NCAA / playoffs

Haupt looks to cap off busy season with title Southern Columbia kicker Ethan Haupt kicks the ball off in a game against Mount Carmel in August at Southern. Haupt broke the PIAA record for extra points made in a season in last Friday’s game against Richland. By MARC MALKOSKIE Press Enterprise Writer FRANKLIN TWP. — Having the most potent offense in the state bears multiple fruits for Southern Columbia, and one of those is getting senior kicker Ethan Haupt frequently involved. The Tigers have scored a whopping 117 touchdowns in 16 games, setting up 114 point-after-touchdown attempts for the first-year kicker. Following Southern’s third touchdown in a 49-27 win over Richland in last week’s PIAA Class 2A semifinals, Haupt booted the pigskin through the uprights for the 106th time this year. The mark surpassed predecessor Ethan Dunkelberger’s PIAA record for extra points made in a season. He stretched the record to 110, and hopes to improve on that number during Friday’s state championship game against Avonworth. Southern Columbia's Ethan Haupt, left, works to keep that ball from Hughesville’s Austin Lewis, during the first half in October at Loyalsock. Haupt has spent the fall balancing football, soccer and school work. [Press Enterprise/Jimmy May] It’s the third consecutive season a Southern kicker has broken the record as Elijah Hoffman went 102-for-104 on PATs in 2017 before Dunkelberger’s 105-for-118 performance last year. What’s impressive about the model of consistency is all three kickers have balanced the act of playing both football and soccer in the fall — a tradition trail first blazed by B.J. Snyder in 2006. “They’ve all been great kids in terms of accountability and work ethic,” coach Jim Roth said reflecting upon his last three kickers. “There’d be days where they show up right on time for the beginning of practice, get their kicking in and head to their soccer practice. They’ve each been very responsible about it and have been very quick learners.” Hoffman remains the record holder for most points for a kicker (141) when he notched 13 of his 15 field goal attempts in 2017. The record should remain safe as Haupt, meanwhile, has yet to attempt a field goal. So far his role has been cyclical: kick a 20-yard PAT, follow suit with a kickoff and scurry back to the sideline. “It’s not a bad gig,” Haupt said. “I haven’t had to do anything too strenuous such as kicking a field goal. Everything is very short. It’s either a kickoff, where you get your steps down and your rhythm’s fine, or your extra point, where it’s just 20 yards. It’s not anything that’s that strenuous.” A two-year starter on the soccer team, Haupt planned on being Hoffman’s immediate successor his junior year, but suffered a torn ACL and MCL. The injuries caused him to miss the 2018 fall sports season. Despite being sidelined by injuries, Haupt’s determination to kick for the football team remained intact. It showed, and after winning a position battle over soccer teammate Luke Caputo before the start of the preseason, he heard from Hoffman — who recently won all-Centennial Conference honors in his second season as Susquehanna University’s kicker — who voluntarily reached out to Haupt to offer him advice. “(Hoffman) went to tons and tons of camps and he said he would help me out,” Haupt recalled. “He came down to the field over the summer and gave me some valuable pointers. “I also went to Coach John Zema down in Kutztown. I did a kicking camp with him and he really helped me. I thank him a lot even though it was only about an hour-and-a-half session. He pretty much told me my steps were off, so I adjusted a little bit and ever since then, I’ve been good.” Southern Columbia's Ethan Haupt kicks an extra point during its game against Richland Friday night in Selinsgrove. [Press Enterprise/Keith Haupt] Haupt described balancing his busy fall schedule with two sports and school work as both a blessing and a curse. His day-to-day life has erred on the hectic side, but practicing both sports has been the easier aspect of the situation. “It was a little crazy at first,” he recalled. “I got a lot of support from both teams either way. My coaches were very understanding with it, which did make things a lot easier, but it did put a lot of strain on my knee. “Most days, both of my teams were on the turf, so I’d actually go over and do my 30 minutes of kicking with the football team. The soccer team would actually sit there and watch me, and it was awesome to have both of my teams supporting me. The soccer team would watch me as I did my football stuff, and then I’d go over and do an hour and a half or two hours with the soccer team.” It’s easy to assume Haupt will be nervous at the start of Friday’s state championship, but here’s the kicker: despite getting his first in-game action just over three months ago, Haupt says the nerves are long gone. “I’m not nervous at all,” Haupt said. “To me, it’s just going out there and kicking a ball. It’s not a job to me. It’s just something I do for fun. When you’re on a team like Southern, it’s really nice because if I go out there and mess up a kickoff, it doesn’t matter because our defense is going to stop the kids anyway and we’re going to move on with it. “It hasn’t really been that stressful for me. The Hammond game was definitely a little stressful since it was my first time kicking, plus being on national television. I think the nerves are definitely out of me at this point and I’m just going out there and doing something I love doing.” Marc Malkoskie can be reached at marc.malkoskie@pressenterprise.net. Follow him on Twitter at @mmalkoskie.