“Play-Offs”

“Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there” –Bo Jackson.  Every year we set goals, one of this year’s goals was, to beat last year’s record.  We accomplished that, so we set a new one, get to the play-offs.    Play-offs, the greatest word in the English language.  And we made it. 

Just getting there took around three hours.  We were so excited about the game, the journey felt like ages.  The whole team was jittering with enthusiasm; we couldn’t wait to arrive.  I tried to sleep through the trip, but I was just too excited. 

When we got to the town, we took a pit stop at a local park.  While we were there we ate sandwiches Mr. Rose had provided, and we played football.  We were messing around at the park and stretching our legs, when a cat came over to see what all the noise was about.  So it made its way over and got on the bus.  Nobody noticed it until Dwayne came out of the bus holding a cat.  Everyone went crazy.  We all wanted to know where he got that cat, even Mr. Rose was intrigued, but after a while he told us we needed to return the cat to its home. 
We left the park soon after, and arrived to the school within minutes.  When we got there we all snickered at their facility, “Is that their practice field?”  We asked each other.  It was a multi-purpose field, a football field that was also used as a baseball field in the spring.  The field was a lumpy eye soar.  I myself after looking at the field didn’t expect much more from their team, a grave mistake.

We then entered the school, after gawking at the lumpy field.  Inside we had two small locker rooms at our disposal.  We chose one of locker rooms, and got dressed.  Mr. Rose entered the locker room smiling, but yet he was as serious as I’d ever seen him.  He started off giving the same speech he gave before every game.  “Tonight we enter the lion’s pit” he began.  He told us that this game was no different than any other.  We will enter that lions pit and come out bloody, bruised, and tired.  But which team who comes out victorious is up to us.  He paused, “Why do you play football” he asked.  Two of our captains answered, they both had one reason, to play Friday nights with their brothers.  After hearing their humble answers, we were all ready to play football. 
Since I was a receiver I left first.  When we walked onto the field to warm up, we saw how many students were there supporting us.  I was in awe of how many had come.  I would catch the ball and sneak a glimpse over at our section.  We had a lot of people over there.  They all traveled over three hours to support us, the pressure was on.   

During warm-ups we were giving 110%.  It didn’t matter whether we were running routes or taking read steps, it was all focus and determination.  We weren’t ready to put an end to what had been an amazing season.   
G.E.T. ran the ball wherever they wanted.  They dominated the line of scrimmage.  Their pass game wasn’t far behind either.  Their receivers were fast, and their running back was a giant.  We realized we were in trouble. 
After a long first two quarters, we went to the locker room for half time.  We may have been considerably behind but we weren’t ready to be done, not quite yet.  It was the first time Amery had made it to the play-offs in ten years, and we weren’t going out without a fight.  We came out in the second half guns blazing, but despite our best efforts, it was no use.  We may have managed to score a touchdown in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough.  The fourth quarter came, and the starters went out, and I got to play.  That was the best 20 minutes or so of my entire life.  I ran my pass routes, and made my blocks.  The time seemed to fly by when I was out there.  I have never been so happy to play football in my life. 

However, the real magic didn’t happen, until after the game; in the huddle, we all cried including me.  Although, not all the tears were of sadness.  We did cry because we were sad, but we cried at how close we were together.  We all hugged, I hugged everyone on at least once.  Everyone wanted to take pictures, friends, family, and especially team mates. 

The most memorable moment of the entire trip was on the bus however.  We’ve made a tradition of sorts this year, if we win an away game, we chant a song, as a team.  It’s not just any old song however, we sing “In the Air Tonight.”  Mr. Rose came on the bus and talked to us about the game like he always did, but something special happened when we finished.  He started to go to his seat but paused for a moment.  He turned and said “I have one request for you guys, I want you guys to sing “In the Air Tonight.”  As soon as he sat down, we happily filled his request.  We started to chanting the song and beating our seats to the rhythm. 

“The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory” –Les Brown.  Although we lost the game, and our season was over, but this quote still applies to us.  Yes, they got to continue their season, and we didn’t, but we had a victory of our own.  We came closer than ever that night, we’ve bled together, and sweat together.  But now, we’ve cried together.  The whole season we focused on team bonding and becoming brothers. And during the season we were a close team, we were brothers, but after that last game we were closer than we ever expected.  That was our victory, and that victory was sweeter than any win this entire season.