LAKEWOOD — Lakewood High School’s football team had “one of the most amazing comeback games in history” and its female kicker was a major part of it.

Sydney Gormley, a junior, kicked the game-winning field goal from 32 yards out that capped off Lakewood’s win, overcoming a 17-point deficit.

It was the first field goal she has made in a game.

“I’m hoping to get farther ones,” she said.

Lakewood had a rough start in its Homecoming game against Anacortes Oct. 7, trailing 23-6 at halftime.

Lakewood battled back in the third quarter with the offense scoring 16 points and the defense keeping Anacortes scoreless. Scoring then came to a stalemate until the waning moments of the final quarter.

That’s when Gormley took the field.

“She said, ‘I can make the kick,'” football Coach Dan Teeter said as they got into field-goal range, to which he replied, “You know what, that’s right in her range.”

Gormley made the kick from the right hash mark and aired it right through the goal post to give Lakewood a 25-23 win.

“I was really hoping to make it. It was Homecoming — our home field,” she said. “The guys worked hard to get me at that point so I didn’t want to let them down.”

Gormley competes on a team with four other kickers, and “she earned the starting spot.”

“She’s been really consistent with the extra point,” Teeter said, going seven-for-seven.

She’s got the consistency, but hopes to increase her range as the season goes on.

Gormley joined the team as a sophomore. She wanted a change of pace during fall season. She played soccer for 12 years and admits having “zero hand-eye coordination so volleyball was definitely out.”

So she thought she’d try football.

“Football seemed like an obvious choice,” she said. “I had friends on the team, and they needed a kicker. They were joking around and one of them said, ‘Why don’t you try out?'”

She couldn’t tell if she impressed the “stone faces” of her coaches, but she figured she did well enough as a beginner on the team.

She trained and worked out as early as January to become part of the team as a sophomore. “The guys would practice their return with me as I did kickoff,” she said.

She paid her dues and became the eventual starting kicker for Lakewood. “Before I knew it, I was part of the team,” she said.

Lakewood had one kicker last year, but he graduated. The spot was open, and Gormley jumped on it.

She hasn’t regretted it so far.

“It’s been one of the greatest experiences of my life,” Gromley said. “It’s always fun to get out there and be with a team that’s so family orientated.”

She hasn’t played soccer for the high school since she was a freshman but does play in a local club team in the offseason. “It gives me that opportunity to train in something else,” she said.

Kicking the ball isn’t the only time she’s on the field. She also plays clarinet in the school’s marching band.

“I’m passionate about both. We have a couple of people on the football team that do play band as well,” she said. “Our coaching staff is always willing to have us go to practices early for field shows.”

And she’s not just a kicker. She has tried other postions, like running back.

“I had trouble memorizing the plays so I made the choice of going into this new conference and prove myself as a kicker,” she said.

She also is enrolled as a Running Start student at Everett Community College. She wants to get an athletic scholarship for soccer, but the thought about continuing football has crossed her mind.

“If I ever wanted to get to a higher level I would have to train a lot harder,” she said. “I might want to go for it but I have one more year to think about it.”