Football: It’s time for the kickers to come through

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I don’t want to become a football coach, but as a sportswriter, I get to offer opinions, and my warning to the coaches in the Trinity and Serra leagues is you better work on special teams, because there could be lots of games decided in the final moments by a kicker.

That’s my observation based on how competitive the games figure to be. Get ready for overtime and games to be decided by a field goal or conversion kick.

So here are the key players in the drama about to unfold _ the kickers.

In the Trinity League, there’s Reid Budrovich (St. John Bosco), Alex Ury (Santa Margarita), Reese Flynn (Orange Lutheran), Tim Strader (Mater Dei), Greg Buscilla (JSerra) and Nicholas Mares (Servite).

In the Serra League, there’s Lucas Alfonso (Notre Dame) Patrick Cassley (Crespi), Carlos Garrido (Alemany), Nick Dopke (Loyola) and Edward Mancilla (Bishop Amat).

Of course, the long snappers and holders are also important. So practice makes perfect.

-- Eric Sondheimer