WORCESTER – With all of the scoring in the Massachusetts football team’s 45-42 win over Holy Cross on Saturday coming from its offense, no one expected the game-winning score to come off the right foot of redshirt junior kicker Armando Cuko.
That is, until, UMass took over possession late in the fourth quarter with senior quarterback Liam Coen moving the ball down the field as only players like him can: patiently and smartly. The kind of drive that UMass coach Don Brown knows he can expect from his wily signal caller.
While Brown knows what to expect of Coen, that certainty isn’t the case for Cuko – who hasn’t attempted a field goal since starting as a freshman.
For the past three years he has sat on the bench while recently-graduated Chris Koepplin held the responsibility of the kicking duties.
“For a kid like that to step up and take the job back over, I think that shows a whole lot of mental toughness,” Coen said. “The kid’s made some great kicks and we’ve been counting on him.”
Cuko held the starting job as placekicker for the Minutemen until the beginning of the 2006 season, when he aggravated a previous groin injury on the opening kickoff against Villanova on Sept. 16.
Since then, Cuko sat and waited for his turn. His patience and hard work seemed to all come together Saturday when he was called to do his job.
With 4 seconds left in regulation, UMass and HC were deadlocked at 42 with the ball on the Holy Cross 24-yard line, as Cuko jogged onto the field with the play clock slowly winding down.
As the Minutemen broke their huddle, Holy Cross coach Tom Gilmore called the team’s first timeout in hopes that Cuko’s head would get in the way of making the kick.
The Minutemen again broke their huddle, the players got in their normal spots to get set for the kick, and, again, Gilmore called a timeout, the team’s second.
Gilmore then, this time before the Minutemen broke their huddle, called his team’s final timeout.
“Between the timeouts I was using that time to my advantage. I was always prepared,” Cuko said. “By the time it came time for the kick I’ve already practiced it several times; my feet were landing in the places I made during the past timeouts.”
The appropriate time passed. Cuko and his teammates prepared themselves for what they hoped to be the game’s final play.
Entering the season most kickers would expect their first kick to be a second quarter try, devoid of pressure and with hopes to put up points for his team; not a game-winner on the road against an in-state rival to squash a potential upset.
Following the third timeout, Cuko lined himself up five yards behind the holder, Scott Woodward.
“Armando came over on the last [timeout] and said ‘Well, they can’t call another one,'” Brown said. “‘You’re right, let’s go hit it.'”
The snap was made, the ball set, Cuko charged and, in an instant, the hopes of the entire roster and scores of fans flew toward the goalpost and through. Cuko’s arms went in the air and the two officials stationed under the uprights followed suit moments later; UMass 45, Holy Cross 42.
“I just knew. I just put my hands up,” Cuko said. “Everyone told me I was going to make it.”
Ryan Fleming can be reached at [email protected].
