Matt Fogarty felt afraid, afraid he wasn’t going to be able to do the one thing his coach had tasked him with doing; kick the ball through the uprights. Fogarty is the kicker for the Palo Alto High School JV football team. Unlike many of his teammates who burst onto the Paly football scene a year ago with an impressive catch, run, or throw, Fogarty made his Palo Alto High School football debut on a non-dramatic, point-after-touchdown in the season opener for the 2010 Paly freshmen football team against San Benito.

“I was scared I was going to shank, it but my holder put down a great hold, and I put it through the uprights,” Fogarty said.

Fogarty is a member of an elite group of people at Paly. Every year only three people (Freshman, JV, and Varsity teams) can say that they are the kicker for one of the school’s football team. In 2010 Fogarty was the place kicker and kick-off specialist for the Vikings freshman football team. Fogarty had always enjoyed watching football but didn’t much care for the physical nature of it, so when football season came around, instead of trying out for quarterback, wide receiver, or any other better-known, more physical positions, Fogarty decided to try out for kicker.

“I was pretty good at soccer, but I wanted to give football a shot, so I decided to try kicking,” Fogarty said. 

It’s no secret that kickers are different than the rest of the football team. While the other members of the team have to endure up to five grueling practices a week, kickers are only required to attend two practices a week, according to Fogarty. A kickers frame is also quite different from that of the rest of the team; the defensive linemen trying to tackle them often dwarf kickers. The average weight of a player on the Vikings junior varsity football team is just under 185 pounds, according the Palo Alto High School athletic website. However Fogarty weighs only 165 pounds.

Having such a distinct size disadvantage however, doesn’t faze Fogarty.

“One time the snap was so bad that I had to pick the ball up and run but just when I thought I was going to make it to the end zone I got absolutely demolished,” Fogarty said. “But, hey, that’s football. 

It is this sort of hard-nosed mentality that allows Fogarty to keep his cool under extreme pressure. This mindset also helped get Fogarty through the worst game of his career. Half way through the season, while playing Burlingame, Fogarty missed not one, but two points after touchdowns, which even at the freshman level are normally givens.

“It was a tough game,” Fogarty said.

Fogarty finished his freshman season 2^nd on the team in points scored, and ended the year with bang, going four-for-four on point-after-touchdowns in the final game.

This year Fogarty is the starting place kicker and kick-off specialist for the Vikings junior varsity team. Fogarty said he hopes to help lead the Vikings to another successful season, and he’s already off to a promising start as he hit a forty-five yard field goal in practice earlier this year. Fogarty also said that he hopes to improve his range this year by stretching more than he did his freshman year. In his freshman season, Fogarty never stretched, and as a result he had to battle through constant injuries and groin pain. 

“I’ve gotten a lot better at kicking off since last year,” Fogarty said. “I’ve also been working on my tackling all summer, so I hope to be able to contribute on kick off coverage more than I did last year.”

Fogarty hopes to contribute to another winning season for the Vikings junior varsity team in 2011. In the years to come Fogarty will kick for the Vikings varsity team, and hopes to continue to kick for a long time, “the dream is to kick in college, I know how tough it is to make it to that level, but I think I can do it,” Fogarty said.