The St. Aloysius Junior Varsity football team has a couple new players this year who stand out a little from the rest.

This year, two girls have joined the team.

Emily Wood, eighth grade, and Piper Connell, ninth grade, decided separately to play football for the Flashes. The desire to play football for their school was pretty straightforward for the girls.

“I just wanted to play,” Wood said.

“It sounded pretty interesting, and I’d never done it before,” Connell said.

Wood said she had never played for a team before either, but she did play full contact without padding with her stepbrother growing up.

Connell decided this was the year to sign-up because she had been too scared to do it before.

“I finally got the guts to go for it,” she said.

Neither knew the other was joining the team when they made their decision.

Wood is playing left guard and outside linebacker while Connell is playing cornerback and wide receiver. Neither has seen any playing time, but the team has not played a full game yet.

They said the team practices daily, and they have both learned a lot about football through their practices.

“It’s pretty fun,” Wood said.

However, the girls’ teammates took a little time adjusting to having them on the team.

“At first they weren’t sure about it,” Wood said. “I didn’t even go in the field house the first day.”

“It was so awkward,” Connell said.

Wood said it took about three weeks of summer practice before the awkwardness went way, and the guys are pretty supportive of them now.

Coach B.J. Smithhart said he was a little unsure at first himself. He wasn’t certain how serious they were about playing. Having girls on the team is a first for him.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Smithhart said.

He said the girls’ attendance during summer practice was as good, if not better, than any other player, which told him about their character.

“Those girls really showed us in the summer that they were serious about being on the team and worked hard, went through all the drills and all the running and then some,” Smithhart said. “They worked hard to earn the coaches’ and their teammates’ respect.”

He said the girls are treated the same on the field as the guys and off the field they are treated like little sisters.

“On the field we’re all the same, you know we try to protect them but not treat them any different than any other player,” he said.

Smithhart said he hopes the girls stick around because they work hard and don’t complain, which is the kind of player he wants on his team no matter their gender.

Both of the girls said they have received a lot of support from friends and family. The girls’ friends have been encouraging, and while their parents had some worries, they still respected their daughters’ decision to play.

“My mom was pretty nervous about it,” Wood said.

“My dad was concerned, but he let me (join),” Connell said.

Wood and Connell said they don’t mind being in the minority on the field. Both girls said they plan to continue playing next year.