SENIOR LINEMEN READY TO LEAD THE WAY

Since the 2021 football season ended in Searcy, three to-be senior linemen have dedicated themselves to the weight room.

The three – Johnny Barnes, Chase Plymale, and Brett Welling – expected to be part of a weightlifting team that could win a state title in Lake Hamilton on May 7.

“We wanted to have a chance to win a state championship in weightlifting and football,” said Welling.

“It’s our senior year,” said Plymale of the need to concentrate on weights.

“We wanted to get as strong as possible and set as many records as we could,” said Barnes.

Plymale and Barnes have done that. Plymale mustered a 275 squat as a sophomore. He’s at a school record 550 now. Barnes jumped from 185 to 315 on incline since he was a sophomore.

Rather than the culmination of months of work, the three were instead the only members of the weightlifting team to make their way to Lake Hamilton because the Bearcat baseball team had a Class 3A Region 1 tournament game in Greenland that afternoon.

Accustomed to the background, as linemen often are, the trio went anyway to compete in their individual classes with no shot at a title.

Barnes thinks if all squad members had been available, a sixth title in the sport was there to be had.

To prepare for the meet/2022 season, the three were in the weight room about 6:15 to get in workouts before class.

“And a lot of times during Christmas break and stuff, whenever we could – you miss and (strength) goes away,” said Barnes.

A lot of coaches will tell you games are won in the weight room, and specifically in the offseason. Barnes agrees.

“It’s a lot harder to get stronger during the summer when you’re doing football and working out so we had to focus a lot during the winter,” said Barnes.

During the last two days of spring practice line coach Jacob Hattabaugh warned all linemen that jobs were there to be had and he expected all of them to be busting their behinds every play, every rep.

All three said they took the warning to heart.

“I’m afraid of making them mad, because I don’t want them to be mad,” Barnes said.

“We do our jobs most of the time,” said Plymale.

Consequently, all three are nonetheless prepared and expect to be two-way regulars.

A DT/G Welling has done that since moving to the line from fullback in junior high. Barnes, who has played every position on the offensive line except center and is also a defensive tackle, has likewise seen plenty of battles from both sides of the football.

Plymale had typically been a defensive lineman, but began to work on both sides of the trench in the later stages of last season, working at guard of offense and taking his turn manning a defensive tackle spot.

On a roster that is largely seniors and sophomores, Plymale, Welling, and Barnes welcome the leadership role that comes with being a senior, especially in regards to up-and-coming linemen, who they will get after for not performing as expected in the classroom or on the field.

“If they don’t do what they’re supposed to,” Plymale said.

For Barnes that actually extends to a to-be seventh grader with whom he shares a name and a residence.

“He’s likely to be the better of the two of us,” Barnes said of his brother, Hunter. “He’s already 5’ 9” and 225 pounds.”

Welling, Barnes, and Plymale also expect a lot of themselves, which include Matt O’Bar, Cameron Osborne, and others who have are among the brotherhood of linemen.

“Our line is going to have to take us a long way this year,” said Welling.

“But we’ve got really good linebackers too,” Plymale adds.

This is likely the last season for the three. If presented an opportunity to play on the next level Barnes would take it – he’s attending camps at Ouachita and Harding – otherwise it’s student life in pursuit of becoming a doctor.

Plymale says it will take football to get him to a college campus and Welling is set on welding college.

Away from football the three’s interests are varied. Plymale can be found in the advanced band as a baritone while you’ll find Welling in the FFA area, likely with a welder, or perhaps on a golf course.

Barnes and Welling can be found with a shotgun taking aim at clay targets for the shooting sports team.