High school football game features never-ending punt rolling 50 yards

Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Punters usually don't make the headlines, but it happens when you boom an 86-yard kick.

Al Raby was facing Morris Community Saturday in the Illinois high school football playoffs. Morris came away with a 43-8 victory in the state semifinal game to advance to the state championship game on Friday against Rochester.

But Raby provided one of the most unbelievable plays of the game, despite taking the lopsided loss. The Raby punter stepped back from behind his own 10-yard-line before taking the snap. He booted a kick high into the night sky, before it hit the field at Raby's own 43-yard-line.

Not a great punt, right? Wrong.

Instead of coming to a dead stop for a 40-yard-punt, the ball started bouncing. It took a couple of hops to get past the 50-yard-line, before rolling all the way inside the 10. Raby players quickly got excited seeing the ball roll and tried to help its progress by waving their arms at it. The ball eventually stopped its progress at the 7-yard-line.

The longest punt so far in the NFL season is 74 yards. The longest in NFL history was a punt from the New York Jets' Steve O'Neal during the 1969 season. That boot traveled a miraculous 98 yards.