High School Football Team Successfully Revived The Most Chaotic Fake Punt Of All-Time Called ‘Vomit’


A high school football team in Modesto, California revived its viral fake punt during a dominant 59-point win on Thursday night. Thomas Downey ran ‘Vomit‘ to perfection even though its head coach previously retired the unusual fourth-down play after it racked up more than three million views on social media.
The demoralized defense never saw it coming and it worked— again!
‘Vomit,’ for those who are not familiar, is the weirdest special teams play in high school football. Rather, on any level.
Thomas Downey head coach Jeremy Plaa dialed it up for the first time more than 20 years ago and leaned on the bizarre fake punt whenever necessary over the last two decades. He has now called the play 11 different times at three different schools with a success rate of approximately 64%.
As strange as it looks and sounds, the concept of ‘Vomit’ is very simple. The punter uses an underhand, softball-style motion to throw a high-arching moon ball more than 30 yards down field. Defenses don’t know what to expect and aren’t quite sure what to do. Meanwhile, a gunner quietly slides his way into the secondary to pull down the unconventional pass for a first down.
If you are confused by that explanation, you are not alone. ‘Vomit’ is essentially organized chaos and it first captured the eyes of the entire nation on a successful attempt back in September.
Thomas Downey HS with the fake punt of the year
— The Spread Offense (@Spread_Offense) September 3, 2024
I’ve watched this on repeat this morning pic.twitter.com/S0VbsoN0qO
The secret was out so Plaa never expected to call the fake punt ever again. It was retired.
However, the Knights reached back into their bag of tricks on Thursday night against Enochs “just for fun.” The ‘Vomit’ call moved the chains for a first down, which marked the fifth successful conversion in the last six attempts.
UPDATE: Reports of Vomit's death were greatly exaggerated.
— J.J. Post (@JayJayPost) October 26, 2024
Millions of views be damned, Coach Plaa and @Tdfootball dialed up everyone's favorite fake punt back up this week. And it worked. Because of course it did.
Why did Plaa bring it back out?
"Just for fun." https://t.co/qLFDPRFS8W pic.twitter.com/xiPz8a5aCU
J.J. Post of ESPN documented the strategy behind the play, which is actually more intentional than it looks.
Vomit is as much of a mind trick as it is an effective play. It capitalizes on reversing everything punt return units are typically taught.
The shield of blockers in front of the punter restricts visibility of the play’s initiation, preventing players from realizing that the ball is being thrown and not kicked. Once in the air, what’s perceived to be a low, short punt, often prompts the instinctive reaction of return units to run away from the ball, as they’ve been taught on such punts. By the time the return team — now needing to play defense — realizes it’s a fake, it’s usually too late.
— J.J. Post
Plaa probably will not be able to run his famous fake punt again this season. He must allow it to breath. Opponents have to forget about ‘Vomit’ before it can be called for a 12th time.
We anxiously await its return!
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