Jackson State kicker Armenta becomes 1st woman to score in HBCU game, kicks 3 extra points in win

Updated Oct. 29, 2023 3:11 p.m. ET

Associated Press

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) — Leilani Armenta became the first woman to score in a football game matching historically Black colleges and universities when she kicked three extra points in Jackson State’s 40-14 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday.

Armenta was 3 for 3 on point-after kicks, with one in the second quarter and two in the fourth. The 5-foot-7 freshman from Ventura, California, made her first appearance Sept. 23 when she kicked off against Bethune-Cookman. She’s also a soccer player for Jackson State.

In 2003, Katie Hnida of New Mexico became the first woman to score in a Division I game when she kicked two extra points against Texas State. In 2020, Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller’s two extra points against Tennessee made her the first woman to score in a Power Five game.

Jacobian Morgan threw for five scores — three to DJ Stevens — as Jackson State controlled the game from the outset against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Morgan, a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech who recently became the team’s starter, was 26 of 36 passing for 373 yards. Jackson State (6-3, 4-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) built a 23-0 lead before the Lions (1-7, 0-5) scored.

Morgan threw a 75-yard touchdown to Stevens on the game’s second play and later threw a 4-yard score to Hayden Hagler with 4:55 left in the first quarter. Dylan Wasson made a 24-yard field goal early in the second. With 5:25 before halftime, Morgan threw a 25-yard touchdown to Stevens to end a six-play, 87-yard drive.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff responded with a 10-play, 77-yard drive culminating in a 1-yard scoring run by Kierstan Rogers to reduce the deficit to 23-7. Wasson kicked a 29-yard field goal as time expired to end the half.

Last month, Haley Van Voorhis became the first woman who was not a kicker or punter to appear in an NCAA game. The safety for Shenandoah University in Virginia recorded a quarterback hurry in a Division III game against Juniata College of Pennsylvania.

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