Damaja Jones conducts offseason workouts for the Helix High football team at 6:30 a.m., starting in January.
“It’s open to the whole school,” said Jones, who has been the head coach at the San Diego area school since 2022.
Many students express interest. Very few actually show up.
Aubrey Laue did, starting in January 2023, eager to make the varsity roster after playing on the JV team the year before. So she showed up every morning. The only female in the room.
“She did it,” Jones said. “And the rest is history.”
Laue was a third-string kicker in 2023 as a junior and didn’t get many opportunities beyond occasional PATs and kickoffs, only after games got out of hand. This year, however, she is in a starting role after beating out two other kickers in a preseason competition.
“Growing up, one of my best friends’ older brother, he kicked in high school, and we were both soccer players growing up,” Laue said. “So we made a promise to each other, like, ‘Oh, we’ll both kick in high school,’ kind of as a joke. And then I followed through with it.”
Last month — in her finest moment yet — Laue drilled a 27-yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining to lift Helix to a Homecoming victory over Madison.
What a story!! @HelixFootball kicker Aubrey Laue gets the…
