Whether it’s been her pink shoes, her long hair sticking out from the helmet, or the student section chanting her name nearly every time she steps on the field — Powell Panther junior Ivy Agee has made quite the impression. It’s for a good reason: She’s the first girl to play in a varsity game in Powell High School’s storied football program that began in 1921.

GETTING RECRUITED

Agee has been well known for her kicking ability for several years in Powell, having been named an All-State soccer player her freshman and sophomore years, scoring 75 goals from all over the field including two from beyond midfield in her freshman campaign.

It wasn’t just those long range goals that got her interested, Agee felt she had the potential to kick when she saw that Cheyenne South’s Keelan Anderson broke the Wyoming state field goal record with a 61 yarder last September.

“I knew I already had the strength for it,” she said. “When I heard that one kid kicked that [61] yarder I was like, oh, I could definitely kick it.”

Her long range efforts in soccer caught the attention of Panther football coach Chase Kistler, who Agee said had wanted her to kick since the end of the school year.

Over the summer, Agee continued to play soccer, but was able to squeeze in some practice kicking a football before heading into the fall.

Agee originally had planned to play tennis in the fall, even attending the first day of practice before changing her mind.

“I just decided not to play tennis, and Kistler had been wanting me to kick at the end of the school year,” Agee said. “So he just had me come out and kick a few and then I was like, I’m the best kicker so far. So why not just go out and try it?”

Influencing her decision was the fact that Agee believed it could help her in soccer in the long run, potentially increasing her leg strength in the process while kicking field goals.

It wasn’t just the coaches who were interested — the players wanted her to go out and be the kicker knowing the leg strength she had.

“They’ve been really welcoming and showing their respect for me coming out there,” Agee said. “I know that a lot of them wanted me to kick because they do know I’m pretty good at kicking.”

STARTING OUT

Switching over to football practice started a transition for Agee, who needed a change in mentality and to learn a slightly different set of skills regarding kicking a football.

“I think I caught on kind of fast, just my mental part of it,” Agee said. “I have just never done anything like it before, so trying to get the mental part around it and just focusing on kicking it instead of hoping I don’t miss. That’s just something I needed to get used to.”

The transition to kicking a football through the uprights as opposed to kicking it into a goal also needed some adjusting too, with Agee finding a system that worked early.

“I’ve just been finding a set point, a specific point behind the field goal that was in between it that I’d aim for, and then just have that invisible string there,” Agee said.

SIGH OF RELIEF

Early in the season opportunities were few and far between for Agee to kick in a game, but she became the first Panther girl to play in a game when she attempted a 35-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of the season opener against Riverton on Aug. 30.

That field goal came up short after a bad snap, but she had to wait until the second week of the season before another opportunity.

Her next attempt came in the first half in Worland, attempting a 41-yard field goal that came up just short, but the Panther coaches’ confidence in her to kick from that far helped Agee’s mentality early in the season.

“She was really close,” Kistler said after the game. “I told her that ‘I know I put you in a tough spot,’ that’s like stretching her limit. On a turf field she’s probably halfway up that goal post. On a grass field, it’s a little bit different, but she’s still caught it clean and then her PATs are just automatic. So I’m happy to see that.”

It wasn’t until 1:30 left in the third quarter that Agee got another chance, and this time she made the most of it, kicking an extra point to add a little more history as the first Panther girl to score in a football game.

“Since I missed the first two, it kind of made my spirit go down a little,” Agee said. “But then when I finally started making them, then I was like, ‘OK yes, I can do it.’”

Since returning home from that game in Worland, Agee has had a nearly perfect kicking record, earning a chant from the student section nearly every time she steps on the field.

“That was nerve wracking the very first time, especially after I missed it and they had been doing it. It was kind of an embarrassing moment,” she said. “But then I got over it, I kicked a bunch of them at home. So now they know I can actually kick.”

This season, Agee has made two field goals, and has finished 10-11 on extra points, both ranking in the top six for kickers in the state for 3A according to stats on WyoPreps.

She may be one of the, if not the first, girls to score in an 11-man football game in Wyoming. However, according to Wyoming-football.com founder Patrick Schmiedt, gender specific records have not been kept regarding football in Wyoming.

FAMILY SUPPORT

Throughout the entire process Agee has had the backing of her father Danny, who has been helping her at practice and can be seen helping her on the sideline before and after kicks.

“If he hadn’t been there, then I probably wouldn’t have progressed as much as I did,” Agee said.

In addition to Ivy joining the Powell Panther football ranks, her younger sister Jesi, a freshman, joined the team and has since been kicking for the freshman and junior varsity teams.

With her younger sister joining the ranks, Agee said that it has been nice to have someone to talk to and relate the experience to, making the kicking process more enjoyable.

“It’s nice to have someone else to talk to and not just feel weird being by myself over somewhere and then having to shag the balls by myself,” she said. “It’s nice to have someone I know well out there.”

NEXT STEP: EXPAND SKILLS

For the first time this year, Agee transitioned into kicking off for the Panthers, booting two of the three on Friday night against Cody after the recent injury to kicker Caden Nelson.

“Finally,” Agee said on Thursday before the matchup. “I just wanted to try them, I just need to start focusing on kicking it harder, but it’s nice to finally try that.”

She added that she was a little scared with the possibility that she will be tackled when out there, but feels it is just part of the game she has to get used to.

“Yeah, but I’m just like, I won’t get tackled, so it’ll be fine,” Agee said. “There is a possibility of it, I’m out there. It’s just football, it’s part of the game.”

As she continues to kick for the 3-2 Panthers, Agee said she feels it will help her heading into the spring soccer season, while also giving her an edge heading into her senior season next year.

“The strength behind having to kick, it will help a lot in soccer for long free kicks probably,” Agee said. “Then, if I do football next year, I would already be really good at the technique.”