Peter Harold Christofilakos (born May 28, 1981) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

. He attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

and was a soccer team player. He was a member of the Bloomington Extreme/Edge and Arizona Rattlers.

High school

Peter played soccer and football at

Sacred Heart-Griffin High School Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, often abbreviated SHG, is a Catholic high school located in Springfield, Illinois, United States. It is the city's largest private school and is located in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. The school ope ...

. He holds the Central State 8 Conference's record for longest field goals with a 46 yarder. He was a three-year starter on the soccer team. His senior year, he was named All-state in soccer as well as football. He led the soccer team to the 1999 tournament and was named Most Valuable Player. To this day he still holds the school record in soccer goals with 123. In his senior year he played in the All-Star game for Central Illinois. He was the captain of the North Team. He was a Two-time Adidas soccer All-American. Peter was a member of the Olympic Development Program and was chosen for the soccer national team. At the age of 15 Peter was given an opportunity to play professional soccer in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

but turned it down to focus on his education.

College career

Christofilakos attended the University of Illinois. He was a member of the team from 1999 to 2002. In 2001, Christofilakos only missed one field goal. He decided to skip his senior season and enter the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. T ...

. In 2003, he was a member of the University of Illinois soccer team and led the

American Midwest Conference The American Midwest Conference (AMC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) with 10 member institutions located in Arkansas and Missouri in the United States. History The c ...

in scoring with 23 goals.

Professional career

Despite declaring for the NFL draft as a junior, Peter went undrafted. In 2006, Christofilakos was signed by the Bloomington Extreme. He made 143 field goals for the team. He earned Second Team UIF All-Star honors in 2006 and 2007. He garnered UIF Eastern Conference All-Star accolades in 2008. He was also named the UIF Special Teams Player of the Year in 2008. In 2014, his No. 22 jersey was retired by the Bloomington Edge. In 2007, he was signed by the Arizona Rattlers of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. In 2011, he was brought back by the Bloomington Extreme. Peter has also been a member of the semi-professional soccer team the Springfield Spirits and has also played for the St. Louis Illusion of the

Professional Arena Soccer League A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

Personal

On June 12, 2010, Peter was named the new head coach of the boys' soccer team at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. He replaced his former high school coach Sam Tate. In July 2015, Peter was named head coach of the Lincoln Land Community College men's soccer team. He is married to Stephanie Brake, a former basketball player at

Robert Morris University Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the mericanrevolution." It enrolls nearly 5,000 students and offers 60 b ...

References

External links

Bloomington Edge profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christofilako, Peter Living people 1981 births Bloomington Edge players Bloomington Extreme players Arizona Rattlers players American football placekickers Illinois Fighting Illini football players Illinois Fighting Illini men's soccer players St. Louis Illusion players Players of American football from Springfield, Illinois Men's association football players not categorized by position American men's soccer players Soccer players from Illinois