Saints kicker Alex Reali has a leg up on the competition
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Dave Stahler shakes his head in amazement each day at practice as he watches his kickers, Alex Reali and Jay Tripathi, regularly hit 40-yard field goals.
That’s only happened once during a game at Berks Catholic but the Saints could see it happen more often this season. They’ve already seen one boomer of a punt, in their opener against Twin Valley.
Reali, a sophomore in his first year at BC, drilled a punt 69 yards, pinning the Raiders at the 1.
“That was outstanding,” said Stahler. “I don’t know if you’re ever going to get a better punt than that. That was amazing.”
Reali, at 6-1, 220 pounds, is probably the largest punter in the Lancaster-Lebanon League. He’s also one of the best. He earned second-team all-league honors as a freshman last year at Schuylkill Valley, when he averaged 36.3 yards per kick, with six punts inside the 10, five of them inside the 5.
He’s bigger and stronger now and coming off an outstanding showing earlier this summer at the Kohl’s National Scholarship Camp in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he earned a four-star rating (out of five) in both punting and kicking.
He ranked No. 9 among sophomore punters at the camp, which featured hundreds of kickers from across the country; his best kick was a 48-yarder with a 4.4 hang time. (Punts are scored on distance and hang time.)
“If you can get both of those down that’s a big plus,” Reali said.
Reali played a variety of sports growing up. He was a linebacker and fullback in junior high but once he started putting his foot on the ball he knew that was his lane.
“When I got to seventh grade, I realized I was good at it,” he said. “In eighth grade I became a (fulltime) kicker.”
With his own private coach at home, Reali has a leg up on the competition. His father Sean was a punter at Syracuse University from 1994-96; he still holds the program career punting record, averaging 43.6 yards on 133 punts.
Alex has been working for years with his dad, picking up tips on training and technique. The two regularly work out together.
“I’ve had a very good resource with my dad to help me progress through it,” Alex said.
Alex has gotten plenty of outside help, too. He regularly takes part in kicking camps and competitions – earlier this year he competed in camps at Syracuse and Arkansas — and trains with Eddie Mish of Kohl’s and other aspiring kickers in the Lehigh Valley.
He also trains regularly at Garage Strength to build leg and core strength and overall agility. He’s hoping his dedication leads to an opportunity to kick in college; he’d love to follow his dad’s footsteps to Syracuse.
“That’s the goal,” he said. “He still holds the punting record average over three years. I would like to break it.”
Alex Reali has had more experience punting than kicking, though he’s becoming more proficient on field goals, PATs, and kickoffs. In the opener against Twin Valley he sent two of his three kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.
Junior teammate Jay Tripathi made a 31-yard field goal on his only attempt and converted his only PAT attempt against the Radiers. Stahler said Reali is competing for opportunities to kick field goals and PATs.
Reali figures to be in competition for the Berks County Specialist of the Year award. Last year’s co-champ, Keegan Maher of Wyomissing, is now a senior. Maher will need to fend off other top kickers such as Lance Koenig of Gov. Mifflin, Nate Shaffer of Twin Valley, and Wilson freshman Preston Oxenreider.
Reali had a rough start with the Saints as each of his first two punt attempts were partially blocked; Stahler said those were the result of issues on the line, not with the kicker. When Reali got off a clean kick he boomed it 69 yards.
“He was able to mentally recover (from the first two kicks) and get off a good kick,” Stahler said.
Even with the protection issues Reali was able to average 38.0 yards on four kicks, dropping two of them inside the 20.
“We’re blessed to have Alex,” Stahler said. “He is by far the most polished (high school) punter I’ve ever seen.”
