El Capitan’s Lema doing his part to kick cancer in family’s honor

Joseph Lema has seen how cancer can affect loved ones. The El Capitan High senior lost both of his grandfathers and two aunts to cancer. He’s seen classmates affected by cancer.

So when he saw an opportunity to help, he jumped at the chance.

Lema will be helping to raise money for cancer research with each point he scores as a kicker for the Gauchos this season through the “Kick-it for Cancer” fundraising campaign.

Lema is asking people to go to the website – http://www.kick-it.org/games/2016/08/joseph-is-kicking-it-for-cancer-gaucho-style – to donate a flat amount or pledge an amount per point he scores this year through field goals or extra points.

“Cancer has taken out a lot of people,” Lema said. “We have to find a cure and we need to raise money to do that. This was a chance for me to help do that. I’ve put out fliers. I want to help get the word out as much as possible. I think we’re going to announce it during games at home and ask teams to announce it at away games. I have a goal of $10,000 that I want to reach. I’m going to do the best I can.”

Lema found out about the organization while attending a kicking camp in Southern California this offseason. He immediately signed up.

“I asked how to set up and what I had to do. I signed up then and there,” Lema said. “My grandpa Joe Lema had prostate cancer. It was tough. Prostate cancer was not good to watch him go through. My other grandpa, Richard Gudgel, had lung cancer. So this means a lot to me. Hopefully I can raise a lot of money for cancer.”

El Capitan coach Mike Machado was happy to help.

“This was all him, this is his baby,” Machado said. “You hope with all the stuff you’re trying to build with your program that you’re not just building athletes, but building people and students as well. You hope the messages you’re trying to get across are sinking in. So it’s nice to see a student take the initiative like this. It’s proof that your messages are sinking in. He’s trying to make a difference in the community.”

Lema takes place-kicking seriously with the goal to kick in college. He works out with personal kicking coach Paul Assad once or twice a week for one to two hours.

Lema made seven of his nine field-goal attempts last year with a long of 40 yards. He also made 29 of 32 of his extra points. He’s also played some at slot receiver. The 5-foot-7, 150-pound Lema caught nine passes for 136 yards last season.

What started as a chance to make the football team as a kicker has turned into a possible path to college football.

“I played soccer for a long time,” Lema said. “When I got to high school, I thought kicking was a way on the team. I’m not that big of a kid, but I wanted to be on the football team. It’s been a lot of work. It’s pretty awesome playing football. There’s just a bond with the whole team.”

“The thing is, he’s a very good placekicker,” Machado added. “He’s definitely pursuing this and trying to kick at the next level. It’s opened my eyes to how colleges from multiple levels recruit kickers. It’s new ground for me. I’ve never had an athlete recruited as a kicker.”

With Lema working hard to raise money for cancer research this season, it could bring up some interesting decisions when the Gauchos get in field-goal range.

Does Machado opt for a long field goal or to go for the first on fourth down? Should he go for two or run out Lema for the extra point?

“Hey, if we’re in field-goal range and the right decision is kick it, we’ll kick it,” Machado said. “But if we decide to go for it and we score or we get a first down, I may have to make a donation. If I go for two instead of kicking the extra point and we get it, I’ll make a donation.”

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 11:37 AM with the headline "El Capitan’s Lema doing his part to kick cancer in family’s honor."