Luis Martinez experienced the highs of an undefeated regular season and a run into the playoffs playing for the Fayette County Tigers last year and this Saturday he will be the kicker for the Forest Park Vikings, a semi-pro football team, in their Southern Football League championship game with the Warrior City Wildfire. For a young man with dreams of continuing his career in college and in the NFL, this is the first step he can take.

Martinez, a Fayetteville resident originally from Hermosillo, Mexico, moved to Georgia when he was 15 years old. He did not speak English when he arrived and though he is fluent now, three years later, learning the language has delayed his official graduation from high school.

“They told me that it would be an extra year of high school, but I should be done almost six months earlier than expected,” said Martinez, who added that he is so proud that he can now carry on conversations in English.

After the school year ended last May, Martinez was a little down wondering how he could continue his football career without playing in college right away like some of his teammates. His stepfather, Jack Carlisle, found the Vikings and Martinez was welcomed to the team with open arms.

He has kicked in five games for the Vikings and is 5-for-5 in his last five field goal attempts with three kicks going longer than 42 yards.

Kicking in the semi-pro league is different than kicking in high school. In addition to the game being faster, Martinez can no longer attempt field goals with a tee and his kickoffs start from further back. Still, he has seen improvement in both aspects of the kicking game and feels he is getting stronger every day.

His teammates on the Vikings either have college experience or have played high school ball for some of the top teams in the state and are also looking for ways to continue playing. They all hear stories of guys who played semi-pro ball and are now with NFL teams. Martinez, like anyone, would love for that scenario to play itself out for him, but he also thinks about getting into a college program, possibly the inaugural one at Georgia State, and working his way up from there.

Martinez came to football later than most. He had been a soccer player since the age of six, but Carlisle saw what he could do on free kicks and urged him to try kicking a football. What he saw was a young kid with natural talent who just needed to learn how to aim better. Prior to last season with the Tigers, Martinez attended a kicking camp at the University of Georgia and got to work with Atlanta Falcons kicker Michael Koenen. A lot of his training and work is now done on his own and this is on top of finishing school, working at La Hacienda and kicking for the Vikings.

The Forest Park Vikings will host the Warrior City Wildfire Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kiwanis Stadium in Forest Park. Martinez is hoping for a win for his team and hopefully being a factor in the outcome, but in the end it is just another way for him to keep kicking.