Cameron Coupe knows he’s a little smaller than his teammates.

South Whidbey High School’s senior football team co-captains were 6-foot-4, 6-foot-1 and 6 foot tall. Coupe is 5 feet, 4 inches tall — with his cleats on.

Even so, he has shoes that are too big for most to fill. Coupe was recently honored with a selection to the all-Cascade Conference first team.

Head coach Andy Davis found Coupe in a hallway in South Whidbey to tell the kicker he made first team.

“I was pretty excited,” Coupe said. “I had no idea until that point.”

The 15-year-old can’t legally drive a car, but he can drive a football 40 yards with his foot.

This year was the diminutive kicker’s first season on varsity.

In his first varsity game against Bellingham High School, the sophomore kicked a 37-yard field goal, the only points the Falcons scored against the Red Raiders.

“It was my first field goal in a varsity game, and it felt really good,” Coupe recalled.

In the same game, Coupe had a field-goal attempt blocked by Bellingham — his only blocked field goal of the season.

His opponents may not have seen his longest kick yet. He drilled a 45-yard field goal in practice, but he wasn’t called upon to make professional-distance kicks in games.

“The little guy can kick,” said junior quarterback Avery Buechner.

Nancy Thelen, his mom, was crucial in Coupe’s football development. He didn’t grow up playing Pee Wee football for South Whidbey.

“My mom wouldn’t let me,” Coupe said.

Instead, he got his start in seventh grade at Langley Middle School, where he discovered his ability with colossal kicks. In the front yard of their Freeland home, Coupe’s stepfather, Jim Thelen, and the young footballer built field-goal posts to practice his point-after-touchdown and field goal kicks.

His mom, though, admitted to putting up a little resistance to the field goal in her front yard.

“It’s easier to practice at home than it is somewhere else,” she said.

As a lifelong soccer player, Coupe thought his soccer experience would serve him well as the team’s kicker.

He was right. It took a week of practice for the futbol forward/striker to adjust to the finesse of kicking a football.

“With a soccer ball, you can pretty much strike it anywhere you want,” Coupe explained. “Football though, you pretty much have to hit the one spot that’s a little lower than the middle.”

Coupe thought he was off a little on his kick during the fourth week of the season. After practices, Coupe stayed to kick more field goals and extra points to improve his rhythm and consistency with coach Leo Langer. His team captains noticed.

“He’s really positive,” said senior co-captain Evan Thompson. “He came ready to practice every single day.”

He admits getting nervous standing on the sideline, until the ball is snapped.

“I’ve just always been really good at canceling nerve or anything else going on [crowd noise],” Coupe said.

When asked about his most memorable kick, Coupe recalled a missed field goal in a junior varsity game. The team was close to the end zone, maybe within 20 yards, and lined up on the left hash mark. He felt confident about his kick, until it went too straight and missed wide left of the upright.

As the varsity kicker, though, Coupe hit 16 extra points on 16 attempts and missed only the one field goal — the blocked shot in the game against Bellingham.

His longest kickoff was 57 yards, and Coupe regularly had kickoffs of 40 or more yards. Not bad for a sophomore on a field of relative giants.

The consistency Coupe kicks with is more impressive when you look at his home field, Waterman Field. The grass becomes patchy and uneven at spots as the season progresses.

“There’s the hole where you go to kick it,” Coupe said and pointed to the east uprights. “Look at this, this field goal is tilted.”

In school, Coupe is equally consistent and dedicated. His 3.9 grade-point average is actually closer to a 4.0. He plans to take at least one advanced placement history course. He said his favorite class is physical education, because he likes to be active and competitive.

The kicker isn’t content to be a specialized player, and wants to diversify his football talents and become a regular as a receiver and a cornerback — two positions that will be needed to be filled next year.

The small kicker stepped up big this season, his teammates said, and played a pivotal position.

“To step into a role like that is extraordinary,” said teammate Thompson.

One step at a time, though. Coupe’s main goal is to repeat as a first team all-conference kicker and improve his range.