Holly Neher is the first girl to throw a touchdown pass in a Florida high school varsity game [Video]

The girl playing quarterback at Hollywood Hills threw a touchdown pass in her first varsity tackle football game — and on her first pass.

With the Spartans trailing Hallandale 21-0 in the fourth quarter, junior Holly Neher was inserted into the game to make her debut. Her first snap — a handoff.

Her second play from scrimmage, Hills coach Brandon Graham called a pass play. That’s when the magic happened.

She reared back, threw a deep ball over a leaping safety to 6-foot-3 wide-out Alexander Shelton and Shelton went up and got it over the Chargers cornerback, whose tackle he broke to complete the 45-yard touchdown.

“It felt amazing. I was so happy,” Neher said by phone. “I was jumping up and down.

“[My teammates] were jumping and screaming just as much as I was — and even more.”

It marks the first touchdown pass a girl has thrown in a tackle football game in state history, according to Florida HS Football. In 2012, South Plantation’s Erin Dimeglio threw the first pass by a Broward girl but never threw for a touchdown.

Neher entered the game motivated because, although she is the second quarterback on the depth chart, she wasn’t the first one in after starter Ramon James. Freshman Emile Bien-Aime came in before her.

“We kept screaming, ‘Put Holly in! Put Holly in!’” Holly Neher’s mother, Paula Neher, said over the phone, adding the cheerleaders joined in. “She went in and I lost it.”

It would turn out to be Hills’ only score of the game, falling to Hallandale 21-7 at Cooper City High.

“They should’ve put her in sooner,” Paula said.

While she was the only one of the three quarterbacks to throw for a touchdown, Holly said she won’t let her quick success get to her head. She won’t pressure Graham into naming her the starter going forward.

“The coach saw what happened, and I’ll let the coach make the decision,” Holly Neher said.

Neher signed up to play football with the boys this summer after playing quarterback for Hills’ flag football team last spring, which was also coached by Graham.

sports@latimes.com