Part II of my Morgan Pressel lookalike story:

It seemed preposterous for Tanya to tryout for the team. For one thing, the rules didn’t allow girls to play football. But what if no one knew? With her hair bunched up under a helmet, and with all the padding, it would be difficult for anyone to tell she was a girl. Would Tanya even want to try? The next day at school, I decided that I would casually broach the subject to Tanya. During lunch, I started to talk about the football team’s woes and how bad things looked for the coming season. I mentioned the running back’s injury and how Coach Gibbs was having a hard time replacing him. She nibbled her food while listening to me rattle on, when I brought it up. “I’ll bet you could be our running back” I chuckled, trying to sound half joking in case she laughed at me.

“Get out!” she laughed. “Seriously! You’re pretty strong. I’ll bet you’re stronger than some of the football players”. She looked at me for a second, a small smile forming on her lips. “I’ve always wanted to play football” she said. “Really?” I asked innocently. “What about cheerleading? I thought you had a shot at making the squad this year”. “I know” she sighed ”But I’d much rather play sports. I love competition”. “I don’t know.” I said skeptically,”Boys can be pretty physical”. “I’ve always been able to handle boys” she replied. “I handle you pretty easily” she smiled. I smiled back, “What if I could get you a tryout? Would you be willing?” “Sure!” she answered eagerly. I was momentarily shocked. I never really expected her to say yes. “Maybe you and I should practice first”? She began giggling loudly causing me to blush. We had play wrestled enough to know that I was no match for
her.

The plot was hatched. I was friends with most of the football players, so I began working to convince them to let Tanya try out for the team. Most of them were resigned to another losing season, so they either didn’t care or were willing to try anything. The only problem would be sneaking her onto the practice field without the Coach finding out about her real identity. Being the team trainer, I was easily able to get a uniform, pads and helmet for her. I arranged for Tanya to meet me in the laundry room where we could fit her with the uniform. When she stripped down to her bikini briefs, I got a good look at how impressive her thighs were. So impressive that I had to help her with the padded pants on. I raised her socks all the way up to hide the fact that she shaved her legs. The shoulder pads and jersey went on easily, then she rolled her hair into a tight bun to fit under the helmet. “You’re all set” I said, tapping her on the shoulder pads.
With all the padding and equipment, you couldn’t tell she was a girl. “Remember, I’ve told the Coach your name is Chris. You have to remember not to talk and don’t take your helmet off, so the Coach doesn’t find out”. She nodded nervously, then leaned forward planting a soft kiss right on my lips.

We waited for the rest of the team to go out onto the field and joined them. After calisthenics, the team began to work through some plays. I sidled up alongside the Coach. “Coach, that’s Chris Collins” pointing at Tanya. “He’s the guy I told you about who wants to try out for running back”. “Yah? We’ll put him in and see what he’s got” he replied gruffly. “Ok fella! Get in there and show us your stuff”, he yelled across the field. Tanya quickly slotted in behind the quarterback. “Ok! Running back up the middle!” shouted Coach then blowing the whistle. Tanya exploded from her stance, taking the hand off and heading up the middle through a hole. Standing in her way was the middle linebacker, Tommy Hodges, our best player. No one could have predicted what happened next. As Tommy moved forward to tackle her, Tanya held out her arm and straight armed Tommy aside with such force that he left the ground and flew backwards several
feet before landing on his back. Two more tacklers grabbed her from behind and attempted to pull her down, but Tanya wasn’t slowing down and they were just holding on for the ride. She continued dragging the players for 20 yards before the Coach blew his whistle to end the play. The playing field was momentarily silent while everyone took in what they had just seen.

As if he couldn’t believe what he had just seen, Coach called out the same play, “Running back up the middle!” Tanya took the ball, but this time, the offensive linemen failed to open a gap for her as she hit the tangle of players at full speed. It looked as if she had been stopped, but she continued churning her legs pushing the larger players forward. Eventually a small gap opened for her, however, by now, several defenders had converged on her. She continued to plow ahead seemingly impervious to the players trying to bring her down. One tackler after another was brushed aside or simply ignored as she continued to move relentlessly up field. Finally, the coach whistled the play dead. Three more plays were run and Tanya proceeded to dominate the playing field. A trail of downed players were left in her wake as she inexorably forged ahead.

She seemed to have the strength of a locomotive. “Damn”, I heard the Coach whisper. “Damn”, I thought to myself. I knew she was strong, but I thought she might struggle a bit since she wasn’t familiar with the game. I was expecting her to just keep her head above water, but I hadn’t expected her to be overpowering. “Hot dog! I think we found ourselves a running back!” Coach yelled while slapping me on the back. I was stunned. I was beginning to think that it might take more than 11 players to stop her.

As she returned to the bench, I ran over to meet her with a water bottle. “That was amazing! How did you do that?” I gushed while handing her a bottle. “It was pretty easy. I don’t think they were really trying” she replied, seemingly almost embarrassed by her performance. “I’ve been the trainer for two years. I’ve never seen anyone make it look that easy!” I was gushing like a schoolgirl. In five successive plays, no one had been able to stop her. Only the coach’s whistle had stopped this beautiful juggernaut. On top of all that, she wasn’t even breathing hard! It was almost as if she was holding back.

Just then, Coach Gibbs approached. “Son, that was fantastic! Where did you learn to play like that? I think we can really use you”. Tanya was looking down at the ground, afraid to make eye contact. “Look at me when I’m talkin’ to you boy”. Hesitantly, Tanya looked up. “Uhmm, Coach?” I interjected. “There’s something we need to tell you”.

Tanya stood up. “My name isn’t Chris” she said resolutely. The Coach’s eyes widened. Tanya unbuckled and removed her helmet and as she did, her lovely golden hair tumbled down. “My name is Tanya”. I swallowed hard fully expecting one of Coach’s angry tirades. But Coach just stood there with blank look on his face. By now, the other players had seen what was happening and had crept closer. After a moment, he pushed his cap back on his head and replied, “Well, you’re the best damn player I’ve seen in years. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you go. We’ll find a way to keep this our little secret”. The two of us looked at each other in stunned disbelief. The team began whooping and punching their fists into the air. Tanya grabbed me in a bear hug, lifting me off the ground while twirling around. The coach laughed and said, “I’ll keep you on the bench until you get up to speed on the play book. Tanya dropped me and rushed
over to hug the coach so hard, she almost knocked him over.

It took her a week or so to learn the basic plays. She continued to impress me during practice. Her combination of strength and speed as well as her relatively short stature combined to make her the prototypical running back, Although, she didn't have the training and skill to dodge and weave her way through defenders, her sheer strength was enough to bull her way through and break tackles. While she had decent foot speed, it was her strength that amazed us. Her legs were so powerful that she would literally drag defenders downfield until there were enough of us to finally bring her down. Her upper body strength was just as impressive. A lone tackler hardly stood a chance against her as she could either strong arm him out of her way, or lower her shoulder into him, sending him flying backwards. Coach Gibbs had to tell her not to hit so hard. Several of us sported various scrapes and bruises from the pounding she dished out.

The season began with a loss to McClendon High. Tanya sat on the bench for the whole game with her helmet on. I could tell she was anxious to play, but the coach felt she still wasn’t familiar with the playbook. My thought was, to heck with the play book. Just give her the ball. After losing the second game of the year, Coach Gibbs, a bit desperate perhaps, decided to let her start against Clement High. As the day of the game approached, we became giddy with anticipation at the prospect of unleashing our secret weapon. Clement High had a relatively small student body, so their football team was never a powerhouse. We thought it would be a good test of Tanya's ability to take a hit under real game conditions, and she didn't disappoint. On the first play from scrimmage, she took the handoff and plowed up the middle for a twenty yard gain before five defenders were finally able to bring her down. Even when the Clement High players began to double and
triple team her, it hardly seemed to matter to her as she continued to pile up the yards. By the fourth quarter we had built a 35-17 lead.

Tanya had scored all five of our touchdowns and rushed for a school record 187 yards, before Coach pulled her from the game in the fourth quarter. She came off the field with a hurt expression on her face, so I ran over to meet her at the sideline. "Are you ok?", I asked as I helped her to the bench. "Yah." She replied dejectedly as I handed her a water bottle. "But why did Coach pull me out of the game? Did I mess up?" Looking up at the scoreboard, I chuckled and said "He probably thought that you've done enough damage for one day". With that, she let out a small giggle. Not only had she made it look easy, she seemed to have had fun while doing it.

We had won our first game in over a year and the players were ecstatic in the locker room. They had no doubts as to whom they owed the victory, unanimously deciding to present Tanya with the game ball. She quickly reverted to her feminine self by bursting into tears at their gesture. It was almost too hard to believe, that this 5’7” blonde, pretty enough to be a cheerleader, became an unstoppable steamroller out on the field.

The following week against Crawford High was more of the same only more, with Tanya rushing for over 200 yards and another 4 touchdowns while leading us to a 38-14 victory. With nine touchdowns in only her first two games, Tanya seemed to gain confidence each time she carried the ball. Coach Gibbs also began relying on her more and more, calling for a running play almost every time we had the ball. Not that Tanya seemed to mind. She was having fun and carrying the entire team along with her.

The victory over Crawford put our record at 2 wins and 2 losses, but with Tanya carrying the ball, the team was feeling as if we had a chance to win every week. Players were showing up early for practice and working harder than I'd ever seen them work before. There was a real team spirit developing. In the weight room, a friendly competition developed between the linemen and Tanya to see who could bench press the most reps with the loser buying ice cream. Tanya would wait to see which lineman completed the most reps, then proceed to top his effort. She never once had to buy ice cream.

The team continued to roll with easy victories over Roughton Academy and Stillwater, with Tanya continuing to shoulder most of the offensive load. Teams were beginning to hear about our star running back that was setting district records at an alarming rate. Even with defenses keyed on trying to stop her, it seemed to make little difference as she continued to pile up impressive statistics. Knowing there was a pretty girl underneath the uniform was an extreme turn on for me. I could barely contain myself watching her toss opponents aside. Against the smaller teams, she almost seemed to have an unfair advantage, as if watching an 8th grader playing against a team of 1st graders.

With Tanya providing the muscle, we had won all seven games since she had become a starter. In those seven games, she had amassed a startling 27 touchdowns and 1169 yards rushing. Going into the final game of the year, we needed to win against arch-rivals Altamont to win the division title and make it to the championship game. Altamont was a large school and in the past, their team was accustomed to trouncing us with regularity.

On Friday, I asked Tanya if she was ready for the game. She acted completely unconcerned. I wished I could feel the same way...