West’s Myles Howell (75) and Addison Hunt (50) against Carson.

Brian Wilhite photo.

 

West’s Max Kalinowski (77). Brian Wilhite photo.

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA— West Rowan senior lineman Addison Hunt is a reminder of all the good things that high school football can do.

Football has changed his life for the better and is opening up a world of possibilities beyond high school.

As a high school sophomore Hunt wasn’t a bad guy, but he wasn’t involved in athletics and he wasn’t overly fond of school.

“I was bigger than most of the guys and friends told me I should be playing football,” Hunt said. “Coaches told me I needed to be playing football, but I’d never played football.”

Eventually friends and coaches won the argument. Hunt showed up for football. They put him on the jayvee team.

“We kind of had to pull Addison out of the hallways to give football a try,” West head coach Louis Kraft said. “Not a model student back then, and he had no football experience. But by the end of his sophomore year, he was starting for us in a playoff game. Then he started attacking the weight room. Then he hit a growth spurt. He added about 30 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior seasons. He is really athletic for a big kid and he has versatility. He’s played guard, tackle and now center, and the ability to snap the football is one of the most overlooked skills in the sport.”

Hunt is the only senior on West’s large, powerful offensive line. He’s not overly vocal, but he has become a leader by example. His effort on the field — and in the classroom — has made him a serious college prospect. Even Hunt, 6-foot-3, 265 pounds, seems amazed by his progression.

“Didn’t play until my sophomore year and now it looks like football will pay for a college education,” Hunt said. “That’s crazy.”

West’s other offensive line leader is junior right tackle Max Kalinowski (6-1, 275), who is also a college prospect but has a back story that is the opposite of his late-blooming buddy’s tale.

Kalinowski probably had a football as his first toy.

Catawba College fans may remember Max’s father, Peter Kalinowski, who played with distinction on the defensive line for four seasons in the early 2000s when the Indians were nationally ranked and a were regulars in the Division II playoffs.

Max’s grandfather, Mike Ayers, was the head football coach at Wofford College in Spartanburg for 30 years (1988-2017). Peter married Courtney Ayers, one of the coach’s daughters, and served as a Wofford assistant coach for a number of years. So Max spent early years in Spartanburg, S.C.

“I grew up on football practice fields, ” Max said.

Young Kalinowski has a cerebral approach to the game and understands the nuances of it, but he also has made himself a physical powerhouse in the weigh room.

“We expected him to be successful this season, but he has exceeded those expectations,” Kraft said. “He’s just road-grading people. He is a dominant force, to say the least.”

West’s other starting offensive linemen are sophomores — left tackle Marcus Bailey, right guard Caleb “Chipper” Jones and left guard Myles Howell. Jones falls into the undersized-but-feisty category, but Bailey is large and Howell is larger.

“Myles is a giant of a human being,” Kraft said. “The calmest, nicest, most respectful guy off the field that you’ll ever want to meet, but when he’s the field, he’s looking to inflict pain. We love where he is at this stage of his career. He and Bailey have gotten so many reps at such a young age that they could become dominant players.”

Clayton Bumgarner is the swing man, the sixth lineman. He can play all three spots. His teammates know they can trust him to handle his assignment no matter where he’s filling in.

“We’ve rolled with those six guys all season,” Kraft said. “Not only on game nights and practices, they’re also the linemen for our scout team offense when we’re running our opponent’s plays so our defense will know what to look for that week.”

“Knock on wood, we’ve stayed healthy,” Kalinowski said. “Our young guys are smart, they’ve learned the plays, they’ve done very well, and none of us mind the extra work. We try to make every rep that we get count, even if it’s a scout team rep. It’s important to come to practice every day with the mindset of working hard and getting after it, and we’ve done that.”

West’s offensive line coach is Tim Pangburn, who won All-State honors blocking for KP Parks and BJ Sherrill in the Falcons’ glory days. From 2008-11, West played in four consecutive 3A state championship games.

“With Coach Pangburn, there are no excuses,” Hinson said. “You don’t ever want to be saying, ‘I don’t know,’ when Coach Pangburn asks a question.”

Kraft said that Pangburn has instilled a “no surrender” mentality in the offensive line. He coaches them hard and has gotten positive results.

“He’s strict,” Kalinowski said. “But it’s been a great experience playing for him. As an offensive lineman, he’s the kind of coach you hope to   play for.”

Hunt and Kalinowski agree that the Central Cabarrus game was the offensive line’s best effort of the season. West rolled 47-14 in that one, moving the ball at will by ground or air.

The running plays are the most fun for Kalinowski. He can be aggressive and get after someone. After making a move from guard to tackle, he’s involved in some devastating double-team blocks.

“Pass protection is harder than run-blocking because all five guys have to try to work together as one,” Kalinowski said. “We had some issues with that early in the season, but we’ve gotten better. We’ve been able to let Brant (Graham) used that baseball arm and push the ball down the field for us.”

Graham has surpassed 3,000 passing yards for his career. Jaylen Neely has surpassed 2,000 rushing yards. Evan Kennedy has surpassed 2,000 rushing yards and 2,000 receiving yards.

Those three stars are normally the guys who make the headlines for the Falcons. They score the touchdowns.

“When I was a freshman I was like, ‘Hey, what about us?'” Kalinowski said. “It did bother me little bit that we weren’t getting any attention. But now I understand that’s how it is at every level of football. As I’ve gotten older, there’s actually satisfaction in not getting credit. The only credit the o-line needs is a team win. We always want to make sure the offensive line was one of the things that went right.”

“We like getting it done behind the scenes,” Hunt added. “We make it all work.”

While West has outstanding skill people, the Falcons (6-4), who have won their last three games by wide margins, won’t win any playoff road games without a major effort from the offensive line.

“We’ve got an offensive line unit that I would say is nasty and I mean that in the best way possible,” Kraft said. “There have been growing pains, but that group has no lack of size and no lack of aggression. Offensive line is the most selfless position there is, not just in football, but in all the sports. You’ve got to be wired a little different mentally to play o-line. You’ve got to understand you will never get much credit. But there’s no question about it, we win because of those guys.”

The Falcons will play Friday in Morganton against the Freedom Patriots (6-4), but the game will be played at Patton High School, about 12 minutes south of Freedom.

Freedom suffered catastrophic flood damage to the football field and the field house during Hurricane Helene.