VILLAS – “My friend Dave thought I was fast and he asked me to join the team; I really like the tackling.”
Eleven-year-old Mahogany Kelly explained that three years ago she joined the Lower Township Tigers football team because she was bored with cheerleading.
As a sixth grade student at Charles Sandman School in Lower Township, Kelly, her mother, Cinnamon Kelly, and her father, Bryan Thomas, have supported her from the beginning.
“I remember watching football on TV, but I didn’t like it that much,” she explained. Her friend Dave who is on the football team told her that she should join the Tigers because she is such a fast runner. When her mother asked her if she wanted to do something in school three years ago, Kelly asked if she could try out. So began her student football career as the only girl in any of the three divisions of her league.
Her coaches Ken Brown, Bill Robson, Bob Bonner and John Thompson have helped her develop into a wide receiver on offense and an outside linebacker on defense.
Kelly said that she never encountered any problems from any of the boys on the team for being a girl. “They did not treat me any different,” she said.
Kelly said she was very happy with her choice of teammates, and considers them to be her family too.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.
