By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

CRETE, Neb. - Last summer, Sharon Springs quarterback/safety Jeff Hennick wanted to learn how to soccer-style kick. He asked his head coach, Kevin Ayers, for some old footballs and started practicing.

"He caught on quick and he is a kid that will just work and work at it until he gets it," Ayers said.

The skill paid off in the inaugural Kansas vs. Nebraska Eight-Man All-Star Game on Saturday at Doane College. Hennick, Kansas' kicker, booted a 42-yard field goal with two seconds left in the first half in Kansas' 31-14 win.

"In eight-man, you just don't see field goals like that, because it is just so difficult to block for them," Kansas coach Jeff Savage said. "You only have one wing and the side is open. It is not a real safe play in a lot of instances.

"When you see a field goal like that in eight-man, especially on college goalposts that aren't very wide, that's special."

Hennick, also Kansas' quarterback, passed for two touchdowns and earned Kansas' Offensive Player of the Game honor. The field goal, though, was arguably the game's most unique play.

"He had never kicked extra points and field goals until tonight," Savage said. "We just showed him how to line up."

After Hennick taught himself to soccer style, he became Sharon Springs' kicker last fall. Ayers said Hennick was "doing a nice job" but the kicking started to aggravate Hennick's hip.

One of the team leaders, Hennick also was the Wildcats' starting quarterback and safety. He eventually passed for 1,324 yards and 23 touchdowns and earned a nod as an HDN Super 11 selection.

"He is way too valuable as a quarterback and as a safety to have, so we actually pulled him from his kicking job," Ayers said.

Ayers said Hennick didn't even kick in the Eight-Man Division II state championship 48-0 win over South Haven that completed a 13-0 season for Sharon Springs.

"He is obviously a great kicker, that would be pretty detrimental to us," Ayers said of a Hennick injury. "We didn't want to take a chance."

Hennick, though, was healthy enough to kick at the Kansas Eight-Man Div. II game in early June and booted several touchbacks. On Saturday, Hennick averaged 54.5 yards per kickoff, compared to 44.7 for Nebraska kicker Pat Tyrance.

But the field goal wasn't expected. Hennick had barely even practiced.

"I think the coaches saw them (Nebraska) kicking field goals and extra points and I kick soccer-style, so they thought, let's see what Hennick can do," Hennick said. "We started (Saturday) morning and I was knocking them down."

For some coaches, though, even one practice wouldn't have been enough to even an attempt a field goal -- no matter the distance.

"It would take me probably two weeks to put a field goal in and feel comfortable enough to run it," Doug Oberle, the head coach at Victoria and 21-3 with the 2006 state title in his career, said. "The tough thing about 8-man football is protection."

Late in the first half, though, Kansas received its chance. They had scored late in the half on a Hennick touchdown pass that put Kansas ahead 20-14.

Madison's Kaleb Schankie blocked a Nebraska punt and gave the ball back to Kansas - and Hennick - with 11 seconds to go. With less than two seconds left, Hennick came on from 42 yards.

Ayers, an observer at the game, was sitting in the stands when Hennick made the kick.

"(We) immediately started counting how far it is going to be, found out that it was going to be 42 yards, we thought, oh my word, that is a kick," Ayers said.

"He booted it through and it went through with room to spare. We were jumping up and high-fiving, it was just an exciting time," he added. "Good thing to see."