Riverview teen becomes first female to score touchdown in Florida high school football game

RIVERVIEW, Fla. - Many people only dream of making history, but it's now a reality for Abby DiCenzo. The Bell Creek Academy sophomore became the first female to ever score a touchdown in a Florida high school football game Friday night against Berean Christian.

"I had to do the last jump through to it, and I landed with the ball in my breadbasket," DiCenzo recalled of her leap into the end zone. "Even though it was painful, I was like, 'this is the feeling of life.'"

DiCenzo's coaches and teammates were all too happy to share that feeling with her.

"In the huddle, everyone knew what the play was before it happened," lineman Gage Fuentes told FOX 13 Sports. "We were just hyping her up, telling her not to drop the ball."

"She told me early on her goal was to score a touchdown," head coach Willie Murphy added. "When I had the chance to put her in there, she earned it. When I told the team that they were like 'Yes, let's do it. Let's get her that touchdown.'"

Football has always been DiCenzo's favorite sport. Everyone at Bell Creek Academy has been nothing but supportive of her playing. In fact, it was a wager with one of her teachers that gave DiCenzo that extra push to join the team.

"She was like 'I bet you won't.' I was like 'I bet I will, and if I do, you'd better come to all my games,'" DiCenzo said. "She was like 'OK!'"

Abby DiCenzo recalls the joy, and pain, of her historic moment.

Naturally there has been some pushback from the outside about the idea of a girl playing football.

"I got a concussion because one of the guys didn't think it was a good idea to have me on the football team," DiCenzo said. "They jumped offside to hit me."

But DiCenzo is too tough to let things like that bother her. To her, a little pain goes a long way.

"Pain is living," DiCenzo said. "You don't experience things unless there’s pain involved."

Spoken like a true football player.