HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Justin Rohrwasser is a perfect 11-for-11 on field goal attempts eight games into his final season at Marshall.
Rohrwasser’s most recent field goal, a 53-yard boot on the final play of Saturday’s 26-23 win over Western Kentucky, will go down as one of the more notable makes of his career and one of the better kicks in Marshall history.
“You have to be confident going into that situation or there’s no chance,” Rohrwasser said Wednesday on MetroNews Talkline.
Rohrwasser actually made the 53-yard field goal three separate times — but the first two came after a whistle for a timeout.
“I always tell (longsnapper) Matt (Beardall) and (holder) Jackson (White) if we can get the snap off as they’re blowing the whistle, snap it and let me get a practice kick,” Rohrwasser said. “I like it because if you make it, it’s repetition. And if you miss it, you can make a little adjustment and fix it from there.”
The third time, however, was the charm and sent Marshall to its third straight win and a key Conference USA victory.
“It almost felt like I blacked out,” Rohrwasser said of his reaction to the walk-off win. “I don’t remember much of it. It was just instincts. I have to thank my fans, coaches and teammates and it was nice to see them all celebrating.”
Rohrwasser, who accounted for more than half of Marshall’s point total on four field goals and a paif of point-after kicks, was honored as C-USA’s Special Teams Player of the Week.
After going 2-for-2 on field goals over the season’s first four games, Rohrwasser is 9-for-9 the last four weeks.
“When you do something so much and repeat it hundreds of times and you have the guys around you that I have, it makes my job very, very easy,” Rohrwasser said.
Rohrwasser, who has also made 23-of-24 PATs this year, is in his second season as the starting kicker at MU. He came to Huntington after transferring from Rhode Island, where he played in 2015 and 2016.
As a member of the Herd, Rohrwasser is 26-of-32 on field goals and 67-of-70 on PATs.
“I’m not the most flexible kid and I never had the pretty follow through like you see from some of these kickers,” he said. “I hit the ball as hard as I can and hope it goes straight. When you practice any technique enough, you can get pretty decent at it. It’s just repetition.”