HAWLEY — Abbigail Siller grew up watching football with her family and was always drawn to the camaraderie she witnessed in the male-dominated sport.  And she wanted to take an active a part of it. 

Active, meaning she wanted to play and accept all the risks that being involved with the sport bring. The initial expectation by many around the program is that Siller would try her hand at place-kicking, which helped her parents become a little less apprehensive about her playing football. 

There was just one problem. 

“I originally told my parents I was going to be a kicker, but I’m terrible at kicking the ball,” said the 17-year-old senior, who is now a reserve running back and outside linebacker for the Bearcats (3-0) in her second year in the program. “They thought that’s what would happen and when I came back and told them that I was going to be a running back and outside linebacker and they were a little hesitant to let me keep going. But I chose to stick with it.”