Norwegian kicker key addition for Rhea County

photo Rhea County kicker Aleksander Hatlem, a foreign-exchange student from Norway, practices his kicks on Monday. Hatlem could be key in the Eagles' semifinal game on Friday.

EVENSVILLE, Tenn. -- Aleksander Hatlem filled out a mountain of forms during his foreign-exchange-student process.

The forms asked about his interests and hobbies. And they asked what he'd like to experience in America while spending a year away from his native Norway.

Playing American football topped his list.

Hatlem, who grew up in Sandnes, Norway -- a coastal city with a population of about 70,000 located on the North Sea, which is closer to the North Pole than the northern tip of Maine -- is getting to experience more postseason football than most Tennessee kids who grew up knowing the difference between an extra point and a field goal and the importance of recovering an onside kick.

Hatlem, as he has been all season, will be the place-kicker for Rhea County (12-0) on Friday when the Eagles face Knoxville West (11-1) in a Class 5A state semifinal in Evensville.

"It's a sport that not a lot of people do in Norway, but I'd seen football on TV and I knew there was a lot of action," Hatlem said. "I knew it was a big sport down here with thousands of people at games. I thought it would be the American sport I'd like to try. It could have been baseball or basketball, but I wanted to try football."

He's tried it and loves it.

Hatlem grew up playing European football -- soccer, as we know it -- which translated easily for him to become the Eagles' kicker.

Coach Mark Pemberton entered the season needing someone to put the ball through the uprights after Eagles touchdowns, and to boot the ball into the end zone on kickoffs. The kicker Rhea expected to have for the season tore a knee ligament in the spring game.

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Hatlem has been a pleasant gift.

Assistant coach Micah Ruehling tested Hatlem's foot before Pemberton saw him kick.

"I got a call in July from his host dad (Gary Roberts), and he said we're getting an exchange student and he wants to play football," said Ruehling, who is also the athletic director and ensured that Hatlem would be eligible under TSSAA regulations.

"Then August 6 rolls around, and we let him warm up," Ruehling recalled. "We let him pop it 15-20 yards. Then we put him back at the 40 for a kickoff and I said, 'Do you see the coach? Kick it over his head.'

"He kicked the first one to the 5-yard line and the next three in the end zone."

Hatlem had a spot on the team and a starting job.

"We were crossing our fingers that he could come in and kick for us, and he's certainly been able to do that," Pemberton said. "He's a quality kid that stepped in from day one."

And Pemberton has confidence in Hatlem to step into a game-winning field goal on Friday should the situation arise. After all, he's missed only one field-goal attempt -- with a good snap and hold -- this season. He booted through the game-winning point against Cookeville earlier this season.

"I don't know that he feels pressure a whole lot," Pemberton said. "Pressure? It doesn't seem like it bothers him much."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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