BUTLER TWP - He took 11 stitches in the chin for his trouble, but Jason Cherry got his point across.

He still wants to play football.

Cherry, 25, handled the kicking duties for the Johnstown Riverhawks of the Atlantic Indoor Football League this past season and did well enough to extend his career.

The season ran from April through July, so Cherry is spending this fall working with Butler High School's kickers.

He becomes a free agent after September, but Johnstown already has invited him back next season. He also hopes to get some tryouts with Arena 1 Football League teams.

"I recently got my tapes to my agent (Darren Parr) and he's hoping to line some things up for me," Cherry said.

"But if I wind up back in Johnstown next year, that's fine with me."

Cherry drove to Johnstown each day from Butler during the season, arriving at 5:30 p.m. for 7 p.m. practices.

"I was big into working out early, getting as many kicks in on the (arena) field as possible," he said. "I used to joke with the coaches about giving me a key."

Cherry converted only one of five field goal attempts, but he nailed 46 of 58 PATs, an 80 percent success rate. The league average was close to 50 percent.

Arena league goalposts are only 10 feet apart. Goalposts in the NFL are 18 feet, 6 inches apart. Cherry connected on 28 of his final 31 PATs.

"It takes a while to adjust and I had six different long snappers during the season," he said. "Players come and players go at that level.

"It's like, help us win or we'll find someone else who will. The strong safety and myself were the only two guys to play in every game."

Johnstown finished 7-5 and reached the AIFL semifinals before dropping a 50-40 decision to Richmond. The six-team league will expand to 12 teams next year.

Since arena football games are high scoring, Cherry found himself on the field quite a bit kicking off. He delivered 20 touchbacks, which he liked.

He was credited with 8½ tackles, which he didn't like.

"That's not a statistic a kicker wants to have," he admitted. "That's how I got the 11 stitches, making one of those plays. I kicked off eight times per game, easy. One game, I think I kicked off 14 times.

"We try to kick off into the corner at around the 1-yard line and pin the guy down inside the 10. I was pretty good at getting the ball there."

The AIFL also has a rule that if the player kicking off can put the ball through the uprights, it counts as a point for his team.

If the kickoff misses and goes into the stands, the receiving team takes possession at the 20-yard line.

"That's nearly midfield in this game, so we rarely tried those kicks," Cherry said. "Toward the end of the year, we went for it. I made three of those (one-point) kicks in the playoffs. They're a good 65 to 68 yards or so."

Cherry continues to have hopes of getting a tryout in a NFL training camp some year soon.

"That's all you can ask for," he said of a tryout. "I'm building a resume. Maybe I can move up to Arena 1 this year or next.

"If I do well there, I might get a shot. As long as I'm kicking somewhere, I've got a chance."