After playing soccer for most of his life, Lincoln-Way East’s Carter Nair decided as a junior last year that he wanted to change sports and try kicking for the football team.
The trouble was, he had no experience.
“After soccer practice, I would stay around and start kicking footballs,” said Nair, who would make the football team as a senior. “Then I thought I was getting good at it.”
Nair was good to go Friday night with 6:22 left in the first half.
Battling a stiff wind, Nair kicked a 26-yard field goal to give the Griffins their first lead. They held on to beat host Neuqua Valley 17-14 in a Class 8A second-round playoff game.
The top-seeded Griffins (11-0) advanced to next week’s quarterfinals and will play the winner of Saturday’s game between Andrew (7-3) and Warren (9-1).
The wind Friday night played a factor in some aspects of the game.
Although it actually appeared the wind was dying down when he converted against the Wildcats (8-3), Nair suggested that wasn’t the case.
“It was going — it was a heavy wind for sure,” Nair said. “At halftime, I was making 60-yarders with the wind. It was moving all around. I practice against the wind all of the time.
“It’s a matter of confidence, plus a great snap by Jack Florentine, and the hold was perfect by Jimmy Curtin. The line held up and I put it down the middle. It was awesome.”
In a game where every point was big, the Griffins picked up a huge break later in the second quarter when Neuqua went to attempt a field goal by Joe Cyrus.
Cyrus had the wind at his back for a 44-yard kick, which cleared the crossbar. But the Griffins were offsides and the play was whistled dead, so it didn’t count.
Jake Scianna then got his hand up to deflect the 39-yard follow-up attempt with 3:09 left in the first half.
“The first time they tried the field goal, I saw a big gap,” Scianna said. “I thought the next time I was going to blitz through. I timed it right and got a hand on it.”
“He was our player of the year in the conference, and he’s a tremendous football player,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said of Scianna. “That was a big play.”
The Griffins’ touchdowns came on a Braden Tischer’s 45-yard pass to Curtin in the first quarter and James Kwiecinski’s 10-yard run in the third.
Kwiecinski finished with 125 yards on 24 carries. Tischer completed 5 of 10 passes for 113 yards.
Tischer saw the wind take his first pass well past a receiver on third down. He got the wind knocked out of him on the play, but Neuqua was flagged for a penalty to keep the drive going.
Three plays later, Tischer tried another long pass, connecting with Curtin for the TD.
“After I got hit, I could feel it in my legs and stomach and chest,” Tischer said. “It hurt initially, but I started walking around, and with the blood flowing, I felt better.”
The 6-foot-4, 180-pound Nair is also starting to feel better about his kicking. He said he is 6-for-6 on field goal attempts this season and 53-for-56 on extra points.
Getting a late start in the game as a kicker, Nair hasn’t been able to attend any exposure camps, but Northern Illinois has shown some recruiting interest.
This season also has gone better than he expected.
“My second day, I felt comfortable and every day I was loving it more and more,” Nair said. “I’ve been working with a kicking coach, Nick Setta of Lockport, and he’s been helping me a lot.
“The first game I felt really confident. I’ve gained a lot of confidence after that.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.