Semaus Montague will be joining the Division I program at Marist next season, but he didn't start kicking until his junior year of high school.
MIDDLETOWN -- It's New Year's Eve, and it is absolutely freezing on the turf field at Croydon Hall in Middletown's Leonardo section.
There's about an hour of sunlight left when Seamus Montague steps onto the field after a shift at his job at the Lusty Lobster in Highlands. The 30-degree weather represents ideal conditions for the Middletown North senior that knows the value of his craft lies within the consistency of his process. In shorts and cleats with about a dozen footballs, he starts kicking.
"There's a lot of things that go into it, it's not just swing and kick," Montague said. "As you see with people on the College Gameday shows missing so easily. It takes a lot that goes into it. You've got to focus on every little detail in kicking."
In just two years, Montague has essentially spanned the crevasse between kicking amateurs with no proper experience that make for contestants outside a college stadium to the actual specialists inside on the field. He will be joining the Division I program at Marist next season, but didn't start kicking until his junior year of high school.
"I started kicking less than two years ago. I heard my high school needed a kicker," Montague said. "My coach gave me a ball and a tee and said go try it out. Hit (from) 50 (yards) the first time I went out and it kinda went from there."
Since then, Montague has been on a meteoric rise in one of sports' most dichotomous positions where kickers and punters hone a highly specific skillset through immense repetition while their teammates develop broad abilities and are valued for their versatility. This past fall as a senior, he was named first team All-Shore as a punter in just his first full year (with an offseason) working on his craft. Even before that, he received a D-I offer from Long Island University before ultimately choosing Marist in December.
"I didn't really play a sport before, so I was hoping it would be my thing," Montague said. "I played soccer before that, I was a goalkeeper. Kind of hoped the kicking would translate from goal kicks to field goals and it kind of did."
It ended up being a life-changing decision that was transformational for Montague on a personal level as well. As fortunate as he is to have found the sport that suits him, the game of football is just as lucky to have him. In a sport and position known for late bloomers, this Shore product might be the next kicker to blossom into an elite talent.
'Focused and determined to get everything right'
Despite Montague emerging virtually out of nowhere to become Middletown North's kicker as a junior, the program already had a high bar for its specialists. The prior kicker, Ian Poole-Morgan, was a multi-year starter that has since gone on to kick for FDU-Florham and had a school-record 51-yard field goal in 2024. Even with a high bar having been set, it didn't take long for Middletown North head coach Steve Bush to recognize he'd found a worthy successor.
"We graduated our kicker and needed one. And he approached me and told me he would like to be the kicker," Bush said. "So we went out to the field and brought a couple balls and had him kick some and he did very well. And I said, you're hired. You're gonna be the guy."
With an endorsement from his coach, Montague went to work building a foundational skillset in the summer months leading up to his first season of high school football.
"He continued to work on his own and get better and better," Bush said. "When we started official practices and things, he did a great job. He got better throughout the time in the last two years and was just somebody that really helped us. He was really focused and determined to get everything right."
Although Montague was learning on the fly during that first year, he doesn't grade himself on a curve when he looks back on the season. The results were the results, and they didn't meet the standard he'd set for himself.
"It took a while. My first year, I think I went three-for-six. Not very good," Montague said. "I just trained my whole offseason to become better. I went from being able to hit a 50 (yard field goal) to hitting a 65 in the offseason. It's not that easy to hit 60 obviously in a game. But it takes a while. Just a lot of time, effort and patience."
He trained with former New York Jets kicker Matt Amendola to refine his skillset as he learned more about the intricacies of kicking.
"I try to kick the same ball every time. Same steps, same steps over, same path to ball," Montague said. "And you also got to sometimes adjust for wind and all that sort of stuff. You can aim yourself a little left or a little right. And you can go a little faster if (the opponent's) blocking schemes look great. So it really just depends on the conditions you have."
Although field goals are his main focus and the primary area for any aspiring kicker improve, his raw ability was enough to be a game changer for Middletown North even on non-scoring plays.
"There were times early on where he would get down on himself very quickly if missed a kick or something. And we were always just kind of saying, Seamus, next play. You're not going to make every single one," Bush said. "He began to buy into that and kind of shaking off things. He had a lot of success for us; kicking extra points, kicking field goals. Kicking off getting touchbacks. He also punted extremely well for us and really changed the field position in some of our games, that really helped us too. He was a big weapon to have. Just to kick off and get it in the end zone in high school so the other team's starting at the 20. They've got to go 80 yards to score."
Those subtle wins in the game within the game made a big difference in Middletown North's resurgent 2025 season. Their last four wins were all by 10 points or less, three of which were one-score games. Two of those came against rival Middletown South, as the Lions beat the Eagles more times in one season than they had in the previous 24 years. They made it to the section final by winning within the margins, and Montague was an unsung difference-maker.
Montague seems to relish the straightforward repetition and detail-oriented approach that are catalysts for improvement in kicking, although he has no misconceptions about the pressures that affect kickers in live game situations. In fact, the contrasting challenge of those two factors is part of the appeal.
"Mental is the biggest thing in kicking," Montague said. "You just gotta focus on one thing: kick the ball. You can't focus on anything else. I take two deep breaths, look at the ball and think: it's just me and the ball, no one else."
The stoic approach almost sounds meditative for the 18-year-old, and is a reflection of a personality well-suited to the most mercurial position in all of sports. Football games are decided by hundreds of factors, but the final word often comes from player who is almost singularly focused on one task. His ability to maintain that tunnel vision, a contradiction from essentially every other aspect of the sport, is the deciding factor in wins and losses.
Not many athletes want to sign up for that arrangement, but those who do seem to gravitate toward it. For Montague, it's become a source of identity and self-confidence.
"He was at a time in his life where he didn't feel like he was needed on the soccer team and things and kind of felt a little lost," Bush said. "And you could see how this changed him. He just became much more confident as a person and as a player ended up doing a terrific job. We don't have like a specific kicking coach, so the majority of the time he was on his own during practice when we weren't doing kickoffs or punts and things. He was pretty much on his own working on the other end of the field and he did it all day long. Kept working to get better and ask questions about what he should be doing. He was just really focused and determined."
'Want it more than anyone else'
Montague's determination manifest itself in a wide range of ways. On that frigid Wednesday training session at Croydon Hall, it's reflected in his unbothered approach to circumstances that might frustrate others.
The netting behind the goal posts at the turf field came undone after days of intense winds, meaning Montague's collection of footballs most landed in a gully full of thistles that separates the field from the nearby Beacon Hill golf course. After finishing his training, he had to navigate the unpleasant bushes to retrieve the balls. It's one thing to be dedicated to kicking, it's another to be dedicated to everything that comes with it.
Montague has always been a self-starter, but his consistent training regimen has given him an acute understanding of what goes wrong on a kick and how to correct it. One of his early kicks drifted awry, and Montague knew long before the ball hit the ground.
"I knew I kicked it like that because it went left like that," Montague said. "So I left my hips open."
He corrected it and was back on track with 50-yard kicks from different hashes. The wind and cold presented a particular challenge that is useful for future reference, and for that same reason there really is never a bad day to kick. The balls also harden under these conditions, complicating how the contact feels on the foot. There is no built-in solution, just repetition that informs future adjustments at game speed.
It's hard to remember that Montague is still a newcomer to the craft of kicking given his focus on the details. But that is one underlying reason why he became a D-I level recruit—his rapid growth and immense potential. He also has an impressive 6-foot-2 frame to build on, which is perceived as preferable for durability reasons particularly on kickoffs although the size doesn't inherently help with kicking because the key variable is leg speed. But the icing on top of his football profile is the fact he's a lefty.
"Lefty kickers are very sought after," Montague explained. "It's just like any other thing."
In December, the New York Giants' Ben Sauls became the first lefty kicker in an NFL game since the legendary Sebastian Janikowski played for the Seahawks in 2018. In general, it's simply coveted because it's unorthodox. That requires some adjusting for the team at first, but it's thought to be advantageous because it forces opponents to spend additional time on special teams to adjust their schemes to account for the inversion.
Like any college program, Marist is banking on all that upside to come to fruition. And after the most recent transfer portal window, the Red Foxes are hoping it will be sooner rather than later. They lost both kickers from this past season (including former Holmdel standout Connor Mendini) to the portal, giving Montague a chance to seize a starting role next fall.
"I'm excited to go up to campus, try to prove myself, get the starting spot," Montague said. "Then prove it on the big stage in FCS football."
As Montague's burgeoning athletic career moves on to the college ranks, the defining concept circles back to his potential. Like hard work and determination, it's a concept that is much more pleasant in the abstract. In reality, it's a long arduous journey to realize that potential. Even as a specialist honing a unique skillset, he shares that commonality with all of his football teammates.
"I wanted to quit several times," Montague said. "I try to kick three days a week, lift the other three days. You've got to stay consistent in your work. It's like any position. You've got to work hard and you've got to want it more than anyone else does."
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ Shore football kicker Seamus Montague, Middletown North, rises to D1
Category: General Sports
