Or would it be "line-person?"

Sophomore Victoria Locklar -- a 5-foot,4-inch, 135-pound left guard -- is playing her second year for the Mariners and on Saturday, she suited up for the varsity team for the first time.

Mariner Head Coach Camron Wyatt said Locklar -- who normally plays on the junior varsity team -- is one of the hardest workers on the team and deserved the opportunity to play varsity.

"She lives blue and gold 24/7," said Wyatt. "She has never missed a practice and, technique-wise, she has learned to play this sport."

Wyatt said he has no doubts at all about Locklar's abilities or her toughness, but he does worry about her relatively diminutive size. Most of the defensive linemen Locklar faces are taller than her and outweigh her by at least 50 pounds. That kind of physical mismatch, said Wyatt, can raise safety concerns.

Still, in the JV game against Skyview Saturday, Locklar was sent in to start the second half and more than held her own. She was quick off the line, able to read the defense and get to her blocking assignment quickly and -- perhaps most importantly -- was never flagged for a false start penalty, the bane of every offensive lineman's existence. Locklar played most of the second half and helped the Mariners to a 19-7 victory.

Locklar's father, Tom, is in the United States Coast Guard and serves as an engineering officer aboard the USCGC Hickory. Her family has moved around a lot, said her mother Jane Locklar, and lived in Cordova, Juneau and Kodiak before coming to Homer. The family was scheduled to move again soon, but has arranged to stay in Homer until Victoria graduates in 2011.

"She says she's going to play football for all four years of high school," said Jane Locklar.

"To my knowledge, there haven't been any girl players all four years, so it would be kind of fun to be the first in history," said Victoria Locklar.

Locklar also is on the Homer wrestling team and said that sport, which she started playing in middle school, is still her favorite. She was inspired to wrestle by her brother T.J., who wrestled and played football for Homer High before graduating last year and now attends college in Missouri.

"I dislike all girls sports and everything else bored me to death so I tried wrestling and just stuck with it," she said.

Locklar said her football teammates treat her "like a sister" but her gender is sometimes an issue on the wrestling mat.

"Sometimes they will refuse to compete against me," she said. "I think it's because they're scared to wrestle a girl."

Jane Locklar said she has raised her children to be independent and to pursue their goals.

"I've always tried to teach the kids to be the lead dog," she said. "They always do what they want to do and not what's expected of them because of size or gender. I hate to think what she would do if I told her she couldn't do it."

Locklar didn't get to play varsity in the homecoming game but Wyatt said she would likely get that opportunity next year if she sticks with it.

"We've told her it's up to her if she wants to play varsity. If she can keep herself safe, I think she can play," he said. "I'm not the dreamer of her dreams. She is."

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig@homernews.com.