Explosive offenses at schools like Lenoir-Rhyne, UNC Pembroke and Wingate kept their kickers busy during the 2024 North Carolina Division II college football season. As a result, our D2 Stat Champions in the placekicking categories put up impressive numbers.
Lenoir-Rhyne’s Jake Brown led Division II – and the entire state of North Carolina, all divisions – in kicker points. He achieved D2 Stat Champion status by notching 92 points with his right leg – making 19 field goals and booting 35 successful extra points – during the Bears’ 10-win campaign.
The sophomore from Indian Trail (Sun Valley HS) played a key role in Lenoir-Rhyne’s playoff win at West Alabama, hitting three field goals and converting all four PATs. He also went 3-for-3 at Mars Hill early in the season and had four other games making two FGs. His longest three-pointer of the year came in the 29-21 triumph at Mars Hill, a 45-yarder.
Wingate’s Caleb Bonesteel seemed to have legs of steel during the Bulldogs’ run to a conference title. From Dawsonville, Ga. (Dawson County HS), Bonesteel finished with 81 kicker points, second among our D2 placekickers.
He’s our D2 Stat Champion for most kicker points in a single game. He earned South Atlantic Conference championship game MVP honors after scoring 16 points in the win over Carson-Newman. Bonesteel booted five field goals, including a 48-yarder, and hit an extra point to help beat the Eagles 28-13 and bring the SAC trophy back to Wingate.
Bonesteel also had a 14-point effort earlier in the season against Barton, going 3-for-4 in field goals and 5-of-6 in extra points.
UNC Pembroke’s Jackson Hills finished third in kicker points with 62. He only made two field goals on the year, but that was mostly because the Braves had a penchant for putting the ball in the end zone (scoring 68 touchdowns across 11 games).
Hills, a redshirt freshman from Clayton (Corinth Holders HS), is our D2 Stat Champ for most extra points made over the season. He hit an astounding 56 — 21 more than the next closest D2 players, Lenoir-Rhyne’s Brown and Fayetteville State’s John Hernandez-Vargas.
Hills only missed four PATs. He went 11-for-11 (!) in UNC Pembroke’s 79-20 win over West Virginia Wesleyan (no one else in the state made that many in a game in ’24). He also kicked off 12 times in that contest. He was 9-for-9 in the season finale at Concord, a 63-7 romp. He went 8-for-9 against West Virginia State, a 62-17 victory.
Only one other D2 kicker hit at least seven PATs in a game: Johnson C. Smith’s Jacob Meneses, in the Golden Bulls’ 52-6 rout of Lincoln in week three.
Livingstone’s Jason Zapata hit the longest field goal of the season in D2, a 49-yarder against CIAA rival Elizabeth City State in week six. Bonesteel and Catawba’s Bryson Sims booted 48-yarders. Barton kicker Andrew Bontekoe split the uprights from 46.
Sims, from Thomasville (Ledford HS), enjoyed a 15-point game in an overtime loss to Limestone in week seven. He made four field goals and went 3-for-3 on PATs.
Here is the complete list of top placekicking performances, season and single-game, from the 2024 season:
2024 D2 Stat Champions | Kickers
Kicker Points | Season Leaders
| POINTS | PLAYER (SCHOOL) | FG | PAT | LONG FG |
| 92 | Jake Brown (Lenoir-Rhyne) | 19 | 35 | 45 |
| 81 | Caleb Bonesteel (Wingate) | 17 | 30 | 48 |
| 62 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) | 2 | 56 | 41 |
| 59 | John Hernandez-Vargas (Fay State) | 8 | 35 | 43 |
| 57 | Jason Zapata (Livingstone) | 13 | 18 | 49 |
| 55 | Lon Teachey (Mars Hill) | 9 | 28 | 36 |
| 52 | Gilberto Lorenzana (Winston-Salem St) | 9 | 25 | 37 |
| 49 | Bryson Sims (Catawba) | 8 | 25 | 48 |
| 45 | Jacob Meneses (Johnson C. Smith) | 4 | 33 | 32 |
| 37 | Benjamin Turner (Shaw) | 3 | 28 | 38 |
| 32 | Andrew Bontekoe (Barton) | 3 | 23 | 46 |
| 26 | Matthew Conord (Chowan) | 4 | 14 | 31 |
Most PATs | Season Leaders
| PAT | PLAYER (SCHOOL) |
| 56 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) |
| 35 | Jake Brown (Lenoir-Rhyne) |
| 35 | John Hernandez-Vargas (Fay State) |
| 33 | Jacob Meneses (Johnson C. Smith) |
| 30 | Caleb Bonesteel (Wingate) |
| 28 | Benjamin Turner (Shaw) |
| 28 | Lon Teachey (Mars Hill) |
| 25 | Bryson Sims (Catawba) |
| 25 | Gilberto Lorenzana (Winston-Salem St) |
| 23 | Andrew Bontekoe (Barton) |
| 18 | Jason Zapata (Livingstone) |
Most Kicker Points | Single Game
| PTS | PLAYER (SCHOOL) | XPM | XPA | FGM | FGA | LONG | DATE | OPPONENT | RESULT | DIV |
| 16 | Caleb Bonesteel (Wingate) | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 48 | Week 12 | Carson-Newman | W, 28-13 | D2 |
| 15 | Bryson Sims (Catawba) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 43 | Week 7 | Limestone | L, 33-36 OT | D2 |
| 14 | Caleb Bonesteel (Wingate) | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 33 | Week 7 | Barton | W, 50-0 | D2 |
| 13 | Jake Brown (Lenoir-Rhyne) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 38 | Week 13 | at West Alabama (playoffs) | W, 37-34 | D2 |
| 11 | Caleb Bonesteel (Wingate) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 48 | Week 13 | Virginia Union | L, 31-34 OT | D2 |
| 11 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | — | Week 10 | West Virginia Wesleyan | W, 79-20 | D2 |
| 11 | Jake Brown (Lenoir-Rhyne) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 45 | Week 4 | at Mars Hill | W, 29-21 | D2 |
| 11 | Jason Zapata (Livingstone) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 25 | Week 3 | Allen | W, 23-21 | D2 |
| 10 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 25 | Week 11 | Frostburg State | W, 58-17 | D2 |
| 10 | Jacob Meneses (Johnson C. Smith) | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 27 | Week 3 | Lincoln (PA) | W, 52-6 | D2 |
| 10 | Lon Teachey (Mars Hill) | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 23 | Week 6 | at Newberry | W, 34-9 | D2 |
| 10 | Wade Robins (Catawba) | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 43 | Week 12 | Tusculum | W, 47-15 | D2 |
Most PATs | Single Game
| XPM | XPA | PLAYER (SCHOOL) | DATE | OPPONENT | RESULT | DIV |
| 11 | 11 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) | Week 10 | West Virginia Wesleyan | W, 79-20 | D2 |
| 9 | 9 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) | Week 12 | at Concord | W, 63-7 | D2 |
| 8 | 9 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) | Week 9 | West Virginia State | W, 62-17 | D2 |
| 7 | 8 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) | Week 11 | Frostburg State | W, 58-17 | D2 |
| 7 | 7 | Jacob Meneses (Johnson C. Smith) | Week 3 | Lincoln (PA) | W, 52-6 | D2 |
| 6 | 6 | Jacob Meneses (Johnson C. Smith) | Week 5 | at Bluefield State | W, 42-3 | D2 |
Longest Field Goals (50+ Yards)
| LONG FG | PLAYER (SCHOOL) |
| 49 | Jason Zapata (Livingstone) |
| 48 | Bryson Sims (Catawba) |
| 48 | Caleb Bonesteel (Wingate) |
| 46 | Andrew Bontekoe (Barton) |
| 45 | Jake Brown (Lenoir-Rhyne) |
| 43 | John Hernandez-Vargas (Fay State) |
| 43 | Wade Robins (Catawba) |
| 41 | Jackson Hills (UNC Pembroke) |
More NC College Football | Stat Champions Content
RUSHING KINGS OF 2024: Every 100-Yard Game In The 2024 Season
HE COULD GO ALL THE WAY! The 25 Longest College Football Scoring Plays Of 2024
D2 PASSING: UNCP’s Colin Johnson, Lenoir-Rhyne’s Jalen Ferguson Have Golden Arms
D2 PUNTING: UNC Pembroke’s Seth Bowen Takes Season Crown
D2 DEFENSE: Wingate’s Marquise Fleming, JCSU’s Benari Black Tackle Top Honors
