The role of a kicker on a football team can vary from team to team and from game to game.  Sometimes, the skills are in high demand, and sometimes it’s hard to justify even warming up.
    Friday night’s homecoming game for Brighton High School demonstrated both extremes.

    The kicker for the visiting Westminster High School Wolves made only one appearance — the bare minimum — at the start of the second half to kick off.
    Ronnie McNitt, the kicker for the varsity Bulldogs, had a very different night.
    Except for a fourth-quarter punt, every possession for Brighton ended with a touchdown, which gave McNitt six opportunities to kick extra points.  McNitt delivered each time, giving himself a touchdown’s worth of points in the final score of 42-0.
    And the extra points were just part of his evening.
    In addition to kicking off after each successful Bulldogs drive, McNitt returned two punts for 61 yards and grabbed an interception.  Ironically, McNitt returned the second-half kick off for a touchdown.  But the play was called back due to a holding penalty on the Bulldogs.
    Although his workload was much more than his counterpart on the Wolves sideline, McNitt was happy to be able to put in the extra effort.
    “We just didn’t want anyone to steal our homecoming because we don’t want our dance to be ruined,” McNitt said.
    McNitt was quick to put the attention on his teammates’ successes, which included touchdowns by Dominique Matthews, Michael and Colin Tabor, Sebastian Romero and two by Chayce Weaver.
    “I also owe it to my blockers. I’ve got great blockers, and we all just played as a team tonight,” McNitt said.
    McNitt, a senior, could now turn his attention to the rest of his last homecoming at Brighton High School.
    “We just wanted to come in here, get the job done and enjoy the weekend,” McNitt said. 
Although the game was a shutout, and Brighton’s high score prompted the referees to run the clock continuously in the fourth quarter, McNitt knew it was exciting for the fans.
    “We won last year for homecoming, too, but it was different,” McNitt said.  “It was really snowy, so we didn’t have a lot of fans who were able to come out.  But this year, we had a lot of fans and the fans were into it and this helped us keep going.”
    With a record of 2-0 early in the season, the Brighton players left the field feeling like kings. One player, Edwin Ramirez, even won the crown as king for the homecoming dance. But their attention will quickly turn to the Sept. 16 game against Castle View High School at Douglas County Stadium.
    “We’re on the road for the first time so it’s going to be different,” McNitt said.  “We just have to keep working, keep our mindset going to next week.”