Getting her kicks

Jessica Greer was filming on top of the press box at St. Pius X High School when the Smith-Cotton football team missed three extra points.

A quick conversation with coach Mark Johnson was all the goading it took for her to put on a helmet and become the first girl football player in Johnson’s 25 years of coaching.

Greer thought she could make a difference in the kicking game.

“After the St. Pius game I was pretty upset that we missed three extra points and she was up filming it,” coach Johnson said. “Just jokingly I asked, ‘Hey, can you kick?’ And she said, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ And I said, ‘Do you want to try?’ She said, ‘Sure.’ ”

Greer had to watch that opening night as the Tigers struggled to carry their

success from the practice field into the opening game.

“It was frustrating because in warmups, they were hitting every single one of them,” Greer said.

The next day, the coach said, the two met at 1 p.m. and worked on kicking extra points. Johnson said Greer struggled at first, but started making them consistently once she got her timing down.

“I think one time she hit 30 in a row,” coach Johnson said.

Greer, who plays soccer and basketball for the Lady Tigers, is now a three-sport athlete. She plays traveling soccer and is typically gone to an out-of-state tournament every weekend.

“It’s fun,” Greer said of playing on the football team. “A lot of people thought it was a joke at first, but then kind of figured out that it wasn’t after they saw me in a jersey and then out on the field Friday night.”

Greer, who moved to Sedalia in December, is 6-for-6 on extra-point tries in two games played. She made her first two attempts during the annual rivalry game against Warrensburg, her first game suited up.

“It was fun watching, but it’s better being out there having a chance,” Greer said.

Ben Frederickson scooped up a fumble for Smith-Cotton and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown to make it 34-0 in S-C’s favor. With the crowd chanting for the junior, Greer trotted out onto the field.

Perhaps feeling a little nervous, she didn’t get any help from holder Bryce Johnson.

“Bryce Johnson told me not to miss and then I got even more nervous,” Greer said. “I was pretty sure it was going through, but it had a weird spin on it.”

“She was shaking pretty bad,” coach Johnson said.

“She came off, she was still shaking so much,” Bryce Johnson said. “You could just see her hand shaking. It was fun.”

Nonetheless, her kick sailed cleanly through the uprights and gave Greer a piece of Smith-Cotton football history. With 11:42 left in the third quarter on Sept. 14, 2007, Greer became the first girl to score in a football game for Smith-Cotton.

“It’s always nice to put your name in the school, because most people never get a chance to set a record,” Greer said. “So being able to do that was exciting. And of course, pretty much in a men’s sport, being the only girl — it’s exciting.”

She got a chance to add to her scoring total later in the third quarter. The junior jogged back onto the field after Solomon Watkins took in a 3-yard run. This extra point was a little closer as she popped it up, but the ball still made it over the crossbar.

Coach Johnson said she is rarely off-target with a kick. Most of her misses in practice are short when she gets under a kick, the coach said.

Greer was again straight Friday, making 4-of-4 extra points during the Tigers’ 56-18 win against Van Horn. All four kicks were nearly identical, sailing straight through the uprights and leaving the fans with little doubt.

Greer’s two extra points earned her the Tigers’ special teams player of the week award for the Warrensburg game. That sticker is on the back of her helmet, along with a pair of footballs for the kicks and stickers for the Tigers’ wins against Osage and Warrensburg. She’ll add four more footballs and a Falcon to her helmet this week.

Coach Johnson said his other kickers have improved with the added competition. Nick Tuggle, who is the team’s No. 1 extra-point kicker, has been perfect in the Tigers’ past four games.

“Nick is a good kicker, he just struggled early,” coach Johnson said. “I think it just got him a little more focused, and it also gave him someone to compete against in practice. ... If you don’t have someone to compete against in practice, you get a little lackadaisical. Every day, they’re competing against each other and it’s showing in the ballgame.

“Nick’s our No. 1 kicker. She understands that and if (Tuggle) misses one, he’s still our No. 1 kicker. He’s proven himself, his job is not in jeopardy unless he just starts missing a bunch of them.”

The Tigers said they aren’t concerned about Greer taking a hit during a game, mainly because the team has an emergency play in effect if there’s a problem with the snap or hold. If that’s the case, Greer likely won’t come anywhere near the ball.

As long as there’s no problem with the snap or hold, Greer shouldn’t have any trouble getting the kick off cleanly. Greer said she’s not worried and that she’s been tackled enough during soccer that she thinks she’d be OK.

Johnson said having Greer on the squad wasn’t a distraction and wasn’t a big change for the team.

“She’s always gotten along great with the guys,” coach Johnson said. “They respect her because of her soccer ability. They know she’s an athlete.”

The biggest problem for Greer and Smith-Cotton was finding a place for her to get dressed for games and practices.

“Changing time, obviously it’s awkward because I have to go to the locker room,” she said, adding that she feels like the team has accepted her and she thinks she gets along well with the guys. “I was nervous that they wouldn’t, but they haven’t said anything and I think they like it, too. They have a lot of confidence in me.”

Having a girl on the team doesn’t seem to have affected the morale of the team. During the team’s Wednesday practice in preparation for Van Horn, Greer stayed alongside and helped the Tigers during receiving drills and seemed to blend in nicely with the rest of the team.

“It adds a little more character to your team,” Bryce Johnson said. “No one has a problem with it on the team. I think we enjoy it.

“Everybody knows her. We like to give her a hard time, but we’ve all accepted her. ... If she puts it through, she’s just as good as the guys.”