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WATCH: High school junior becomes 1st female QB to throw TD in Florida
By Keith Farner
Published:
A 5-foot-2 high school junior made history on Thursday. She became what’s believed to be the first female quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in a varsity football game in Florida.
Holly Neher, 16, of Hollywood Hills High School in South Florida, threw a 42-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter of her team’s 21-7 loss to Hallandale High School. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that in 2012, South Plantation’s Erin Dimeglio threw the first pass by a Broward County girl, but never threw for a touchdown.
“I started jumping up and down. My teammates started jumping on me,” Neher told ABC News of the reaction. “Coaches were screaming from the sidelines. Everyone started hitting me on the helmet.”
Neher is the only girl on her school’s 50-member varsity team, was playing in her first-ever varsity game and threw the touchdown on the first pass attempt. But she was the third QB in the game.
“We kept screaming, ‘Put Holly in! Put Holly in!’” Holly Neher’s mother, Paula Neher, told the Sun-Sentinel, adding the cheerleaders joined in. “She went in and I lost it.”
A spokesman for the Florida High School Athletic Associate told ABC News the organization is not able to confirm that Holly was the first female high school player in the state to throw a touchdown pass but “believes it could be” a first.
Holly is only the second girl in the 51-year history of her 2,000-student high school to play on the varsity football team, according to the school’s assistant principal Erin Brown.
“When she made that pass the whole crowd went wild and you could see the support from her teammates,” Brown told ABC News. “We couldn’t be more proud of our students.”
Neher was on Hollywood Hills’ girls’ flag football team for two years before making the jump to tackle football this season.
“I wanted to continue playing the sport so I tried out for the team,” Holly said. “I knew that I was capable.”
#14 QB Holly Neher connects to #1 Alex Shelton for the 45yd TD!! #SpartanPride @usatodayhss @Sentinel_Sports @espn @RISEtoWIN #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/VEQcN7ILeB
— HHSpartansAthletics (@HHSpartanSports) September 1, 2017
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
