Feel the Girl Power

Diocelina Macias pulled her ponytail through a colorful scrunchie, wrapped the rest of her hair in a blue bandanna and maneuvered a shiny orange and black Lincoln High football helmet onto her head.

“I got this against Roosevelt,” she said, pointing to a distinct white scratch in the helmet’s otherwise perfect veneer. “I’m so proud of that. It makes it all worth it.”

By aggressively butting heads with boys on the football field this season, Macias and teammates Luisana Cruz, Patricia Mora and Imelda Chaparro are making their own historic mark on the Southland high school football scene.

Girls have played football at other schools but never have four tackled the challenge for the same varsity team at the same time. Macias and Cruz are running backs, Mora and Chaparro linemen. Each played a few fourth-quarter series in the Tigers’ 42-6 season-opening loss to Roosevelt last week and figure to see more action Friday against San Gabriel Gabrielino.

At a time when schools across the nation are dropping football because of cost and lack of participation, Lincoln Coach Leo Castro is happy to have dedicated players in his program, whatever their gender.

“A lot of kids don’t come out for football because of fear of failure or because of grades,” Castro said. “These girls are doing something positive. They are making our athletes take inventory of themselves. I want them to say, ‘If they can be out there, why can’t I?’ ”

This is not the first time Lincoln has made history. The Eastside school’s place in Los Angeles lore is as noteworthy as the campus’ architecture.

Much of the current campus at Abraham Lincoln High was constructed in the late 1930s as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration, which sought to pull the country out of the Depression by putting the unemployed to work on public construction projects. Several buildings on the campus are designated as eligible for the National Register of Historic Sites.

Lincoln was also at the center of the famous 1968 student walkouts--”blowouts” as they were dubbed by participants--and served as a spawning ground for the Chicano rights movement.

In sports, Lincoln’s biggest claim to fame might be that it produced Kenny Washington, who led Lincoln to the City Section title in 1935 then went on to become UCLA’s first football All-American before joining the Los Angeles Rams. The school also received national attention in 1977 when the injury-depleted football team did not come out for the second half of a 63-0 loss to Wilson.

Lincoln has not won a league championship in football since taking consecutive Northeastern League titles in 1991 and ’92. The Tigers finished 6-6 in 1997 and were 1-9 last season.

This season, there are 41 players on the Tiger roster. Most of the boys support their female teammates’ efforts.

“I really respect them for getting out there and sticking with it,” said junior linebacker Roger Sepulveda, whose sister, Marlene, played receiver for Lincoln’s junior varsity in 1993. “They don’t quit; they keep coming back for more.”

Some of Lincoln’s players, however, are still getting used to the concept.

“At other schools I’ve gone to, if girls tried out for football, they did things intentionally to make them quit,” junior receiver/free safety Hannibal Thomas said. “Here, they treat them like regular players. I have to accept it. They practice hard, I give that to them.”

Opposing coaches also plan to treat the girls the same way they treat boys.

“Our approach will be the same,” Franklin Coach Armando Gonzalez said. “You can’t tell your players, ‘OK guys, No. 42 is a girl. Watch out that you don’t hit her too hard.’ ”

Macias, a junior who runs hurdles for the Tiger track team, entertained thoughts of playing football as a freshman but said she was “too embarrassed” to do anything about it. Last year, she kept statistics for the varsity and “began to see the point of the game.”

Macias showed up for spring practice and was a mainstay through summer conditioning and full-contact drills that began a few weeks before the Roosevelt game. When a freshman boy needed instruction about how to properly place pads into a uniform, Castro dispatched Macias to teach him.

“He was a rookie, a new guy,” she said. “I just helped him step by step.”

Macias made her biggest strides as a player after telling male teammates to go full speed against her in contact drills. All of the girls wear protective vests or extra chest padding in addition to standard football equipment.

“I’d see the guys hit each other, and then when they would come and hit me, I’d have to say, ‘OK, why don’t you hit me as hard?’ ” she said. “ ‘I didn’t come out here to look pretty. I came out here to play football.’ ”

Cruz, a senior, plays softball and is Lincoln’s student body president. She was a member of the drill team for three years before deciding it might be more fun to run Student Body Right.

“It’s cool being up there in the stands with the girls on drill team, but it’s a different thing down here on the field,” Cruz said. “I remember we would give the guys a pin, a little good luck thing. I was always thinking, ‘Hey, I want someone to do that to me.’ ”

Mora, a junior who participates in a firefighter Explorer program, was set to try out for the school dance team before a few friends suggested football. Two of the friends dropped out even before contact drills began. Mora persevered.

“Some people at school think we’re here for popularity, but I wouldn’t do this for popularity,” she said, displaying a bruised arm and leg. “It’s too hard.”

Chaparro, also a firefighter Explorer, thought she knew what to expect when she came out for the team, having played flag football for a girls’ team in junior high. But she admits she underestimated the force of tackle football’s violent collisions.

“I got hit once in practice and flew back about five yards and landed on the ground,” Chaparro said. “The guy who hit me said, ‘Those are just love taps compared to how the other teams are going to hit us in a game.’ ”

The girls found out firsthand against Roosevelt. Before the game, as they dressed together in a room separate from the boys, they talked among themselves about their fears.

“We were all pretty scared,” Chaparro said. “We were like, ‘Are you sure you want to go out there?’ But once we got into the game and got hit once, we were fine.”

Macias played defensive back. Cruz carried the ball once and was dropped at the line of scrimmage for no gain. Mora played defensive tackle, Chaparro nose guard.

“It was a rush, everything I expected,” Macias said.

As they shook hands after the end of the game, several Roosevelt players offered the girls words of encouragement. Lincoln’s players did the same.

“I’ll never forget carrying the ball in that game and being a part of this team,” Cruz said. “It’s been a great experience so far. The guys and the girls, all of us can’t wait for our next game.”