Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Lucas Karwal has the resume of a football player.

He is tough, evident from his years of playing catcher on the baseball team and hockey in his spare time.

Karwal is a regular in the weight room, a leader in conditioning drills and is described by coaches as one of the most competitive players on the team.

“The kid is a competitor, he plays hockey, he’s a catcher on the baseball team and if we need him to he can play corner,” Hartwig said. “He’s tough, he’s unflappable.”

With a background like that it’s hardly a surprise that Karwal is a key contributor for Class 4A second-ranked West High (3-0).

What is a surprise given his skillset is the position Karwal holds for the Trojans.

Karwal has established himself as one of the top place kickers in the state, converting on 58 of 62 PATs and 10-of-12 field goals over the past two seasons.

The senior is a kicker in the program but that’s not how Hartwig views him.  

“Karwal is an athlete first and a kicker second, that’s the way I look at him,” Hartwig said. “Quietly he’s one of the tougher guys on the team you wouldn’t know it because he’s kind of a soft-spoken kid but he’s tough. He does all the conditioning as a kicker, he lifts every weight, we treat him as a football player first and he just happens to be the guy that kicks the ball.”

Karwal has been playing football since his elementary days.

It was in his early days as an elementary school football player that some simple addition led him to a career as a kicker.

“In fifth and sixth grade it was two points for PAT and one point if you went for the conversion,” Karwal said. “They needed a kicker, I just started there and never stopped.”

Giving kicking a shot turned out to be a good decision for Karwal and a blessing for Hartwig and the Trojans.

Karwal converted on 8-of-10 field goal attempts last season in his first full seasons as the Trojans’ place kicker helping West High reach the state title game.

An off-season full of weight lifting and kicking camps has the 5-foot-8, 155-pound Karwal off to an even better start this season.

“This offseason was huge for me,” Karwal said. “I attended a lot of camps and tried to kick five or six times a week and lifted all the time. I did everything I could to work on improving.”

Karwal is 13-of-14 on PATs this season and has made both of his field goal attempts, including a game-tying 35-yarder with 1:16 left against Cedar Falls last Friday that forced overtime.

“I’ve never had a kick like that,” Karwal said. “I’ve had similar late game kicks to take the lead or secure the lead a little bit but nothing like that.”

The 35-yarder against the Tigers was one yard off his career long and Hartwig says he has confidence in his senior kicker from a much further distance.

“I feel bad I haven’t gone to him more, I’m an aggressive coach and as the weather changes I need to remind myself that we do have a kid like Lucas because he is a weapon,” Hartwig said. “His time is coming. He stepped up Friday and made a great kick and we know that ace is in our back pocket and we are going to play that card when we need to.”

Karwal has done his job of putting points on the board for West High the past two seasons.

He has also been instrumental in helping the Trojans’ keep teams off the scoreboard by helping with field position.

Over the past two seasons nearly 20 percent of his kickoffs have gone for touchbacks. This season he has sent six of 19 kick offs into the end zone.

“That is a credit to him going back to his offseason because he doesn’t miss the weights and his leg is more powerful,” Hartwig said. “He went to some legitimate camps and he’s improved a lot.”

One thing Karwal has never had in his career is a game-winning field goal.

If that situation arises in Friday’s annual Battle for the Boot with cross-town rival City High (1-2) Karwal will be ready.

“I love playing City every year, we’ve played them every year since flag football for as long as I can remember and just kind of formed that rivalry so I’d love that if it came down to a kick,” Karwal said. “I trust myself so I want to be in those situations.”