Duncan gets a kick-start to season
By Zach West
With 18 starters back, one would think Duncan head coach Jim Holloway wouldn’t have to spend time worrying about finding replacements during fall practice.
Two of the players Holloway had to replace, however, held the utmost importance in the Demons conservative, ball-control offense – the punter and kicker.
“I don’t think there’s a player in football that’s more important than the punter,” Holloway said. “If we can’t advance the ball on offense, then we’ve got to have a strong kicking game to move the ball down the field – whether it be to score with field goals or pin the other team back with punts.”
And while Levi Huff secured his spot as the kicker early on in the fall, Tyler King wasn’t chosen as the starting punter until
Duncan’s pre-game warm-ups Friday night. Turns out, Holloway made the right decision as the Duncan special teams excelled in a 38-0 rout of Noble.
“For a game one, our kicking game was close to flawless,” Holloway said. “That doesn’t happen in game one. Usually there’s mishaps, flubs, missed assignments.”
In the game, Huff kicked five extra points and hit a 24-yard field goal. For his part, King punted three times for a 35.7-yard average, pinning one punt inside the ten and another inside the 20, while allowing no returns.
“We protected well and covered well,” Holloway said. “It was a pretty good night for us in the kicking game.”
While the kickers are both new, the Demons special teams are bolstered by returning snappers Bryce Davis and Houston Johnson – who can be nearly as important.
