ROSSVILLE, Kan. -- The NFL experimented with removing extra points, or point after touchdowns (PATs), during the preseason. They've become nearly automatic for professional kickers.
Not including the 2014 season, according to the NFL, there is a 99.1 percent success rate on PATs since 2004.
One local kicker has been even better; he set a state record for extra points, kicking 100 percent so far this season.
"That's awesome. I feel awesome. Before the game started, I didn't know I was about to break the record," Rossville kicker Paul Steinke said. "But then I made the PAT and the guy who commentates the game said Paul broke the state record and I said 'Oh, Cool!' It's awesome."
Steinke, a junior foreign exchange student from Hamburg, Germany, has made 87 consecutive PATs. In Rossville's last game, Steinke broke the previous record of 82.
"I wasn't aware of it until it was announced at the game after he kicked it," placeholder Tucker Horak said. "I was kind of surprised but I figured he had to be close to breaking some records."
Steinke's background in other sports helped him excel in football.
""I thought, I play soccer in Germany so I want to try football because it's the American thing," Steinke said. "I can come back and say 'yeah, I played American football in America.'"
His coach, Derek Hammes, said Steinke's golf background improves his accuracy.
"He's got a routine about every kick that he has and I just think that the pre-shot, or in this case the pre-kick, routine that he has has been very helpful," Hammes said.
Steinke has only attempted two field goals all season. He made both.
He'll look to extend his PAT success streak on Friday against St. Marys Colgan.
Video of Paul can be viewed at: http://www.wibw.com/sports/headlines/Rossville-Football-Player-Kicking-Down-Records-282334631.html
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