Penn State University will hold its spring football game at 2 p.m. on April 21 but four hours before that Corey Case will compete on the same field in the A11-Star Bowl, which features elite eighth grade players from across the nation.

Case, the varsity kicker at Brookhaven Academy, said that he was excited for the opportunity to kick in a game of that magnitude.

“I found out that I was going to be in the game on our way back from a junior high baseball game,” Case said. “I was very excited when I got the phone call about being in the game.”

Case’s kicking roots date back to when he was younger and his father was in residency in med-school in Jackson.

“He started playing soccer at a young age,” Case’s father, Ryan Case, said. “It really all started from there. He would always want to go out to the field and kick football.”

Case will also be the punter for the East team in the game. Case plays a variety of different sports for Brookhaven Academy including baseball, soccer and golf.

He was the kicker for the varsity team as an eighth grader in 2017, and had an extremely successful season as he was named All-MAIS 2A.

“Obviously with him going out last year and playing with high-school kids you worry about the pressure and what might happen,” Ryan Case said. “What really impressed me is how composed and poised he stayed throughout the games. Kicking is hard, and you have to stay composed to be able to do a good job, and I was really proud of how composed he was in big situations. “

Case said that he was able to stay in the moment and composed by taking a deep breath before every field goal.

“Every time I went out there, I just tried to stay cool and do my job,” Case said.

Case said that kicking is something that he envisions in his future, and that he really enjoys everything that goes along with it.

“I really enjoy doing it,” Case said. “It’s something that I’ve done for a long time now, and it’s something that I just like to do.”

Ryan Case said he’s proud of his son and the work that he’s put in to get where he is.

“It’s really neat that he’s getting to do this,” he said. “I’m glad that all the hard work that he’s put in is paying off.”

Story by Collin Brister