Saints’ Andrew Kurtas uses big week to close gap in Berks specialist competition

Berks Catholic’s Andrew Kurtas used a big week in a head-to-head meeting to close the gap on Conrad Weiser’s Adam Noll in the race for the annual Berks County Specialist of the Year award.

Kurtas, a senior and first-year kicker, was good on all six extra-point attempts and nailed a 35-yard field goal in the Saints’ 45-0 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 win over the Scouts.

Noll leads the competition with a 79.5 percent rating. Kurtas is second at 58.9; Gov. Mifflin’s Jackson Schools is third at 39.7.

Noll, runner-up last year as a junior, has been good on all 14 extra-point kicks, has eight touchbacks and is averaging 39.3 yards per punt.

The Specialist of the Year standings are based rankings on extra-point and field goal accuracy, field goal length, touchbacks and punting average.

John Zima, founder of Kick-It and special teams coach at Wyomissing, collects the data and computes the standings. He awards the top finishers at the annual Berks County Football Coaches Association banquet each season. This is the fifth season of the award.

Noll’s eight touchbacks are tops in Berks.

Kurtas’ 44-yard field goal is the longest of the season in Berks.

Wyomissing’s Ian Levering has scored the most points, 36, all on extra-point conversions.

Gov. Mifflin’s Travis Jenkins has been Berks’ top punter, averaging 45.3 yards per kick. Hamburg’s Xander Menapace is second, at 40.3. Noll is third at 39.3.