Greenbrier kicker gives team an extra boost

GREENBRIER -— The Greenbrier Panthers received a treat this fall after T.J. Tapley decided to play football his senior year.

Tapley has been one of the leaders on the Panthers soccer team these past few years, so he hasn’t been able to go through a spring of football since coming to high school. In fact, Tapley’s last year to play football was during his ninth-grade year.

Greenbrier’s head soccer coach, T.J. Slough, is also an assistant on the Panthers’ football team, coaching linemen. Slough knew that Greenbrier football coach Randy Tribble was looking for a kicker, so he went to Tapley and presented the idea.

“We were at soccer practice lifting weights one day in the summer, and coach Slough came to me and asked did I want to do it,” Tapley said. “I went over and talked to coach Tribble, then I came out a week or so later and started kicking for them.”

Tapley has always been a fan of football, but once it interfered with his offseason training for soccer and the season, he decided to give it up.

“At the time it was the sport that I liked the least,” Tapley said. “I dropped it, but I love it even more now.”

Tapley has remarkably hit 43 of 44 extra point kicks, which ranks him among the kicking leaders in the 5A-West Conference. 

“It feels amazing being on a winning team and all,” Tapley said. “I have to give all the credit on my PATs to our offensive line. If they weren’t there, then it would get blocked every time.” 

Listening to music is a calming factor for the soccer-style kicker. Tapley has not attempted a field goal this season, and the Panthers really haven’t needed too. Greenbrier leads the league in fourth-down conversion percentage, while converting on 11 of 22 attempts.

“When I get to thinking about it, then that’s when I get to messing up the most,” Tapley said. “I just sing the song that I was listening to before the game. I just have it stuck in my head, and that’s when I get to kicking. The music keeps my head out of the game, because if my head gets into the game, then it goes down from there.”