[Don Carlo]

I have watched the play several more times on iHigh, and the camera does show the kicker running off of the field just before the Woodford player runs behind him in front of the JC bench. The kicker looks back over his shoulder as the Woodford player runs down the sideline to the end zone.

Whether it was just a mental mistake on the kicker's part or not, the conclusion that both the WSIP and Woodford County announcers reached was not unreasonable. I know that the Woodford TV crew was very biased but I don't think Spike Burkheimer has any ax to grind with Johnson Central.

Had the kicker been just a few steps slower getting off the field, the returner might have run over him.

I watched the play in person and one the replay and the return happened in front of the Woodford bench not JC's. The kickoff in question takes place around the 3:32 mark on the replay. You can also tell that this is the one by listening to the Woodford broadcasters. I'm going to run this one by everyone,if this was intentional on the JC and kicker's part why would he run to the opposing teams bench? That would be the last place I would want to go. I believe there was two mistakes made by the kicker. One was obvious, he didn't make any attempt as the safety to bring down the returner and that needs corrected fast. I believe his second mistake was not wanting any physical contact which is a no no in football.

Like I said in a previous post the Woodford people were talking about this kickoff and the mod from the other site was talking about a defensive series. It later became known that he was listening to the WSIP broadcast. I feel this was an opinion by one of the broadcasters and not fact. JC played people in the second half that normally wouldn't have played while Woodford was playing a lot of upper classmen because of it being senior night. Look at the kickoff return for example, the kickoff was returned by junior Michael Rusher against JC's freshman kickoff team. You can see why that has a chance to look and be very ugly.
I agree with you Spike has no ax to grind, he's the best in the business in my opinion.