Teen Makes Winning Football Play After Being Crowned Homecoming Queen

(Photo by James L. Amos/Corbis via Getty Images)

One Mississippi student is taking high school superlatives to a new level by owning the prom court and football field.

This past weekend, Kaylee Foster not only won homecoming queen of Ocean Springs High School, but she kicked the game-winning point for her football team when they went into overtime, according to CNN. Her game-defining kick came just hours after being named the queen. “It is such an honor to be voted on by my classmates,” Foster said before getting ready for the homecoming dance. “But it was so fun to win the game and have my teammates really proud of me.”

During the game, Foster scored seven of her team’s 13 points. She kicked two field goals in regulation and ended the game against George County with the extra point.

Foster’s mom, Rendy Foster, said her daughter wasn’t surprised about her winning kick, but she was surprised by the homecoming queen win. “She’s a pretty competitive young lady,” Rendy said. “I heard her say, I wasn’t sure about winning (homecoming queen) but, I was really sure I was going to make that kick.”

Foster started off playing soccer at age five. She was encouraged to play football when a coach noticed her hitting home runs on the kickball field in elementary school. He suggested that she give placekicking a try. 

“I really didn’t take a lot of convincing,” Foster said. “I thought that would be really cool, I was thinking I would love to do that.” With the help of Google and an instructional video by a University of Florida kicker, Foster was able to make the switch from soccer kicking to football kicking.

Since then, Foster has kicked for her eighth-grade team (as a seventh and eighth grader), for her ninth-grade team and now for the Ocean Springs High School junior varsity and varsity teams.

The 17-year-old hasn’t forgotten her soccer roots though. She still plays in high school (after the football season ends) and she plans on playing in college.

It’s safe to say folks like Nike and Colin Keapernick had people like Foster in mind when they said “Just Do It.”