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Schalick’s Dragotta marveled at NFL kicker’s 70-yard field goal

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Hunter Dragotta didn’t see it as it happened, but when he saw the clips of Jaguars’ kicker Cam Little’s 70-yard field goal against the Steelers Saturday he was awe-struck, excited and maybe even a little jealous.

Kickers like seeing kickers do good things and Dragotta, Schalick’s senior kicker and one of the best in South Jersey, was suitably impressed.

Little made his kick on the last play of the first half of the Jags’ preseason opener. Okay, so it was just an exhibition game and didn’t count as the NFL record, but it was 70 yards.

“It was a great kick,” Dragotta said Monday after the Cougars’ first practice of fall camp. “You see how (NFL record-holder) Justin Tucker added a little extra crow hop when he hit his 66, how much force he had to put into it. And then you have Cam Little go up with his normal steps and just boot it through like it was nothing.

“And he had like three, four extra yards on it, too, which is the crazy thing.”

There have only been eight other field goal attempts of 70-plus in the Super Bowl era. Kickers have been getting stronger and more flexible and their kicks have been getting longer, so it just seemed inevitable somebody was going to make one.

“You see high schoolers, they’re able to actually kick 70-yarders now,” Dragotta said. “Like some of the best high schoolers in the state, they can kick 70-yarders, so honestly it was only a matter of time before someone in the NFL actually tried it.

“I think now that one was actually kicked you’re going to see it a lot more this year.”

Dragotta says he can’t kick a 70-yarder – “not yet,” he added quickly.

He hit five field goals last season and is 8-of-12 in his career. He made a 57-yarder in practice once. The longest one he’s ever tried is 60. The longest he’s made in a game is 36.

“We have a nice breeze, you never know,” he said. “Anything can happen.”

New Cougars head coach Kevin Leamy wasn’t too sure about making such a bold attempt, but he won’t hesitate using his kicker from any other place on the field.

“I’d let him kick a 50-yard field goal, absolutely,” Leamy said. “His range is probably somewhere in between 50 and 55 right now. I’d say he’s probably money from 45 in so if we get the chance he’s going to kick some field goals this year. We will absolutely use that when we get a chance.”

Top photo: Schalick senior kicker Hunter Dragotta (12) has hit eight field goals and 75 extra points in his career. (Photo by Heather Papiano)