High-school place-kickers are notoriously unreliable. Even the easiest of kicks—like the point after-attempt that occurs following a touchdown and, in college and high school, equates to a roughly 20-yard straight-on field goal—don’t always go smoothly.
Take, for instance, the case of Luis Aranda of Midland Lee High School in Midland, Texas. He’s attempting an extra point, and the instant his foot connects, there’s almost no chance it will be a success. The football is so low off the ground that there’s no way it will rise enough to travel above the goal post and between the uprights.
Unless somebody’s face gives an assist …
Gotta love when the game official picks up his hat as if it was the most normal thing in the world for a football to hit him in the head, bonk off the goal post, and go through to give Midland Lee the point.
There is good news, however, for this Texas football official. At least the kicker had the compassion to hit him face-on. As we’ve seen in Texas, that isn’t always the case.
H/T USA Today | Screengrab via Marshall Hughes/YouTube