A Fullback Picks Her Gown

By Steve Lopez/Los Angeles

So we're at the Lincoln High School varsity football practice two days before the big homecoming game, and the fullback, during a break in the pop and crunch of colliding pads, says to the halfback, "I still have to go pick up a dress for the dance."

This can't be just any dress either. Luisana Cruz, a 17-year-old senior, is a finalist for homecoming queen at her mostly Hispanic school in the Lincoln Heights section of Los Angeles. She hopes to wear both a football helmet and a crown before the day is done on Friday. "I want it bad," says Cruz, who is also student-body president and is listed on the football program at 5 ft. 6 in., 151 lbs. "But that's with the pads," she says defensively of her weight. She doesn't have a date for the dance yet, so there's some sensitivity there.

Ordinarily, a football huddle would be the last place a girl would go for advice on making the decision between a strapless gown and a halter dress. But on this team, Cruz can talk fashion with the halfback, Diocelina Macias (5 ft. 6 in., 137 lbs.), as she's doing now. Or she can try defensive tackle Patricia Mora (5 ft. 7 in., 170 lbs.). Imelda Chaparro (5 ft. 8 in., 226 lbs.), another lineman, would be another option, but she's on the sidelines after suffering a concussion in last week's game.

Yes, the world as we knew it has changed forever. There are four girls on the Lincoln High varsity, all of them 16-year-old juniors except for Cruz. And it's not as if they're just bench warmers. Although none of them start, they all play on special teams and as backups, and coach Leo Castro doesn't hesitate to send them out there. "They're not afraid to take the hits," says Castro, which is a good thing, because Lincoln is 0-8 going into the game against 8-0 Franklin. "I'll put them in before a lot of the other players, because their work ethic and attitude are so good."

Although 708 girls played high school football in 1998, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, it's not clear if there have ever been four on a varsity team. And it wasn't as if the four Lincoln girls got together to make a statement. Mora and Chaparro went into it together, curious to see if they could hack it. But Cruz and Macias decided independently to do the unexpected. "It's my senior year," Cruz says. "I wanted to try as many things as I could, because it's my last chance."

"The cheerleaders don't like us," Chaparro says. "They thought we were doing this to get dates." The boys on the team weren't wild about it initially either. "We thought they were trying to make us look silly," says middle linebacker Roger Sepulveda, 16. But Sepulveda, who hits like a truck, once knocked Macias out of her shoes. "And she just popped right up," he says admiringly. "I see the girls as a little better than some of the guys on the team."

"The hitting is a rush," says Chaparro, who was angling to get back out there less than a week after having her bell rung, passing out on the sidelines and being rushed to the hospital. A lot of guys don't realize they're lined up across from a girl, she says, but they don't pull back when they find out. "I've got bruises all over my body," says Macias, who ran for 16 yds. on three carries in one game and could be a starter next year, according to coach Castro.

On Thursday another fullback, Eulices Sierra, asked Cruz to the dance. That night she found a sassy little purple number with a sheer top. And then at halftime of the game on Friday, the princess in shoulder pads traded her helmet for a crown and climbed into a white Mazda Miata convertible for the parade of queen candidates. She looked stunning, if a little sweaty.

It would be nice to report that Lincoln upset Franklin with a last-minute touchdown by Cruz and that at the dance afterward, she was crowned homecoming queen. But Hollywood is located several miles west of here. Lincoln went down, 34-0, and another girl got the crown.

But what would a fullback want with that silly thing anyway? Belmont High is up next week, Cruz says. "And I just know we can win that game."