I looked up at the scoreboard and realized that we did have a chance. After Flint kicking a field goal to take the lead. The score was the Flint Spartans twenty-seven, and St Patrick’s Fighting Irish twenty-four. With only one minute and thirty four seconds to go in the state championship game, Flint kicked off. Our receiver, Max Stanley was back to return the ball. When the ball touched his hands, he quickly took off running with his hall of fame speed. One defender was closing in on him about to make the tackle. Max quickly read the defender and juked to his right. He found a gap in the defence and quickly pierced the line. He was running as fast as his body would allow him to go, not looking back. You could hear the the crowd screaming and cheering as Max ran all the way into the endzone. When Max looked back, he saw exactly what everyone else did, a yellow flag sitting on our own twenty-five yard line. We watched in disbelief while the ref announced the call.

“Holding, Offence” It would take back the touchdown and put the ball our own fifteen yard line. Giving us only one minute and twenty-one seconds to score and win the game. Then I woke up with sweat dripping down my face.

I keep having all sorts of nightmares about what happened last season, going undefeated and then end up losing to the dramatic underdogs. I will never forget that injury that cost my twin brother David to never step foot on a football field again. I keep hearing the crowd shout in my head

“Jeremey! Jeremy! Jeremy!” As you might have heard people expect a lot from a quarterback

of a high school football team. People call me Scotts because that is my last name. My full name is Jeremy Stephen Scotts. When I got out of bed, I looked at my reflection in the meer. I looked at my long curly brown hair, my small tan that a carried with me from summer vacation and I even looked at my sad looking dark blue eyes. When I look at my face I think that I can still see images of the championship game replay in the reflection of my eyes. I went down to breakfast and saw that David was already awake, sitting in the kitchen with his crutches leaning up against the table. I looked at what he was eating and saw that it was two blueberry pancakes, two eggs, and a glass of orange juice. I knew something smelled good when I woke up. I looked on the counter and saw there was a plate already made for me.

“I made you some breakfast for the day of your big game.” David told me.

“Thanks.” I replied. I grabbed the plate and started eating.

Two hours before the game started, I drove over to the school and waited in the locker room with the rest of the team. I sat down leaning against my locker and put my headphones in and started listening to music. When the bus showed up we all went upstairs and piled in the bus. On the way there the team gathered and said a prayer. After we were done praying I looked over to Larry Jones, our starting center. We went over snapping snapping strategy’s so we don’t fumble the ball. When the bus pulled into the parking lot we all walked out in a single file line. We had all of our gear on except for our helmets that we carried in our left hand. We walked so simultaneously that some people thought we were trained by Navy Seals. We gathered onto the field and started to warm up.

I looked at the clock and it had one minute left until the game starts.

“Scotts! Maxwell! Your captains get to midfield!” our coach screamed. I grabbed Kyle Maxwell who was my main receiver this year who ended up taking the place of Max Stanley when he graduated. Since we were the away team we got to choose heads or tails on the coin toss. When it was in the air I called heads. It flipped frantically in the air, and finally landed with the Eagle pointing towards us. It was tails, which meant that we had lost the toss. The Southville Seahawks chose to kick off to start the game. We lined up to return the kick. The kicker stuck his arm up and the ref blew his whistle that indicated that the ball can now be kicked. The Seahawks jumped off the line just as the ball was kicked. Since we were facing the sun you could tell Ryan Hinsdale was having trouble seeing the ball. He stuck his arms out and watched the ball bounce off and the other team jump on it. Two plays later the Seahawks ran a four yard touchdown run to make it 6-0. They quickly faked a field goal and passed it into the endzone and scored the two point conversion and I knew this was going to be a long game. The scoreboard showed 8-0 but i knew it wouldn’t stay like that forever.

At halftime i could tell coach was mad. The scoreboard said 29-21 but we all knew that with the way we are playing, it should be way out of reach. After coaches long speech about leadership and something else that I missed because I zoned out, it was time to go back onto the field. Once again the ref blew his whistle to signal that the ball can now be kicked, but this time we were kicking the ball. Our kicker, Hugo Martinez kicked the ball out of the endzone as he always does. By the end of the fourth quarter, we were losing by three points and had only fifty-two seconds left in the game and the ball on the Seahawks’ own fourty-five yard line. I called hut and dropped back to throw. I saw that nobody

was open so I decided to run the ball. I gained twenty yards before I attempted to get out of bounds. I ran as fast as I could but couldn’t get out of bounds. I was tackled at the twenty-three yard line. I looked up and knew the clock was still moving but I wasn’t aware that we had only had twenty-eight seconds left. When everyone was lined up I called hut and spiked the ball to stop the clock. The clock stopped with twenty seconds left in the game. It was second and ten with twenty-three yards to the endzone. I called hut and the ball was snapped. I dropped back to throw the ball when I saw the blitz. I quickly tried to react and I threw the ball. I looked up and saw the ball sailing into the Seahawks defenders arms. As he caught it he slid and into the ground so he would not fumble the ball. The Seahawks quarterback called hut and took a knee to run out the clock and end the game.

The next week at practice the team was waiting in the locker room when coach walked in with the coach of the Chicago Bears. He told us that Coach Smith was going to give us a speech. Coach Smith told us about leadership and that ever since we lost last year in the championship we have been lacking leadership. This speech must of been momentum to the whole team because we did not lose a game since opening day. After twelve straight wins we were on our way to the state championship.

The day of the game flashbacks of last years game kept on popping up into my head. I was afraid that I was going to throw an interception or get hurt like my brother David. I knew that this game would show everyone that I can handle pressure. I arrived to the school three hours before the game because we had a long bus ride. On the bus I pulled out my iPad and watched game film from the opposing team. We were playing the Lansing Jets. They were the scariest team in the state. I knew that

if we wanted a chance of winning that we would need to play our hardest and not let anyone get hurt.

When we arrived we shuffled off the bus as we always do. I grabbed my helmet and put it under my left arm. My stomach felt like it dropped one-hundred feet. I have never been this nervous for a football game in my life. After warm ups and the coin toss it was time to start the game. My team got to kick off.

When I looked into the stands of Ford Field it was hard to see anyone I knew because of how crowded it was. I could barely make up a sign that read “Jeremy’s Number One Fan!” I knew right away that it was David. Once the ball was kicked, Ryan Hinsdale caught it and the game was underway. He carried the ball out to the thirty-six yard line before being tackled. When I got onto the field I gave my team the play. Once everyone was lined up I gave the cadence and called hut. I saw Kyle Maxwell running up field, wide open. I threw the ball and saw it land softly in his hands. He caught the ball and ran in all the way in for a quick touchdown. We quickly kicked a field goal to make the score 7-0. We were winning just twenty-three seconds into the game. After a few more touchdowns by both teams we were going into halftime with the score tied at 21-21. Coach gave us a talk on how well our offence was doing and that our defence needed to step it up a bit.

After halftime we ran out of the locker room and stretched a little bit more. We were ready to kick the ball off and the Jets were ready to return the ball. The whistle blew and the ball was kicked and the Jets return man grabbed it and started running. He broke a few tackles and was on his way to the endzone. The Jets were up by seven points now. They carried this lead into the fourth quarter. With only thirteen seconds left in the game we were down by seven points. With the ball on the thirty-four yard

line I knew I have seen this scene before. I called hut and the ball was snapped. I dropped back to pass, looking for an open receiver and saw Kyle Maxwell. wide open. I threw the ball and saw it fly through the air. I saw a defender jump up to intercept it and saw it hit his fingers. The ball bounced off his hands and land in someone elses. I noticed that Kyle had come back to make the catch. He caught it and ran it into the endzone just as time expired. We were down by one with no time left in the game and still needed to kick the extra point. The ball was snapped for me to hold and I quickly drew back. It was a fake field goal for the win. I ran outside and sprinted for the endzone to get the two point conversion. I saw one defender running straight at me. He looked like a monstrous steam train moving straight at me. I jumped as high as I could into the air. I landed on the ground and quickly looked to see where I was. I noticed I was one yard into the endzone. I looked on the big screen and noticed i had comepletely jumped over the defender and landed in the endzone. There were no flags thrown, which meant we had won our state championship.
When I arrived at home my whole family was there to celebrate the big win. Everyone was so proud of me and I knew that. Winning a championship is just as good as it sounds. When I finished celebrating with my family I realized that I could finally dream about victory and not defeat.