Haverford School Junior Kicker Is One Of The Best In The Area

Then, he was referred to as “Kick-a-Boy,” a frail, reed-thin freshman who seemed to show a steely veneer, which actually hid a jumbled nervous mess.

Aron Morgan has grown since then—since nailing a last-second, game-winning field goal against Malvern Prep two years ago that seems to steep deeply into  lore with each passing year. He’s grown into a Division-I college football prospect who is one of the most dangerous offensive weapons and one of the best kickers in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

One thing that remains with the 6-foot, 175-pound Fords’ junior kicker—he still doesn’t want to know the distance of the kick he’s about to try. It carries the same attitude today he had as a freshman.

It goes back to “The Kick,” as it seems to be known at Haverford School. The Fords had been dragging near the bottom of the Inter-Academic League for some time before coach Mike Murphy reinvigorated the program, and Morgan punctuated that with a last-second 43-yard field goal his freshman year to beat Malvern Prep, 17-14, that ended an 18-year losing draught against Malvern Prep and their first league title since 1971.

“I was scared out of my mind before that kick,” recalled Morgan, who lives in Bryn Mawr. “I honestly didn’t know how long it was. To today, I still don’t look when I go on the field. I try not to think how far it is. I think it helps me, because it makes everything the same. Instructors say to do everything the same each kick. I just never look at the distance. I look to make everything straight. I don’t even know where the ball is. I pretty much look at my holder, give him a little nod to hike the ball, then kick it. You’re supposed to put the same leg into every kick. It could be an extra-point or a 40-yarder, that’s why.”

You can say Morgan was a natural. He was introduced to kicking when his middle school coach lined up his players to attempt an extra-point. Morgan was the only one to make it. He remembers not making the kick by much, but it began something.

“I thought of kicking as another position, I did it with everything else, I also played wide receiver and cornerback, too,” Morgan said. “Things took off when I was a freshman.”

Murphy saw Morgan’s ability early—it’s why he put him out there as a freshman to hit the historic field goal.

“Aron has a tremendous leg, but he’s always had a tremendous leg even as an eighth-grader, and you watch him kick at practice as a freshman, he struck the ball really well,” Murphy said. “It’s why I let him try the field goal against Malvern Prep his freshman year. He had the leg to make it, so I thought, 'Why not, let’s give it a try.' That 43-yarder could have went through at 50 yards. The thing people don’t realize is that Aron is an athlete. Some of these guys are just kickers, but I would want him on the field more, if I wasn’t so nervous about losing him to an injury.”

Besides athleticism and a strong leg, Morgan has another intangible going for him—ice for blood.

“I like pressure; it feels good; I like the butterflies in my stomach, and how I get nervous, that feels good to me,” Morgan said. “Coach Murphy has a lot of confidence in me and I like the fact that he’ll let me try a field goal. They know I put a lot of work into it. I hope coach Murphy lets me try a 50-yarder. There is a chance he’s going to let me kick a 45- or a 50-yarder. I’ll talk to someone after the kick where the ball was. I still don’t want to know before the kick.”

He’s not “Kick-a-boy” anymore. More like “Aron Automatic.”