Palisadian Spencer Ramsey, a junior at Brentwood School, drilled a 50-yard field goal to win the national championship at the Nike/Chris Sailer 8th Annual National Kicking Spring Event in Las Vegas on May 16. The field consisted of nearly 150 of the nation’s top high school and junior college kickers. After advancing through the preliminary round Ramsey was one of 20 finalists selected. Late in the finals competition he booted a 50-yarder to take the lead, but the 20th and last contestant equaled his kick. In the sudden death playoff, the other finalist missed his first attempt, opening the door for Ramsey to win on his first try from 50 yards out. As he lined up for the kick, 10 to 15 professional and college kickers who acted as coaches throughout the event purposely began telling jokes and taunting Ramsey to simulate real game conditions, but the Palisadian remained unfazed. Upon hearing a funny joke, Ramsey laughed, called for the snap and calmly kicked the football straight through the uprights. Ramsey had won prokicker.com’s Southern California regional field goal competition in February, making him the nation’s top “kicker punter” for several months for the high school class of 2011 in prokicker.com’s national rankings. Ramsey was the Eagles’ varsity punter and placekicker last fall, kicking four field goals and averaging almost 40 yards per punt. This spring he and fellow Palisadian Greg Oliva also led Brentwood to the Southern Section Division II playoffs. In July, he will join fellow Palisadians Oliva, Denton van Duzer (Palisades High) and Stephen Carr (Harvard-Westlake), on the Santa Monica Surf Club’s 17-and-under team at the USA Volleyball Junior Olympics in Austin, Texas.
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