A high school punter really threw underhanded on the sneakiest fake punt ever

Thomas Downey High School’s football team is undefeated to start the year. Now, the California school has quite the highlight reel special teams play to put at the top of its resume.

It’s so innovative that you shouldn’t be surprised to see it at the college and professional levels soon enough.

With Thomas Downey facing a fourth and 40 from its own 40-yard line last week, it lined up from a standard punt formation, seemingly ready to surrender possession and dial back in for defense as usual. Instead, the team’s punter took the snap, moved a little bit forward, and threw an underhanded pass that made it appear as if he had punted the ball, throwing the opposition’s special teams unit for a loop.

Eventually, a player from Thomas Downey came down with a long catch of the “punt” in traffic, shocking everyone:

Thomas Downey HS with the fake punt of the year

I’ve watched this on repeat this morning pic.twitter.com/S0VbsoN0qO

— The Spread Offense (@Spread_Offense) September 3, 2024

I must admit that on my first watch, I didn’t even understand what was happening. A lot was going on at once! That made me see it was very easy to confuse this underhanded pass for a punt. The motion is similar! Now imagine being a defender there in that moment. Phew.

Kudos to the Thomas Downey coaching staff and anyone else who helped come up with this brilliant fake punt idea. You literally may have just changed the game.