Kickin’ It: Inside a Two-Day Duel for an AFL Job
Andrew Mason
Thursday February 27, 2003
It was, in parlance, a kick-a-thon – a quintet of placekickers, all with varying degrees of professional experience, attempting to put a vice grip on the job of Crush kicker.
“Kick-a-thon,” Crush head coach Bob Beers repeated after hearing a reporter utter the phrase. He smiled. “I like it.”
By any name, it was a scene that provided as much tension as the last-second kick faced – and successfully converted – by the Tampa Bay Storm’s Ian Howfield at Grand Rapids three days earlier. It’s a scene that has been repeated in AFL and NFL practices many times over the years, but this time, it was open for the media to watch – which it did, with two writers and the team’s radio play-by-play voice standing on the sidelines, tracking every kick along with the coaches.
The aspiring AFL kickers came from down the street – Scott Bentley, a former Redskins and Broncos kicker, arrived from Aurora, the next town over – and off the continent, as Tracy Bennett, last seen in the AFL in 1995, jetted in from Hawaii. They included a man who was just a week removed from his previous gig – AFL veteran Pete Elezovic – and an af2 standout trying to move up in former Richmond Speed kicker Geoff Groshelle.
And they included a man who had one more chance to keep his job – incumbent Kris Heppner, whose struggles had led to Wednesday’s tournament. With eight missed extra points in 20 tries, his cannon-like leg, such an asset on kickoffs, was becoming less of an issue than his struggles on the kicks for scores.
“Versatility and being able to kick short field goals and extra points. That’s critical,” Beers said. “The other thing is the length – whether they can hit it into the net.”
With the exception of Heppner – who was in his standard practice uniform of a blue No. 6 jersey and a Crush helmet – they looked as if they were preparing for a flag-football game. Groshelle wore a shirt that spoke of his af2 background, one that read, “Speed Kills.” Elezovic warmed up donning a New York Yankees cap that he wore backwards.
Team president John Elway watched from the sidelines – appropriately doing so with David Treadwell, who kicked for the Broncos from 1989-92. Now a sports anchor for the local Fox affiliate, KDVR-Ch. 31, the law-school graduate still looks as if he could step onto the field today and kick. But he merely watched as others went through the motions.
Midway through practice, the battle began, with extra points attempted in game-action format. Two kicks apiece, with full kick and kick-defense units on the field.
The incumbent was first. He missed wide left, then made the second attempt. Bentley followed; he missed to the left, then hit his second try down the middle. Elezovic was next; the man who’d hit just 11 of 18 extra points with the Storm earlier this season missed both of his tries to the left. Groshelle was next, and finally, someone was perfect, hitting both of his tries. Bennett -- whose time in the AFL was so distant that he once kicked for the Denver Dynamite -- concluded the round, following the pattern of Bentley and Heppner – making the first and missing the second.
Another round of extra points followed, with Heppner, Bentley and Groshelle making both tries, with Elezovic and Bennett each missing once. With the extra points in hand, Groshelle held the edge.
Kickoffs were next; each man kicked once, then kicked twice as the round-robin continued. Heppner nailed two to where the nets would have been – the walls of the indoor facility served as accurate measures – but squibbed his second kickoff. Bentley made it as far as the wall twice, and hit it 1 yard short of the end line the other time. Groshelle had two net kickoffs, then squibbed his third one low. Elezovic and Bennett both made it to the net each time.
If Tom Petty was right about the waiting being the hardest part, the hour that followed must have been excruciating. As the rest of the team returned to the field for its offense/defense drills, the quintet of kickers strolled to the sidelines, attempting to break the tension by chatting amongst themselves, waiting for practice to end so their audition could resume.
When they returned, it was time to try field goals from 25 and 36 yards, two apiece from each marker. Heppner missed three of four. Bentley made two. Groshelle missed twice from 25 but made both from the longer distance, Elezovic made three of four and Bennett missed once from each distance. Elezovic – with the worst showing on extra points – had redeemed himself with the best on field goals.
From there, the kickers walked to the goal line for another session of kickoffs. Heppner began with a low-line drive that hit his holder, Adrian Lunsford, squarely in the back. The defensive specialist feigned injury, dropping to the turf in mock pain. But his next three kickoffs hit the wall beyond the end zone. Groshelle and Elezovic were each perfect in terms of distance, hitting the net on each try. Two of Bentley’s kickoffs landed short of the back of the end zone, and Bennett hit three to the net, but hooked a kickoff attempt out of bounds.
On-side and pooch kickoffs followed. Finally, the practice ended – about 45 minutes after its usual conclusion -- but not with a conclusion to the kick derby.
“We’ll go back and look at all the things and bring two more back tomorrow,” Beers said.
A few hours later, he’d narrowed the list to two – and Heppner was not among them. Thursday morning, Groshelle and Elezovic will duel for the job.
“(Groshelle has) got limited experience in the league but he does have a good leg. He had an impressive workout,” Beers said. “So did Pete Elezovic.”
One more day, with a five-way grapple reduced to a duel. One more chance for an AFL gig. It’s just more pressure inside the pressurized dome.
Andrew Mason was at the Tampa Bay Storm`s first home game on June 1, 1991 and has followed the game ever since. While in college, he served as content editor and co-founder of The Storm Shelter, a Web site which covered the Tampa Bay Storm on the Internet from 1996-99. He also volunteered with the team`s media relations department in 1998 and currently contributes to ColoradoCrush.com. He's covered the NFL for various on-line outlets since 1999.
