ABBEVILLE — The secret behind Abbeville’s punishing offensive line is not easily found by scanning the roster for experience, or by examining the scale in the weight room.

Sure, the Panthers have one of the biggest units they’ve had in recent memory with the five starters averaging 5-foot-10 and 245 pounds.

But right guard D’Aaron Morton and tight end James Power are the only seniors among the six starters.

But the Panthers have rushed for 3,808 yards including 1,793 from junior fullback Dureal Elmore, a school record. Elmore also has scored 20 touchdowns. The Panthers have said they’ve done it because of familiarity and trust with each other.

“We’ve been playing together all of our life,” Morton said. “You care about the man beside you. We trust Dureal to hit the hole, he trusts us to make the block.”

Morton made a key block last week in Elmore’s 63-yard touchdown run, a game-changing play in Abbeville’s 35-27 win over Mid-Carolina. But Morton deflected the praise Elmore gave him after the game, instead pointing to the line as a unit, which allowed Elmore the gaping hole.

Coach Jamie Nickles said that team-first attitude, beyond the unit’s sheer size, is the reason the Panthers have bought into the tried and true A-bone offense.

“Those guys really care a lot about each other,” Nickles said. “They care absolutely nothing about the glory.”

It was Elmore who joined the track team in the spring to improve his speed and quickness, which helps him on runs like the 63-yarder to get past defensive backs.

Elmore’s workout regimen has become legendary, from taking summer breaks only so coaches could come by and cut the grass, to using things like parachutes, the kind of tools reserved for higher levels.

That helped him drop 11 pounds off of his 5-10 frame, from 216 to 205 pounds.

Teammates joke that Elmore’s focus keeps him from smiling unless they needle him about the weight loss.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Elmore said of the weight loss. “It just happened.”

“And he wears it well,” sophomore center Trey McAlister said.

After absorbing the teammates’ jokes, Elmore cracked a sheepish smile.

“That might have been the first smile in two weeks,” said Morton, who was immediately confirmed by Power.

The weight aside, his linemen said he hasn’t lost any of the power that elevated him to be the feature back and team leader following the graduation of 4,000-yard career rusher Toquavius Gilchrist last year.

“He’s the same old Duke,” Morton said. “He still runs hard, nothing’s going to stop him, especially not one tackle. Hardest working player I’ve ever seen.”

With a year left in his career, not to mention what’s left of this season starting with a third-round visit from Woodruff tonight, Elmore is being mentioned next to Abbeville legend Leomont Evans. Evans, of course, went on to play at Clemson and in the NFL.

And Elmore’s work ethic and occasional smile not only rub off on teammates.

“He just works so hard,” Nickles said. “He’s a good guy to have in your program because he’s so likable. Everybody likes him. Heck, I wouldn’t mind blocking for him.”