For the Napa High offensive line and blocking fullbacks, pancakes on a Monday afternoon have nothing to do with leftover breakfast.

It means the Indians’ unsung heroes dominated the Friday night before, blocking defenders so correctly that the opponents lay flat on the gridiron afterward.

While the final score might indicate that Napa struggled against Folsom in last week’s 45-42 victory, the offensive line happened to pile up a season-high 21 pancakes.

How do you get a pancake?

“You just gotta fire off, go right when the ball’s snapped, stay low and just drive. The guy lands on his back and then you lay on top of him,” explained 6-foot-4, 240-pound Napa center CJ Blom, who led the way with eight in the game, the most by any Indians lineman all season. “They couldn’t stop us so they kept rotating in guys, and I pancaked three or four different ones.”

Did he say anything to any of the victims as they lay there?

“No,” he said. “Our offensive linemen are pretty quiet guys. We let our pads do the talking.”

Then they chow down on freshly made flapjacks made by Karin Hatton, wife of defensive line coach Steve Hatton, after practicing and watching game film on Monday afternoon.

Even guys as big as Blom, tackles Max Wagenknecht (6-foot-2, 280 pounds) and Charlie Schumacher (6-2, 255), guards David Smith (6-1, 255) and Justin Ruffino (5-11, 228), and tight ends Daniel Burgess (6-3, 220) and Michael Ruffino (6-0, 210) can’t eat eight pancakes each. They either share them or sell them, as Blom said he did after eating three.

“The other kids were hungry after practice, so I sold my extra ones for $1 a pancake,” he said. “I made $5.”

“If two guys block one guy, which happens a lot because we generally double-team at the point of attack, both linemen get pancakes,” Napa offensive line coach Bob Herlocker said. “We do a lot of little things for them, as far as incentives.”

One incentive that this particular group takes pride in — because most of them have GPAs of 4.0 or higher — is getting letter grades on their blocking performances.

Justin Ruffino said his favorite game was a 50-35 win over Vacaville that clinched the Indians’ second straight Monticello Empire League title. The line got high grades as the offense had a season high for points.

“Our grades for the Vacaville game, and last week were, all A’s or high B-pluses,” he said. “I liked the Vacaville game because we played together as a group.”

The ultimate payoff, of course, was the first-round playoff victory, which advanced the Indians (10-1 overall) into Friday night’s quarterfinal against Laguna Creek (8-3 overall) at Napa Memorial Stadium.

Block party

Most fans might not notice who stars on the offensive line, but the rest of the team sees who is rewarded on Mondays. That’s enough for this tight bunch of seniors who pave the way for the Indians’ ball carriers and passers, who consider fullbacks Conor Trombetta, Scott Dinov and Justin Dowdle to be part of their group.

Trombetta has just 14 carries for 66 yards and one touchdown; Dowdle has six totes for 20 yards; and Dinov had 27 carries for 216 yards in the first five games but only one carry since — hardly enough to get youngsters to line up for their autographs. But they are often leading Logan Hess and Charles Boyett through holes.

“I always see them as an extra offensive linemen,” Wagenknecht said. “Conor hardly even touches the ball. He just goes out there every play and works hard like us.”

“They’re just linemen with jersey numbers in the 20s or 30s,” Herlocker said of the fullbacks. “Their forte is getting in there and knocking people down.”

Indians head coach Troy Mott said Herlocker and assistant coach Andrew Hall have done a good job making the group a cohesive bunch, though he added that the group make the coaches’ jobs easier with their intelligence.

“When you get to the level where the kids have kind of empowered themselves to where they can see things and make little adjustments by themselves without having to be coached, it’s the greatest compliment you can give a coach,” said Mott, who is also the team’s offensive coordinator. “There’s no doubt they’re a big reason for the success of our football team.”

Wide receivers Brandon Washington and Ben Ballantine have combined for 33 of quarterback Clinton Gorsuch’s 50 completions, but spend most of each game blocking for the running game as well.

“Our wide receivers don’t just catch the ball, and they take a lot of pride in that,” Herlocker said.

Burgess has had only six passes thrown to him but averages a team-high 29 yards a catch. He received an impressive 88.83 SPARQ Rating at the Nike Combine in Oakland and said he hopes to land a Div. I scholarship.

“I trained for four weeks for the combine,” he said. “It had endurance running, weight lifting, pretty much everything, and it paid off in the end.

“I’m talking to Washington State about a potential scholarship. Over the summer, me and Brandon Washington went to a three-day Washington State football camp because we’re both looking to go there.”

Bring on the Cards

Laguna Creek has been known for its defensive line this year, but Blom is confident his unit can handle the Cardinals.

“I think it will be the best (defensive line) we’ve faced this year, but I think our offensive line will be the best they’ve seen this year,” Blom said. “Coach (Herlocker) says we need to have our best game of the year.”

Burgess expressed a little more of a cautious attitude.

“They’re not a team we’re just going to roll over and go on to the next week,” he said. “We’re going to have to fight this week, and it starts right now in practice. We usually let teams score first and we’ll adjust and come out on top. That’s something we’re probably going to end up doing again.”

Justin Ruffino said most of the linemen have lived in Browns Valley all their lives have become like brothers.

“We all love each other and we all play for each other on every down,” he said. “We know that till the last play of that game that we have to give 100 percent until (defenders) don’t want to play as hard. Coach (Paul) Gassner is a great conditioning coach. We hit the weight room all year long and the combination of how smart and strong and conditioned we are makes us a hard line to go against.”

Wagenknecht said it’s been fun being the leaders of a team that’s going for its second consecutive section title.

“This year we’ve got another great group of guys and it’s just a different experience,” he said. “We’ve had to step up and, with a sort of a young backfield, be the leaders of the team on the offensive line and set the tone for the game.”

Justin Ruffino

Favorite athlete: Larry Allen, former Vintage High and San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle

Favorite food: Ravioli malfotti, a family recipe

College major plans: Business

CJ Blom

Favorite athlete: Kobe Bryant and Michael Phelps

Favorite foods: Ribs and homemade mashed potatoes

College major plans: Chemistry

Max Wagenknecht

Favorite athlete: Joe Montana

Favorite meal: A big ole’ juicy steak and mashed potatoes

College major plans: Environmental science

Daniel Burgess

Favorite athlete: Jake Croxdale. “His love and passion for the game drove me to want to play harder my senior year.”

Favorite food: Egg and bacon sandwich

College major plans: Undecided.