Tony Bauer, a 16-year-old high school exchange student from Wolnzach, Germany, a small town outside Munich, is a big reason why the Royal Palm Beach High School varsity football team compiled a 7-3 regular-season record and advanced to the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 6A state playoffs.
Of the Wildcats’ seven victories, two were achieved with game-winning field goals by Bauer, who is living with his aunt and uncle, Royal Palm Beach residents Claudia and Chris Allison, during his one-year visit to the U.S.
“As far as I know, in the history of the football program here at Royal Palm Beach High School, we’ve never had anybody kick a game-winning field goal for the Wildcats,” said Eric Patterson, the school’s current athletic director, who was the head coach of the football team from 2003 to 2008. “Tony is the first.”
Bauer’s two game-winning field goals were impressive, since he had never kicked an American football until after he enrolled at RPBHS back in August. While Bauer has successfully converted a few point-after-touchdown (PAT) kicks this fall, he has actually only made two field goals this season, both of them game-winners.
Bauer didn’t officially dress out for a varsity football game — wearing jersey number 47 — until the sixth game of the year, when the Wildcats traveled to Boca Raton High School on Oct. 4. The first game-winning kick took place two weeks later, on Oct. 18, in his second game at Palm Beach Gardens High School.
With 14 seconds left in the game and Gardens leading 27-26, Royal Palm Beach head coach Chuck Kenyon called upon Bauer to deliver a game-winning field goal. That task was easier said than done, since that potential field goal would be Bauer’s first field goal of the season — and the first in his life as a football placekicker.
With Nico Botero snapping the ball to holder Treven Tipton, the ball was placed on the 15-yard line for Bauer to kick the ball with his right foot between the uprights. As fate would have it, the ball cleared the players along the line of scrimmage and split the uprights to give the visiting Wildcats a 29-27 victory. The Royal Palm Beach sideline erupted into a mass celebration as the officials indicated that the kick was good.
“I don’t know how long it has been since we beat Gardens,” noted Kenyon, now in his third year as the head coach for the Wildcats.
Bauer’s second game-winning kick took place on Halloween night, Thursday, Oct. 31, when the Wildcats hosted the Bulldogs from the new Dr. JoaquĂn GarcĂa High School. With 6.4 seconds left in the game, and Royal Palm Beach trailing 23-22, the Wildcats had the ball at Garcia’s four-yard line. Kenyon had two choices. He could either have the offense execute one more passing play in pursuit of the go-ahead and likely game-winning touchdown, or send out the field goal unit to give Bauer a chance to kick a game-winning 21-yard field goal.
Kenyon put his trust in Bauer, who was not spooked by the magnitude of the moment. Just like in Palm Beach Gardens, Botero snapped the ball to Tipton. The snap was on target, and Tipton’s hold was clean and quick. That enabled Bauer to step forward, plant his left foot and strike the ball with his right foot. As focused as Bauer was on kicking the football, the hard-charging Bulldogs’ defensive line was equally focused on blocking the kick in order to preserve their victory.
Bauer kicked the ball, it quickly cleared the many bodies along the line of scrimmage, soared into the evening sky and split the uprights to give the Wildcats a 25-23 lead and the eventual victory. Just like in Palm Beach Gardens 13 days prior, the Royal Palm Beach sideline and the fans in the stands erupted into a mass celebration as the game officials indicated that the kick was, in fact, good.
It’s fair to say that Bauer’s two game-winning field goals set a new precedent for the RPBHS football program. He’s now a big part of the Wildcats football team.
“He has had two game-winning field goals,” Kenyon said. “His punting and kickoffs are better than average, so to say he is important to us is an understatement.”
While Bauer is used to playing sports, the American football experience is vastly different than the type of football — known here as soccer — that he plays back in his native Germany. “I like it,” Bauer said. “There’s lots of action.”
If Bauer were to play another position besides being the team’s placekicker and punter, he’d like to play defense. “I’d like to play linebacker,” Bauer said.
As soon as the football season ends, Bauer will continue spending time running around the school’s football field as a member of the boys varsity soccer team. In soccer, he’s primarily a center back, but for Royal Palm Beach, he plays right back, center mid, forward and center back.
While the football season is still ongoing, Bauer pulled some double duty, as Kenyon allowed Bauer to play in two of the soccer team’s first four games. In the season-opener at home against Glades Central High School on Monday, Nov. 4, Royal Palm Beach prevailed, 5-1. And in the fourth game of the regular season against Fort Pierce Westwood, at home on Friday, Nov. 8, Royal Palm Beach dominated Westwood, 8-0, to improve its record to 3-0-1.
RPBHS head soccer coach Mal Hasan enjoys having Bauer on his squad. “He’s a very good player and a fantastic kid,” Hasan said.
Clearly, Bauer is as strong an addition to Royal Palm Beach’s soccer team as he is to the school’s football team.
