This is Home: Cassie Bowsher makes history as the first female player to score for Ravenswood football team

RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. (WTAP) - Cassie Bowsher is a senior at Ravenswood High School. She has good grades and is a part of the National Honor Society and the Future Farmers of America club at school. Not only is she the captain of the lady Red Devils soccer team, but she’s also the placekicker for the football team. She said she barely did any sports while growing up.

“We were very into rodeos,” Bowsher said. “I used to rodeo and show cattle all the time. Then we moved here {Ravenswood}, and I got out of rodeos. I kind of got kind of bored and then one of my neighbors is like, ‘hey, you want to go to soccer practice with us?’ I was like, ‘yeah, sure’ and then I started soccer. Then soccer, lead football.”

She grew up on a farm in Ohio before moving to Ravenswood, West Virginia.

She was homeschooled before attending Ravenswood High School her Freshman year in 2019. Cassie said one of the biggest challenges attending a new school was not knowing anyone. She eventually made friends with some of the Red Devils’ football members team after choosing to sit and eat lunch with them one day.

After getting along with the players and reading a book about a girl who played quarterback and already having an excellent kicking leg from soccer, Cassie thought it would be a great idea to start kicking for the football team, which she has been a part of since her Sophomore year.

This season, Cassie was named the starting placekicker for the team. On August 26, during the team’s home opener against Magnolia, Cassie made history. She became the first female to score a point in a football game in program history.

Cassie said it was Ravenswood’s former placekicker Ryan Cunningham who reached out to the coaches, telling them she wanted to be on the team.

“I was actually gonna go to tryouts for cheerleading,” Bowsher said. “They’re like, ‘we heard you wanted to play football’ and I was like, ‘yeah,’ and they were like, ‘do you have your stuff with you?’ because they got the girl in Wirt County that was the kicker at that point and I worked with her and I had my stuff in the car because I went and trained with her that day. They’re like, ‘well, come on. We’ll get you out on the field and introduce you to people.‘ ”

Cassie has trained with Wirt County’s former placekicker Shelby Simonton and former Ripley High School and University of Kentucky placekicker Brian Johnson.

Playing two fall sports can be challenging for some students, between practices and games and not to mention getting homework done. Cassie has found a way to make it work with her mom’s help and moral support.

“My mom is a big help. She runs around and does a lot of stuff for me. It’s actually very stressful, Bowsher said. “I try to get my homework done in school when I can so I don’t have a ton to do when I get home.”

Cassie wants to attend college next fall and be recruited to play football. She hopes to inspire other girls to go out for their football teams and work hard to achieve their goals.

“If you want to do it, put your work and time into it, and if there’s someone better than you, learn from them because they’re gonna have something to teach you, and then you can use that to help you in the future,” Bowsher said.

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