The game of football has many historic moments, but Middletown High School is bringing its own “firsts” to the game, including junior Sierra DeGiorgio. She’s in a league of her own.

Always the athlete, DeGiorgio is drawing up a new playbook.

“During the spring, I said ‘I want to try out for tackle’ football, and it just kind of happened,” said DeGiorgio.

After starting on the junior varsity team, she made it onto Middletown High School’s varsity football team, shooting for the gap in their roster as a quarterback.

“We saw that our backup depth was not what we wanted and that her abilities were good enough to come up to varsity, so we gave her a shot, brought her up and she was able to execute everything we needed well enough that she was what we were looking for here,” said assistant coach Chris Conklin.

Previously winless, what Middletown football needed was to come out on top. On September 30, DeGiorgio not only landed a win, but also made her mark on the team’s history books.

In her first start, she led the Middies to a 29-14 win over Monroe, and became the first girl to start under center in New York State Section IX history.

After the win, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus shared DeGiorgio’s achievement on social media. The response, she says, has been overwhelming.

“I didn’t think that many people would be interested in a girl playing football, because I didn’t do this for all the attention,” said DeGiorgio. “I did this because I wanted to do my own thing and I wanted to try something new.”

DeGiorgio is no stranger to sports or a new challenge. She’s the center fielder and pitcher on the high school’s softball team, and has been playing on a local NFL flag football team called Old Skewl Sports.

“Throwing a football … it just came easy to me,” said DeGiorgio.

Tackle football was a new test with new teammates. Middletown High School’s roster of 63 boys welcomed her with open arms, all ready to say no to what used to be the norm.

“All of them treat me like a sister,” said DeGiorgio. “It just makes me feel like I’m a part of this big family and I have all these brothers here to support me.”

She knows she belongs in this huddle, and when it comes to anyone that opposes it, “I’m just like ‘yeah … OK,’ ” she says in between laughs. “I walk away.”