Ullrich Helps Kick Mounties to Win Over St. Peter's

Two years ago, then sophomore Taylor Ullrich was looking to make the Montclair boys varsity soccer team, but instead he found out that he would be cut.

But he and his friend Ryan Bollinger, who was also cut, talked about playing football instead of the sport that he had been competing since he was a kid—soccer.

"I just came out one day and was messing around and stumbled upon it," said Ullrich, whose friend, Ryan, is also still playing football team as a wide receiver on the Mounties junior varsity.

One of the most overlooked positions on the football team is kicker, but Montclair is one team that can say they are better off for it as Ullrich is solid at extra points and a threat in hitting a field goal. "It was tough getting cut from soccer and I had played it for such a long time," said Ullrich, now a junior. "But I'm happy where I am now."

While Montclair quarterback Khalif Herbin did not miss a step in the Sept. 9 victory, 43-41, over Saint Peter's Prep with five touchdowns, as it turned out it was the kicking of Ullrich that was the difference.

Ullrich made 5-of-5 extra points to put the Mounties over the top against St. Peter's Prep in the 2011 season opener. The extra points were not the ordinary kind. Of the five extra points, Ullrich kicked what would be a 21-yarder and a 35-yarder, which happened since Montclair was called for excessive celebration after the Mounties final touchdown.

The 35-yard extra point came with a little more than two minutes remaining and was key because it gave the Mounties a 9-point lead, 43-34, and forced the Marauders to have to get two scores. "I didn't realize how important it was," said the Montclair kicker. "I thought it was just an extra point."

After Ullrich hit the 35-yard extra point, St. Peter’s Prep came down and scored a touchdown with an extra point to cut the lead to two, 43-41. The Mounties were able to recover the onside kick attempt by the Marauders.

For Montclair head coach John Fiero it was Ullrich's extra point during that last touchdown that helped make the difference in that last game. "If he misses the extra point, St. Peter's goes for two and we are still playing," said Fiero. "He just hit it down the middle and was cool as a cucumber. It goes unnoticed in the scheme of things that kick was big for us."

It was even harder for Ullrich in kicking since the game was at Rutgers University in Piscataway so the posts were closer together in college compared to high school posts.

With the high explosive offense of the Mounties last year and so far this year, the junior kicker has not been called on to make many field goals. Actually so far last year and for the one game this year, he has been called on to kick one field goal, a 29-yard shot that came in last year's first round state playoff game against Ridgewood, 38-28.

What Ullrich likes best about kicking is the feast or famine aspect where you can either be a hero or a goat during a play.

In practice, Ullrich said that he has hit a 50-yard attempt several times and now is trying to hit from 55 yards out.

One of the chances though that he did not get is the goal for the entire team this year, making it to the now MetLife Stadium or the New Meadowlands Stadium. Last season, Ullrich did not get a chance to kick a field goal or even an extra point in the 19-0 loss to Randolph in the Group 4 North 1 state final in the Meadowlands.

But this year, Montclair is the favorite to get back to the Meadowlands and there is a very good chance that Ullrich will kick an extra point or two and wouldn't he like to try a field goal at the home of the Giants and Jets.

For Ullrich and his team they are very confident that they not only will get there, but also will go undefeated in 2011. "I'm 100 percent confident that we are going to go undefeated this season," said Ullrich.

Along with playing football, Ullrich also competes in fencing and lacrosse, but he would like to go to college for kicking.

In the offseason he has worked with an area kicking guru, Pat Sempier, in Cedar Grove, the top kicking coach in the state and also has been working out at kicking camps at college campuses in the northeast like Rutgers and the University of Connecticut.