Under a November sky and the specter of an ailing dad and a berth in the State AA semifinals, Patrick Rohrbach had a cramp.

This is suboptimal for a football place kicker, to have cramps in his legs and the game coming down to the nitty. And we know how it ended: Rohrbach, a junior for the Glacier Wolfpack, missed a field goal from close in, sealing a 20-17 overtime quarterfinal loss to Billings Senior.

There’s nothing quite like the finality of a missed kick on the final play of a football game. I know – I’ve seen it. Wofford came to Missoula in 2007 and beat the Montana Grizzlies 23-22; the game ended with Dan Carpenter – destined to play nine seasons in the NFL – missing what would have been the game-winning field goal from 45 yards.

It was the last kick of his record-setting college career and amazingly, was part of a pattern at UM: Before him, Chris Snyder had missed the last kick of his career – a field goal blocked in a 2003 playoff loss; Kris Heppner slipped and missed a game-tying field goal against Youngstown State in 1999, on his final kick.

All these guys were studs – especially Snyder, who built a reputation as a hard hitter on kick cover. And after Carpenter, Brody McKnight had an excellent career that ended with a 31-28 loss at Sam Houston State in the 2011 FCS semifinals. He missed his only field goal attempt that game.

That is the lot of the kicker. You take the bad with the good. Compartmentalize, and have good swing thoughts. Get them next time.

“There was not one person that was negative,” Rohrbach said of Saturday’s aftermath. “They all told me it’s the crazy game of football – you can’t dictate the game off one play. That definitely helped.

“Same with the coaching staff. The Glacier coaching staff in general is absolutely phenomenal.”

Two years ago he was vying for snaps at quarterback on Glacier’s freshman team and kicking a little, but not too seriously.

“It was Homecoming week and we had been struggling the first two games on varsity,” Rohrbach said. “Coach (Grady) Bennett came running over and said, ‘Hey, can you come over and kick a couple, really quick?’ I didn’t think anything of it.”

As freshman practice ended that day – a Wednesday, Rohrbach remembered – he was asked to stop varsity drills and try some kickoffs.

The next day he was told he’d be kicking in the Homecoming game. That’s how he became the only freshman to letter in Glacier’s program, which began in 2010. He hit four PAT kicks that first Friday night. “I was like, ‘Holy Toledo,’ ” he said.

This year the Wolfpack got a second freshman letterman: Isaac Keim, who took over long-snapping duties when Luke Bilau suffered a concussion. Keim was on the Daylis Stadium turf Saturday for every long snap.

One came in the fourth quarter, after Rohrbach had run down on a kickoff and then went down with cramps. He had to be helped to the sideline. He stretched while Senior drove into Glacier territory and stalled at the 26. Now the Wolfpack had stalled.

Special teams coach Donnie Tudahl came over: Can you kick, or not? And Rohrbach kicked.

“I got out there with Isaak Keim,” he said. “Great snap. I got the ball and it came off really clean.”

It went 80 yards, flipping the field and helping Glacier push Senior into OT.

“He had a great game,” Bennett said this week of Rohrbach. “He did an excellent job of keeping the ball out of returners’ hands on kickoffs. His punting was amazing. He hadn’t had the kind of year we expected in the punt game, but Saturday he was great.”

In April Rohrbach’s father, Kelly, was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. At one point he was partially paralyzed; he’s since recovered to where he’s up and around. Through it all Rohrbach kept putting foot to ball.

“All he does is kick and point and he works really hard at it,” Bennett said. “What I love so much about sports, and football, is kids take risks to perform – in front of hundreds and thousands of people, and they fail sometimes. A lot of people aren’t willing to do that.”

Taking it a step further, most people aren’t kickers. It takes a little something different. You absorb the bad with the good.

“Exactly,” Rohrbach said. “Bounce back from it, and just try to let it fill you, to do better.”

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 546-1122 or at fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com