Best Foot Forward

HERITAGE HALL
Oklahoma City

SOMETIMES HISTORY is only 26 yards away. Senior kicker Jimmy Stevens of Heritage Hall (Oklahoma City) stood on the middle hash mark last Friday in the second quarter of a home game against Bethel ( Shawnee, Okla.) and surveyed the goalposts from that distance. It was not just another kick coming up--Stevens had made 48 field goals in his high school career and stood tied with two other kickers for the most ever--but it was another kick that had to be executed with precision. A few seconds later the ball spun through the uprights, and Stevens was alone at the top. "It was a real easy shot," he says. "I just concentrated on keeping my head down and following through."

Stevens, who started kicking in eighth grade, is, like many kickers, meticulous about his stats. "I was 8 of 11 in my freshman year, 10 of 13 in my sophomore year, 22 of 29 in my junior year and 10 of 22 so far this year," he says. He is also superstitious. He has worn the same white socks over his cleats every game for four years.

Though his field goal rate slipped to 45% this year, Stevens says the figure is misleading. "Anywhere around the 50 yard-line the coach has me try a field goal. Seven of those misses have been from 50-plus yards and two from over 60." Stevens kicks so often partly because in high school a kick that reaches the end zone is a touchback, which could be better than a punt.

Next year at Oklahoma he must learn how to placekick off the ground and transition from a two-inch tee for kickoffs to a one-inch college tee. But Chris Sailer, a coach who ranked Stevens 10th out of 600 kickers at his National Kicking Competition in Las Vegas last year, says Stevens will be fine. "He is one of the most mechanically sound high school kickers I have ever worked with."

Against Bethel, Stevens also nailed a 52-yard field goal, his career best. But with nine seconds left, he missed a 31-yarder, and Bethel won 14--13. "I had a great night," says Stevens, whose parents, Jim, an oil-drilling speculator, and Colleen, an insurance-sales officer, met him on the field after the record-breaker. "But I made it a little bad by trying to kick that [last] ball too hard." He'll have a chance for redemption when the Chargers face Watonga ( Okla.) High this Friday in the first round of the playoffs.