| Klepacki getting kick out of Devils' season October 18, 2007 Todd Klepacki has taken his place in a long line of Hinsdale Central placekickers, including Dino Greco, the late Juan Luco and David Strauch in the 1970s under coach Gene Strode; Ken Fremer under Ken Schreiner in 2000, and brothers Mike and Andrew Hubbarth in 2003 and 2005, respectively, under Tony Lombardi. "Todd got off to a slow start, but it sometimes takes a while to get that leg strength early in the season,'' coach Mike DiMatteo said. "He has been right on since." It's not surprising that soccer is in Klepacki's background. He learned to kick a soccer ball long distances his freshman and sophomore years at Nazarth Academy despite breaking his hand twice and almost made Hinsdale Central's soccer team his junior season. It is surprising that Klepacki only weighs 155 pounds. "Weight doesn't matter if your fundamentals are solid,'' said Klepacki, whose finest hour might have been the Sept. 22 victory at Oak Park where he coolly kicked six straight extra points despite ferocious outside rushes. "I wasn't aware of them," he said. "Kickers can't allow themselves to have negative thoughts." Morten Anderson, the 47-year-old NFL placekicker, recently gave an eloquent description of disappearing into a mental cocoon before he kicks: "Before the ball is snapped, you're in real time. Then, right after the snap, that 1.2 or 1.3 seconds that you're actually out there on your work bench, time slows. You see the ball clearly. You see everything in slow motion. "Then you complete the kick, and it switches back to real time. You come out of your little egg. It's amazing. You hear the noise. Your sense of smell comes back. Then you see your teammates charging you." Klepacki, who wrote a college entrance essay on placekicking, couldn't put it any better. "I experience very similar moments,'' he said. "Everything seems to be in slow motion. That's the way it should be.'' Klepacki always is aware of game situations, then envisions himself on the field when it's his turn. "I haven't won a game yet with a field goal, but I'll be ready if it comes up," he said. Any field goal from now on would be timely. The regular-season finale is Saturday at Glenbard West, followed by the Class 8A state playoffs. JOY OF KICKOFFS: Assistant coach Nick Gebhart, who is new to the Hinsdale Central's football coaching staff after helping coach Driscoll Catholic to five straight state championships, is making kickoffs fun for the Red Devils' special teams players. "He's a big fan of short, screwy kicks, which makes it a whole lot of fun for us,'' Klepacki said. "There's the rugby kickoff, the 30-yard pop-up kick, the sniper kick. We use a lot of them to keep the ball away from good return men like Oak Park's Levell Coppage.'' 'FRIENDLY' FEUD: The long-awaited Hinsdale Central-Glenbard West game pits good friends DiMatteo against Hilltoppers' coach Chad Hetlet, who was DiMatteo's defensive coordinator last season. "We spent a lot of time talking football during the summer, but not about our teams,'' DiMatteo said in August. "We'll know enough about each other in October. We talked a little about how beautiful the trees are supposed to be in Lake Ellyn that time of year.'' The Red Devils (6-2, 4-1 West Suburban Silver) need to beat Glenbard West (4-4, 2-3) for a favorable seed in the playoffs. A loss might mean having to face a 9-0 or 8-1 opponent. PRICELESS: "Echoes From The Doings Past'' two weeks ago revealed this marvelous 1897 reporter's description of a 14-0 Hinsdale victory over Downers Grove: "All scoring was in the first half, and both teams showed a lack of practice and special moves." © Copyright 2007 Digital Chicago, Inc. http://www.pioneerlocal.com/clarendonhills/sports/607546,ch-timeout-101807-s1.article |
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