Final Moments

From an outside perspective, a football team may look like a group of jocks hitting each other releasing their anger, but in reality they’re a group of motivated athletes acting as brothers trying to prove themselves. In football, the offense scores the points and gets all the fame, but the defense is what wins championships. Through the third quarter, the opposing Spartans had been controlling the game, running the ball consistently, following with tough defense. The score was 21-17.We didn’t have much of an answer for them, but fourth quarter was our time. When they fumbled during the handoff with eight minutes left in the game, we saw our opportunity to mount a comeback. In the upcoming drive, we knew we had to be sharp, making sure each of our assignments was met and then some. The lights were beaming down, the crowd was noisy and anxious, and it’s what Friday nights were all about. We started running sweep plays, running to the sideline stretching the defense, followed by runs up the gut. Being successful, we marched downfield and punched through the end zone with our fullback. After kicking through the extra point making it 24-21, the heat was now on them.

Stopping an offense from scoring when they need it the most is the best feeling. In the final moments of the last game of the year, the opponent needed to score one more time to win. That’s when the real excitement started. They were on the ten yard line, only thirty feet away from the end zone. “Go Bruins” was painted in bold crimson red on the turf, right in their faces. They could smell it, they wanted it bad, but it was easy to say my team wanted it more. It’s first down, four tries to score from point blank. They broke the huddle in the same formation they had been in all night. The ball was going to the massive running back that had been fatigued throughout the game: he was exhausted. The quarterback quickly hiked the ball, turned cautiously, and handed the muddy football to him. What happened next put me in awe. My three-hundred pound teammate lifted him off his feet and buried him into the ground. It was now second down, three more tries for the touchdown. The next two downs were unsuccessful pass plays due to our stingy defensive backs that swatted down every ball thrown in their direction. This is what we’ve spent all those gloomy, fall nights practicing for. This was the last play of the year, and I’m sure I was going to make it worth my while. When they broke the huddle, my heart was racing faster than ever. You could feel the tension lingering along the line of scrimmage. The ball was hiked and pitched outside the tackle. I jolted forward and took on the lead blocker. The next thing I knew a few teammates swarmed him like bees; we stopped them!