Just for kicks

Haley Nicholson is just naturally adept at kicking a ball. Whether it’s on the soccer pitch or football gridiron, the petite Whitefish High School sophomore is nearly always on target.

As a sharpshooter for the Lady Bulldog soccer team, Nicholson easily leads the state in scoring with 20 goals so far this season. She also moonlights as the placekicker for the Bulldog football team where she is a perfect 11-for-11 in extra points in her last two games.

“She’s money from 30 yards in,” Whitefish football coach Chad Ross said. “And she’s only a sophomore. In a few years, she’ll be kicking from a few more yards back.”

Nicholson says kicking a football isn’t much different than a soccer ball.

“It’s all kicking,” she said. “There is no difference when my foot hits the ball.”

The only difference, she admits, is what’s happening in front of her. Instead of similar-sized girls on the pitch, there are giant linemen running full-throttle toward her with eyes set on blocking her attempt.

Even so, she’s not intimidated.

“Getting hit doesn’t even cross my mind out there,” she said. “I’m too busy watching the ball.”

Nicholson made her debut at the Dog Pound in the homecoming game against Columbia Falls last month.

Her first extra-point attempt was blocked.

“I looked up and thought, ‘Oh goodness, that guy is right there,’” she said. “My kick went off his chest. But, I talked to my line and they said that’s not going to happen again.”

And it didn’t.

Her next two attempts were straight through the uprights.

“I know the guys have my back,” she said.

Fully padded up, Nicholson blends in with the other players on the sideline, if not for the blonde braids dangling out of her helmet. Nicholson says she’s been accepted by her teammates as the only girl on the roster.

“The guys are great to me — they’re like brothers,” she said. “I expected it to be a little bit different, but it’s been different in a good way.”

As for all the extra gear needed for football — it’s kind of uncomfortable.

“The helmet is really heavy and hard to see out of, and it rips my hair out every time I put it on,” she said. “And the pads are really hard to move in.”

But she’s found a way to make it work. In Friday’s game against Park High, Nicholson tallied on a 23-yard field goal to cap the Dogs victory.

She says her first love and top priority remains soccer, but playing football was a chance she couldn’t pass up.

“I love kicking a ball. That’s my life,” she said. “And if I get more of a chance to do it, then I decided I should go for it.”