Ryan Santee is a first-year kicker, and Hopewell coach David Johnson has said he’s a quick learner.

But it’s been said that there’s no teacher like experience, and if that’s the case, then Santee’s
kicking career really began with a 25-yard game-winning field goal at the conclusion of last Friday night’s 24-23 come-from-behind win at Hough.

An all-region goalkeeper for Hopewell’s soccer team, Santee was not even on Hopewell’s original football roster this fall. Before the rivalry contest, he had not attempted more than an extra point in a game, and late in the third quarter against the Huskies, he had missed a 32-yard field goal attempt from the left hash.

But as Hopewell’s offense marched downfield in the waning moments of a game it had trailed
since the 8:40 mark of the second quarter, Santee knew his time was coming. Barring a Titan
turnover or a big-play score, Santee was going to be called on to kick. His team was down two points, and a field goal would win it. A goalkeeper trained to stop penalty kicks under pressure would now try to make a kick himself.

“I was kicking the entire time,” he said of his preparation.

Santee, indeed, was quite busy on the sideline. Between kicks, he glanced toward the field, where the Titans were moving in large steps. On back-to-back plays, a 20-yard Titan gain was supplemented by a Hough personal foul penalty, which tacked on an extra 15 yards to Tijuan Sifford’s pass to Chris Strickland and Denzel Heath’s run. In a matter of moments, the drive, which began on Hopewell’s 10-yard line with 2:06 to play was inside Hough’s red zone. Hough called a timeout with 1:32 left.

“With all the penalties, I had to take a timeout to just get our guys to calm down,” said Huskies coach Bobby Collins.

But Hopewell was in field goal range. While the Titans spent the next three plays gaining seven yards and centering the ball on the field for their rookie kicker, Santee was finalizing his preparation and entertaining visits from teammates and assistant coaches, who were carefully trying to walk the tightrope between encouragement and letting the kicker be.

Johnson stopped by briefly. His advice?

“Give me one good step, and split those uprights,” he said. “Get in your mind and go end this
thing.”

After Sifford ran for four yards on third-and-7 from the Titan 12, it was Santee’s turn. But
complicating the issue was the fact that Hopewell had burned its final timeout, in an effort to get the ball back, during Hough’s previous drive. So as the Hopewell offense rushed off the field and field goal personnel made its way on, the clock ticked. And it ticked. Excruciatingly, it kept ticking until the Titans were set in formation with eight seconds to go.

“I just prayed like, ‘Please let him make this kick,’” said Sifford. “We can’t lose no more.”

T.C. Cochran snapped the ball, Chris Strickland put down the hold, and Santee booted it toward the deep black sky on the south end of Hough’s stadium. Santee immediately reacted.

“I knew it was good when I kicked it,” he said.

The Hopewell sideline, Johnson included, exploded into celebration as the clock hit zero. Initially, a flag was thrown on Hopewell for excessive celebration when it appeared time was going to be put back on the clock. But the officials ruled that the game was over, negating the penalty and finalizing Hopewell’s jubilation and Hough’s heartbreak.

In the midst of the frenzy was Santee, Hopewell’s new hero, hopping around and smiling like he had stopped five straight PKs. Or maybe because in one pressure-packed moment, he’d become a PK. A placekicker, that is.

“He had the toughest job for today,” said Heath.