Special teams in football are called that for a reason.

Long-snappers, kickers, punters — the kids performing those duties are special.

“I was a long-snapper in high school, so I know the kind of work it takes,” Butler coach Rob Densmore said. “(Assistant coach) Bill Elliott was a long-snapper, too, so he knows how to coach it up.

“Those guys can be hard to find. You're always evaluating kids' abilities and looking for it.”

Karns City coach Ed Conto said his program scouts long-snappers, kickers and punters in seventh grade.

“We find guys who can do it and work with them from there,” he said. “By the time they get up to the varsity level, they're pretty seasoned.

“My son was a long-snapper. It is a specialty that requires repetition.”

Knoch runs a middle-school combine to find its kickers and punters.

“First thing we do is look for natural talent because that's what it is,” Knights coach Mike King said. “We have every one of our players at that level try it.

“Finding a long-snapper is a matter of finding a kid willing to work at it. That's a thankless, often unappreciated job that takes time and effort to get consistent at. But every team has to have one.”

Freeport has an effective kicker in sophomore Jacob Sarver. He connected on nine of 10 field goal attempts as a freshman last year.

Sarver is on pace to break the WPIAL career field goal record of 35, set by Peters Township's Bob Milspaw in 1995.

“That's huge. He's been working on the deep ball for the kick-off, also,” Freeport coach John Gaillot said of Sarver's leg strength. “Anytime we're down in close, we're going to go for three. In the past, you would look and say to get inside the 20 and close to the 10 to kick a field-goal.

“He can kick a 40-plus field goal. Get down in there close, at least you come away with something.”

Sarver said a lot goes into being able to make a long-distance kick.

“It's very difficult,” he said. “You need to have good form. You have to kick the football lower and the arms and skips have to be good.”

After struggling mightily last year in the kicking game, Moniteau was able to snag sophomore Steven Fawcett off a Butler club soccer team.

Fawcett is good friends with Moniteau starting center Ryan Heller, who convinced the soccer-style kicker to come out for the team.

“Heller said, “Coach, I think I found you a kicker,'” Vogan said.

“We struggled last year in the kicking game. If you can guarantee me an extra point every time, that makes a big difference. (Fawcett) came to practice the first time with his orange and gray soccer spikes on, so we knew he was a kicker.

“We had poor special teams last year, and I felt like we lost a couple of games because of it. We cannot give up touchdowns. If he can make our job a little bit easier by kicking it into the end zone, I'll take it,” Vogan added.

Nick Stutz takes over the kicking duties at Slippery Rock.

“It's real valuable. If you can put a ball in the end zone on every kickoff, you don't have to worry about giving up a special teams touchdown,” Rockets coach Travis Sarver said.

Andy Bednar is a special teams coach for Mars' varsity football team. He kicked at Cornell University from 1987-90.

Entering this season, junior Caleb Brake will be the kicker/punter, Sam Morrissey the holder and the long-snapper has yet to be determined.

Morrissey is also set to start at QB.

“When you have a guy who can run and throw the way Sam does, it opens things up on extra point and field goal attempts,” Bednar said of faking in those situations. “People think that kicking an extra point is easy to do, but three different things have to be done right — the snap, hold and kicking it through the uprights.”

Mars has a long tradition of very good placekickers — Mike Baumgartel, Josh Rape, Tim Wirtz, Christopher Karns, Ryan Gralish and Matt White, to name a few.

“A kicker has to have the fortitude to want to do it. They need to put the time in on their own, not just in practice,” Bednar said.

“There are years when our long snapper is our regular center. That was the case a couple of years ago with Jack Mettus. Other years, they are separate. It just comes down to who can best do the job.”