Should Girls Be Allowed to Play High School Football?

Should girls be allowed to play high school football? At least three schools in Alabama — Morgan Academy in Selma, St. Clair County in Odenville and Lee High in Huntsville — have girls handling place-kicks and extra points this season.

Morgan Academy’s Lauren Rutherford made her first career field goal in a game against Wilcox Academy last week, and she’s handled the team’s kicking duties for the last two seasons.

All three female kickers — Rutherford, Lee’s Kenysha Coulson, and St. Clair County freshman Kylee Harrell — have made extra points this season.

Coulson, Harrell, and Rutherford continue the legacy of female kickers in Alabama. In 1939 and 1940, Luverne “Toad” Wise Albert kicked for Escambia County High in Atmore. She is believed to be the first girl to play high school football in the United States.

But AL.com readers this summer appeared torn on the issue of whether girls should be allowed to play tackle football. More than 2,000 votes were cast in a poll asking, “Should girls be allowed to play tackle football?” and 44.31 percent voted no and 44.05 percent voted yes with no restrictions.

The issue bubbled to the surface after a 12-year-old girl in Georgia was kicked off her middle-school football team because teammates were “lusting” for her.

But does the recent success of Rutherford, Coulson, and Harrell — and their acceptance by their male teammates — make a difference? In all three Alabama cases this season, the girls clearly fill a void because the teams lacked a consistent kicker. Does that matter?

And is high school football different than other age groups when it comes to allowing girls to play? Or is there a reason to prevent this gender-bending activity?