Fayetteville gets Starr struck

Fayetteville kicker Ryan Starr has made 11 of 12 field-goal attempts this season, including a 52-yarder against Bentonville on Nov. 2. He also has placed more than 20 kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks.

Fayetteville kicker Ryan Starr has made 11 of 12 field-goal attempts this season, including a 52-yarder against Bentonville on Nov. 2. He also has placed more than 20 kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

— Ryan Starr was lined up for the most important field-goal attempt of his career Friday night at North Little Rock when a squeeze bottle hurled from the home stands sailed into the field about a foot in front of holder Austin Allen.

“It was unbelievable,” Fayetteville Coach Daryl Patton said. “The guy needs to be playing quarterback somewhere that threw it. It looked like he threw it from the top row. To throw it that close to Austin Allen and the kicker, that’s pretty good.”

Starr subsequently squeezed the life out of North Little Rock’s season when he connected from 38 yards with seven seconds remaining to give Fayetteville a 30-28 victory in the semifinals of the Class 7A playoffs.

It was the third field goal of the game for Starr, who has emerged as a college recruiting prospect and, more important, a force in Fayetteville’s drive toward a second consecutive state championship after not playing as a junior.

Starr has made 11 of 12 field-goal attempts this fall, including a 52-yarder against Bentonville in the Nov. 2 regular-season finale, and placed more than 20 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Fayetteville and Bentonville will meet for the third consecutive year in the Class 7A final Saturday night at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Bentonville Coach Barry Lunney said he was unaware of Starr’s ability going into the regular-season meeting because both the Tigers and Bulldogs are so efficient scoring touchdowns in the red zone that they normally don’t rely heavily on placekickers.

“I saw that they had some field-goal attempts, but most of them certainly weren’t that long,” Lunney said. “But, boy, I did afterwards. Gosh, I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ It could have been good from 62 the night they played up here.

“He’s a great asset, there’s no doubt about it. He’s got a tremendous leg.”

Starr playing a starring role didn’t seem likely in early August when Fayetteville opened fall camp. Starr was a member of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette preseason Super Sophomore team in 2010 but was a backup that season behind Max Coffin, who was then a junior.

Patton said he believed Starr, 6-1, 165 pounds, would win the job that fall because of his physical ability, but he instead struggled with the pressure of varsity competition.

“On Monday nights he kicked 40-yard field goals left and right, kicked touchbacks,” Patton said. “But on Fridays he just didn’t handle it well.”

Starr left the program in the spring of 2011 to concentrate on soccer and didn’t rejoin the team until shortly after Fayetteville scrimmaged Pulaski Academy in late August in Little Rock.

In an interview after the scrimmage, in which the Bulldogs’ kicking game struggled, Patton expressed major concern about that area entering the season. But Patton also said Fayetteville had the best place-kicker in the state walking the halls.

Starr moved back to the field, Patton said, after being heavily courted by players, coaches and parents.

“The kid was getting bombarded,” Patton said. “I think he just said, ‘You know, I’m going to come and play for the seniors and try to help them out.’ ”

Patton said he’s glad Starr did.

“We wouldn’t be here without him,” Patton said.

Sports, Pages 24 on 11/28/2012