“That was my way into football,” she said.

This weekend, Oshagbemi, now a senior, will suit up for the Wolverines’ first-round playoff game against Urbana as a two-year varsity player and one of her team’s captains. She plays running back, tight end, linebacker and occasionally defensive end.

Thirty miles south in Vienna, Madison High’s Jessica Bae will prepare for a regular season finale against Centreville. The senior has been in the Warhawk program for four years, starting out as a lineman and moving to wide receiver.

“I would go to football games [growing up] and it was always just a good time,” Bae said. “Seeing these things really made me want to play.”

Oshagbemi and Bae are two of several female players across the D.C. area, representing a new generation of girls participating in the game: They don’t play kicker, the position traditionally associated with female participants, and they don’t view themselves as novelties. They have a nonchalance about their decisions to play football and, years into the commitment, they have an undeniable passion for the game.

“I can’t lie, I really don’t know where my interest in the game started from,” Oshagbemi said. “I was a sporty kid, and I was always down to try new things. Football just seemed interesting.”

Despite her athletic upbringing, Oshagbemi didn’t play sports during her first two years at Watkins Mill. She worked after school and took part in a few extracurriculars, including the K-pop dance team. Her parents didn’t watch much football, but something about the sport appealed to her. A few weeks after the powder puff game, she joined offseason workouts.

Bae got a bigger dose of football growing up in Dallas as an avid Cowboys fan. When her family moved to Virginia, she tried out for Madison’s freshman team in 2020. With the pandemic stunting participation, the team featured just 18 players, meaning Bae got plenty of time to learn her craft on the line.

“It just felt very exciting; there were just a lot of moments when it just felt like we were doing it together,” Bae said. “The freshman team, because it was so small, it was very close-knit.”

Watkins Mill has a much smaller football program than Madison, meaning Oshagbemi joined the varsity team right away. Her first experience came at a seven-on-seven event, where she was asked to play safety.

“I really didn’t know what to do,” she said. “They scored a touchdown pretty quickly.”

In time, her discomfort faded. She can’t pinpoint a game or a moment when it happened, but a few weeks into the season she realized she was more comfortable and confident, both on and off the field.

“It’s been a mixed reaction from opponents, but that comes with it,” she said. “A lot of guys will see me out there and dap me up and say it’s cool.”

Bae remembers exactly when she found her confidence on the field. She became a wide receiver as a sophomore on the junior varsity team and struggled early on to learn how to run routes as she adapted to the more physical nature of the game at a new level.

In what she called one of her favorite football memories, Bae remembers reeling in a catch during the last game of the season.

“It was a turning point for me, where I was able to prove myself that I could do it and prove to everyone else that I was able to do it,” Bae said. “I feel like a lot of the time I want to show people that I can make a change and I can do something different.”

Whereas many first-time football players have to get adjusted to the physicality of the game, Oshagbemi had little issue with that. When she told her body to make a hit, it listened without apprehension.

“I think in general I’m a pretty physical person,” she said. “It was harder to get used to having the pads on than it was for me to get used to running in to make a tackle.”

In her time at Watkins Mill, Oshagbemi has seen just one female opponent — a fleeting moment of recognition in the postgame handshake line. She and Bae said they talk to other girls about playing football fairly often, encouraging them to consider it as an option.

“I feel like I have inspired a bunch of people around me, not just with football but having the courage to do new things and different things,” Bae said.

For Oshagbemi, trying something new and different led to one of the best nights of her high school years. In late September, Watkins Mill defeated Wheaton, 27-13. It was the program’s first win since November 2019, and Oshagbemi’s first win as a football player. After the game, she joined her teammates in dousing their coach with a celebratory bath. She had made four tackles that night, and the feeling of contributing to a win was something to savor.

“Playing football, I’ve learned that I’m able to adapt and grow,” she said. “And I’ve learned I can commit to things. If I determine not to give up on something, I can develop a passion.”