VIDALIA — Carla Wyatt and Morgan Wyatt had an unusual mother-daughter conversation before the AYA football season began.

Daughter Morgan turned to her mother after watching the New Orleans Saints with an unlikely question.

“It got my attention,” Morgan said. “It was interesting, so I asked my momma if I could play.”

Carla’s reaction wasn’t exactly normal either.

“I smiled,” Carla said. “I love football, so for her to want to play, I enjoyed it.”

Carla enjoyed it even more when Morgan turned out to be one of the better players for the 8-and-under Delta Bank Panthers. At defensive end, Morgan was making tackles in the backfield, and she even had a 10-yard touchdown run on offense. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to show off any dancing skills after the score.

“They told me no dancing,” Morgan said.

Along with being prohibited from showing off her moves in the end zone, Morgan had to adjust to boys’ tempers after being tackled by a girl. She didn’t sweat it, though.

“They were saying, ‘I’m going to get you next time,’” Morgan said. “I didn’t worry about it. I just kept playing hard.”

Morgan plays softball and basketball too, but neither sport captures her attention quite like football. In fact, her mother believes she’ll keep playing football for a long time, and she’s going to let her daughter decide how far she wants to take it.

“She wants to play for the New Orleans Saints,” said Carla, turning to Morgan to ask her a series of questions. “You want to play junior high ball?”

“Yeah.”

“High school?”

“Yeah.”

“College?”

“Yeah.”

“For the New Orleans Saints?”

“Yeah.”

“See, she loves it,” Carla said.

“It’s my favorite sport,” Morgan added.