Accuracy Makes Nemeth of Monroe One of Region’s Best

To a casual observer the scene at a recent high school football game might have seemed a little odd.

A kicker makes a short field goal, jumps up and down in celebration and finally into the arms of a 280-pound lineman, who smothers the 5-foot-6, 116-pound kicker with a big, long bear hug.

While most would likely reward their teammate with a pat on the behind for a good kick, Monroe players and coaches treat their kicker altogether differently--and for good reason. Their kicker is a girl.

“I caught myself in mid-swing and came right up her back and patted her on her helmet,” Monroe Coach Sloan Bunting said. “I’m so glad I caught myself. I was standing right out there on the field where everyone could see me.”

Liz Nemeth is not the first female kicker in high school football and she will not be the last. Heck, she’s not even the first female kicker at Monroe. And she is one of three female kickers in the region this season.

But she is among the most accurate City Section kickers in the region. Nemeth, a left-footed kicker, is 19 of 23 on extra points, and ranks third in conversions behind Shaun Avalos of Sylmar and Ramiro Esqueda of Kennedy. She made her only field-goal attempt.

“She is consistently getting better,” Bunting said. “Liz has got a long way to go, but I’m very anxious about her future.”

Nemeth, a junior soccer player who started kicking a football in June, couldn’t ask for a more accessible and qualified mentor.

Her uncle is Efren Herrera, former kicker for the Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills from 1974-82.

Nemeth approached Herrera and asked if he would teach her how to kick a football. Herrera, an All-American at UCLA in 1973 and All-Pro in 1977, was happy to oblige.

“I’d seen her play soccer and she kicks the ball real hard,” Herrera said.

Herrera came to the Valley from his home in Claremont twice in June to work with his niece on timing and the basics of kicking.

One of the most important things to remember? “Whatever happens--a bad snap, kick gets blocked--you don’t blame anybody,” he told Nemeth. “You don’t alienate yourself.”

Nemeth decided to try out for the football team after two sessions with her uncle.

“I thought if I can kick decent, I will try out,” she said. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself.”

Nemeth’s tryout was impressive. So impressive, in fact, the other kicker trying out ran off the field and quit.

“Both [kickers] did well,” Bunting said. “[But] after a while she was more consistent and [the other kicker] said, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore.’ ”

Herrera, an advocate of female athletics, said consistency is something innate in females.

“[Women] know accuracy,” Herrera said. “They know how to hit those corners. Liz doesn’t get wild and hook the ball like guys will do. Guys will try to power a kick and over kick. Girls don’t do that.”

Nemeth’s venture into the world of boys’ athletics has been relatively smooth. In the beginning, Nemeth said she received the cold shoulder from teammates and even thought about quitting. But things got progressively better and she is enjoying much more of the camaraderie these days.

“I actually carry on conversations with them now,” she said.

She is a favorite of offensive linemen Eric Beltran and Jose Gurrola.

“Those guys are her buddies--her bodyguards,” said Bunting, who limits Nemeth’s duties to extra points and field goals in order to protect her from contact.

But not everyone appears happy about her being on the field.

“Some [opponents] get mad and they don’t shake my hand after the game,” Nemeth said. “At least one guy in every game [refuses] to shake my hand. Against Hoover three or four guys didn’t shake my hand.”

Nemeth’s uncle would just as soon not see anyone touching his niece. Especially on her backside.

“As soon as somebody pats her on the bottom, I’m gonna jump the fence,” Herrera said.