Girl kicker delivering for Grayslake North

This is, after all, the YouTube generation.

And because it is, your next step is to put this newspaper down, boot up the laptop, google for "You Tube," search for "Grayslake North tackle" and then watch the video.

You have now met Katie Lahera, Grayslake North High junior and kicker for the Knights' varsity football team.

Yes, she's a "she."

In the video, Katie is shown making a touchdown-saving tackle after one of her kickoffs in a game against Woodstock North High a couple weeks ago nearly was returned to the house.

Katie actually got flattened on the play, in which she shouldered the Woodstock runner out of bounds.

(That's her dad, who shot the video, screaming "Oh my God!" over and over on the tape.)

Maybe it wasn't an Urlacher-type hit, but it sure beat her first experience at having an opponent challenge her on a kickoff return.

Last year, she kicked for the Knights' sophomore team, and here's how she explained that less-than-Hallmark moment when a returner took one of her kickoffs to the house.

"I didn't know what to do, so I just let him go," she confessed. "This time, I was thinking, ‘Oh gosh, we can't have a repeat!' so when I saw him come toward the sideline, I thought, ‘OK, let's just get a little chip on him and maybe he'll stumble out of bounds. So I hit him and was able to get him out."

The hit left Katie face down on the ground, and Grayslake North coach Steve Wood came over and picked her up by the pads. Her teammates swarmed her and started pounding on her helmet. "It was great," she said.

Sort of. She confessed that her mother had a different reaction. "My mom said she covered her face (when it happened), and asked me later, ‘What were you thinking?'"

What she was thinking, mom, is that she's a football player on a team that has a chance to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the school's short history.

"She's exactly what we want in our program," said Wood. "Forget that she's a girl. It doesn't matter. We want kids who make good decisions, who have good character, who do well in school, and who work hard a whatever their job is.

"She doesn't get treated any differently," the coach added. "The only this different is that she gets her own locker room. Otherwise, she's expected to be here every day. When she screws up, I let her know. She's treated like a football player, not like some girl kicking for a football team."

In the spring, Katie plays on the Knights' girls soccer team. She's a center-mid and scored two goals last year after being moved up from the back line.

"Mr. Wood was my freshman gym teacher," Katie said. "I used to joke around with him about how I was going to be his kicker and one day, we had kind of a free day in gym, and he was like ‘OK, prove yourself.'

"He grabbed a bag of balls and grabbed a tee and said, ‘All right, kick!' After that, I started working on my kicking every Friday. It was a lot of fun."

As for what was harder - learning to become an accurate kicker - or getting her parents' blessing ... that was no contest.

"When I told my parents I wanted to play football, they weren't really having it, so we had to kind of convince them that I could do it," she said. "They were worried I would get hurt.

"They're fine with it now. My dad loves telling everyone ‘My daughter's the kicker!' Literally everybody. So, people are always talking to him about it."

Talk, of course, is just that unless the player can also walk the walk.

And it appears that Katie can.

Last year, she was 18 of 29 on PATs on the sophomore team. This year, she was 6 of 7 on varsity going into last Thursday's game.

Based on practice performance, you can probably bank on her from 30 yards in. Coach said he'd take a shot from 35 on in, and she said she made a 38-yarder once in practice.

Wood recalled the first time he saw Katie kick ... that day in gym class.

"She put one ball on the tee, took one kick, and the explosion off her foot ... I said, ‘Girl, you might actually be able to do this.' "

As for becoming the first Grayslake North squad to make the playoffs, well, this team migh actually be able to do this, as well.

Even the opposing fans now have a reason to root for the Gold/Black.

"At McHenry, we were walking through the parking lot and a couple of junior high-age girls said, ‘Look, there's a girl on their team,' Wood recalled. "They yelled at Katie, ‘You're my idol! I want to grow up and play football too.'

"She's a great kid and she's done a great job for us. I wouldn't trade her for the world."

And neither would her teammates.

"She's been part of the program for two years," said varsity QB A.J. Fish. "She's part of the team. Everybody's been great about it. We think it's great she's out here.

"Of course, she's kind of a celebrity around school when she's making big plays like the tackle she made against Woodstock North."

Of course, all the Knight players will be celebrities around school in about five weeks ... when they're preparing for their first-ever playoff game.

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