Eighth-grader hits 63-yard field goal in middle school practice

On Oct. 18, Spokane (Wash.) Central Valley High placekicker Austin Rekhow earned national headlines by hitting a game-tying 67-yard field goal, sending Central Valley on the way to a stunning overtime win.

That 67-yarder remains one of the most impressive kicks in all football history, let alone within the prep division alone. Still, Rekhow may have company soon, if practice footage of one eighth-grader is any indication.

As first noted by NBC Sports' Off the Bench, the player you see in the video above is Midland, Texas, middle schooler Blake Carter, and he has one enormously powerful leg. While video is grainy, by all accounts Carter appears to have nailed a 63-yard field goal in a team practice.

While 63 yards isn't 67, and practice isn't a game, Carter isn't a high school senior, either. Rather, he hasn't even stepped foot in a Midland (Texas) High or Midland (Texas) Lee High classroom yet. The 14-year-old eighth-grader has four years ahead of him to boot pressure-packed kicks in Class 5A Texas competition.

If Carter's practice kicks are any indication, he'll get a chance to kick in all four of those years, too. The fact that any eighth-grader could even get a ball to travel 63 yards with that much height is impressive enough, let alone that he could accurately direct it through uprights.



Perhaps kickers these days are just getting stronger? If Rekhow and Carter's boots are any indication, football authorities may have to look into expanding end zones, or NFL teams will start kicking as soon as they hit their own 30-yard line within the next two decades. Talk about a game-changer.