Football: Taft has a freshman with quite a leg

Woodland Hills Taft freshman Brandon Heicklen isn't just a punter for the JV football team. He has become a standout young player in Austrailian Rules football.

He has been the only teenager showing up at a park in Santa Monica playing with 25 grown men in full contact Aussie Rules football.

He's headed to Sydney in July to practice with the U-16 national team. And this is an American teenager.

He averaged 41 yards a punt for Taft's JV team last season. He'll probably spend his sophomore year on JVs because Taft has one of the best kicker-punters in senior-to-be Jordan Dascalo.

But beware of Heicklen in two different sports. He's a straight-A student with ambitions of attending Stanford or Harvard.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Photo: Brandon Heicklen (left) with some of his Aussie Rules teammates.