Liegghio not worried about recent miscues

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This article was published 19/07/2022 (1145 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Marc Liegghio wasn’t going to remain perfect forever.

The second-year Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker opened the 2022 campaign with 13 straight field goal makes and looked like he may have turned a corner in his young career.

That still might be the case, but things have gone a bit downhill since then.

It started in Week 5 at B.C. Place against the Lions when the Western University product missed a pair of field goals and a convert in the second half.

It was only one game. No big deal.

Liegghio followed that up with some discouraging signs in Friday’s 26-19 win at home over the Calgary Stampeders. In the third quarter, he missed wide left on a 36-yarder. Fortunately for him, it didn’t count as Calgary’s Charlie Moore was flagged for contacting the kicker. The penalty gave the Bombers a first down and they went on to score a touchdown to give themselves a 20-16 advantage.

The Stamps would add a field goal in the fourth to make it 20-19, but the Bombers would increase their lead with a 10-yard Carlton Agudosi touchdown grab to go up 26-19 with just over four minutes left to play. A convert would’ve increased the lead to eight and put the Stampeders in a difficult position to force overtime, but Liegghio missed wide left again.

The 25-year-old is 11-for-15 on extra points this year and 16-for-23 in his career.

“I just gotta trust my swing. From university to here, extra points is like a 20-30 yard difference. It’s just treating it like a field goal and trusting my swing. I got to do what I know what to do and put it through the uprights,” Liegghio said after Tuesday’s practice.

“… I think I’m playing pretty well. There’s obviously stuff I can always get better at. But it’s moving on and moving to the next kick and moving to the next game.”

Another miss or two and it will begin to overshadow Liegghio’s impressive start. No matter what the outside noise is saying about his game, Liegghio tries to not pay any attention to it.

“Obviously people got what they have to say. It’s fans or whoever saying what. But I keep doing my thing. I think I’m doing really well,” said Liegghio.

“I’m punting the ball well, kicking off well, field goals, and I just have to clean up the extra points a little bit. That’s just stuff I need to work on. I know what I need to work on… If you miss, you move on to the next one. It’s done. It’s history. You can’t go back and fix it. It’s just going one-for-one and kicking the next ball as good as you can.”

Going for two would’ve made it a two-score game and in all likelihood, put it out of reach for Calgary. With the way the Bombers’ defence is playing, however, head coach Mike O’Shea felt like kicking the convert was the call to make.

“You kick the single, go up eight, and they gotta get in the end zone twice,” O’Shea said.

PRUKOP BACK AT PRACTICE

Third-string quarterback Dakota Prukop, who handles the team’s short-yardage duties, was on the field practising with his teammates on Tuesday. It’s the first time he’s been in action since being placed on the six-game injured list after Week 1. It’s a step in the right direction, but O’Shea said Prukop still isn’t ready to play.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31