Georgia Tech great Scott Sisson made perhaps the biggest field goal in Yellow Jackets history. Nevertheless, he stood in appreciation for Tech kicker Harrison Butker’s 53-yard field goal to tie Georgia t the end of regulation Saturday.
“My hat’s off to him,” Sisson said. “That was a phenomenal kick. Just the distance makes it that much more special when he looks back at it. You can look at 30 to 40, somewhere in that range and think, I’m glad I hit that, but I should have hit that. But 53, it’s just icing on the cake.”
Sisson made the game-winning field goal against then-No. 1 Virginia in 1990, a 37-yarder with seven seconds remaining in Tech’s 41-38 win. It was one of a remarkable seven game-winners that he hit during his Tech career. He was impressed by the circumstances of Butker’s game-tying make.
“That’s a huge kick, especially because I’m sure that the block (earlier in the game) may have weighed on his mind a little bit,” Sisson said. “But it’s hard to say. Part of me thinks that but, there’s so much adrenaline for them to get back in the game that he kind of zoned in and gave it his best stroke.”
To Sisson, the distance “was not even a concern for me. We’ve all seen how this guy puts the ball in the back of the end zone (on kickoffs). He’s got a huge leg.”
Sisson, married with two children, lives in Canton. He runs his own website building and maintenance company. With his children heavily involved in tennis and gymnastics, he describes himself as a casual but fervent Tech supporter. He certainly made time for last Saturday’s game.
“Whoa, what a great game,” he said. “It reminded me a little bit of the Virginia game, way back when, just all of the back and forth. It was actually a little bit more exciting from what I remember. There were so many bizarre things that happened (Saturday). I’ve never seen that many kicks blocked and fake field goals and last-minute field goals and all of that stuff.”
Sisson and Butker met last summer, before Butker's freshman year. Sisson and former Tech kicker Scott Blair work together as kicking coaches, and interviewed Butker and former Tech punter Sean Poole for their website. Among other things, Sisson was surprised at how, even at 6-foot-1, he had to look up to make eye contact with Butker, who is 6-3.
“It was great to talk with him,” Sisson said. “We told him we’d keep an eye out for him.”
He saw plenty Saturday.
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