The First Lady of Brockton High football: Quinn becomes first female player to score a TD

BROCKTON — McKenzie Quinn earned some new nicknames this past weekend.

Quinn says her teammates on the Brockton High football team have playfully declared her to be "History", "The First Lady" and "Hollywood" — the latter for the media attention she has garnered as of late. Those are a few she finds funny.

By becoming the first female player to score a touchdown in Brockton football's storied 125-year past, all three apply.

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Quinn took a hand-off in the Boxers 50-7 win over Dartmouth on Friday and ran in for a 4-yard score to inflate the lead to 44-7 with 1:56 to play in the third quarter.

“That was probably a ‘For-Life’ moment," Quinn said. "That’s not something you forget. It’s something that stays with you. Especially because of the family here, they just make it 10 times better.”

Quinn, a senior receiver, is in her second season in the program. She spent her junior season on the JV team and, this year, waited her turn as a back-up until she got a shot late in the game Friday night.

And with it, she delivered.

“We got an opportunity to get her in the game to reward her for what she does for us and how hard she works. It’s not a gimmick,” Brockton head coach Peter Colombo said. “She’s someone on the team who has earned her way into that position.”

Colombo says that in her time on the team, Quinn has not missed a practice, game, team lift or workout. On top of that, she carries a 5.0 GPA — yes, a 5.0 GPA — and has been, as Colombo described, "a great role model for everyone in our program.”

“Her improvement from last year to this year is significant. That’s why she got into the end zone," said Colombo. "She worked for that.”

After clearing the path free of Dartmouth defenders for Quinn to score, blockers Donovan Munroe, Jayden Seale, Kavaughn Vega and Makhi Boston pumped their fists in celebration, as quarterback Cameron Monteiro and Jamie Chisolm leaped out of the frame in elation.

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“They’ve been so supportive," Quinn said. "Even when I first began, they always made sure that I knew I had to advocate for myself, get my reps where I could and that I need to speak up. They’ve always really pushed me to be better.”

“It was very exciting. Anyone who scores a varsity touchdown, it’s a great feeling," Colombo said. "We’re proud of her. She’s earned it.”

A huddle of teammates posed for a photo on the sidelines shortly after Quinn's touchdown, which was shared by the Brockton Public Schools' social media pages. On Facebook alone, it already amassed 11,000 likes and is currently nearing 500 comments and 2,000 shares.

“Really, I was just awestruck by the community’s response to that. That was just amazing. Even when we were doing an interview (after), the men’s league was on the field and everyone was saying congratulations. And it was people that I have never necessarily talked to or had a conversation with,” said Quinn. “It was just an amazing response, all around.”

It had been a moment on her mind for quite some time.

Quinn thoroughly considered a future on the football team ever since she entered high school four years ago. She waited until last year because the season had already started by the beginning of her freshman year and COVID-19 complicated the fall season her sophomore year. When she became a junior, she recalled thinking to herself, “If I’m going to do it at all, it has to be now.”

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"I wasn't quite intimidated. I was a little nervous, yes, because I didn't know a lot of kids on the team but a handful of them I had gone to middle school with," Quinn said. "I have been with them for a while. I knew their names and I could connect it with their faces. That made it a little bit easier.

"I, honestly, didn't know a lot about football going in but I watched the game, I studied up, I watched film and I learned all of the little things."

Now, her name is written in the history books forever.

“Just knowing that I’ve worked that hard and (the coaches) actually recognized that and seen, it makes it feel great," Quinn said.

Quinn is also a member of the track team and volunteers at Harmony Hill Farm in Randolph, as horseback riding has been a passion of hers since middle school.

Her 5.0 GPA is boosted by her enrollment in Ivy classes, which are weighted the same as AP courses, and her top two collegiate schools of choice are Dartmouth and Boston College with a major in environmental science.

As a team, Brockton has scored 144 total points in its last three games (all wins) against Lincoln-Sudbury, Natick and Dartmouth. The Boxers are poised to make another postseason appearance, after earning the No. 13 seed in Division 1 with a 3-5 overall record a season ago. The team plays host to Pinkerton on Saturday at 1 p.m.

"It's really special, honestly. I love seeing them succeed," Quinn said of the team's winning start. "Losses are hard. They hit you really hard and being in the locker room after a loss, and after when you have to go home, you have to take your pads off and it's dead silent -- it's just awful. Winning is amazing."

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Quinn is first girl to score a touchdown for Brockton football