Alamosa’s Halle Phares is first female athlete to make CHSAA football all-state team

When the Colorado High School Activities Association released the football all-state team for the 2021 season, there was much excitement, a few surprises, and a great many names on the list deserving of statewide recognition.

But the appearance of one name in particular was historic.

Alamosa’s Halle Phares received enough votes from the classification’s coaches to receive second-team honors in Class 2A. The senior kicker is believed to be the first female athlete to be voted onto a CHSAA all-state team for football.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Phares said. “I walked into one of our classes and one of our O-linemen told me. I freaked out a little bit. I ran out of class and called my parents to tell them. Thankfully, my teacher, he got it and I wasn’t in any trouble because he understood. I had a really, really good group of guys with me and they were really supportive of me.”

Phares, whose primary sport is soccer, played her first football season in 2021. On a team that typically likes to go for it on fourth down, she only attempted one field goal but was 22 for 25 on point-after attempts. Her only three misses were blocked and Phares helped the Mean Moose reach the postseason for the first time since 2018.

Coming from a football family, Phares grew up around the sport but didn’t consider trying out for the high school team until her senior year. But once she got the idea in her head, she found inspiration in the success of other female players like Becca Longo, who became the first female athlete to sign a letter of intent to play college football at the Division-II level or higher when she signed with Adams State in 2017, and former Alamosa kicker Katy Gallegos, who kicked for the Mean Moose in 2017.

“I went to one of our games last season and I remember watching the kickers and thinking, ‘I think I can do that,’” Phares said. “I went home and mentioned it to my mom and she said all the boys in our family have played football but none of the girls have. So, I said, ‘I’m gonna change that.’

“Alamosa also has a great history of girls playing football. So do some other teams in Colorado. Becca is an inspiration and Katy kind of set the tone and made it easier for me to play and be successful.”

Phares said she always felt like she had the support of her teammates and coaches, but to be recognized as an all-state caliber player by coaches from other teams was a welcome surprise.

“It means a lot,” Phares said. “It’s really cool that other coaches were able to see it and place me there. We played against some really good teams that had some really good kickers, so I’m really grateful that they thought I was good enough.”

The first female athlete on Alamosa’s football team since Drew Sandlin took over as head coach in 2018, Phares certainly made an impression. A top performer among first-year players in the weight room, Sandlin said that at one point, Phares came to him saying she was getting bored with just kicking so he played her at offensive line in several junior varsity games before they decided she was too valuable as a kicker to risk unnecessary injury.

When Phares was voted all-conference in the Southwest League and all-state, Sandlin said he wasn’t too surprised until he started considering that it may have been a precedent-setting achievement.

“It’s super cool,” Sandlin said. “For our league conversation, we do a back of the year, defensive player of the year and special teams player of the year. She won that and I thought, ‘Man, that may be the first time that’s happened.’ She was put in a tough spot being a girl on a football team, but she rose to the challenge and she deserves every accolade she receives.

“She had to face a lot of challenges like not being able to be in the locker room for some things and stuff like that. But she was a huge part of our team and she handled everything really well. We’re very proud of Halle.”

Phares’ all-state selection comes in the same season as Chatfield’s Emma Strom reportedly became the first female skill player on a state championship-winning football roster.