Wanganui teen kicks dream goal

A 16-year-old former Wanganui High School student had his Friday Night Lights moment last week when Cullen Cornaga made the dream play for any high school football kicker - nailing the winning field goal with time up on the clock.

In his third season at Tokay High School in California, Cornaga was the hero of the Tigers' 22-21 win over the Lincoln Trojans in their varsity game in Stockton when he came on and slotted a 31 yard (28.35m) kick after only a few warm-ups.

Cornaga had been impressive with the team in his second year, but illness midway through the current season saw him miss some time and the backup kicker, Modesto Cruz, had done well enough to keep the role when the ex-pat Kiwi returned.

But in a thrilling game, the Trojans came back at the Tigers in the third and fourth quarters to score 21 unanswered points, while Cruz missed a couple of field goals.

Having lost the lead, it fell to Cornaga to save the Tigers on the final play and he did just that, setting off a big celebration for the school on the 30 yard line.

It was the first time the Tigers had beaten the Trojans since 1999, also with a last-minute field goal by the replacement kicker, although the two schools had only been reconfigured back into the same varsity competition - Tri-City Athletic League - this season, having last met in 2004.

The win took the Tigers to a 5-3 record so far this season, 1-2 in their league, and keeps them with a chance of making the playoffs with two games left.

Cornaga, who lives in the town of Lodi with his mother, was named "Athletic of the Week" by the local paper, the Lodi-News Sentinel.

He told the paper he kept his celebrations low key after the Friday night game.

"It was a pretty relaxing weekend," Cornaga said.

"I coached flag football for little kids, didn't do much else."

The teenager, who in the paper's profile said rugby is still his favourite game to play, had lived in the US in 2003-4 before moving back to his New Zealand father Mark Cornaga.

He always wanted to go to college (university) in America, so moved back to the States to live with his mother, Tamara Slatten.