Once he found a team, Jason Cherry had to find a way to get on the field.

The Butler graduate, now 26, recently completed his second season as place-kicker for the Johnstown Riverhawks of the American Indoor Football League.

During his first season, it was hard to tell he was there.

"Our offense was so powerful that year, we didn't attempt many field goals,"Cherry said. "I was something like 1-for-5 in field goal attempts.

"You can only show so many extra points on a highlight tape."

That all changed for Cherry this past season.

He booted 13 of 25 field goals — ranking second in the AIFLin field goals made — and converted a 47-yard attempt. He also successfully booted a drop-kick for a PAT, marking the first successful drop-kick in AIFLhistory.

Cherry made the All-AIFLsquad this season and has hopes of kicking in the Arena ILeague next year.

"My contract expired two days ago," he said. "Johnstown is in the process of reviewing the roster and deciding what players it wants to keep."

The Riverhawks compiled an 8-6 record this year and Cherry had three games in which he booted three field goals. He made six tackles on special teams as well.

It was while making a tackle on special teams early in a season that Cherry suffered an injury that curtailed his one-year campaign at Slippery Rock University. Cherry had transferred to SRU after being part of a Division I-AAnational championship team at the University of Massachusetts.

"It was hard to circulate things right after college,"he said. "Now that I've played two years professionally, it's a lot easier. My name is out there now.

"Johnstown's organization has ties with the Chicago and San Jose franchises in the Arena ILeague. Both of those teams want my highlight tapes."

Cherry said he is in the process of putting together a highlight DVDhe plans to circulate to Arena League, Canadian Football League and NFLteams.

"I'm open to anything, including returning to Johnstown," he said. "The fan support is great there."