Kick was a long time coming for Bedford football's Lucontoni

Not everyone was happy when Madison Lucontoni decided she wanted to kick for the football team before her freshman year at Bedford High School.

A three-sport athlete who does softball in the spring and ice hockey in the winter, Lucontoni played soccer every fall, going to camps and taking lessons to try to improve her game.

But after participating in a football camp as a kicker in eighth grade, she decided to make the switch.

"My mom was upset when I wanted to play football," Lucontoni said. "She said all that money and all that training. I went to a football clinic when I was in eighth grade.

"I didn’t want to go. There was no body at the kicker position and I was like I don’t know where to go. Someone saw my soccer shirt and said I should try kicker. I started nailing field goals and they said you’re better than our kicker now. That kind of boosted me. I thought maybe I can do this."

In her first chance to show what she can do at the varsity level, the senior delivered, drilling a 40-yard field goal last Friday to give Bedford a 24-21 win over Salem in the Queen City Jamboree. Lucontoni also kicked three extra points.

"She’s got a leg and she’s been showing it all offseason," Bedford coach Derek Stank said. "She’s been working hard all summer. We knew it was at the end of her range, but she is a fluid kicker inside that 20-yard line.

"She showed it (Friday). She put it right on that spot. She didn’t get low on it, she didn’t get high on it, swung through a normal kick and allowed her leg to do the work."

After sitting behind a couple of other kickers, Lucontoni knew that senior year would be her chance to show what she could do.

"I’ve been with this program since I was a freshman and it’s my first time on the varsity field," she said. "It just felt awesome just to show them what I’ve got.

"Confidence is something I struggle with in all my sports, because I also play hockey and softball, and that was a big confidence booster."

The nerves were there before Lucontoni took the field, as the Bulldogs offense was driving down the field. With the scrimmage tied in the final minutes, she knew it might come down to a kick.

"Right when they said ‘Bazooka ready,’ I was like it’s going to come down to me," she said. "I live for these, but I was so nervous. I’ve got to give it to my line, if they didn’t block and didn’t get the hold down, I wouldn’t have made the kick. It was such a great opportunity and I’m glad I got to capitalize on it. Just an awesome way to end it."

Bedford opens the regular season Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Nashua North at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.