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MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Patrick Rasnake kicks a field goal during the game against Salem on Oct. 23. Rasnake nailed 33 of 39 touchdown conversion kicks and six of 11 field goal attempts this season while punting for a 37.1-yard average.

| Ray Cox

ray.cox@roanoke.com, 381-1672

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Whether or not you believe in predestination is between you and your spiritual adviser.

Or, you could stay clear of any deep thinking and just write off the fact that a series of coincidences has led Patrick Rasnake to being a crack high school football place-kicker.

Fine.

Just keep in mind, though, there can only be so many coincidental happenstances before the hair starts to rise on your arms.

Which brings us back to the senior booter at Christiansburg High School (7-3), which takes on Bassett (3-7) at home Friday in the opening round of the Region IV, Division 4 playoffs.

Consider: Rasnake and former Giles High School kicker and current Virginia Tech Hokie Cody Journell just happen to be family friends. The two fathers have worked together for years.

When Journell heard that his year-younger contemporary was interested into going into kicking, the howitzer-legged Journell had this advice: go for it.

"He was very encouraging," Rasnake said.

Journell subsequently urged Rasnake to talk to this expert kicking coach who doesn't live far from here. More on Doug Blevins later.

The coincidences didn't end there. Rasnake didn't even start kicking footballs (he had played soccer) until he was in the 10th grade. As he was working his way into a job as the backup to Christiansburg's four-year varsity kicker Brad Cox last year, Rasnake was paired with an undersized wide receiver named Forrest Rush, a classmate, who was his designated holder.

Rush had his own family connections. Rush's stepmother Jennifer Rush was once a Pulaski County High classmate of this red-headed kid who could kick the blazes out of a football. By way of the famed Cougars kicking pipeline and Virginia Tech, Shayne Graham eventually hammered his way into a regular paycheck with the Cincinnati Bengals, still his employer.

One guy who can tell you that Graham's arrival in the National Football League had nothing to do with coincidence is Joe Rasnake. He's Patrick's father. Joe used to live next door to Graham.

"All the time my father could hear him over there, thump-thump-thump-thump."

Speaking of the cannon-blast reports of Graham's foot connecting with football, the good ones you can identify by the sound. Not making comparisons or anything, but Rasnake's kicks and punts have that same sort of rich, satisfying thud, like a ripe watermelon, only louder.

After Rasnake nailed 33 of 39 touchdown conversion kicks and six of 11 field goal attempts this season while punting for a 37.1-yard average, it would be easy to forget that he's been the varsity kicker only this year.

The last two seasons, he was the backup to four-year starter Brad Cox, now the punter at Concord University.

"Of course it was tough being the backup, but Brad's a great kicker and I learned a lot from him," Rasnake said.

Part of Rasnake's development Christiansburg coach Tim Cromer attributes to his father Dusty Cromer, who is the team's kicking coach.

"Having somebody to work with the kickers all the time has been big," Tim Cromer said.

When the team is working on defensive specialties, Dusty Cromer takes kicker, holder, and short snapper Ethan Thompson to another field to work exclusively on kicking.

It's a formula that was successful with Cox as well as Zach Boyd before him.

Dusty Cromer said Cox was a tremendous two-way kicker, "but I think of him more as a punter. Patrick's an all-around kicker. He can do it all."

The chemistry built by the place-kicking unit was apparent last week when two botched boots were followed by three field goals in a row of 37, 40, and a career-long 43 yards, the difference in the Blue Demons' 17-14 victory over Blacksburg.

"Forrest dropped one snap and I missed the next kick," Rasnake said. "So I said, now we're even."

"We still trusted each other," Rush said.

Another big night for Rasnake and crew was the 45-43 triple-overtime loss to Salem on Oct. 23.

Rasnake belted a 38-yard field goal in the first extra period to retie the score after the Spartans' Chris Shelton put his team up three points with a 27-yarder that closed the initial possession of the first extra period.

Subsequently, Rasnake had already crunched a 33-yarder that was nullified by a penalty, so he had to turn right around and make another from 5 yards farther.

Also, there was no minimizing the impact of Rasnake's punting, which kept the Spartans at bay and in challenging field position for much of the game. There was a heavy wind blowing, too.

"Patrick was huge for us in that game," Tim Cromer said.

As influential as anybody in Rasnake's development was kicking coach Doug Blevins, whose clients include Journell as well as assorted other college and NFL kickers.

"He's really helped me," Rasnake said.

Rasnake's done plenty to help himself. That's no coincidence.