As shown in L-L League, high school kickers keep getting better and better

Next to referees, placekickers are by nature the most anonymous people on a football field, chameleons blending into the pomp.

They play their bit parts, somewhat unnoticed ... until the game is on the line. Then, as with referees, they become central figures in a hero story ... or a Greek tragedy, based on whether they split the uprights.

This fall, however, local placekickers have announced themselves often with the swing of their kicking legs and the boom of their dominant foot.

In Hempfield's game at Cedar Crest on Oct. 18, the kickers combined for five field goal attempts. With the halftime score 14-14, Hempfield's Brady Biscoe converted a 30-yard field goal. Cedar Crest's Ethan Bowman answered with a 27-yard boot two minutes later. Biscoe added another from 32 yards in the final minute of the quarter for a 20-17 lead.

Each kicker also missed an attempt, but combined for seven extra-point conversions.

And if you were a college scout taking notes, you might have been impressed the most by Biscoe's kickoffs.

Biscoe had buried the ball in the end zone for a touchback on almost half of his 53 attempts. And that's without using a kicking block, which is legal in high school but not in college. Some of the kickoffs that were run back were intentionally, schematically short.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior has averaged 42 yards on punts. He's a kicking legacy at Hempfield. For six straight years, a Biscoe has kicked for the Black Knights. Oldest brother Spencer is a starter at Stony Brook University. He started at Colgate, then transferred, which landed him a pay raise, putting him on full scholarship.

Valuable commodity

With football bringing in millions and even billions of dollars at the Division I level, the difference between winning and losing could come down to an extra point, a field goal, a kickoff or a punt. Each skill is valued, which makes Brady Biscoe valuable on all four fronts.

"There are schools that will want him just for kickoffs," said John Zima, a kicking coach at Wyomissing and Emmaus high schools who also coaches kickers year-round at Kick It. "They'll recruit him for that. If they can get a guy who can do that and also punt, they're getting two skill sets with one guy."

Spencer Biscoe has made kicking look easy from the beginning of his journey. A career soccer player who lost his final travel season to COVID, he was persuaded to kick for the football team his senior year.

"In August of his senior year, that was the first time Spencer ever touched a football," said Greg Biscoe, his father. "In October, he hit a 50-yard field goal against Wilson. The phone started ringing, and he decided he wanted to put his efforts into football."

Middle brother Cannon, as aptly named a kicker as one could imagine, kicked at Hempfield after Spencer, earning all-star honors.

Now Brady has claimed the position. Last year, kicking for the varsity and junior varsity, he made a 44-yarder in a JV game.

Mark Cheyney, the school's special teams coach, has provided guidance and direction.

"He sees the importance of a kicker," Brady said.

Through Friday, Lancaster-Lebanon League kickers had converted 26 field goals of at least 35 yards and six of at least 40 yards. Northern Lebanon's Riley Messinger has four from 35 yards or longer.

Talent proliferating

Fleetwood's Gryffin Cappaellano has the longest at 45 yards, followed by Lampeter-Strasburg's Peter Fiorello, who has made kicks from 44 and 42 yards.

In a game outside the area, North Schuylkill's Gavin Mentzer made a field goal from 51 yards. Kickers, more than ever, are tilting the camera on themselves.

Cedar Crest's Ethan Bowman has made almost all (47-of-48) of his extra-point kicks. His longest field goal was from 39 yards, and he missed a 42-yard boot wide.

Bowman works out at Gilson Strength Conditioning, whose owner is friends with kicker Chad Ryland, a Cedar Crest grad who is now with the Arizona Cardinals.

"He's brought him in a few times," Bowman said. "I've worked with him at a kicking camp."

Bowman will attend one of the many Kohl's kicking showcases next month, this one in Manheim, though he said he doesn't think he wants to continue kicking after high school.

Greg Biscoe sees the talent pool of local kickers proliferating,

"Central Pennsylvania is kind of known for putting out good kickers," he said.

Opportunities abound. In a couple weeks there will be that kicking camp/showcase in Manheim, where players can be rated and compete against each other. Brady Biscoe participates in as many showcases as possible and has earned a four-star rating out of five.

"The farthest kickoff I've had," he said, "is 9 yards deep in the end zone. That's a 69-yard kick."

Like Biscoe at Hempfield, Ryland lived near his high school and walked to the football field to practice kicks. Who knew Ryland would one day make a 56-yard field goal to beat the Denver Broncos? Or win two games with kicks as time expired last month (and others in the final two minutes).

But just like the sport of basketball is accessible to all — requiring only a ball and a hoop — kickers need only a football and a goalpost.

Kicking coach career

Zima played high school football in the era when linemen who could toe the ball did double duty as kickers.

In the 1970s, Zima performed both duties at Allentown Central Catholic. In the early 2000s, Zima started coaching Kutztown High placekicker Joe Schrump.

A former soccer player, Schrump started kicking soccer style without much success. Zima asked him to try kicking straight-on like former Washington Redskins All-Pro Mark Moseley.

"I told him to try the nose-to-the-toe style, and it took off," Zima said. "We bought him a square toe and he went from there. You can still get them on the internet."

Schrump developed into Kutztown's only All-State player. Zima's phone started ringing off the hook, and he discovered he could make coaching kickers his sole business. Now he's seeing an explosion in soccer players wanting to kick for the football team.

"One, you'll see in college and the pros with all of the training they're doing, they're starting to hit 55-plus-, 60-yard field goals," Zima said. "They're starting to get publicity on TV. A lot of the high schools are recognizing they can attract the soccer player now with that popularity. They can take fast-twitch leg speed from soccer. That takes training to kick a football rather than a soccer ball. With the opportunity for scholarships and partial scholarships, the popularity is increasing."

Zima said many high school football programs will recruit a soccer player to kick for the football program. From there, colleges may recruit kickers. If college football programs can generate tens of thousands of dollars in Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money, then the kicker can pay his college tuition without using an official scholarship.

Zima coaches Keegan Maher at Wyomissing these days. Last year, with the score tied against Trinity, Maher came on to kick the deciding extra point.

"That was the most exciting and nerve-wracking time I've ever kicked a ball," he said. "That game was what made me want to really kick for the rest of my career."

Manheim Township kicker Johnny Morales felt that jubilation after kicking a game-winning field goal in September against Plymouth Whitemarsh.

This year, Maher has made 34-of-38 extra points and 4-of-6 field goals for the Spartans.

In the showdown against Twin Valley, he attempted a 49-yard field goal, but the ball bounced off the crossbar. At a showcase event at the University of Delaware, he won for the longest kick without a miss when he made one from 51 yards.

As Wyomissing's punter, he averages 44 yards a kick. He's a multi-threat kicker, which is becoming more commonplace throughout the Lancaster-Lebanon region.