ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — In the NFL and college, field-goal attempts are common. A team drives deep into the opposing team’s territory and will go for a field goal if the march stalls, because the distance for the first down or end zone is unfavorable.
But in high school, it’s very rare to see field-goal attempts.
The question remains: Why aren’t teams going for more field-goal attempts?
As the season kicks off – no pun intended – several area coaches expressed their viewpoints on field-goal kicking.
A team might second-guess the decision to forgo a field-goal attempt, particularly if it can decide the outcome of a game.
Take Irvington High School. Last season, the fourth-seeded Irvington Blue Knights fell to top-seeded Roxbury, 15-12, in the semifinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 state playoffs. The Blue Knights, trailing by three, drove to the Roxbury 18-yard line with 1:43 left in regulation and faced fourth down-and-3. An illegal substitution penalty against Irvington moved the ball to the 23-yard line, making it fourth-and-8. A 40-yard field-goal attempt is no piece of cake, but the odds of converting a fourth down-and-8 aren’t favorable, either. Then-IHS head coach Ashley “Smoke” Pierre elected to go for the first down. The Blue Knights didn’t get the first down and ended up losing the game, ending the season 6-5.
In an interview on Aug. 19, Irvington first-year head coach Marco Soto said he believes Pierre would have gone for the field-goal attempt in hindsight.
“If you ask coach ‘Smoke’ now, we’re kicking the field goal and (IHS kicker) Alex (Namfrack) was good from there,” said Soto. “We thought we had (Roxbury), so it’s unfortunate. If we decide to kick last year on that final play, I think we win the states. But it is what it is.”
Namfrack is back for his senior season with the Blue Knights.
Getting good kickers can be all about enticing players who know how to kick a ball, especially soccer players. Soto pointed out that a soccer team has a roster of 30 or more players, yet only 11 or so get to play in a game. According to Soto, why not get a soccer player to come out for football, since they won’t get much playing time on a soccer team?
“I feel we should reach out to some of the kids who aren’t going to play soccer and have them kick a football,” said Soto.
But it’s not just about the place-kicker. Soto said it’s not easy to find someone who is proficient at long-snapping.
“Getting a kicker is not a problem,” Soto said. “If we can find a long-snapper, I think we will be fine.”
A successful field goal proved pivotal during Irvington’s march to the NJSIAA’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 and NJSIAA’s North Jersey, Group 4 regional titles in 2021. In the first round against No. 8 seed Linden, the top-seeded Blue Knights trailed 6-0 before getting on the scoreboard on a Anthony Ellis’ field goal with six seconds left in the half. The Blue Knights won the game on a touchdown pass with 2:13 left in the game, avoiding the big upset.
Some schools have had success with kickers, such as Columbia, Bloomfield and Seton Hall Prep.
Henry Aaron, who graduated in June, was an All–Super Football Conference and All-Essex County kicker for the Columbia Cougars. In his sophomore year, he kicked the game-winning field goal against Bloomfield. The next year, he showed his kicking prowess again against Bloomfield, as he booted two field goals in a 13-3 win.
Columbia head coach Gary Mobley said Columbia’s history proves that it values kicking.
“That speaks to us putting that time in and to have some guys who have some foot talent and are willing to go on their own and seek some outside coaching,” Mobley said. “It’s a thing that we are very proud of and proud of our program, and we try to use that to our advantage, It helps with field position and help us with scoring opportunities. There aren’t too many guys taking advantage of those field-goal opportunities, when they should.
“We put a lot of emphasis on special teams,” Mobley continued. “A lot of people put last-minute preparations on the special teams and things of that nature. We feel as though it is one-third of the game to be addressed early and often at the start of the season, so the team can understand the importance of that phase of the game.”
Bill Fitzgerald has had some great kickers in his seven-year tenure as the head coach at Seton Hall Prep, located in West Orange. Zach Hoban owns school records of longest field goal in a game (52 yards in 2018 vs. DePaul) and field goals in a game (three against Paramus Catholic in 2017.) Hoban continued his career at Rice University before transferring to Virginia Tech.
Nick Conforti was a two-time All-State kicker in 2020 and 2021 for the SHP Pirates and went on to kick for Yale University.
Jack Catchpole, who graduated in June, holds the following SHP records: field goals in a game (three against Red Bank Catholic and three against Irvington, both in 2023), field goals in a season (12 in 2023) and field goals in a career (16 in 2022 and 2023).
“We have been fortunate to have excellent place-kickers in each of my six years here at Seton Hall Prep and we are excited about Declan Farrell this season,” Fitzgerald said. “Knowing once you are inside the 30-yard line, you have an excellent chance to get points; it opens up a lot of the offense at that point. The kicking game is an overlooked, but extremely important piece, of the game. It is often the difference in big games.”
Mike Carter, entering his 34th year as the Bloomfield High School Bengals head coach, has had a few good kickers throughout his BHS tenure.
“We have some great kickers here,” said Carter, a BHS alum. “The (kickers) have gone on to college. It’s a thing that can get you a lot of playing time if you are good at it.”
When it comes to kicking, it’s about consistency in all phases, the snap, the hold, the blocking and the kick, Carter said. Still, having a good kicker is definitely an advantage.
“If you have a kid that’s a weapon, you want to try to use it,” Carter said.
Nutley High School head coach Chris Helm agrees.
“If you’re fortunate enough to have a good kicker, it could be a weapon,” he said. “When you get a true kicker who comes out and is consistent, which is important, it’s a weapon.”
Helm has been coaching for approximately 20 years and is in second year as the head coach of his alma mater. Years ago, he was an assistant coach for the NHS Raiders before serving as an assistant coach at Wayne Valley High School and then returning to Nutley. During his coaching career, he has seen players turned into kickers.
A lot of factors go into whether it’s judicious to try a field goal, Helm said. Either way, the Raiders practice plays that help them prepare for such decisions.
This year, the Raiders may be using a freshman who has shown the potential to be a good kicker, Helm said.
John Jacob, another second-year head coach at East Orange Campus High School, noted that when he was the offensive coordinator for the EOCHS Jaguars during their 13-0 state sectional and regional championship season in 2021, the team had a very good kicker in Geraldo Gibson.
Trying to get players to become interested in kicking is the challenge.
“The first job is to get kids excited about kicking,” Jacob said. “I think that starts with the culture. The first part is really broadcasting it as part of your culture and getting players and coaches excited about the kicking game, and then it’s about not waiting and taking kids as eighth-graders and freshmen that maybe have a knack for kicking and investing that time, and they see that and say, ‘They are working that kicker as a freshman.’ ”
Getting kids excited about kicking can start at the youth levels, too. James McDaniel, president of the Bloomfield Junior Bengals football program, said extra-points are worth two points, instead of one, in their league, as a way to encourage children to kick.
“We usually have every kid try it,” said McDaniel about kicking, “and then we find the one who can potentially get it done. We really want to encourage kids to learn how to kick it. We encourage it.”
On the fifth-grade team and sixth-grade levels, it’s a “frozen” line in games, meaning linemen just raise their hands and don’t move at kicks. On the seventh- and eighth-grade levels, that’s when it’s “live” in which there is action at the line.
A few years ago, McDaniel recalled a soccer player in the Junior Bengals program who was converted into a kicker and he is now a sophomore kicker on the Bloomfield High team.
Orange High School head coach Khalfani Alleyne knows first-hand the value of field goals. He remembers losing a first-round state sectional playoff game against Parsippany Hills in his sophomore year for the OHS Tornadoes in 1998. The outcome was decided on a successful field goal.
“High-school kicking is valuable, are you kidding me?” Alleyne said.
Alleyne is excited about having a converted soccer player as his kicker this season.
West Orange High School head coach Darnell Grant mentioned how he had a good kicker when he was the head coach at his alma mater, Irvington, during their run to the state sectional championship game in 2006. Grant went on to be the head coach at Shabazz, where he led the program to state sectional titles, despite not having a good kicker.
At West Orange, Grant has had some decent kickers. But finding them is definitely difficult.
“The hardest thing to find in high school football is a competent kicker,” Grant said.
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