By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Hank Webb passed for 2,483 yards and 32 touchdowns as a Salisbury senior.

Believe it or not, he kicked footballs even better than he threw them. He arguably had the greatest kicking/punting season in Rowan County history.

“The key thing was building up my stamina, so I didn’t get worn out,” Webb said. “It was different having the responsibility of being the starting quarterback this year for the first time and still making sure I had the energy to kick and punt well.”

Webb averaged 46.3 yards on his punts, the third-best figure ever recorded in Rowan County. North Rowan’s Jacob Young, a Fayetteville State recruit, averaged 46.7 yards during his All-State 2017 season. South Rowan’s Marshall Long, a University of Georgia recruit, averaged 46.5 yards in 2015 when he received All-America honors. Webb was a top-25 punter nationally this season. He blasted some 60-yard punts at critical moments.

The Post doesn’t keep records for touchbacks, but Webb’s season has to be at or near the top of any list. He boomed 59 touchbacks on 80 kickoffs, almost a 75 percent success rate.

Webb was 11-for-13 on field goals, including two important ones in the playoffs. His 49-yard field goal against Forest Hills in the third round was the longest in the history of the program and the longest field goal ever by a Rowan kicker in a playoff game.

And kicking a 49-yard field goal in the chill of late November is a lot different than kicking one on a balmy night in September.

“It was definitely a different challenge with the cold weather, but I had a good warmup that night and I had confidence in myself,” Webb said. “Coach (Clayton Trivett) asked me if I could kick the field goal or if we needed to try to get the first down. I believed I could make it.”

Most of Webb’s field goals came early in the season when the Hornets were still figuring out their running game. Once the offense started clicking on all cylinders, the Hornets began piling up touchdowns, and didn’t need as many 3s from Webb.

“I’m just glad we had Hank on our side,” Trivett said.

Besides his 11 field goals, Webb kicked 59 PATs. His 92 kicking points put him high on the leaderboard for the state.

Webb was eager to point out the other members of that critical snap-hold-kick operation — long snapper Jackson Sparger and holder Evan Koontz.

“Two longtime friends,” Webb said. “Jackson has been great snapping the last two years. Evan has always been there. He’s been holding for me since I started kicking.”

Webb’s kicking mentor was Wade Robins, who converted clutch field goals during Salisbury’s run to a state championship in the spring of 2021 and now kicks for Catawba.

“I started kicking when I was hanging out with Wade,” Webb said. “I saw I could be pretty good at it. I started thinking I could kick for Salisbury after he graduated. He was a huge factor as far as me becoming a kicker.”

Webb is long and lean at 6-foot-3 and about 175 pounds. He could use more weight, but he is such a good athlete that he also is one of Salisbury’s top  baseball players as well as an important part of the basketball team. He scored 15 points in Wednesday’s overtime victory against Community School of Davidson.

“Haven’t been shooting the ball as well as I would like so far,” Webb said. “But it always takes me a couple of weeks to get acclimated to basketball.”

Salisbury had Mike Geter, a Rowan County Athlete of the Year, to quarterback the football team in previous years, so Webb helped out as a receiver. He had seven touchdown catches during his sophomore and junior seasons in addition to handling kicking and punting duties and serving as the backup QB.

He took some shots as the full-time QB, but he was almost able to make it through the football season completely healthy. He had a setback in the first round of the playoffs when the Hornets played West Davidson for the second time.

“It was muddy and I rolled my ankle on my first kickoff,” Webb said. “It was a high ankle sprain, but not a really bad one. I was able to play the rest of the game. I rested the week before we played Walkertown in the second round, and I was OK by game day.”

Webb, who has a GPA north of 4.0, is being recruited by a number of schools and has some offers. He is flattered that some of those offers have mentioned the opportunity to compete for playing time at quarterback.

“This was a really fun year for me getting to play quarterback, but I realize that punting and kicking are probably what I’ll be focusing on in college,” Webb said.

No one ever has done it better.