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Chattanooga: Rams rarity: solid kicker

By: Kelley Smiddie
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Larry Dillard

Plenty of weeks have gone by in Wayne Turner’s successful 18-year tenure as Tyner’s head football coach when the words “Tyner” and “kicking game” were either not found in the same sentence in a newspaper or were in a negative connotation. Sophomore kicker Logan Cornelius is out to change that.

“A lot of times we’d be playing a good team and maybe go down inside the 15 or 20 and stall out,” Turner said. “If we’d had a field-goal kicker we could maybe at least put points on the board instead of coming away with nothing. Other teams that have had good field-goal kickers have hurt us in that situation.”

That’s where Cornelius has come in. Although he’s never played football before this season, he’s already helped the Rams lessen the adventure of the extra point, which is something that’s haunted some of their previous teams.

He was 19-for-21 on extra points heading into last week’s victory over Fulton that left Tyner 4-0 heading into tonight’s Region 3-2A game at Marion County at 8 EDT. He was 2-of-5 against the Falcons, but Turner said faulty protection on a blocked kick and a couple of high snaps were factors on those misses.

“Normally, if the timing is right,” Tyner kicking coach Larry Dillard said, “he doesn’t miss.”

Cornelius has also made a 43-yard field goal. It came Aug. 29 at Finley Stadium against Brainerd.

“He’s got the distance to go from about 45, 48 yards,” Turner said. “He’s pretty consistent, too.”

His biggest contributions to date may be in his ability to customarily put kickoffs deep, if not in the end zone. Turner said no team has been able to drive 80 yards for a score against the Rams yet.

The prospect of Cornelius being able to make an impact for the Rams is a reward for them in itself. He’s actually a student at Arts & Sciences.

Cornelius is able to play for Tyner because CSAS doesn’t have a football team. The schools’ principals agreed to link with each other in a co-op program, which began last season. A request was submitted to the TSSAA, which approved the measure.

Cornelius comes from a soccer background. He was 3 when he first gave that sport a try.

It wasn’t until earlier this year that he tried kicking a football.

“They taught me some drills so I could work on my technique,” Cornelius said. “I’m not as bad of a kicker when I practice my flexibility.”

Dillard said Cornelius has proven to be a quick learner but tends to be his own worst critic. He also said Cornelius fits the detatched-personality mold that kickers are perceived to have. The youngster got involved in some mischief recently but endured his punishment and remains in good standing with the team.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Cornelius said in the future he’d like to add the starting punting job to his duties and maybe get involved in some of the physical action. He wasn’t sure at what position that would be, admitting that neither throwing nor catching were among his athletic assets.

“I’m little for a lineman and not fast enough for a running back,” Cornelius said. “Right now I’m kind of in between.”

His teammates seem to be handling the blocking and tackling fine without him. What none of them can do is kick a football high, far and straight on a regular basis, which might be the one extra ingredient they need.

“It would be pretty cool to hit a game-wining field goal for a state championship,” Cornelius said. “When I go out and practice, I say to myself, ‘This is the game-winning field goal right here.’”

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