Jet Toner detonated some bombs with his leg in Punahou’s 49-7 victory over Leilehua on Saturday in Wahiawa.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound senior kicker, who was a Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s All-State first-team selection as a junior, unleashed seven high-arcing and deep extra-point kicks in the game. He also booted a 46-yard field goal, but the points came off the board because a running into the kicker penalty was called and Punahou opted to take the penalty and face a fourth-and-1 situation.
Those seven extra points were not your usual high school kicking fare. At least a few of them went over the fence behind the west (woods) and east (schoolside) end zones. The others that didn’t make it over, came mighty close.
“Oh my goodness,” Buffanblu receiver Judd Cockett, who made two touchdown catches in the win, said about Toner’s kicks. “Four of those, at least, made it over the fence and sent our ball boys all over the place looking for them.”
Kale Ane, the softspoken head coach, called Toner a “tremendous weapon.”
“He works at it,” Ane added. “He’s very conscientious and we have a lot of faith in him.”
Toner also had punts of 58 and 44 yards (the 58-yarder went super high with mega hang time) in swirling winds and, out of his eight kickoffs, five went into the end zone for touchbacks.
This type of contribution is nothing new for Toner. In the state semifinals against Kahuku, he kicked a 48-yard field goal with 30 seconds left for a 13-10 win. Earlier in the fourth quarter of that game, he hit a 35-yarder to tie it at 10.
Then, in 53-45 loss to Mililani in the state final, Toner drilled a state tournament-record 53-yarder.
In addition, Toner was a valuable striker for the Buffanblu soccer team last winter, earning Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State first-team honors. He scored three goals in a state quarterfinal win over Kealakehe.
Toner appears to be going places as far as college football goes. He’s listed as a 5-star recruit on ChrisSailerkicking.com and has already received an offer from Army.
Chris Sailer runs high-level kicking and long-snapping camps. This is what he wrote on his Web site about Toner as a punter and a kicker:
“Jet is an outstanding punting prospect. He is a great athlete with a great punting frame. Hits a big and consistent ball. The sky is the limit. Also a very good kicker. A fine young man with a great attitude and work ethic. Jet has a bright D-I college future ahead of him. Excellent combo prospect.”
We cut Sailer’s comment into two pieces for effect. The last part ends with some advice to college coaches: “OFFER NOW!!!”
You need a kicker. Most Hawaii high school teams it’s either a TD or nothing. Not many Hawaii kickers ever made it in college. Roy Gerela of Kalani kicked for the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years. . One of the Ho brothers kicked for Notre Dame. A Punahou grad punted for Ohio St. I forget his name. Scott Terna? is that it? Peter Kim kicked for Alabama in the late 1970s. The current UCLA kicker prepped at Punahou. Kaimi Fairbairn.