Story #37: State Championship

State Championship 

     It was a brisk October morning. It was the day before John Paul and the mighty Winnebago Falcons headed for the class 2a state championship. John met up with Nicholas Waters his best friend and they headed to what was the final practice of their senior year. They both knew they would need a great practice before they faced their hated rival Alfred McGee of the New Zealand Bulldogs.

     As John and Nick approached practice there was a sense of urgency in everyone. The whole team wanted to win a state title and beat their Bulldog rivals. They started off the practice with Coach telling them that they would just have a light walk through and then be sent home to rest before the big game. They ran through the plays they knew the Bulldogs would run tomorrow night, broke it out and went home. As John walked off the field he asked Nick if he wanted to throw the pigskin around for a little bit before leaving. The two of them had a deep talk about how much it would mean to each of them to win a state championship for their little town.

     When John got of the bus at the championship game the next day he walked onto the field trying to soak up every moment of it. A couple hours later it was game time and the Falcons were suited up and warming up on the field. Coach told them before opening kickoff that to stay disciplined and do their own jobs and they would come out on top.

     The Falcons booted it deep to Alfred and he brought the ball back all the way to the one yard line. The Falcons had already dug themselves a deep hole giving up a huge return on the opening kick. As John ran out to his defensive position he was yelling, "We need to get a stop here Falcons." Sadly it didn't help because 3 short plays later Alfred finished what he started by taking a handoff from the Bulldogs quarterback and smashing across the goalline. The Bulldogs decided to kick the extra point but missed so it then made it a 6point game with 10 minutes and 30 seconds to play in the first quarter. The bulldogs proceeded to kick off but the Falcons could not get anything going on offence. They had to punt and their defense forced a stop right away. It had been a defensive battle the whole entire night up until the last two minutes of the game when the falcons began to march down the field. Their offence was getting in a rhythm behind their All state running back John Paul and their mighty quarterback Nick Waters. The drive then halted at the one yard line with a mere 15 seconds to go.The Falcons had to go for it with being this late in the game down by one score. Nick stepped into the huddle and said to the whole team, "This could be our last offensive play on our high school careers, how do you want to end it!" He then called buck sweep right. It was I formation with John Paul deep behind his full back.

     As John got into his running back stance he knew that the fate of the Winnebago Falcons was on his shoulders. As Nick yelled the cadence John could feel his heart pulling like it was gonna explode. Then in a sudden moment Nick snapped the ball, turned around and then pitched it to the right hitting John right in the hands as he followed his fullback. John watched the fullback smash the outside linebacker and John was gonna be free for the touchdown but he then saw Alfred sprinting down from his safety position. John knew that Alfred had a great angle and as he tried to lower his shoulder Alfred hit him right in the thighs and John knew he was inches short of the goal line but with great awareness stuck the ball over the plain. He thought he got the ball across the line and as he was falling down looked to his right, to see the official with his arms in the air. They had scored as time expired which just left the extra point to win a state title. The Falcons kicked the extra point and it went right threw the middle, they had just won the game. The Winnebago Falcons were state champions!