For his entire life, Willey had always had problems with school and staying out of trouble. At a young age, he was diagnosed with ADHD. For his parents, it was an explanation of why he was always goofing around. But for Willey, it was a get out of jail free card. His parents weren’t able to afford adderall for him, and in their eyes it was giving drugs to a child with personality. This went on for a long time, the messing around and frequent trips to the principal's office. But when he was in 5th grade, he discovered something that changed everything; football. For once in his life he was able to actually pay attention for a long period of time, and this eventually made him less squirley in class too. He finally found a reason to try in school. 

As the years passed by, his passion for football only grew along with his dedication to school. Both football and school were an escape from his home life. Hell was the only word to describe it. Now that he was a senior in high school, he had delt with years of his parents constant bickering and straight up fighting. They were in the midst of a divorce, and it was ugly. His mom had stayed home and looked after him when he was younger, but she kept at home even after he was old enough to take care of himself. His dad was constantly working, 6 days a week he did 12 hour shifts, but on fridays he did 8 hours so he could watch him play football. HIs father was truly Willeys hero. They had just enough money to have him in football, and that was it. Other than that they had nothing extra, and his mom was trying to take half of that. 

Waking up in the morning was always hard for Willey. As a 17 year old, he never wanted to go to bed on time. On the school days, he would get up at 5 so he could lift and get some running in. He lived in the projects, so he was able to get his running in by running to the school. His school was not in the greatest shape and didn’t have a lot of money. It was also a mix of roughly 50% white and 50% black, with him being part of the black 50%. The community was very close, and he hadn’t really experienced any real discrimination or racism. They were all poor, and for them it didn’t matter what color poor you were. Poor was poor and it gave them something in common. 

For the first time in school history, they were going to state for football. They had gone undefeated this year, a large reason was because he had a historic year. 23 touchdowns this year with over 1500 yards rushing. He had a few receiving yards, but hardy enough to even mention. The team itself was still good, but he had become the offensive weapon that gave them the edge over the other teams they had played. They started their drive to the University of Illinois stadium early in the morning, so his dad was able to get him a ride in as he was going to work.

Neither he nor his dad were morning people, but his dad had to make himself one to get to work. After a few minutes, his dad finally broke the silence. “So, this is the beginning of the end, huh?”

“Yeah. it really is.” Willey said softly. “I don’t want it to be over though”

“All good things come to an end man, that’s what makes them special. If no good things ended, that would take away the sense of importance and meaning from it.” Willey’s dad was always insightful, but this really resonated with him. Maybe it was because it was so early in the morning and he wasn’t fully awake, but Willey felt content. 

“Yeah, you’re right, Dad.” They arrived to the school and his Dad wished him luck and said he loved him. It was a little weird, as Willey’s dad never said that. He was big into the don’t show your emotions and be a man. A different though process from a different time. Willey went to his locker and grabbed all his pads and his cleats, and loaded the bus. He thanked the bus driver and went to the back of the bus. He went straight to sleep, and didn’t wake up until they had made it to the hotel. It was an ok hotel at best, but it was what the school had been able to afford. They had a little downtime before the game, so he just hung out in the hotel on his phone and tried to get ready mentally for the game.

When they were finally on the field warming up, it was truly surreal. It was a packed stadium, with fans from both schools. There were also college scouts there, which made Willeys heart beat at 100 miles per hour. He was trying to stay in the moment but he was starting to fold under the pressure. During warmups he was dropping handoffs and passes, and his coach noticed. The running back coach was very old school and had a tendency to cuss you out for these types of transgressions, for in his eyes this was a cardinal sin. Coach Backass pulled him aside for a second, and Willey was sure he was about to get ripped a new one.

“Willey, take a deep breath man.” Backass said calmly. Willey was taken aback by his levelheadedness. “This is going to be your biggest game of your life and your nerves are gonna be shot, but you need to just be in the moment. Just imagine it’s just any other game for now, and get your mind at peace.” He slapped him on the back and had him get back to warming up with the team. Backass had told him what he really needed to hear, so now he had calmed down a bit. The first handoff back to him he received perfectly and ran perfect. He was back.

Fast forward to the 4th quarter, they were down one score with :56 seconds left in the quarter. He had just interccepted the ball and now they were on their own 30. No timeouts.  First play they ran down the middle and Willey got stuffed at the line. 2nd and long, 47 seconds left. They passed the ball and the receiver caught it, but didn’t get out of bounds. First down. They had 30 seconds left. The quarterback spiked it, stopping the clock and giving them second down with 28 seconds left. Two more runs down the middle, and two more times getting stuffed. 18 seconds left. 3rd down. They tried passing the ball and the receiver didn’t catch it. 4th and 5 with 16 seconds left, and they had 40 yards to go to score. The final play they would run came in, that being an outside run with him carrying it. As they lined up, Willey was completely locked in. When the ball was snapped he received the ball perfectly and took off. He passed the first defender. Then the second. He couldn’t believe it. He ran for his life, his teammates, for the game he had loved so much. It was open field and the endzone for him, nothing outside of a freak accidnent would stop him. As he made it to the endzone, the roar of the crowd was deafening. The clock hit 0, and due to the other team missing their last 2 point conversion, they had won the game. The team swarmed the field, and he let the team swallow him and he felt conten with life.