“Kicker Cam…Kicker Cam…Kicker Cam” was a cheer often heard last season. But not at the football game vs Central High School on Sept. 1. Still, seven of the 49 points the Dragons scored came from senior Cameron Bothwell who made more than a touchdown worth of points as the kicker. Even with all the points scored, there was still no chant at the game for this less recognized role.
“It’s a position that gets overlooked until you don’t have somebody for the position and you realize how much it impacts the game,” Bothwell said.
At the moment, the freshman team has no one dedicated to this role, just someone who is able to kick. The varsity team has a backup punter but no one to score field goals other than Bothwell.
At the first JV football game on Aug. 26, Gretna had one of the quarterbacks, sophomore, Micheal Knudson, kicking kickoffs and punts. Since the last game, the team has made improvements and sophomore Byrce Lakers has stepped into the role of kickoffs and Knudson continues to be a punter.
The problem still occurs of having no one to kick field goals. This is wWhere a large amount of points can be scored, but it often gets overlooked and gets less recognition.
“I don’t see the field much, but I score a lot of points,” Bothwell said. “Last year, I had 97 points.”
With how the season has kicked off, there should be plenty more points by Bothwell to come this year, especially when he added to the points scored for the team just last Friday against Creighton Prep. He scored a field goal to give the Gretna Dragons another win (in double overtime) for the books, 27-24. But that may be hard to say for future seasons since next year’s kicker is still unknown.
Not only is there no kicker for the JV, but the freshmen team is in the same position. The only way to score is going for two, which is an option, but not always the way to go.
The team has the problem of not only not having a kicker planned for next year but the fact that no one is interested in the position.
Freshman head coach Micahel Pajada stated the coaches asked the freshmen earlier in the season, and no one had any experience or even an interest in this role on the team, which made them realize they might be in for a problem for point(s) after touchdown (PATs).
Usually, this position is not the biggest concern. However, when Bothwell scored the winning points in overtime at Burke Stadium last Friday, the concern may be more of a thought for the future Dragons.
