The offense line is a large part of any football team’s success. Especially left tackle, the position that protects the quarterback’s blind side. This season the Tigers finally have a beast at left tackle in senior Tyler Garside.

“He's really grown into his body,” said Tiverton head coach Dillon Sheridan. “He is experienced and has really improved his footwork over the years, which makes him dangerous and easy to run behind.”

It showed in Division IV Tiverton’s 7-7 tie with Middletown in the team’s injury fund game at Portsmouth Thursday night. Tiverton's senior-laden offensive line showed they could play with  the Division II Mariners. 

“The kids are starting to realize what you can do, offensively, when you have a strong offensive line," Coach Sheridan said. "We saw some of it during the Middletown game. It looked really right. It was a heated game and we played well.”

The offensive line had been one of the team's biggest weaknesses during Coach Sheridan's tenure, but this season he has a senior-heavy line with plenty of experience and depth. The offensive line consists of Garside and seniors Danny Correira at left guard, Sal Ross at center, Alex Monkevicz at right guard and Donovan Thayer at right tackle. Subbing in are Hayden Aguirre and Nate Garside.

The team’s biggest play against Middletown came in the second half, when senior quarterback Austin Silvia slung a pass to senior wide receiver Brendan Sowa running a post pattern. Silvia had plenty of time to throw a strike to Sowa, who took it to the house for a 31-yard touchdown. The receiver is also the team’s kicker, and he made the extra point to knot the score at 7-7.

"It was a fun game. We looked sound, offensively," he said. 

Troia and Silvia at quarterback

Coach Sheridan will play both Silvia and Ben Troia at quarterback this season, as they prepare to play their first game at Hope Saturday.

“They each have different strengths,” Sheridan said. “We’ll use each quarterback based on their athleticism and how it fits the offensive plan based on the opponent’s defense that week.

“Ben has been doing this since freshman year. He knows our offense. He’s fast, has strong legs and makes good reads. The kids rally behind him too.”

Silvia is more of a pocket passer with some ability to run, he said.

“Austin's a little bit taller, he's got a big arm. We are hopefully going to take advantage of both.”

Silvia and his brother David are new players, having moved down from New Hampshire this year.

Both players will play defensive end on the D-line.

“They’ll be our bread and butter for the defensive line,” the coach said. “David's the anchor and Austin is at weak side.”

Strength at all positions

Senior Aiden Champ is the Tigers’ power running back and the speedy Evan Lapointe will be more of a finesse runner for the team. Junior Luke Holt is also in the mix.

“Aiden’s a smash mouth player. Evan will hit a hole and dance around and make players miss.”

Joining Sowa at wide receiver are Malcolm Michaud, Sam Black and Brendon King. At tight end are Roman Fauci, Wayne Hellborn, David Silvia and Ben Black.

This season is the first time Coach Sheridan has had oodles of depth on offense. He’ll have the ability to do more with the play book and pick and choose different players based on their ability and fit in the system.

They even have a solid kicker in Sowa, who nearly kicked a 35-yard field goal during the injury fund game.

“He’s awesome,” coach Sheridan said.

For kick-offs, he can kick deep and pin team’s back. And he’s solid at extra-points and has a range between 30-35 yards for field goals, he said.