Not How You Start but Rather How You Finish..

Is what counts.

Last Thursday Pre-Game:
The Sheboygan Badgers were 0-4, no wins and on the verge of a total collapse. My Dad wrote about not having the option to quit what he started as a kid. Well we had one player that did just that, but not giving anyone any heads up he just didn't show up anymore and considering that he was our starting quarterback it hurt.

We are playing Oostburg who has but one team, so all their players in 6th and 7th grade are on their team, no weight limit like we have. They get the ball to start the game, march down and score, we stop the extra point. 0-6. When we get the ball back we drive 60 yards. We beat them up, hit them hard and fired off the line but came up 2 yards short. Oostburg gets the ball back on the 2 at which time we sack them for a safety....Now it starts to roll. We get the ball back and score 8-6....And score again in the 4th...Our first win....16-6

Saturday: 1-4
We play the Eagles...They are the team to beat, undefeated at 5-0 and we can play the spoiler. To top it off our head coach is gone and our defensive coach is gone also....So that leaves me and one other coach to run it today...Finally I get to call what I want when I want. It was a battle all day, back and forth, hard hits, long runs broken and every kid on that field, regardless of team was putting everything they had into the game. Half-time score....0-0

I did something different than normal, I asked what the kids were seeing out there. Nose tackles crashing holes, linebackers cheating to the line, defensive ends crashing down the line early.....Ah....That was it.

I ran one play the whole first half....Lead to the left....Lead to the right...That was it.

At half time my other coach comes up to me and asks me if I forgot the sweep...Going outside...No I didn't forget...I will call it when we really need it and on a 3 and 8 I called it for a 20 yard gain.

We kick off the second half, helmets smacking and shoulder pad hits rang out. I knew that if we kept it close we could pull this off....I think Barry Alvarez would tell us not to flinch....(I know this is getting a little over dramatic but stay with me).

Then it happened..The one play...The Eagles ran up the middle and we had 2 guys on him...He was moving the pile forward and out of no where our linebacker swiped the ball out of his hands, took one spin and was off to the races for a touchdown. The place erupted with cheers and the sidelines went wild.....In the course of the game we intercepted 2 passes and recovered 2 fumbles. We had lots of "ohhhh" hits..The kind that you see and you say "oohhh" and to show for it we won 6-0.

So this was it, the last game of the season and after the kids shook hands and took a knee I had to come up with something to say to the team that started slow but put it all together.

"Gentleman....It is not how you start the season but rather how you finished that is so impressive......"

At 9:12 AM,  Anonymous said...

Inspiring! Absolutely inspiring! I assume the coach had Gatorade dumped over his head and was carried off the field. The rockets went off and fireworks prevailed everywhere. Next is the parade down mainstreet.

Wait till next year! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Love, Dad

 

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