St. Aloysius had long made the Greenville-St. Joe game an afterthought.

The Flashes were up big and trying to run out the clock with their second and third string, but Greenville-St. Joe continued to score just enough to make things uncomfortable. That’s when coach BJ Smithhart decided to lay down the law and end it once and for all.

But he didn’t put his starting quarterback back in, who has passed and rushed for 1,000 yards this year, or his star running back, who has broken school records for single-season rushing yards and touchdowns.

He reinserted his offensive line.

It was a telling statement, one that proved just how valuable that unit has been to a St. Aloysius team that has dominated in the trenches en route to a state championship berth.

“We’ve got a lot of chemistry. We’ve been together for a lot of years, a lot of us. We know each other fairly well,” starting center Bash Brown said. “It’s a small school so we all see each other around the hallway each day. You get to know the guys.”

Brown, whose brother Ben also plays on the line, has seen his fellow linemen mature from raw talent to a fundamental unit paramount to the Flashes’ 2014 success. The line has paved the way for 4,563 yards on the ground while protecting quarterback Connor Smith as St. Al strolled to a 13-1 record that put it in Friday’s Class 1A championship against archrival Cathedral.

“We all just gel together,” guard Josh Price said. “We play together and we’ve been together for a lot of years. It all just kind of works.”

The most compelling case for the cohesiveness of the line came in a story told by tight end Rett Verhine. The junior played football his ninth grade year but didn’t really feel a passion for it, so he quit the following year. About two weeks before the start of practice this summer, Verhine decided to give the game another shot.

“I decided to play just last second. It took maybe that to gel back with the guys,” he said, snapping his fingers. “I was starting on the line at the beginning of the season. We were able to gel immediately. It was no trouble at all.”

The bond isn’t only helpful inside the locker room either. The guys, most of whom have nicknames for each other that have something to do with being fat, use inside jokes to help call out who to block on the defensive line or what formation to run.

“We’ve just kind of come up with unique little play calls to use during the game,” Ben Brown said. “It’s kind of funny. We always call each other fat as a joke. We use little play calls to use during the game to confuse other teams.”

Coach BJ Smithhart called the entirety of this year’s offensive line the best he’s ever coached at St. Al, and said he’ll look back on this season with fondness for what they’ve accomplished in their years in the purple and gold.

“I think that’s something you’ll look back at when it’s all said and done and realize how special they were as a unit,” Smithhart said. “Four years ago we made a commitment to kind of grow up with these fellows and it’s worked out well.”

Class 1A championship

St. Aloysius vs. Cathedral

When: 11 a.m. Friday

Where: Davis Wade Stadium, Mississippi State University

Tickets: $13, includes admission to Friday’s Class 2A and 6A championship games

Radio: 101.3 FM

TV: WLOO-TV (Vicksburg Video Channel 11)

Online: For live scoring updates, follow the Vicksburg Post on Twitter twitter.com/vixpostsports