Ten years ago University of Louisiana Lafayette college football punter Nathan Torney was playing under-16 aussie rules football for Kyabram.
Photo by
Simon Bingham
A showdown is looming between two of Kyabram’s three college football punters as the United States-based sporting exports continue to put the town in the international spotlight.
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Six weeks ago The Free Press wrote about the initial exploits of Mackenzie Ryan, Dylan Joyce and Nathan Torney as they embarked on the 2024 US college football season.
There is only 12 months difference in age between the three punters, who were all at one time in the same Kyabram junior football team.
Ryan and Torney will face off in a blockbuster final round Sun Belt Conference game on November 30 when Ryan’s University of Louisiana Monroe tackles Torney’s University of Louisiana Lafayette unit.
In the lead up to that game Ryan’s father, Peter, is travelling to the US to see Warhawks games against Texas State and Auburn on November 9 and 17.
He said a big crowd was expected for the Auburn game, but probably not as big as the one his son had played in front of during his team’s only loss in September.
“They played the number one ranked team in the country, Texas Longhorns, in front of 100,000 people,” he said.
ULM was the worst ranked side in Football Bowl Subdivision, which has 134 teams, in 2023. They have already improved that ranking to 71 this year.
Peter Ryan talks to his son a couple of times a week, the last conversation revealing a change of plans for his Christmas holidays.
“He has made some pretty good friends, so much so that he will not be coming home for Christmas, because he has been invited to spend it with an American family in the Bahamas,” he said.
All three college punters have five more games to play before season’s end.
The ULM Warhawks and Lafayette’s Ragin Cajuns are the teams with the best records in the SBC this season. After 19 games between them and Joyce’s University of Miama Hurricanes, in two different college football conferences ,the trio have a combined 17-2 win/loss record.
Joyce, a Kyabram junior footballer who played senior Murray league football with Moama, is leading the pack after being involved in a seventh straight win with Miami Hurricanes on Saturday.
His team leads the Atlantic Coast Conference and won another high scoring game 52-45 on the weekend. It is the fourth time this season the second year punter has been involved in a 50-point plus score line.
Dylan Joyce swings onto his trusty left boot while playing for Tongala, the same leg he is using to continue a stellar start to his US college football career.
Photo by
Steve Huntly
He punted twice in the most recent win, for 90 yards, now boasting 533 yards from his 12 punts. He punted on four occasions in a 39-38 win in California last month when he registered 173 yards and landed the football inside the 20-yard zone twice.
Torney and his Ragin’ Cajuns, the monicker his Louisiana Lafayette College carries, play in the same Sun Belt Conference as Ryan and his Louisiana Monroe College Warhawks.
They have both only lost one game this season, Torney’s latest win coming on the back of him punting twice (for 79 yards) in the team’s sixth win. He has punted on 13 occasions in those seven games, for 499 yards.
Torney changed schools this year after a 2023 season where he had 58 punts for 1288 yards and his debut season of 2150 yards from 64 punts.
Mackenzie Ryan was a noted goalkicker with Tongala and Kyabram, but is now a star with the University of Louisiana Monroe’s Warhawks US college football team.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Newcomer Ryan does not play his next game until October 27, but has punted an amazing 31 times this season - in just six games.
He has 1227 yards to his credit and has landed the football inside the 20-yard zone on 15 occasions.
Of the three former Kyabram boys he also has the longest punt of the 2024 season, with a massive 59-yard roost.
ULM and ULL are both on track to contest a bowl game, for teams which finish at the top of their divisions, if they can continue their current trajectory.
Last year Joyce played a bowl game on Boxing Day in New York.
For anyone interested in continuing to follow the fortunes of the trio there details are meticulously kept on the college football websites of the University of Miama, University of Louisana Monroe and University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
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