Hemphill’s field goal ranks No. 3 in state history
Miles Hemphill’s 61-yard field goal for East Paulding in the second round is the longest kick by a Georgia high school player in 13 years, according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association.
Hemphill, a soccer player who began playing football last season as a junior, made the kick on the final play of the first half in East Paulding’s 35-6 loss to Stephenson.
The longest kicks in state history are a 67-yarder by Rusty Curry of Duluth in 1999 and a 63-yarder by Dax Langley of Heritage-Conyers in 1993. Curry’s field goal came on a free kick.
Hemphill’s kick capped perhaps the best season of any kicker in Georgia this season. He made 11 of 14 field-goal attempts and was 57-of-58 on extra points. He kicked off 79 times, with 66 going for touchbacks, one between the uprights.
Hemphill was recruited to play football in 2011 when former East Paulding coach John Reid saw him on a soccer field. He told him he could be the starter if he simply could kick seven of 10 kickoffs inside the 20-yard line on the fly during a tryout. Hemphill kicked nine of 10 into the end zone.
Hemphill has no scholarship offers. Minnesota and Wisconsin and several smaller schools have shown interest. Hemphill has visited Auburn, Georgia Southern and Middle Tennessee.
Here are the longest field goals recorded by GHSFHA.com. If you know of others, let us know.
67 – Rusty Curry (Duluth) vs. Norcross 1999
63 – Dax Langley (Heritage) vs. Cedar Shoals 1993
61 – Miles Hemphill (East Paulding) vs. Stephenson 2012
59 – Chris Gardocki (Redan) vs. Stone Mountain 1987
59 – Austin Hardin (Marist) vs. Southwest DeKalb 2010
59 – Joseph Mansour (LaGrange) vs. Columbus 2009
58 – Adam Shreiner (Walton) vs. Roswell 2007
58 – Phillip Newman (Walton) vs. Roswell 1998
58 – Eric Smith (Clarke Central) vs. Newton County 1989
57 – Phillip Newman (Walton) vs. Roswell 1998
57 – Jesus Noriega (Johnson-Gainesville) vs. Chestatee 2003
57 – Eric Osteen (Richmond Academy) vs. Glynn Academy 2007
Source: GHSFHA.com
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20 comments Add your comment
WarEagle
November 26th, 2012
8:07 am
Wow, great kick. I wish Curry’s kick carried an official asterisk, because free kicks are so different than contested kicks.
A Former Redan Fan
November 26th, 2012
8:53 am
I must be losing it but, didn’t Kevin Butler, Redan High School, kick a 63 yarder in 1979 against Stone Mountain at DeKalb Memorial Stadium?
EAST PAULDING CLASS '08
November 26th, 2012
12:17 pm
i was there fri nite and that kick would have been good from 71 yards easy
Max Sizemore
November 26th, 2012
1:23 pm
A kid from Stone Mountain in the mid- to late-80s made a long one, nearly 60 I think, in a game at North DeKalb Stadium. I recall that he was also a pretty good golfer.
Reg 5aaaaa guy
November 26th, 2012
1:37 pm
Somebody needs to offer this kid….he is a good kid and a great weapon when they can’t run kickoffs back…and he can do double duty ESP. When he can kick a 61 harder and it wasn’t close…
Where is Uga ? They can’t get an extra point kicker and this in state guy is sitting with no offers.? Unreal! He better make first team all state kicker aaaaa ….
Bryan
November 26th, 2012
1:43 pm
Sam Hagler kicked a 61 yard field goal for Dublin in the mid 80s.
Jefferson
November 26th, 2012
2:24 pm
Thunder foot fo sho’.
lineman
November 26th, 2012
2:39 pm
To bad it was the only highlight of the game. East had a great season that ended with a wimper.
NoDistrictLinesInDekalb
November 26th, 2012
2:51 pm
Wow maybe MLK would still be playing if only they could of made 1 of 2 xtr points that they missed.
Great
November 26th, 2012
4:04 pm
Go to Wisconsin please!
FridayNightLightsFan
November 26th, 2012
4:16 pm
I see the other 2 kicks are regular season. So this is a playoff record.
JAB
November 26th, 2012
5:06 pm
CONGRATULATION TO THE EP KICKER, I’M A STEPHENSON FAN AND WAS AT THE GAME…
RAIDER FAN
November 26th, 2012
6:16 pm
That was an amazing thing to see. You hardly ever even see that in the NFL. I’m surprised that there aren’t any D-1 colleges looking at him, at least that I have heard of.
thomas cope
November 26th, 2012
8:41 pm
Come on dawgs we could use kid
jacket87
November 26th, 2012
9:07 pm
Rockdale County’s Luke Manget kicked a 58-yarder in 1998 vs. Avondale
THE "CANNON RULES"!!
November 27th, 2012
7:24 am
Tremendous Kick and at the time brought the score to STEPHENSON 7 / EAST 6…it SHOULD have been a HUGE boost to EAST coming out in the second half…unfortunately it seemed to fire up STEPHENSON more as they came out and OWNED EAST in the 2nd half!
Hopefully one of the schools Hemphill is visiting will pay attention and make him an offer. He is a HUGE weapon…when the other team cannot have a chance at a runback when the ball sails out of the endzone!
@ JAB…GOOD LUCK this week…it’s a long drive!
TICK…TICK…TICK…BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
CONGRATULATIONS RAIDERS ON ANOTHER GREAT YEAR!
That Dude Says...
November 27th, 2012
10:23 am
Congratulations to Miles Hemphill. That’s impressive.
EPDAD
November 27th, 2012
11:52 am
Not bad for a kid that has only been playing football for 2 yrs.
WAY TO GO MLES……….
Kick Some Grass
November 27th, 2012
7:46 pm
Congratulation Miles on a great but short career at EAST. Known this young man from the soccer fields and he is very humble. Things are starting to pick up on the college front but he seems to be in no hurry. Still remember stands shaking after he hit 61 yarder. What is so impressive was how far the ball cleared the cross bar. Most kicks like this just clear it. Hope a big school shows up and keeps him close so we can still follow him.
FridayNightLightsFan
November 27th, 2012
10:46 pm
@KSG – keep me updated. You should have my email.