Preps

Kicker can give team a leg up

Having a player who can make long field goals gives a coach more offensive options.

Facing fourth-and-8 from the opponents' 34-yard line and with the game hanging in the balance late, Central coach John Wilkinson did not hesitate to put his placekicker on the field.

In a similar situation about 15 yards closer to the end zone, that option was unavailable to Hernando coach Bill Browning. His team had to pass, even on second- and third-and-goal from the 19 while down three points with less than 20 seconds left.

Two opportunities for a kicker to make a difference with a field goal, yet only one team took the chance.

At the high school level, kicking can be one of the more maddening or advantageous parts of the game, depending on who is on the sideline. This season's county teams run the gamut in kicking expertise.

Central has Mike Hibbert, an All-Suncoast second-team selection at Springstead last season. After missing from 38 and 51 yards Monday against Citrus, Wilkinson had faith, letting Hibbert try a 50-yarder with the Bears down by three in the fourth quarter.

He delivered, tying the score.

"It's a big advantage," Wilkinson said. "I don't have any hesitations whatsoever putting him in there. We'll do it every single time we get there."

Browning, on the other hand, calls any attempt over 30 yards "iffy" for senior kicker Heath Hensley. While reliable on extra points and other chip-shot distances, Hensley is untested from farther away.

Down 10-7 to Springstead last week on the Leopards' final drive, Browning continued to run his offense rather than attempt a kick.

"The reality of it is we have to punch it in," Browning said. "Our offense has to finish a drive."

Springstead is in better shape with junior Justin DeMutiis, who kicked for the junior varsity last season and has the leg to kick from Hibbert-like distances. His accuracy was off against Hernando with misses from 29 and 41 yards, but neither shook coach Bill Vonada's confidence in DeMutiis, who has hit 57-yarders in practice.

Vonada called it "very unusual" to have kickers the caliber of Hibbert and DeMutiis in consecutive seasons, and he has another on the way in ninth grader Josh Magrini.

Most schools are not as fortunate. Usually the fate of the kicking game rests on another sport, soccer. Wilkinson said if a school has a decent soccer program, a good kicker can be recruited, but when he was at New Smyrna Beach he still would have to approach them first.

"I don't know how many kids are brought up from an early age wanting to kick," Wilkinson said.

Hibbert understands, even as the county's top kicker.

"It's a little bit different from soccer; you have to get it in between something," Hibbert said. "In soccer you can just play it to an open space and someone can run to it.

"I think it's pretty hard, to tell you the truth."

And harder on coaches. Browning keeps tabs on the Leopards soccer team during the winter and notes that as Brooksville-area youth soccer leagues continue to improve, so may future kicking candidates. But he doesn't hold his breath.

"It probably frustrated me more years ago, now it's something I've kind of got used to," said Browning of the kicking carousel.

"A kid like Hibbert, I don't know if they'll find one as good as him (again)."

- Staff writer Frank Pastor contributed to this story.

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