(Editor’s Note: In these times of sporting uncertainty, we are re-running some classic columns from the vault of the sports department at the Recorder. Former scribe and editor Jason Butynski wrote his “Jaywalking” column for over a decade until leaving the department to take a job in the Greenfield schools last year. This “Jaywalking” appeared in the December 21, 2010, edition of the Recorder.)
There might not be a more interesting player in any sport than the kicker in football. Adam Sandler wrote a song about the position called “The Lonesome Kicker,” and in the Jim Carrey movie “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective” the villain is a scorned kicker that is out to kidnap quarterback Dan Marino because Marino didn’t hold the ball correctly, causing him to miss an important field goal.
But the position doesn’t just get made fun of by comedians. Parents were naming their children after former Patriot kicker Adam Vinatieri for the clutch kicks he made back in 2001, while Buffalo Bills’ fans still think of former kicker Scott Norwood the same way Red Sox fans view Bill Buckner after Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal at the end of Super Bowl XXV that gave the Giants a 20-19 win and still remains the only Super Bowl ever to be decided by one point.
Last month, a kicker was in the headlines after Boise State saw its chances of playing in a BCS bowl game go down the drain when kicker Kyle Brotzman missed a pair of short field goals at the end of a game against Nevada. The first, a 26-yarder with no time left that would have won the game in regulation, the second, a 29-yarder in overtime that gave Nevada a chance to win it, which it did — with a field goal.
Being a kicker is certainly no easy gig, that’s no secret. You can be loved once in a while for making a big kick, but typically you are remembered more for the kicks you miss. But just how hard is it to make the kicks? I decided to give it a try myself and learn from one of the best high school kickers in Franklin County.
I drove out to Mahar Regional School on Monday afternoon to meet with Andy O’Loughlin, the Senators’ kicker of the last two years. O’Loughlin, a senior, won the kicking job three years ago, but has done just the extra-point kicking the past two seasons. He said that Mahar coach Jim Woodward holds tryouts each season for the extra point, kickoff and punting duties and he wanted to give kicking a shot after having played soccer when he was younger. He won the job and took it so seriously that he even attended some kicking camps in Hingham over the summer to try to improve.
It has paid off for him, too. While the Senators have not tried a field goal during his time with the team, O’Loughlin has been solid at making extra points the last couple of years. The senior had himself a very nice final season, going 38-for-45 on extra point attempts, with five blocked kicks and only two misses.
I arrived in Orange around noon on the blustery day, the wind blowing steadily much of the time we were there. O’Loughlin brought two people with him for our little experiment. Senior Parker Russell, who was the Senators’ fullback this season, was on hand to give kicking a try, as was Ben Hause, a current senior at Bridgewater State College, who handled the kicking duties for Mahar when he was on the team.
We began with a quick lesson from O’Loughlin. After setting the ball on the “block,” which is a small black thing that high school kickers are allowed to set the ball on to kick field goals and extra points off of, O’Loughlin took two steps back and then two small steps to the side to ready himself. The only lefty kicker of the four of us then took two steps and booted the ball. O’Loughlin then showed me where he hits the ball on his foot, which surprised me. The kicker turns his foot sideways and hits it on the inside of his foot, while Hause hits it more on the top of his foot, the way a soccer player does, and the way that I was most comfortable kicking. Russell, kicking like you would imagine a fullback to kick, toed the ball. It gave us the chance to see three different styles.
My first couple attempts at hitting an extra point (we were standing at the 10 yard-line, meaning the goalposts were 20 yards away after you figure in the extra 10 yards for the length of the end zone) were not great. My first kick was plenty far, but missed wide left, while the next two (I tried hitting it with the inside of my foot) were ugly. Finally, I switched back to kicking it like a soccer ball (hitting it off the top of my foot) and blasted one through the middle of the uprights. Hause followed suit with a perfect kick, and Russell finished with a perfect toe ball through.
We decided to move back to the 20-yard line, setting up a 30-yarder or roughly the equivalent of the distance that Brotzman missed from in the Boise State-Nevada game. Now, as with all of these attempts, we were kicking off a block and there was no one rushing us, but the 30-yarder proved to be an easy one for all of us. I hit mine on my first try, blasting it perfectly down the middle. Russell also toed home his first try, while O’Loughlin and Hause each hit on their second try.
So, after our brief stop at the 20, we moved back to the 30 for our attempts at 40 yards, which seems to be the point that kicks in the college and pros go from “almost automatic” to “wait and see what happens.”
Think about it: if you’re watching your favorite team and the opponent comes on to kick a field goal, anything inside the 40 and you usually chalk up the three points before the kick, while outside the 40 is worth watching. We proved that 40 is not easy, especially when the wind is blowing in your face. None of us could hit from the distance, each of us taking three or four attempts. My third attempt was so ugly that Hause even compared the kick (which was short and very wide right) to Charles Barkley trying to hit a golf ball.
We moved up to the 25 (for shots at a 35-yarder) and each of us made it easily (mine just got inside the right post on my first try), so we decided to head back to the other end for a shot at a 40-yarder with the wind now at our backs. It proved to be a good decision, as O’Loughlin and I both hit our first tries. Hause hit his second, and Russell’s toe ball came up just short.
Finally, we tried from 45, or roughly the equivalent of Norwood’s miss in the Super Bowl. When you are standing at the 35, looking at the posts 45 yards away, it is definitely a scary sight. I tried just once and fell well short, while O’Loughlin hit it on his first try, dead down the center, with a foot or two to spare.
After a little over an hour of kicking field goals, our little competition ended. O’Loughlin hit from the furthest away, giving him the distance crown, although all four of us did pretty well. At least now I can understand how a kicker can miss from 47 yards with the game on the line.
On second thought, no I can’t. Sorry, Mr. Norwood.
Jason Butynski is a Greenfield native who wrote for the Recorder from 2006-2019. His Jaywalking column appeared every Tuesday. He was the co-host of the award-winning Facebook Live show, ‘The Fumble,’ from 2017-18.