Braden River kicker Tyler McCauley is a special offensive weapon

Tyler McCauley took four steps before speeding up his legs toward the teed football.

The result, though, turned into a funny moment for the Braden River High School kicker and his teammates.

McCauley’s turn as the Pirates starting varsity kicker began with a stumble and an unintentional onside kick that teammate Devontay Seabrooks recovered in this year’s Kickoff Classic victory against New Port Richey River Ridge.

“I just let it go; it was just all nerves for me,” McCauley said. “First varsity kick for me, the nerves were kind of with it.”

McCauley hasn’t been nervous much since.

Taking over from veteran Kyle Thoma, who now plays at Fairmont State in West Virginia, McCauley’s right leg has continued Braden River’s kicking game as a powerful weapon.

Last season, Thoma worked with former Lakewood Ranch and Florida State University star Gary Cismesia, who is considered one of the area’s best kickers in history. McCauley, though, is self-taught.

“I played soccer for 13 years, so I already had the kicking down,” he said. “It was just the aspect of getting it up, instead of in kind of thing.”

McCauley misfired on one field goal attempt last week against Naples Gulf Coast, but it was his first missed field goal since a late September trip to Leesburg. He’s missed three all season.

“Most kickers stay off to their selves and do their own thing, but he’s ... always involved, always active and always doing something to help the team out,” Braden River head coach Curt Bradley said.

Friday’s regional semifinal at Venice could come down to McCauley’s leg. The two sides are ranked in the top 10 of Class 7A and played a one-possession game in October.

Getting to this point as the club’s starting varsity kicker started when McCauley was a member of the junior varsity team. Playing three junior varsity years meant McCauley bided his time, and he even went to some varsity practices to watch and learn from Thoma.

“I would watch how he would work and I would also watch how he was never really nervous about anything,” McCauley said. “So he just went in and just did it. So he just made me think, ‘OK, I could do the same thing.’”

Part of doing it is repetition and McCauley isn’t unlike most kickers. He sticks to the routine, which is broken down to his steps and breathing.

“Whatever happens, happens,” he said.

McCauley boomed a 50-yard field goal in practice, but his longest in a game is 46 yards. But there’s another aspect to his kicking that could prove vital for the Pirates in this week’s rematch with the Indians. It’s his penchant for producing touchbacks. It doesn’t happen every single time, but it happens enough to keep opposing returners from giving their team a short field to work with.

Bradley said Venice has a great kicker in Zack Sessa. So that makes it even more important to have their own solid kicker on Friday.

“There’s so many hidden yards in games like this,” Bradley said. “When it’s not a close game, field position doesn’t much matter. But close games, you play them more like NFL or college games where you can play field position. Get a couple first downs have a good punt or have a great kickoff and pin them inside their 20 and make them go the long distance. So the kicking game is huge, the bigger the game the more you play field position.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Braden River kicker Tyler McCauley is a special offensive weapon."