Foot for Thought

Chief Kicking Bear went from being a relatively unknown player to one of the most recognizable at Riverside Arlington High. The Iceman turned the homecoming dance at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame from a disaster into a celebration.

The Freshman showed up at summer practice at Chino High and gained instant respect from snarling linebackers and hulking linemen.

Each accomplished his feat with a single swing of a foot.

Such is the life of a kicker, those all-so-important players on a football team who receive little attention until the outcome is on the line. Games are often won or lost on one kick.

It happened Saturday night, when Jarred Martin of La Mirada kicked a 43-yard field goal with two seconds to play to force overtime, then gave his team a 13-10 victory over Newport Harbor with a 21-yarder.

“Greatest feeling ever,” Martin succinctly said.The pressure can be overwhelming, but so can the rewards.

Take Chief Kicking Bear, for example. His given name is Kirk Bunch and he is a senior at Arlington. He got his nickname from an assistant coach who learned that Bunch is 100% Native American. He wears black, thick-framed Buddy Holly-style glasses, even during games. This is his first year of organized football and nobody paid much attention to him, especially after he shanked his first field-goal attempt.

“The tee went further than the ball,” Bunch said.

But in Week 5, Arlington was in a battle with rival Temescal Canyon. As the Lions drove into Temescal Canyon territory with time winding down, Bunch paced the sideline, nervously alternating his attention from the clock to thefield.

“I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s getting close to the end,”’ Bunch said. “Usually our offense is good enough to get the first downs, but when there was one second left, that’s when it hit me. I guess I’m going have to go in there and try to win this game.”

Arlington was undefeated at the time and Bunch could feel the eyes of the crowd burning through his pads. He remembered what his coach told him: “He said, ‘Take a deep breath because we believe in you.”’

The kick was good, Arlington won the game and Bunch was hugged, then lifted by his holder. Other teammates joined in the celebration, slapping Bunch on the back and helmet.

“I got a headache from that,” Bunch said, “but it was worth it. Everyone went crazy. The next Monday at school, they made an announcement about it, and everyone knew me. It was amazing. I mean, people knew who I was before that, but they didn’t know me.”

Had Kicking Bear missed, however, people would also have known him. But most kickers revel in that kind of pressure.

Once you win a game, things change.

They did for The Iceman when he booted a 32-yard field goal against La Canada St. Francis with 12 seconds left to win the Mission League championship for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

The Iceman is Nick Folk, a senior in his fourth year on the Knights’ football team. He was an All-Southern Section selection last year and had field goals of 52, 50, 42 and 36 yards this season, but he had never been in a game-winning situation.

True to his nickname, Folk did not get nervous before his kick. He knew the game would be close so he prepared from the outset. He knew the ball boys had his special kicking ball ready, the one marked with “Ks” (for kicker) in the white stripe. He talked to no one during the game, choosing instead to linger on the far end of the sideline to retain focus. When the coach called on him, he was ready.

Later that night, at the homecoming dance, Folk had some new fans.

“A bunch of people came up to me and thanked me for making homecoming fun,” he said. “One of my friends, her boyfriend is on the football team, [said] ‘If you wouldn’t have made that, we would have had the worst time at the dance, so thanks and good job.’ That was pretty cool.”

Full-time kickers these days are often recruited from the school soccer team, and Chief Kicking Bear and The Iceman are no exception. They often don’t participate in contact drills during practice and don’t learn the playbooks. Since the club soccer season takes place during high school football season, kickers sometimes miss football practice and film sessions, but game-winning field goals tend to erase any negative feelings.

“The team really understands the importance of a kicker,” Folk said. “They don’t care what else I’m doing as long as I get my job done.”

The Freshman is an exception to the soccer-player-turned-kicker rule. He is Durrell Chamorro, who came to Chino High with visions of playing receiver or defensive back. But freshmen rarely play for Chino, a team that has won five of the last seven Baseline League titles and will play in its fourth Southern Section final in five years when it takes on Mission Viejo at 2 p.m. Saturday at Edison Field.

To nobody’s surprise, Chamorro didn’t make the Cowboys’ roster as a receiver or a defensive back, but when he consistently kicked 50-yard field goals during summer practice, it didn’t matter how old he was. Still, his teammates make sure to remind him that he is still a freshman and only a kicker.

“Oh yeah, we get him a little bit,” said Paul Jiminez, the strong safety and defensive captain for Chino. “We tease him, but he’s real easygoing and he takes it pretty well. We can’t be too hard on him because we know he can make or break a game for us.”

Chamorro hasn’t been in a game-winning situation yet because Chino has won all of its games by plenty. Chamorro struggled at the beginning of the season, but he did not miss an extra-point attempt in Baseline League play and said he would be ready, if needed, to win a playoff game.

“At the beginning I was too excited,” he said. “I would get all pumped up like I was a linebacker or something. But now I just try to stay calm. I stay on the sideline and think kicking the whole game. I’m always thinking about my next kick. I’m thinking about the spot on the ball where I’m going to put my foot.”

Kickers have different ways of dealing with pressure. The Arlington players, for instance, help Bunch relax before he gets ready to kick by breaking into a chorus of Oleee-Ole-Ole-Oleeee from the movie “The Replacements,” which features a soccer-player-turned-kicker. Folk gets teased for keeping his specially marked ball in his locker every night so it won’t get lost. Chamorro takes heat for tapping his kicking tee against his thigh pad during the entire game.

Kickers also deal with the pressure by trying to fit in with their teammates. Bunch, for example, runs downfield as part of the kickoff coverage.

After a recent game, a reporter asked about his game. His response: “I made two tackles on kickoffs.”

Chamorro talks about the times his coaches allow him to practice with the defensive backs. “I have a red jersey, but I never wear it,” he said.

But their teammates realize the intense pressure kickers can face in critical moments of play.

“That’s tough,” Jiminez said. “With all eyes on you in a do-or-die situation.... All we can do is stand there and hope that he makes it.”