DAVIDSVILLE, Pa. – Pennsylvania high school freshman Abby Hoffman is tackling one tough assignment during preseason practice.

At 14, Hoffman is a 5-foot-6, 155-pound female working at both offensive tackle and defensive tackle for the Conemaugh Township Indians.

She is a rarity indeed.

There have been a handful of girls who have competed in football at area high schools in the past, but typically they have been kickers, a position that involves little contact with their male counterparts.

Hoffman, though, doesn’t mind mixing it up with the opposite sex.

“I thought it would be fun just to go out and hit the boys,” she said on Tuesday between practices.

Hoffman has been doing that for nearly a decade now, getting her first snap in football when she was in kindergarten.

She was a two-way starter at tackle for the junior high football team a year ago and is very familiar with most of her teammates.

“She has played up through our youth program and our junior high program and she was a key player on that team a year ago,” coach Sam Zambanini said.

“She’s a tough cookie. She doesn’t take any gruff from the guys and she hangs right with them on the field. And she pounds the weights just like the guys.”

Hoffman dresses in a separate room, just down the hall from her male counterparts.

Senior tailback Austin Myers, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards last season, has been impressed with Hoffman’s skills. She is one of 29 players on the varsity roster.

“She’s one tough girl,” Myers said. “She’s been moving some people on the line, which has been impressive. I’m surprised by just how tough she is. I think everybody is.”

Earlier this week, Zambanini said Myers, who weighs 50 pounds more than Hoffman, knocked her down as she was holding a bag during a blocking drill.

“She got steamrolled and popped right back up and was ready to go again,” Zambanini said. “I think everyone’s jaws kind of dropped.”

Hoffman said her mom, Kathy, still worries about her getting hurt. She said her father, Gary, does, too, but both continue to offer encouragement and support.

She said Zambanini also is one of her biggest boosters.

”He just told me to keep going and work harder than the boys,” said Hoffman, who has three sisters, none of whom play football. “I’m not afraid of the boys. I just go right after them.”

For now, Hoffman said her goal is to get into a varsity game this fall.

“Eventually, she could play,” Zambanini said. “I don’t know as a freshman if she’s ready to step into a varsity game. But she’s absolutely going to play junior varsity football.

“We’ll see how she develops and maybe some day she will be a varsity player.”

Musselman writes for the Johnstown (Pennsylvania) Tribune-Democrat.