Aaron attended the Northwoods Combine up in the Hodag Dome in Rhinelander, WI this past March where he competed against other prominent high school kickers and punters.
Solberg kicks OT game winner!
Aaron Solberg is a kicker and flanker for his Eau Claire North Huskies — and he’s only a sophomore in one of Wisconsin’s most competitive D1/D2 conferences, the Big Rivers. Quite an accomplishment already… but to add hometown hero to the list, well that’s pretty special indeed.
Aaron attended three of our camps this Spring and Summer. It’s gratifying to see so much hard work put in by Aaron pay dividends for his team this Fall… and that’s what our camps are all about — helping your team win games and earning your coach’s trust (hopefully E.C. North Coach Matt McGinnis thinks so, too).
This past Friday night Eau Claire North hosted the La Crosse Logan Rangers and won on 35-34 on a PAT in overtime kicked by Solberg. No matter the distance, that’s a lot of pressure riding on just one kick. Aaron remained composed and hit a great ball on a perfect snap, hold and up-front blocking.
Prior to his game winning kick, Aaron caught a pass for a 72-yard TD score late in the game. He’s a dual threat for his team with plenty of big games ahead, including next week’s crosstown rival game vs. Eau Claire Memorial. We trust that Aaron will give it his best every game.
You can feel the pressure of their game in this link to the local TV station’s coverage of the highlights:
He also attended our River Falls Kicking & Punting Camp in July, as well as participating in our 1st Annual Midwest Kicking & Punting Championship.
There was another Mike Farley’s Kickers Camp camper in the game who, sadly, is not feeling the euphoria that Aaron does — and that’s La Crosse Logan’s kicker, Danil Roberts (La Crosse camp & MKPC), who’s overtime PAT was blocked and gave the Huskies the chance for the win.
To be fair, Danil didn’t miss the kick, it was blocked from right up the middle. His ball wasn’t low or mishit. It looks like a good kick with plenty of height. I’ll bet he was as surprised to see it bouncing behind him as the guy who blocked it was. Up to that point, Danil was 4-4 on his PATs.
So goes the life of a kicker. You get the highs of an OT victory and being swarmed by your teammates and sometimes you just have to keep your head up as you walk off the field in disappointment. I suspect Danil will recognize what happened and keep his confidence for all the kicks yet to come this season. However, he may want to buy a couple of cheeseburgers for his linemen to entice them to hold their block just a second longer. 🙂
The video is very quick and the camera jerky, but when you freeze frame, you can spot who blocks it and where. North’s player does an excellent job of penetrating through the A-gap and gets a perfectly timed jump to get his hand on the ball. My only rub for Danil is that he’s not using a block to kick. I advise it for ALL high school kickers — despite what many other camps suggest — the primary reason is to give your holder a better target to get a good ball to kick …and secondarily, because the flight of your ball will most definitely be higher and usually, further. Would it have made the difference? Hard to say, but I’d still recommend at least a 1/2″ tee, if not a 1″ or 2″ tee to kick. You have every right to use a tee in high school and there’ll be plenty of time to make the adjustment off the ground prior to college.
CALLING ALL PARENTS… Want to get some exposure for your son’s in-game accomplishments? Just drop us an email (and a link to a broadcast or a HUDL clip) that we can share on the site. We’re excited to see you helping your team, too!
Just click out CONTACT button and let us know.