Near-record kick from Harran Zureikat provides highlight for Fox Chapel football

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, October 4, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Fox Chapel football coach Dave Leasure trusts Harran Zureikat to know his limits. The senior kicker, who committed to play at Georgia next season, broke his own school record by booting a 54-yard field goal against Pine-Richland last Friday.

“That’s entirely up to him,” Leasure said. “If there’s a wind, I’ll ask him, ‘Where are you good at?’ If he’s got the wind at his back, the sky’s the limit.”

Zureikat’s kick was a yard short of the WPIAL record, which was set in 2002 by East Allegheny’s Josh Miller and matched twice by Hopewell’s Rocco Marcantonio, once this season and once last year.

Zureikat set Fox Chapel’s record last season by booting a 45-yard field goal. Leasure said he believes a wave of strong kickers is currently sweeping through the WPIAL.

“There are more soccer kids getting involved at an earlier age,” Leasure said. “With college soccer, you see a lot of kids on the rosters from England, South America and Mexico, it’s difficult to find a spot. We have one of the best high school soccer programs in the country, our coach will tell you it’s not easy to make a roster. The beauty of being a kicker is you can play both sports.”

Zureikat’s field goal was the highlight of what was a difficult week for the program. Fox Chapel lost to Pine-Richland, 63-3, in a game where the quarters were shortened at the Foxes’ request. Fox Chapel made the request in the interest of player safety.

Leasure was aghast at the criticism his players took online, when he felt it should have been directed at him.

“I just want our kids to play football,” Leasure said. “I played a very important role in decisions that were made that I felt were in the best interest of our program. The kids took the brunt of that. I don’t want our kids to get any of it.”

Leasure said he is focused on putting Fox Chapel in the best position to succeed over the final four weeks of the season. The Foxes (2-4, 0-3) have lost three consecutive games in Northeast Conference play.

Results from Fox Chapel’s game with winless Franklin Regional were too late for this edition.

“We have great kids who are working hard,” Leasure said. “We need more of them to compete at the highest level of 5A. I truly believe we will get there. The type of kids we have in the program are phenomenal. We are getting more football players that are quality individuals. That number is going to continue to grow. I don’t want them to worry about the outside noise.”

Tags: Fox Chapel