Three high school girls in Georgia will make history this year as they suit up for the football team in Lincoln County. The girls, sophomores Kholi Carruth, Carly Carruth and Gianna Anderson, will be kickers for this year’s varsity team.
“They started coming out in the summer and made all the workouts, and they’re part of the team,” Lincoln County coach Michael Pollock said to Todd Holcomb of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We did a significant amount of lifting and running, and they were out there stride for stride with everybody else. They showed me they were serious.”
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Lincoln County is one more the more storied high school programs in the country as their football history dates back to 100 years. And for this program, this is the first time any females have been on the team.
“These will be the first,” said Lincoln County historian Johnny Walton. “Rarely have we even had a female student manager on the team.”
The girls will dress out for all the varsity games this year, Pollock hasn’t decided if they will play this year because they are young. However, the Lincoln County head coach said their teammates have been supportive of the trio.
“The boys were as excited about that extra point as anything else we did,” Pollock said. “They’ve been really supportive.”
WDRW-TV in Augusta, Georgia talked to the girls this week and the Carruth sisters revealed they have played football before joining Lincoln County. When they were younger, they joined the recreation football league but they didn’t play as much as they wanted.
“I guess now I’m just trying to prove them wrong from back then.” Carly said. “Like they should have put me in the game.”
This will be another big moment for Lincoln County who have won 14 state titles overall and 11 state titles since 1970. Located just right outside of Augusta, the team is known for their former head coach Larry Campbell, who is one the most successful coaches in high school football history. Along with winning 11 state championships and 33 region titles, Campbell won a total of 477 games which was the third-most in high school football history when he retired in 2014.
Lincoln County is also the home of former Georgia running back Garrison Hearst who was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 1992. He went on to play 10 years in the NFL and was named to the Pro Bowl twice and he won Comeback Player of the Year in 2001.
