Photos copyright Tim Kupsick 2007Amber Kuehn
GameDay Kaimin
It was Nov. 4, 2006, and Cal Poly had just taken a 9-7 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the game.
The Montana Griz football team answered, culminating a 16-play, 76-yard drive.
Now, the entire game hinged on this moment.
With just five seconds left in the game, No. 29 took his place on the field just as he had a hundred times before. He had to focus, had to forget about the 32-yard attempt he had missed earlier in the game. This one counted. He had to make it for his team.
His parents, who haven’t missed one of his Griz football games yet, prayed. The 22,853 Griz fans in attendance held their breath. It was one of the few times that Washington-Grizzly Stadium has ever been eerily silent.
But Dan Carpenter felt no pressure. “Just get the ball up, don’t let them block it,” he thought.
And in a matter of seconds, the game was over. The 21-yard field goal was good. The Griz won.
“It definitely wasn’t the prettiest kick,” Carpenter recalls, adding that he has watched replays of it on tape a couple of times. “It hooks to the left pretty bad.”
His father, Val, remembers the game-winning field goal like it was yesterday.
“There was no doubt in my mind he’d make it,” he says. “I knew the pressure wouldn’t get to him, because he’s always been a pretty cool cucumber. After the kick, he about came out of his shoes.”
As a young boy, Carpenter played a multitude of sport basketball, baseball, soccer – all the while honing his athletic abilities until the day came when he could get on the gridiron. Before he ever kicked the pigskin through the goal posts, he was kicking soccer balls into nets.
His mom remembers a time when he even had to play goalkeeper.
“When he was 11, they put him in goal at the soccer tournament finals in Idaho,” Diane Carpenter recalls. “It was sleeting and his little hands were just frozen, but he managed to stop every shot and his team won. He was so focused on the game that he didn’t even realize how much his hands hurt until it was over.”
Perhaps it is experiences like these, from his younger days, that taught Carpenter to stay calm and collected when the game is on the line. Football teams are always trying to “ice the kicker” when games come down to a field goal or an extra point. Numerous college and NFL games are won or lost at the end by a field goal, and it’s on the shoulders of the kicker to be the hero.
“The kicking game is a third of the football game,” Val Carpenter says. “When you’re a kicker, you’re out there all by yourself on the score.”
Diane Carpenter says her son feeds off this pressure.
“He’s always been the kid who wants pressure, whether it was a game-winning shot he once made in a basketball game, or the game-winning field goal,” she says. “I remember him telling me after the semi-final game last year that he was thinking, ‘Just get me a little closer, guys, so I can put it through.’”
Surprisingly, Carpenter has always been more nervous about the kickoff. His mom said this is because he feels he’s all on his own, whereas on field goals and PATs it really is a team effort.
“Out of the 11 people on the field right then, my job is the easiest,” Carpenter said. “Nine guys have to block, and Clint Stapp has to have the hold just right. I’ve got the easy job. I just have to kick it through.”
On kickoff, however, it’s his job to pin the opponent down deep in the backfield and not let them get good field position. This is where Carpenter feels a lot of the responsibility. But, he adds, his secret to staying cool under pressure is just to get into a routine.
“The most pressure I ever felt was my first college game in Washington-Griz in front of 23,000-plus fans,” Carpenter says. “I was very nervous because the fans and team had high expectations for me and I just wanted to prove myself.”
If he hadn’t done so already, Carpenter proved himself on Nov. 6, 2004. It was his freshman year and Montana had the ball on the 13-yard line on fourth down. The field goal unit was on the field, and everyone in the crowd assumed the Griz were going to go for three. Instead, Tyson Johnson flipped the ball between his legs to Carpenter and Carpenter ran to the right — untouched all the way — scoring his first touchdown as a Grizzly.
“Fake field goal,” Carpenter recalls. “We had a party in the end zone; I remember that.”
It’s the only time Carpenter has scored seven for the Griz. Normally, he’s the star after the touchdown, right before pinning opponents at the 20-yard line. But it’s not uncommon for him to take over wherever he is needed. Last season, Carpenter handled the punting duties while Johnson sat out with an injury. He proved he can perform well at whatever he does.
Carpenter has been a second team All-Big Sky selection three times, conference player of the week six times and was an Associated Press All-American in 2006. Also last season, Carpenter led the nation in field goals, connecting on 24 of 30 and averaging 1.71 a game. His freshman year he was perfect on 63 PATs. Last year, as a junior, he tied his career-long field goal with a 50-yarder at Weber State. During practice, Carpenter says he has kicked a 66-yard field goal before. His longest punt came last year at Northern Colorado when he kicked a 63-yarder.
As a prep athlete at Helena High School, Carpenter was a guard on the basketball team and a wide receiver and kicker on the football team. His coach, Tony Arntson, who played for the Grizzlies from 1985-88, says Carpenter was a very good wide receiver for the Bengals, and described him as a self-taught kicker who had a natural ability.
“He wasn’t one of those kickers who went to a lot of kicking camps or anything,” Arntson says. “He just went out and did it.”
Carpenter set the school record during his senior season for longest field goal in a game against Kalispell – a 53-yarder that still stands as the mark to beat today. He also set a school record at the receiver position, catching 13 passes for 931 yards.
“I think his strength is that he doesn’t get hung up in the pressure of the game,” Arntson says. “His easy-going temperament benefits him being a kicker.”
Arntson said what he’s always loved most about Carpenter is that he’s a hard worker, a good leader and a positive person who’s good with kids.
“And he loves the game,” Arntson added. “He takes a lot of pride in what he does.”
Maybe so, but Carpenter radiates humility. The most important thing to him is the success of his team, and he’ll be the first to tell you this if you ask him about another record looming on the horizon.
Carpenter currently ranks second in UM history with 337 points, 57 behind former Griz kicker Chris Snyder. In the first three games this season, Carpenter has already racked up 25 points, making it likely that he’ll break the record this year as a senior. His dad tracks every point in his mind as he’s watching the games, as every field goal and extra point brings Carpenter one step closer to the milestone. If he keeps scoring at the pace he is now, he will be on track to break the record around his 22nd birthday on Nov. 25, and also around the time of the first round of playoffs.
“We’re going to have a big party when it happens,” Val Carpenter says. “I don’t really see it being a problem for him, especially since they’ll probably make the playoffs; knock on wood.”
But Carpenter could care less about the record.
“I might start thinking more of it once it gets closer,” he says. “But I’m perfectly happy with touchdowns and just kicking extra points all season. Anything I can do to help our team win.”
And while his father may be counting down from the stands, Carpenter says he isn’t keeping track.
“I honestly don’t pay attention,” he says. “Personal stats don’t matter. I’m here to help 2007 Griz football reach our goals.”
Those goals include a national title. Oh, how special it would be if Carpenter could break the record in Chattanooga. The entire team would like to get to the FCS championship game, but Carpenter said he’d rather just take it one game at a time.
Kick by kick, field goal by field goal, extra point by extra point. After all, these are Carpenter’s last days as a Griz football player. What will he miss most when he graduates?
“I’m going to miss the fans, and just playing in front of 23,000 crazy people every Saturday that love nothing more than to come out and see the football team win,” he says.
Record or no record, the fans will miss him too.
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