Former WPIAL record holder heard footsteps before Fox Chapel kicker booted 57-yarder

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, October 5, 2025 | 6:01 AM

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East Allegheny teacher Josh Miller woke up early Saturday morning to a half-dozen text messages, each sharing a video of Fox Chapel’s Harran Zureikat kicking a field goal the night before.

Miller knew what that meant.

“When (Rocco Marcantonio) from Hopewell hit a 55-yarder last year, everyone texted me. And then he hit another one this year and everyone was texting me,” Miller said. “So, I woke up this morning and said, ‘Well, I guess someone hit another long one.’ ”

Indeed, Zureikat made a 57-yarder Friday that is the longest field goal in WPIAL history. The kick broke a record set 23 years ago by Miller, then a high school senior and star soccer player at East Allegheny.

Miller made a 55-yarder in 2002.

The WPIAL kickers with the strongest legs had tried without success to break Miller’s long-standing record for more than two decades. Hopewell’s Marcantonio tied the record twice and is the only other WPIAL kicker known to have hit from 55 or farther.

Until Zureikat broke the record by 2 yards.

“Honestly, I’ve been waiting a long time,” Miller said. “That’s what records are for. They’re meant to be broken.”

Zureikat made a 54-yarder just a week earlier.

His record-breaking kick Friday cleared the goal post with ease and gave Fox Chapel a 10-0 lead in the second quarter at Franklin Regional. The senior teamed with holder Nathan Johnson and long snapper Steven Lubinski for the historic moment.

“It’s honestly an honor to leave a mark,” Zureikat said. “It couldn’t be done without the coach calling the right plays and getting me in the right position. The snapper and the holder getting it down. It’s more of a team effort than just me kicking the ball, but it’s pretty cool that I get all the credit for it.

“I’m not complaining.”

Zureikat already was labeled as the best senior kicker in the country. Kohl’s Professional Kicking Camps ranked him No. 1 nationally in the 2026 class, and he committed in June to kick for Georgia.

He said he tries to approach every kick the same but said there was added attention on this one.

“It definitely spiked a little adrenaline in me,” Zureikat said. “But I went out there just trusting my snapper, trusting my holder, trusting my line to get the block down. Staying in the same mindset I’d have for even a 20-yard kick.”

Extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to break the WPIAL field goal record. Could not be having the season I’m having without my holder @NathanKJ10 and my snapper @theRealLubinski.
Here is the ball from 57. pic.twitter.com/njpV4VAqmQ

— Harran Zureikat (@ZureikatHarran) October 4, 2025

The WPIAL has recently seen an increase in the number of kickers making 50-yard field goals. Zureikat credited the growth of events run by Kohl’s and other organizations for making long kicks far more common in high school games.

“It has definitely become a much more popular part of football with all of these camps emerging,” he said. “That is really driving guys to compete and be better than one another. Every camp I go to, every guy is focused, zoned in and wanting to do better than the guy next to him.”

Miller said he appreciated his two decades as the record holder and enjoyed being mentioned whenever a WPIAL kicker would come close. He said he got a message from his mom Saturday pointing out his record stood for exactly one day short of 23 years.

His record-setting day was Oct. 4, 2002.

Miller was East Allegheny’s kicker for only one season before joining the soccer team at Duquesne. In a rainy game against Steel Valley, he first made a 50-yard field goal and later hit from 55.

“I didn’t even realize I’d broken a record because I was just a soccer player trying to help Coach Cortazzo out by kicking,” said Miller, who recalled being greeted on the sideline by assistant coach Dave Loya, now East Allegheny’s athletic director.

“Everybody was super excited, and I was just kind of jogging off,” Miller said. “I had no idea what I had done. He hit me so hard on my helmet that it turned sideways. I’ll never forget that. I’d never seen so many people so excited.”

Miller coached soccer and bowling after returning to his alma mater. He said his students are sometimes surprised he also played football.

“The kids would say, ‘Were you any good?’ ” Miller said with a laugh. “I’d say, ‘Look me up.’ ”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: East Allegheny, Fox Chapel