Girls can play football too

Published 6:42 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Grace Schaffer decided she wanted to go out for football before her freshman year of high school after having enjoyed playing soccer in middle school.
One time after having a really big kick during a soccer, Grace remembers someone in the crowd saying, “She should really go out for football.”
Her mom, NiKay, purchased her some equipment to practice before the season started. As August got closer she wanted to give it try.
Grace’s main role on the football team is to be the kicker.
She said the coaches weren’t sure at first if a girl should be on the football field, but once they saw her kick, they had to give her a shot.
Now a senior, Grace has been the only girl on the MVAOCOU football team the past four years. She has worked her way into the role as the varsity field goal kicker and back up kicker for kickoffs.
“I like the adrenaline of being under pressure, just knowing you have it to make this,” Grace said. “You always have to think positive.”
Head Football Coach Jacob Burger said he had not previously had a girl on the high school team so it was a lot of learning in the beginning but now its just a normal part of what they do.  
“I think at first it was a challenge logistically just because it was something new,” Burger said.  “Over the four years though Grace is just another member of the team and does a great job taking care of getting ready and always being at practice.  At this point she is just part of the team.”
Grace remembers making her first varsity field goal during her sophomore season. It was a PAT extra point during the Missouri Valley game. After making the field goal, Grace kicked off. As the Big Red returner was running kick back, Grace made the tackle.
“Right after making the tackle, I was like, what just happened,” she said. “As I was going off the field, the whole audience, cheerleaders, students, the team, and especially the coaches were screaming.”
Grace feels like she has really improved her kicking over the last four years. Recently in the junior varsity game against Westwood, she kicked a touchback.
“During my career, I’ve had my ups and downs, but my coaches have helped lift me up,” she said. “I know that they’ve been hard on me because they know how far I can actually go and they know that I won’t give up that easily. I am determined to be the best female kicker on the team.”
Heading into the final week of the regular season, she is 14/24 on PAT kicks and has kicked off 12 times.
Coach Burger said Grace loves to kick. 
“The chances that she has been given to kick varsity have been completely earned. You never really know how kids will develop from their freshman year to their senior year but Grace put a ton of work in,” he said. “I think one of the coolest parts of coaching Grace is just watching her learn how to be a part of a team, learn to accept coaching, and learn to compete for her spot.”
On Oct. 4 during the junior varsity game at West Monona, the coaches let someone else kick off and gave Grace the opportunity to play a different position on the kickoff team.
Each time she goes out on the field to kick, she thinks of it as the day before in practice.
With being the only girl on the team for the past four years, Grace said she has grown to like the silliness of dealing with the boys.
“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to call it. So you learn how to just deal with them, just roll with it,” she said.
Grace’s football memory isn’t from a game or a big kick, it’s just being on a team.
“You could lose some, but they will (teammates) always be with you,” she said.
Grace does have some advice to girls if they want to play high school football:
“As long as you love the sport, you should definitely go out for it. And if you go out for it, and people criticize you, don’t listen to them, and create everything in silence, and do not let them disturb you. If you love it, just go out for it.”
Coach Burger also gets to coach Grace in track and is excited to see where the success of this football season takes her in the spring as she competes in the shot put and discus.