By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

LaGrange High’s Joseph Mansour thought he’d given his team the lead when he knocked a 50-yard field goal through the uprights during last year’s game against Troup.

Had the kick counted, it would have given the Grangers a 17-14 lead, which would have been huge considering how well the LaGrange defense was playing.

But it wasn’t to be.

A flag was thrown on the play, and the Grangers were tagged with a 5-yard penalty, backing them up to the 38-yard line.

What would LaGrange head coach Steve Pardue do?

Would he call for a punt and hope to pin the Tigers deep in their own territory?

Or would he leave the kicking team on the field and let Mansour try another field goal, this one from 55 yards?

It was, as Pardue said after the game, one of the easiest decisions he made all night.

“There was no doubt if he could hit it he would make it in my mind,” Pardue said. “I thought it might be our only chance to get three.”

Mansour paid off his coach’s confidence by converting the long field goal, giving the Grangers a critical three points, and the defense made the lead stand up for a 17-14 victory.

Mansour said his mindset on the second kick was the same as the first.

“I just told myself to kick it the same as last time,” he said. “And I made it.”

It’s been a year since Mansour’s kick lifted LaGrange past its biggest rival, and Friday night at Callaway Stadium, he and the Grangers will hit the turf once again to take on the Troup Tigers.

Mansour is now a senior, and in a game that figures to be close again, there’s a chance the game could rest on his powerful right foot.

If it does come down to a kick, the Grangers should be in good shape with the soon-to-be Kentucky Wildcat in the fold.

The 55-yard field goal is not even Mansour’s longest.

This year, in a victory over Columbus, Mansour made a 59-yard field goal that cleared the upright with plenty of room to spare.

That kick, which came after two 5-yard penalties on the Grangers, was the third-longest in Georgia history.

Mansour also made a 56-yard field goal in the opener against Newnan, and he has made 5-of-7 attempts overall this season.

Mansour stepped into the spotlight during his freshman season when he made field goals of 50 and 49 yards.

During his sophomore, he made four field goals of 46 yards or longer, including one from 53 yards.

Mansour has plenty of natural ability, but he has also worked hard to perfect his craft, whether it’s in practice or at the numerous camps he’s gone to over the years.

“For four years, every summer, I’ve been kicking, getting ready for the season,” he said. “And every day at practice, I come out here and kick.”

Mansour, who said he “kicked a 71-yarder” in practice when conditions were perfect, said he’d be confident trying one in a game from “63, 64 yards.”

He said his technique doesn’t change no matter the distances of the kick.

Henry Hughes snaps it, Braxton Smith holds it, and Mansour kicks it.

“You just keep your head down, and kick it,” he said. “You just go back to what you’ve done in practice.”

Mansour is also the Grangers’ punter, and he’s been terrific in that role, averaging more than 44 yards a kick.

It’s not just about power for Mansour, though.

Twice in one game earlier this season, Mansour’s punts ended up being downed on the 1-yard line.

Mansour said he made an effort to improve as a punter in the offseason.

“Last summer, I learned a lot,” he said. “That was the first time I worked with a punting coach. He really taught me everything I needed to know. That’s why my average is up.”

Mansour is also a weapon on kickoffs.

He routinely puts the ball in the end zone, meaning teams don’t have a chance to return the kick.

“He can do it all,” LaGrange High head coach Steve Pardue said. “He can kick off, punt, make long field goals. And he’ll become more and more consistent.”

Mansour takes a lot of pride in being an athlete, eschewing the stereo-typical image of the kicker as a small, wispy guy who doesn’t even wear the same helmet as everyone else.

Mansour, who is listed on the team roster as 6-foot-3, 177 pounds, is also a standout outfielder on the LaGrange baseball team.

He always runs hard on kickoffs in case he needs to make a tackle.

“When I run on the football field, it seems like I run so fast because I never get to use my speed,” he said.

Mansour showed off his athletic prowess when, before the season, he finished third in the team’s Iron Man competition that measures the players in a number of different areas.

There was speculation that Mansour might be used at wide receiver, but that didn’t happen.

“At the beginning of the year when I ran in the Iron Man, they thought about using me at wide receiver,” Mansour said. “And then coach Pardue said no.”

The Grangers have plenty of athletes, but they only have one guy who can make a field goal from 60 yards.

Mansour is the latest in a long line of successful kickers at LaGrange.

During Mansour’s first two seasons, he shared time with Pat Simmons, who made all 39 of his extra-point attempts and four-of-five field-goal tries in 2007.

Before Simmons, Tommy Traylor successfully held down the kicking position for a couple of years, and it was Ben Higgins before him.

It’s not a coincidence that LaGrange has been so solid in the kicking game over the years.

Pardue has always said he considers special teams to be as important as offense and defense, and the Grangers have won a lot of games because of their superiority in that area.

The Grangers have never had a kicker like Mansour, though.

Few schools have.

With his 59-yarder this season, Mansour has three of the 12 longest kicks in Georgia history according to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association.

No wonder so many different colleges have been knocking on Mansour’s door.

Mansour chose Kentucky, and although the decision doesn’t become official until signing day in February, he said he isn’t going to change his mind.

Mansour isn’t sure what his role will be once he gets to Lexington, he just wants to be on the field.

“They haven’t told me, but I’ll do whatever they want me tot do,” he said. “When I went for a visit, they said they wished they could put me in a jersey right now.”

Kentucky will have to wait.

For now, Mansour is focused on leading the Grangers to a victory over Troup, and then hopefully on an extended playoff run.

“It’s always a fun game (against Troup),” Mansour said.