'She's been waiting for years to play high school football': North Harford freshman Peyton Dawson makes JV football team

Randy McRoberts, The Aegis, Bel Air, Md.
·3 min read

Aug. 17—Peyton Dawson is a 14-year-old incoming freshman at North Harford High School. She is a three-sport athlete whose fall sport is football.

Dawson has two older brothers who are part of the North Harford varsity team — Luke (5-10, 245) is a senior offensive lineman and Evan (6-0, 155) is a junior wide receiver/cornerback. This season Peyton will join them wearing a Hawk helmet as she will be a member of the Hawks junior varsity team.

"She's been waiting for years to play high school football," Charlie Dawson, Peyton's father said.

Peyton began playing tackle football at age 6.

"When I was younger, my brothers played and I just wanted to be like them, so I started playing football and I just fell in love with it," Peyton said. "I like the contact and the bond you create with your teammates and stuff."

Around age 6, Peyton served as watergirl for a North Harford Parks and Rec team that her brother was on. Oddly enough, that coach, Barry Debelius is in his third year as head coach of the Hawks JV team and he confirmed, he's not had a female athlete come out for football until now.

"She has great footwork, she has very good discipline, she's very football smart, she understands the game," Debelius said. "We had agility, conditioning and weight training and she is just as strong as 50% of the freshmen. Football, she understands the game better than most kids on the field."

Peyton's previous playing time has been with the North Harford Parks and Rec program.

"I play guard, middle linebacker and D-end," said Peyton, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 160 pounds. Her position preference: "Probably D-end or middle linebacker because I like hitting people, but I'm best at guard, I'd say, in some ways."

"She's a really good middle linebacker, just doesn't have the speed to get to the edge, so that's why we kind of moved her to defensive end at practice," Charlie said. "She's not the quickest, but good size."

In March, Peyton was invited to the first Under Armour High School Girls Combine for tackle football at Mission Viejo High School in California. Peyton was one of 100 girls selected to promote tackle football for girls as part of the Sam Gordon shoe launch with Under Armour. Peyton received an MVP award from among the eighth-grade age group.

"I felt good about it, wasn't really expecting for me to get it, but I got it and it's cool," Peyton said.

In the classroom, Peyton is a straight-A student. On the field, Peyton has been an every-down player but her role on JV is unknown.

"Yeah, [playing] be my goal, because in rec I did play all the time, so I'm going to try to be an on-the-field player every down if I can," she said.

She was also humble if not saying, "I can deal with that, it will just make me work harder."

Having played in the rec level for eight years, Peyton says she's just one of the players and that's the way teammates look at her.

"When I was younger there were a few comments about me, but not anymore, it's more they rag on each other," she said.

Looking ahead to her first high school season and her hopes, Peyton said, "I hope that my team has gone undefeated and that I did make a difference on that team. I just hope we win and things like that."

Peyton also plays basketball and is a goalie in lacrosse, where she could see herself continuing on after high school.

"Thinking like college-wise, I'd rather play lacrosse, but my favorite sport is definitely football. I like the atmosphere and everything," Peyton said.