CHEYENNE – Injuries forced Cheyenne East to put a patchwork offensive line on the field during the Class 4A playoffs last season.

Only three regular starters were available when the Thunderbirds lost to Thunder Basin during the 2019 semifinals. Only one player from that group – senior center Dakota Heckman – is back as a starter this fall.

Senior Josiah Aragon missed last season’s playoff run because of an injury, but is back at right tackle. Seniors Nathan Lamm (left tackle), Logan Kusler (left guard) and senior Bradley Whitright (right guard) round out the starting lineup.

Whitright is the only East lineman that plays on both sides of the football. Julian Vigil and Trey Bower stepped into starting roles for the playoffs, but the T-Birds coaches thought this year’s team was better served with them focusing on defense.

With three new starters, East’s line got off to a shaky start during a season-opening loss at Thunder Basin. It has since developed into a strength that helped the T-Birds win 10 consecutive games and advance to the 4A state championship game.

East (10-1) hosts Thunder Basin (9-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Okie Blanchard Stadium.

“Those guys have been around each other all year, and they have grown to understand their assignments,” East coach Chad Goff said. “They communicate well with each other, they pick up twists and blitzes, and are giving Graedyn (Buell) a lot of time to throw the ball.

“As a unit, they’ve come to understand and trust the guy next to them and improved with their footwork.”

Entering last week’s semifinal victory, East led 4A in passing offense (291 ypg), total offense (452 ypg) and scoring offense (39.9 points per game).

The T-Birds knew they had the ingredients for a potent offense. They met those expectations, but it wasn’t easy.

“I felt a lot of pressure, because I knew how good this offense could be,” Lamm said. “When we lost to Thunder Basin in our first game, we had some things to figure out.

“We’ve gotten progressively better every week, and have stayed consistently good.”

Communication was the biggest area where East’s offensive line improved, Heckman said. While the T-Birds’ linemen generally did a good job of helping on twists and picking up blitzes, they weren’t letting each other know those responsibilities were covered.

“Every now and then, you’d have a guy come through unblocked because we just expected our teammates to see it that he was coming,” Heckman said. “We needed to communicate that. If we saw a tendency like they were leaning up on their toes like they were going to blitz, we started calling it out.

“We did a really good job of that after the first time we played Sheridan. All of us started playing scout team so we could go up against our defense, and that really helped.”

Goff is a former center, and he appreciates the way Heckman took charge earlier this season.

“He played every down last season, so he does a great job of seeing things and understanding what’s going on,” Goff said. “This line is good about making calls and putting itself in better positions, but (Heckman) is the key to that.”

Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.