Gypsum ? Football fanatic Skylar Bosco might not be able to realize her dream of becoming an NFL quarterback, but she’s determined to prove a girl can play on a boy’s turf.

Skylar plays on her eighth-grade football team at Southeast of Saline Junior-Senior High School at Gypsum, and in two years, she has more than held her own — throwing, receiving, punting and making several crucial touchdowns, often with an opposing team member or two clinging to her into the end zone.

“The other guys on my team don’t really care if I’m a girl, as long as I play good,” said Skylar, 13. “I just want to be treated like everyone else. I want to do my part.”

Skylar certainly has done her part this year. While playing defensive cornerback and offensive slotback, Skylar has been responsible for four touchdowns and three two-point conversions while being hit, tackled and pummeled by boys often bigger than her.

Even so, “I don’t really get hurt out there,” she said with a shrug. “I got a bloody finger once, but that was just a hangnail.”

Not the first

Skylar always has been tough, independent and determined to succeed in whatever she does, said her mother, Sherry Bosco.

She played the second half of the B-team game against Abilene Middle School and the second half of the A-team game against Ell-Saline Junior High School. They were the final games of the season.

“She lifts weights and keeps herself in good condition, so I don’t really worry about her getting hurt,” Sherry said. “But she does come home with a lot of bruises.”

Skylar Bosco, right, an eighth-grader at Southeast of Saline Junior-Senior High School in Gypsum, talks with eighth-grader Cole VanBlaricon, center, as they walk off the football field. The team practiced Oct. 18.

Skylar is not the first girl to play on her junior high football team — in fact, several girls previously have played at Southeast of Saline.

“I don’t want to encourage or discourage girls from playing, but they really have to want to do it,” said Todd Baird, the junior high’s head football coach. “Skylar has proven she can more than hold her own with boys of the same ability, and her great speed is a valuable asset to the team.”

Refusing to play

Although there is no rule in the handbook published by the Kansas State High School Activities Association that prevents a girl from playing on a junior high or even a high school football team, some teams have refused to play an opposing team with a girl in the lineup, choosing to forfeit the game instead.

It is up to individual schools to make that determination, Baird said.

“I can understand the concern about girls playing in high school, where boys are a lot bigger, stronger and faster. It’s a whole different kind of ballgame,” he said. “But if someone like Skylar has the determination, desire and responsibility to play the game and does a good job, there’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to play.”

Defensive cornerback Skylar Bosco, right, an eighth-grader at Southeast of Saline Junior-Senior High School, sacks the Abilene Middle School quarterback. Bosco played in the B-team's game in Gypsum, Oct. 20.

‘Knocked down by a girl’

Skylar credits her uncle, Paul Bosco, with sparking her desire to play football. At family gatherings, Paul, who plays on a YMCA flag football team, would spend hours teaching Skylar football patterns and tossing the ball with her.

“Skylar’s always been close to her uncle, and they both love to watch football,” Sherry said. “Paul’s own son just turned five, so for a long time, Skylar was the only one around to throw the ball to. He taught her a lot.”

Paul said Skylar was a tomboy who loved the rough and tumble world of football, but it wasn’t long before she showed impressive playing skills.

“She can throw a tighter spiral than most adults, and harder, too,” Paul said. “She’s got a real killer attitude, too. She can really hammer those little boys on the field. I saw her make a punt return once and mow over this guy like he was nothing — she just laid him out. Then he had to go back and take a ribbing from his teammates for getting knocked down by a girl.”

“Some of these guys just expect me to lie down, and I don’t do that,” Skylar said.

Because Skylar is a girl, Paul said, she has to work a lot harder to succeed on a male-dominated football field.

Same criteria

Although Paul introduced his niece to football, he credits the coaching staff at Southeast of Saline for giving Skylar the chance to play, developing her skills, teaching her to run football plays and encouraging her to never quit.

“She’s more than equal to the boys who play with her and against her,” he said.

A girl wanting to join the football team at Southeast of Saline is subject to the same criteria as any of the junior high or high school boys, Baird said.

One thing isn’t the same: Skylar must suit up in the girls’ locker room and be assigned a separate dressing facility during road trips to other schools.

“I have to share a locker room with the girl volleyball players,” Skylar said.

But in all other respects, she is just “one of the boys.”

Skylar Bosco, left, an eighth-grader at Southeast of Saline Junior-Senior High School in Gypsum, dresses for a football game as Olivia VanBlaricon, a seventh-grade cheerleader, puts Bosco's jersey over her football shoulder pads.

“They treat her like any other guy on the team,” Baird said.

Part of the team

Teammate Chad Johnson, 13, said he doesn’t notice how different Skylar is from the rest of the team — until she makes a big play.

“When we played Bennington, she ran 30 yards for a touchdown. I never saw anyone run that fast before,” he said. “I didn’t even know it was her until I saw the long red hair flying out the back of her helmet.”

Teammate Jason Prater, 13, said Skylar is pretty tough for a girl.

“She’s the only one I’ve seen on the team that can carry three guys into the end zone,” he said. “I don’t mind having a girl on the team as long as they’re tough and play hard.”

Skylar may love football, but she also is a realist. She knows that boys in high school football are bigger, stronger and faster, so during the next four years, she plans to concentrate on basketball, softball and track.