Morgan Wyatt doesn’t turn down a challenge on the football field or even at recess at Vidalia Upper Elementary School.

Wyatt said the first time she asked a group of boys if she could join a game of two-hand touch, other players were skeptical.

Wyatt said it didn’t take long to prove she could play.

“When I played they said, ‘OK, I see now,’” Wyatt said. “When we finished playing I said, ‘I can beat you.’”

Wyatt, 10, has been playing tackle football since she was 7-year-old. She played softball and basketball, but those didn’t overshadow her love for football.

“I have pressure from my mom and my dad,” mother Carla Wyatt said. “My mom says, ‘It’s time for her to come off the field,’ But she’s not ready.”

Not unlike other teammates her age, Wyatt was attracted to the sport by contact.

“It was interesting, seeing everybody get tackled,” Wyatt said. “I was like, ‘How does that feel?’”

Now, Wyatt knows how it feels, both to tackle and be tackled. She plays both sides of the ball as a defensive end, running back and quarterback.

She said last season she scored five touchdowns,

“(Tackling) felt awesome,” Wyatt said. “I was like, Wow.’I went around and tackled the quarterback, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is easy.’”

Wyatt said her favorite position is quarterback, and she is practicing her spiral and improving her arm strength, although, her preferred play is the read-option.

“Sometime we’ll fake the ball, and I can run,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt plays for two teams in the Vidalia AYA football league. She plays on one of the 10-and-under teams and also plays with her younger brother, McKale Wyatt, in the 8-under league.

Carla said she didn’t hesitate when her daughter asked to play football, even if she knew it would draw some skepticism.

“I was game for it,” Carla said. “She’s always watched football. I felt there would be a lot of pressure, her being a girl, but I was behind it.

“Parents ask me, ‘You let your girl play football?’”

Her answer — yes.

Football is important to the Wyatt family. Carla, daughter of an Alcorn professor, is studying for her degree in education. The family tailgates for every Braves home game. Wyatt said she wants to be the first woman to play for Alcorn State.

“She loves it,” Carla said. “She said, ‘If I can’t play football, I’m not playing anything.’”

After Alcorn, who knows what’s next for the young athlete.

“(I want to play) until I die,” Wyatt said with a grin.