It was the fall of 2019 and the Widdifield Wildcats coached by Sean Mullan face the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears and their kicker Tyler Mullan, who is Sean's son.
It was late in the game, and Bears were down 11-10 and trying to get in field goal position.
"I was on the bench and we were driving down the field and I felt that it was going to be up to me to win this game," recalls Tyler.
As the clock started to wind down, Tyler came onto the field hoping to kick the game winning 28-yard field goal.
Mullan hit the kick, but just before his right leg followed through, Sean Mullan, had called a time out effectively "icing" the Bears young kicker and his son.
"I hit the kick but when he iced me, I didn't realize because I was so dialed in. I just stayed out the on the field and hit it again. It was just awesome, just crazy," recalls Tyler.
But Tyler didn't even get congratulated by his father, who had left the game to go to the hospital where Tyler's older brother Connor was being treated for a shoulder injury sustained earlier in the game.
"The following days we all laughed about it, it was pretty funny," recalls Tyler Mullan.
Tyler believes its tough life lessons like that have helped him elevate his kicking game. Just recently, the Queen's Gaels USport football program committed to the North Bay kicker.
Mullan had multiple conversations and even did a school visit to Queen's this fall. Things seemed to ramp up for the North Bay kicker during the holidays when the coaching staff set up a zoom call and offered Tyler a spot.
"It's a very exciting time and happy for him and has a lot of work ahead of him," said Sean Mullan, now an assistant coach with the West Ferris Trojans junior football team.
"The offer is just the start but he's been training hard for over a year."
Tyler has been training in both the indoor BMO Centre in London and in Oakville where he was part of a training group organized by Western University kicking coach Darryl Wheeler. That led Mullan to train with the likes of Carolina Panthers kicker Lirim Hajrullahu.
"That was pretty cool for me, being able to train with someone who has won a Grey Cup and getting calls from NFL teams so I was really fortunate to do that," he said.
He feels Wheeler's training group helped him get the opportunity at Queen's.
"They put my name out there, they really liked me so I was talking to Queen's and McMaster and when I got really serious about Queen's I made a couple of visits and then I ended up committing and it was awesome," he said.
Mullan hopes to make an impression and continue to get better. Oh, and he wants everyone know there's a lot that goes into becoming a successful kicker.
"You have to train. Anyone can kick a ball far, but that is not what it is all about," said the 5'10", 160 pound kicker.
"You really need to work on your fundamentals and your mechanics. You have to train, you have to hit the weight room. A lot of it is mental; one bad kick, you can't let that get into your head. You kind of have to do it kick by kick I guess."
