Football Team's Mascot Makes Winning Pass

Oct. 20, 2012— -- Kentucky teen Trent Bauer started the football season as the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School's mascot, but he'll end it as the team's star quarterback.

Bauer usually suited up as in his bulldog costume for games, and didn't think of himself as a football player since he hadn't played since he was 10. But one day this fall, he decided to ask the coach if he could give the sport a try.

"I didn't know he was the mascot. If I had known, I probably wouldn't have stuck him in," Coach Derrick Thomas told ABC News with a laugh. "It's like a movie script, couldn't write it any better."

Bauer is small for a football player, but Thomas couldn't help but notice that the teen had a good arm.

Two weeks ago, as the bulldogs played a rival they hadn't beaten in more than a decade, Bauer got to play.

To everyone's surprise, he scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The team still lost, but Bauer was bumped up to starting quarterback for the next game.

"I went out there, I was really nervous," he said. "In the 4th quarter I settled down a little bit."

It was enough. When the team needed a touchdown for the win, he lobbed a 50-yard pass down the field with just seconds on the clock.

"My mom broke down in tears," Bauer said. "My dad kept calling me a baby for not playing. Now, he says I can't believe it. I'm proud of you."