Girl’s Heroics Are a Real Kick

Leah Shelton of Valencia High is not the first girl to play high school football, but the game-winning field goal she made Friday against Oakland Skyline just might qualify as the most noteworthy play by a girl in Southland history.

Shelton, a 5-foot-5 junior playing her first season of football, made an 18-yard field goal with six seconds left to give Valencia a 17-14 upset over the Oakland Section power.

“Once I was actually ready to kick, I was fine,” Shelton said. “But I was nervous, my arms were shaking.”

Shelton had reason to be anxious: It was her first field-goal attempt.

Brent Hutchinson is Valencia’s field-goal kicker; Shelton is used for extra-point attempts. But when Valencia drove from the 50-yard line to inside the Skyline five in the final two minutes, Valencia Coach Brian Stiman called on Shelton because of the short distance.

“I honestly didn’t think we were going to get past the 20 because Skyline is so good on defense,” Stiman said. “Then our quarterback, receivers and running backs made some plays. Once we got inside the five, we were going with Leah.”

Shelton was not thinking about pressure-packed situations last year, when she was running around the track with the soccer team and saw kickers miss several field-goal attempts during football practice.

“I just thought, ‘It can’t be that hard,”’ Shelton said.

She jogged out onto the field in running shoes, kicked three balls through the uprights from 25 yards and rejoined her soccer teammates.

Stiman said he encouraged Shelton when she approached him about trying out this season.

Shelton made all three extra-point attempts in a season-opening loss to La Puente Bishop Amat, missed both of her attempts in a victory over Newbury Park and was five for five against Oxnard before converting two attempts against Skyline. But she was momentarily stunned when Stiman called her name in the waning seconds against Skyline.

“I was thinking, ‘I’m never going to hear the end of this if I miss this kick,”’ Shelton said.

A timeout called by Skyline did not help. Nor did the unfamiliar situation.

“I couldn’t figure out where to put the tee because I had never kicked a field goal,” she said. “I asked the ref, ‘Where do I put the tee?’ And he said, ‘Honey, wherever you want to.’ “Before I stepped back, I was thinking, ‘Please be a good snap and a good hold so I don’t have to run with it.”’

The snap and hold were perfect, and so was Shelton’s kick.

“It happened so fast, I just did what I do in practice and in games on PATs,’ Shelton said.

Shelton will be ready if she is called on again, but she is content to focus on extra points.

‘I’m fine with kicking PATs,’ she said. ‘I enjoy the rush of being on the sideline and on the team. To have those guys respect you is a rush.”

Tough customer: Quarterback Hudson Gossard of Crescenta Valley might still be smarting from the 10 sacks he absorbed Friday night against La Canada, the kind of punishment that usually translates into defeat.

But Gossard, a plucky 5-9 senior, made the most of the time he stayed on his feet. He completed 19 of 19 passes in the first half and finished 24 of 27 for 267 yards and three touchdowns in the Falcons’ 34-0 victory that improved Crescenta Valley’s record to 4-0.

“It wasn’t like I was getting hit in the pocket every time-I was scrambling,” Gossard said. “And it’s not that I have a bad offensive line. They were just sending an extra guy and he was doing a good job.”

La Canada linebacker Tommy McGuiness had eight sacks, but Gossard remained focused on his receivers.

“I’m one of our playmakers,” Gossard said. “I have to do whatever I can to get it done.”

Let the hype begin: After routing Fontana, 70-0, Long Beach Poly players can finally turn their attention to the game that has been on their minds since last spring.

Poly (3-0) will try to end Concord De La Salle’s national-record 116-game winning streak Saturday night at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach. Poly defensive end Manuel Wright said the Jackrabbits’ performance against Fontana was meant to send a message.

“The whole team felt we needed to do something to let [De La Salle] think that we’re for real,” Wright said.

De La Salle (3-0) was typically impressive Friday, beating Mountain View St. Francis, 42-0.

“It’s going to pretty much be business as usual this week, except we get an extra day to practice,” Wright said. “By Saturday, we are going to be ready to go.”

Almost gone: Joe Carlson, athletic director at Long Beach Poly, said Sunday that a limited number of tickets remain for the game against Concord De La Salle.

Carlson said 300 reserved seats returned from De La Salle were sold Saturday at Poly’s school cafeteria. The remaining tickets will be sold Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. at Poly. Carlson said tickets might also be sold Friday at the school if they are available.

General admission tickets are $10 and available by cash only.

Detour: De La Salle originally had a different destination in Southern California this week.

The Spartans were scheduled to play at La Puente Bishop Amat, coached by De La Salle alum Mike DiFiori. But Bishop Amat was beaten, 56-6, last year at De La Salle in the first year of a two-year contract between the schools and finished the season 2-8.

The Lancers quietly stepped aside and allowed Poly to take the date with De La Salle, setting up a game between two teams ranked among the best in the nation.