High School football teams are getting their kicks.

Literally.

There have been 28 field goals booted this season among area football teams. Chris Haley of Butler has 10 while Gordon Craig of Grove City has converted eight, including three in one game.

Only 16 field goals were kicked last year in the regular season and playoffs.

Coaches are a little more liberal these days when making decisions to opt for a field goal or to go for it on fourth down.

Yes, this isn't your father's high school football, where straight-on kickers were lucky to make an extra point, let alone put their foot into a field goal.

"I think, overall, coaching has changed," said Grove City coach Jeff Bell, who sent Craig out to kick a field goal in overtime against Slippery Rock instead of going for a touchdown earlier this season. The decision worked, as the Eagles won 34-31. "This isn't a knock on anyone, but a lot of high school coaches have realized they have to focus on every aspect of the game."

And that means getting points wherever and whenever they can.

Butler coach Garry Cathell is no stranger to great kickers.

At Peters Township, he had Bob Milspaw, who is still in the top 5 nationally for field goals kicked in a career.

Now at Butler, he has Jason Cherry, who was one in a long line of successful kickers for the Golden Tornado, coaching Haley.

"I have been real blessed," Cathell said. "I saw Chris Haley kick as a freshman, and he's developed into a great kicker."

Kickers have made high school coaches think in terms of field goal range instead of four-down territory.

Karns City coach Ed Conto has one of the best kickers around in Matt McConnell, and he isn't shy about using him.

In a game against St. Marys earlier in the season, Conto sent McConnell out to try a 58-yard field goal at the end of the first half. He missed it, but Conto's confidence has never wavered.

McConnell made a 21-yard field goal in overtime against Clarion to give the Gremlins an upset win.

The sophomore also hit a 40-yard field goal after Karns City was whistled for delay of game on what would have been a 35-yard attempt to put his team up 3-0 in a rivalry game against Moniteau last week.

The field goal was all the Gremlins needed in a 10-0 win.

"The best part about it is he's only a sophomore," Conto said. "We'll get him back next year."

Conto's coaching counterpart in that game, Moniteau's Steve Wilson, sent Adam Cousins out twice to try a 35- and a 36-yard field goal. Both missed, but it further reinforced how important kicking has become.

Slippery Rock coach Clyde Conti has known that for years.

"It sure is (important)," Conti said. "That good team we had up here a couple of years ago, we didn't have a kicker and we struggled with that all year."

But now Conti has junior Craig Bicehouse, who has made four field goals this season.

Bicehouse's 37-yard field goal in the second quarter against Hickory was the difference in the Rockets' 17-14 win over the Hornets last week.

Bicehouse, like some other kickers in the area, are just moonlighting on the football field. Soccer is their first sport.

Craig and McConnell also are soccer players.

"I'm not an expert on kicking," Bell said. "But I think the growth of soccer is one of the main reasons you are seeing this happen. That, and I think coaches are realizing just how important it is."

Cathell concurred and said off-season camps for kickers have also produced the boom in the number of boots.

"There are a lot of things for kickers to do in the off-season," Cathell said. "There are a lot of people who really specialize in that."

This summer, Craig went to a kicking camp in Virginia conduced by Doug Blevins, who has tutored such notable NFL kickers as Adam Viniatieri, Kris Brown, David Akers and Olindo Mare.

"(Blevins) studied kicking to an extreme extent," Craig said. "I went down there and talked to him for a couple of days."

Craig also got to work with former Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Matt Bahr this summer.

Kicking a football has made Craig a sort of a cult hero in the halls of his high school.

He came out for the football team this season after another successful soccer player and kicker at the school, Andy Hay, graduated.

"This football thing — no one really paid attention to me before I started it," Craig said. "I have started on the soccer team since I was a freshman, but when I kick a couple of footballs it's all of a sudden, 'Wow, he's somebody.'"

Bicehouse was hesitant to join the football team, but a family member went to bat for him.

His older sister, Liz, approached Conti and told him of her brother's desire to kick. Conti then told Bicehouse to drop by the football field and the rest is history.

"Soccer is really his sport," Conti said. "He's a huge weapon and a big part of the game."

Even traditionally poor kicking schools have gotten into the frenzy.

Summit Academy, famous for going for the two-point conversion after every score, has converted eight extra points this season and seven of the 11 area football teams have made at least one field goal.