# Football: Free kick rule? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550 "2003-09-19T04:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550/21 "2003-09-19T18:58:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Horseflesh \* > \*\*So as I’m reading these answers, is a 50-yard free kick by a high school boy considered a one-in-a-million shot? Would he rightly be considered a hero by the HS football fans, not neccesarily because he won the game but because of the difficulty of the kick? \*\* It’s a rare and newsworthy event not because of the difficulty of the kick but because of the obscurity of the rule and the rarity with which an opporunity to use it arises at the decisive moment of a game. A 50-yard free kick is actually much _easier_ than a conventional 50-yard field goal, because there’s no defensive rush and you can get a good running start. And a conventional 50-yard field goal, even by a high school student, would be praiseworthy but not all that rare. But for the free kick to arise, you need to have (a) the leading team punt from deep in its own territory with just a few seconds left in the game; (b) a high, fair-catchable punt that doesn’t travel far enough to put the trailing team out of FG range; and © a coach that knows the rule. It doesn’t happen often. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550/22 "2003-09-19T19:09:11Z")
I’ve posted this twice already on previous SDMB threads about dropkicks, so why not once again. Apparently former Bears/Eagles QB Jim McMahon practiced dropkicking until he got quite good at it. (The secret to a consistant bounce with a modern ball, he found, was to drop it right on the point and to kick it shortly after impact with the ground.) He kept begging his coaches to let him try it in a game. They humored him but never actally gave him the green light on game day. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550/23 "2003-09-19T19:13:43Z")
As someone who covers high school football, the number of punts that are kicked high enough to get a fair catch are pretty small. Most high school punters are lucky to get the ball 25 yards and with a minimal hang time. The longest field goal I’ve ever seen a high school kicker make in a game I covered was 54 yards. I saw a kid come up about a yard short on a 67-yard attempt once. However, high school kickers do get to use a 1" tee. That makes a big difference. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550/24 "2003-09-19T19:30:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*The longest field goal I’ve ever seen a high school kicker make in a game I covered was 54 yards. I saw a kid come up about a yard short on a 67-yard attempt once. > > However, high school kickers do get to use a 1" tee. That makes a big difference. \*\* When I played high school football in the 1980s, our team’s kicker held the state record for longest field goal at 50 yards. FWIW, the game in which the record-setting kick occured was played indoors, in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Since then, a kicker from another school made a 55-yarder, but I don’t know if that records still stands today. Just last week, the Mississippi state high school record for longest field goal was broken. IIRC correctly, it was either 56 or 57 yards. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550/25 "2003-09-19T19:43:13Z")
The national high school record is **68** yards by Dirk Borgognone of Reno HS in Reno, NV in a game against Sparks HS. I suppose the altitude helped. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550/26 "2003-09-21T06:06:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*The national high school record is **68** yards by Dirk Borgognone of Reno HS in Reno, NV in a game against Sparks HS. > > I suppose the altitude helped. \*\* Interestingly according to a post at [Official Forum](http://www.officialforum.com/showthread.php?postid=103413#post103413) the Borgognone kick was also a kick after a fair catch as all are scored as field goals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-free-kick-rule/202550.md?page=1)