give me the ball, I’m scoring.”
The Planets have a play where Ewing splits out to receiver, but the ball doesn’t typically come his way.
“I always say, ‘I’m open, pass me the ball,’” Ewing said. “I’m always ready.”
Ewing and Maestra are comforted by the fact their peers recognize their value. Budzilek argues linemen are the most athletic players on the field. Mars coach Eric Kasperowicz’s up-tempo attack is powered by those on the front lines.
It’s not as simple as it sounds.
“O-linemen have to be smart. They can’t just be big dummies that go run into people,” said Franklin, who’s never had a B or lower on a report card. “No, you have to know where the ball is going. You have to know which way to block your guy. You have to know if someone is helping, if it’s a double team. You have to know what every other person on the O-line is doing, too, so you’re all on the same page.”
It’s not as bad as it sounds.
“It’s fun,” said Budzilek, who moonlights as an admittedly average golfer. “People assume being a lineman’s horrible, (like) you don’t get any attention, you just get your head smashed in for four quarters. But no, it’s fun.”
Ewing, a chemistry wiz who plans on becoming a pharmacist, daydreams about pancakes, “just absolutely destroying the guy in front of you, sending him back 10 yards and then jumping on top of him,” he said.
He might enjoy watching Franklin, who tips the scale near 300 pounds and has a Division I offer from Miami (Ohio), steamroll an opponent even more.
“He just gets in the air and lands on them,” Ewing said. “He saves getting airborne for the game.”
“Landing on top of them is like the reward,” Franklin said. “If you get them on the ground ... you want to jump on them and lay on top of them.
“Our coaches have basically told us, if we get a penalty for physically manhandling a dude too much, that they won’t be upset with us.”
Maestra, who’s never played anywhere but in the trenches, has always been a self-described “pretty big boy.” He assumes he won’t ever get a carry or reception.
“I’ve never actually brought it up, because I know the answer is ‘No,’” Maestra said. “Maybe I should.”
After admitting he’s far down the list of Mars’ offensive weapons, he paused.
“Man, it would be fun to punch one in on the 1-yard line,” he said.
