Lorenz will get his kicks at Dome

Kody Lorenz describes himself as the "big foot" on the Jackson United under-12 boys traveling soccer team. Lorenz, 11, has been taking the corner kicks for the team this season after landing the job halfway through last season.

"At the beginning of the year, at tryouts, everyone takes corner kicks to see who can kick it closest to the goal and get enough lift to give someone a chance to head it in or kick it in," Lorenz said.

Lorenz this fall has displayed his accuracy and distance kicking a ball of a different shape.

He won the local and sectional NFL/Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick competitions for boys ages 10 and 11. One day after winning the Cape Girardeau competition -- which had been postponed twice by rain, as was the Jackson event that wasn't rescheduled -- Lorenz won the sectional on Oct. 2 with a combination score that placed him in the top five among those competing in all the sectionals in the St. Louis Rams district.

He will compete Sunday afternoon for the St. Louis Rams Team Championship at the Edward Jones Dome. The event will take place prior to the start of the Rams game against the Washington Redskins, and each athlete will throw the ball down the field at halftime of the Rams game.

"It's just for fun," said Lorenz, who admitted he might be a little nervous competing in the dome while attending his first Rams game.

"I've been practicing at home," he added. "And at recess, some of the kids bring a football and we throw it around or play football."

Competing for a team championship is not out of the question for Lorenz. He posted a total in the sectional of 237 feet, 3 inches.

The winning mark for the St. Louis Rams Team Championship last year was 248-8, which was among the lower half of all NFL team champions in the 10- and 11-year-old boys category. The winning mark the previous year was 252-0.

The winning national mark last year was 301-7.

Lorenz won the sectional championship by a margin of 52 1/2 feet. He estimates his kicking at 93 feet and his punting at 63 feet. But he says his best event is throwing, where he comes in around 88 feet.

The son of Kirk and Barbara Lorenz of Jackson, Kody is a sixth-grade student at Jackson Middle School. The school will have a representative in the Rams team competition for the second straight year: Jennifer Moore competed among 12-13 girls last year.

Lorenz's sister, Casey, 14, knew that bit of trivia on Tuesday afternoon.

No one knows exactly what Kody's athletic future will be. A soccer player for eight years, he played one-quarter of a football season in his youth. But the left midfielder for Jackson United's traveling team may give it another shot someday.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I might consider football next year."