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Another woman made college football history on Saturday.
Leilani Armenta, a freshman kicker on Jackson State, became the first woman to score in an FCS HBCU game, making three extra points in the Tigers’ 40-14 road victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday.
The 5-foot-7 Armenta, who also is a soccer player at Jackson State, made history in the second quarter.
With 5:35 left before halftime, Jacobian Morgan threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to DJ Stevens to give the Tigers a 22-0 lead.
That’s when Jackson State coach T.C. Taylor called on Armenta, a native of Ventura, Calif., who hit the first of her three extra points to make history and give the Tigers a 23-0 lead.
She added two more extra points in the fourth quarter for the 6-3 Tigers.
Leilani Armenta's (@LeilaniArmenta) first extra point to make HBCU D1 History as seen on ESPN+🏈🏈
She made her XP debut after an early JSU missed PAT, and kicked every XP from there on, nailing all three of her tries. #TheeILove
Bad day for a certain crowd. pic.twitter.com/FSBLANR5dd
— Bradley Davis WAPT (@DdavisBradley) October 29, 2023“We did not know it was going to happen, and we are super excited. We all started yelling because we had no idea,” Brandy Armenta, Leilani’s mother, told The Clarion-Ledger. “My daughter had no idea she would be kicking in the game today. We are beyond ecstatic.”
The freshman, coming off an ACL injury she suffered last season with the soccer team, debuted with the Tigers football team on Sept. 23 against Bethune-Cookman in which she was used for a kickoff.
According to the Clarion-Ledger, Taylor said he wanted to let Armenta to get her leg in kicking shape before she tried extra points.
Armenta wasn’t the only woman to make college football history this season.
On Sept. 23, Haley Van Voorhis, who plays safety for Division-III Shenandoah University, became the first woman non-kicker to play in a NCAA football game in their 48-7 win over Juanita.
Van Voorhis entered the game in the first quarter with Shenandoah leading Juniata by 26 points and registered a quarterback hurry on third down in her lone play.
“It’s an amazing thing,” Van Voorhis said after the game, according to the Washington Post. “I just wanted to get out and do my thing. I want to show other people this is what women can do, to show what I can do. It’s a big moment. I made the impossible possible, and I’m excited about that.”
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