Just for kicks

POST FALLS - Whether it's on the soccer or football field - one Post Falls High junior is getting plenty of kicks in for the Trojans this fall.

Junior Scott Benner has been holding down the center back defender position for the Post Falls soccer squad, currently 6-1 on the season entering a key 5A Inland Empire League match with Coeur d'Alene on Thursday at Post Falls High.

Benner also is in his second year as the kicker for the Trojans football team, which is off to a 3-0 start and ranked third in the state.

"It's kind of a tradition for a soccer player to kick for the football team," Benner said. "Usually coach (Jeff) Hinz comes to find the player with the biggest leg."

Soccer coach Gabe Lawson has sent players from the soccer to football team since he's been at Post Falls High.

"The coaches usually come to me and ask who can help them," said Lawson, in his eighth season as Trojans coach. "I knew Scott had the best leg, so he went there as a sophomore. We're currently grooming freshman Timmy Mueller to take over for him in two years."

Benner was named the 5A IEL goalkeeper of the year as a sophomore, along with being named the IEL's newcomer and defender of the year as a freshman. He is currently a starting defender for Post Falls, where he also is a team captain.

"Scott is a great defender and brings a good work ethic to practice," Lawson said.

Benner had never played a down of football before his time with the varsity football team.

"Before the first game, I wasn't sure how to put my pads on," Benner said. "I went home before the game and asked my mom how to put some of them on."

He finished his sophomore season 18 of 20 on extra points and was 2 for 2 in field goals, both coming against Coeur d'Alene at Viking Stadium. Benner practices with the soccer team for an hour, then joins the football team for the final half-hour of practices, when they work on special teams.

"With football, it's more practice on your own," Benner said. "I go there for a half hour. With kickoffs, I just treat it like a free kick in soccer."

"Scott has done an excellent job kicking for us," Trojan football coach Jeff Hinz said. "Those two field goals he kicked against Cd'A were huge because it helped us win the game."

Benner, along with Mueller, traveled to the Mike Hollis Skills Camp at Central Valley High over the summer, where they learned the proper way to kick a football. Hollis, who was born in Kellogg, kicked at CV, the University of Idaho and for Jacksonville and Buffalo in the NFL.

"The ball flies different than a soccer ball," Benner said. "With soccer, there is more room for error. When kicking a football, you've got to kick it perfect to get it where you want to go."

Benner is 14 for 15 on extra points, with his only field goal attempt a miss at Caldwell on Sept. 3. The miss on extra points was a blocked attempt in the fourth quarter of the Trojans' 48-12 win over East Valley last Friday.

He missed the football team's second game, a 51-6 win over Centennial Secondary School of Coquitlam, British Columbia, in Ellensburg, Wash., due to the soccer team having a match against Moscow in Post Falls earlier in the day.

"I couldn't miss our soccer match," Benner said. "They just had to go for two a lot. With the way the offense is playing, they didn't really need me for field goals."

Outside of last Saturday's match, there won't be any soccer matches that interfere with football games until the state tournament, which is scheduled for Oct. 21-23 at the Idaho Falls Soccer Complex. Post Falls qualified for state in boys soccer last year for the first time since 1997.

Post Falls will host Coeur d'Alene at Trojan Stadium on Friday, Oct. 22 in what figures to be a key 5A IEL game.

"I'm going to do everything I can to be in both places," Benner said. "I had field goals of 39 and 41 yards that got us the win at Coeur d'Alene. My mom said she'd fly me between Boise and here to make sure I got to both places. As a captain, my priority is to be with the soccer team."

He has played club soccer for the Idaho Thunder and will compete along with a traveling team in the spring, giving up his other passion of playing baseball.

"Soccer is what I've got a passion for," Benner said. "If I have a chance to play in college - it will be that."

"He'll be playing primarily as a keeper this spring," Lawson said. "He's one of the better keepers in the league, but we need him on defense also."

Benner added that his goal this season is to break the school field goal distance record.

"The record is 50 yards," Benner said. "I don't see the distance as much of a problem. It's just the pressure of wanting to make it."

"We selected him as a captain this year," Lawson said. "After losing our two captains last season, he's stepped in and done a fantastic job. When he first came in, he was quiet. But now, he leads by example. It doesn't matter what kind of a match it is, he's always playing like it's a state championship game."

That determination, Lawson added, is probably what makes him a good kicker on the football field as well.

"He's got a good skill set," Lawson said. "We can put him into goal or center back and he'll be the best player in the league. It's what he does. He's a game kind of player and is focused from the opening whistle on. He never panics. The more stressful a situation, the better he is. It translates to kicking field goals, because there is more stress to hit field goals - but he never lets it get to him."

When it comes to splitting time, Lawson added it has been a good experience.

"The football teams has been really good about it," Lawson said. "It's kind of helped in a way. By splitting between the two spots, we've built a little respect and there's not much separation between the two teams."