When he was a kid, Luke Hauger did what a lot of aspiring boys liked to do in the backyard: He kicked a football. When he got older, he began to play organized sports and kicked with even more frequency.
He seemed to really like it. You could say Hauger was getting a kick out of taking his kicking seriously.
Before long, he became an accomplished high school soccer player at Mt. Pleasant and was recruited to the school’s football team to be its kicker. But a serious knee injury while playing in a summer soccer tournament wiped out his junior year.
“I was going for a ball that was headed out of bounds. I was running full speed and a player from the other team was angling towards me,” Hauger said. “I tried to beat him to the ball and came down awkwardly on my foot. I could feel my knee twist and buckle. It didn’t feel right, but I didn’t think it was as bad as it was.”
With the fall sports season approaching, Hauger took it slowly for a few weeks before deciding to work on his kicking game at the high school field. With is father accompanying him, Hauger began kicking off at “only about 50%,” he said.
“I felt pretty good, but I was concerned about putting too much pressure on the knee at that point because there’s a lot of explosion on kickoffs. After a while, though, I said, ‘I’m good,’ and I went 100% on a kickoff. The minute I made contact, something popped and my leg went numb for a time. I knew right there that I completely blew out my ACL.”
The mental hurdle Hauger faced after surgery was, “How do I get over it?”
“The knee was really traumatized and it took me a whole month to get over that fear,” he said.
Somehow, he did, and he wound up playing soccer and football for Mt. Pleasant during his senior year in 2019.
Today, as a sophomore at Seton Hill, Hauger still thinks back to those early times at his house in Acme, where in the backyard he enjoyed kicking footballs between two trees with a swing attached.
“That’s all my dad there. He set that up for me,” said Hauger, who’s raising eyebrows while still kicking footballs at Seton Hill.
“’Cool Luke,’ he’s something special,” said David Castillo, Seton Hill’s defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator. “He’s ‘Cool Luke.’ That’s what we call him. He stays cool and he thrives on his confidence.”
Hauger insisted he doesn’t let it rattle him when the coaches get in his ear at practice.
“They’ll tell me stuff like you’re ranked in Division II, but if you miss this kick, you won’t be,” he said. “I just turn and smile.”
And then, most times, he said he steps up and drills the football through the uprights.
Hauger had plenty of interest from Division III schools, but Seton Hill was the only Division II program he attracted. Castillo said he was on a short trip in 2019 to Mt. Pleasant to take a look at then-junior Peter Billey, another former Vikings player who wound up at Seton Hill.
“When I was getting ready to leave,” Castillo said, “coach (Daniel Day) mentioned, ‘They have a kicker there … ’ I thought right away, ‘Wow, it’s tough evaluating kickers. You really have to stay with it and find out the level of consistency you’re dealing with.’
“The one thing I noticed about Luke right away was just how locked-in he was. He does things the same way every single time. He’s very regimented, and that was an eye-opener. We’ve put a lot on his plate in a short time, but it’s been a good look.”
Hauger, who majors in health sciences, recently tied a Seton Hill record for longest field goal, booting a 47-yarder against Slippery Rock on Sept. 25 to equal Ray L. Wilkins’ kick in 2007 against Concord.
“I’ve hit them from 55 yards in practice,” Hauger said. “I was always so nervous in high school whenever it came time to kick. I was anxious all the time. Now that I’m here, I have no stress. I don’t get anxious. I think it’s because I’ve trained so much and the coaching staff, they all believe in me.”
The covid-19 pandemic canceled Seton Hill’s 2020 schedule and Hauger’s freshman playing season, leaving him without any college experience until now.
It’s still so early, but perhaps if he keeps at it, Hauger could be making a living out of kicking footballs, like he did in the backyard years ago. Through five games this season, he was leading Seton Hill in scoring with 26 points, converting 7 of 10 field-goal attempts and all five of his extra-point tries.
The first missed field goal — a 23-yard attempt — occurred Sept. 11 against Bloomsburg.
“The ball was on the right hash (mark),” he said. “Typically in practice, that’s where I usually miss from. See, from the right hash, you have to open your hips. If you kick it at the wrong angle, there’s a chance you’ll hit the upright. It went right. I was upset after that one.”
He also had two field goal attempts blocked in Saturday’s 17-7 loss, including one that led to Edinboro’s go-ahead score.
Exclusively a placekicker at Seton Hill — freshman Jack Hunter handles the kickoffs and senior Hunter Miller the punting — Hauger has had plenty of time to make adjustments. Most days, as with most kickers, he does little at practice but stays engaged. He says he’s ready to perform when the time comes.
The severe knee injury that required surgery while playing in the summer soccer tournament ignited Hauger’s passion for the health care field. When he arrived at Seton Hill, he found his love for the subject had grown stronger.
“I’d like to be engaged in surgeries in some way,” he said. “Health sciences encompasses a lot. It covers a broad range of stuff. I want to be engaged in surgeries because ever since I had my ACL surgery, I remember how nice it was to have the hospitality.”
Both Mt. Pleasant products, Hauger and Billey, a freshman tight end, are among 20 former WPIAL and City League players on Seton Hill’s roster, including 11 from Westmoreland County.