“Beep, Beep, Beep.” The annoying noise of my alarm clock wakes me up at six-thirty. I open my eyes and slam my hand against the alarm clock to shut it up. Sitting up slowly I look around my room and think to myself, “Today is finally it, the championship game.” I get out of bed and sluggishly head for my bathroom. The shower heats right up when I turn it on and I hop right in. After my shower, I throw some clothes on, and gather all of my school stuff. I go to school and the day goes by slow because I am so excited for the game tonight. Throughout the entire day, people were coming up to me wishing me luck for the big game.

“Good luck tonight!” Mrs. Coyne exclaimed.
“Are you coming?” I asked.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Good, just making sure. I’ll see you in math.”

After school, I headed home to do my homework and get ready. With homework now out of my way, I had time to relax. I jumped on my couch and crashed for a few hours. Rest was very important if I were to do well in the game. At five-thirty, I awoke from my nap to the scent of cheeseburgers sizzling on the grill. My dad had made dinner for all of us to eat and enjoy for the special occasion. Dinner lasted for about forty-five minutes, which left me fifteen minutes to throw my shorts and jersey on. I arrived at the game around six-thirty, an hour before the game would actually begin. As I opened the gym doors, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The bleachers were packed tight with students, parents, grandparents, teachers, principals, and even some other basketball teams had showed up. The girls championship game was before us and they were down by three with only two minutes left in play. I know they could do it, and in the end they won the game by five points. Fifteen minutes until the tip off, coach called us into the locker room to talk to us and get us hyped for the game.
“Today is it boys. The championship game, now I know you guys can do it, it’s just a matter of, if you guys are willing to put your heart and soul into the game.” Coach yells in the middle of the locker room.
I stand up and try to get our team pumped to beat some Chatfield butt, “Alright boys, we have worked all season for this one game. Now are we just going to throw it all away and give up now?”
“NO!”
“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear. Lets get out there and beat those Chatfield Chargers into the ground.”
“YEAH!”
“Do they deserve to be here? Well let’s show them who owns these courts and show who’s got the skill. COLUMBINE on three...one...two...three!”
“COLUMBINE REBELS!”

We ran out of the locker room screaming and jumping. We got two balls, got into our lay-up lines, and started warming up. Ref then blew his whistle. This was finally it, the championship game. We went to center court and Jeremy, our 6 foot 7 inch center, took the jump ball for us. When the Ref threw up the ball for the tip, and Jeremy put all he had into it and won the tip. The game stayed steady for the first half with each team going back and forth in the lead. At half time both teams went into the locker rooms to have team conversations on what needed to be done to win this game.
“Passing, cutting, and finishing your lay-ups.” Coach said.
“When you pass the ball you should always being cutting through looking for a give and go or back door, so we can get some wide open lay-ups. If you get a pass and are right by the hoop square up and shoot the dang ball. Don’t stand there with your back facing the hoop expecting to make a play.” Assistant Coach Dan told us.

When half time was up we got back on the court ready to play. At the end of third quarter we were up sixty-eight to sixty. Even though we had the lead, we could not let up on defense because they only needed four lay-ups to catch up. The rest of the game went by pretty fast. We would score then, they would score, then we would score. In the last two minutes, the score was all tied up eighty to eighty. I couldn’t believe this. We should be winning by at least ten points. When Coach called time out, with one minute left, we knew we had to kick it into high gear. It was our ball when we got out of the huddle and Chatfield was up by four. I got the ball and dribbled it down low. Jeremy posted up and I fed him the ball for an easy two points. Now we were down by two with thirty seconds left to play. We played our hearts out on defense and it paid off with Timmy making a steal and feeding me the ball on the fly. I jumped up, easy lay-up, but the ref blew his whistle. I looked at him to see what he would call....foul. Yes, this was it my time to shine the game was all tied up at eighty-four. I was at the foul line I knew if I made it our team would win and Chatfield would have no chance of making a shot. I stood there waiting for the ball to be passed by the ref. Sweat dripped from my face, my palms were so moist I didn’t know if I was even going to be able to get a grip on the ball. The ref passed me the ball this was it all or nothing, I square up look at the front of the rim bring the ball up and released it. The ball seamed to soar in the air forever, and now the crowd was on there feet. I took a deep breath....SWOOSH. I had done it every one from the bleachers and side line came running towards me congratulating me for the shot. I had done it...no we had done it, my team had won the championship game.