The game winner! pic.twitter.com/8Grl3qI0Vm
— Dawson Eagles (@DawsonHighSchl) October 21, 2017
The past few days have been an alright stretch of time for a Texas high school senior.
Recently crowned homecoming queen Claire Jeffress followed up her securement of that honorific title with a bit of well-toed merit on Friday after kicking the game-winning field goal for the Dawson High School Eagles football team.
The game was against Pearland and Dawson had already sailed through her first five PATs.
Tied 35-35 with only a bit more than a minute to spare, Dawson launched her 30-yard attempt straight across the crossbar and sent the Pearland High School Oilers home packing–after about 1:08 worth of trash time.
In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Jeffress said:
I just wanted to do what I’ve always done and not think of it as any big deal. My team had faith in me, and they were going to block for me, and the snap and the hold were going to be good, so I just had to do my job.
Such coolness and grace under the fire of Texas high school football drama is nothing new for Jeffress, however, she drew from a similar fount of clutch to make the decisive 25-yard PAT in a 14-13 win against the George Ranch High School Longhorns the week before.
Every once in awhile there’s a bit of a conservative flareup regarding girls playing sports alongside boys–especially full tackle football. Such flareups can start with either a girl demanding to be allowed to try out for the team and then raising hell about being denied or they can simply occur when a team sees the value in a player and puts them on the roster regardless of their gender.
After a spate of Title IX lawsuits the past few years, however, more girls than ever before are playing high school football–regardless of the controversy. (Title IX is the federal law barring sexual discrimination in educational institutions.)
But there’s nothing controversial about Jeffress’ contributions to the Dawson High School football program.
Eagles head coach Eric Wells summed it up. He said, “Claire is something – she just doesn’t get rattled. There wasn’t even a question that she was going to kick it. Homecoming queen knocks it through, Dawson wins. You have to love that.”
[image via screengrab/Twitter]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher
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