All I could hear was the roar of the crowd. there were fifty thousand people in the stadium to watch me, and my team to win state. There were seven seconds left in the fourth quarter, it was fourth and goal, the ball was on the two. We all knew what they were going to do. they were just going to hand it off to their 6’2” 225 pounder fullback right up the middle. I lined up right over the nose guard ready to pounce over the line when they hiked the ball. But the only thing I could think of was, win this for dad. Just win this for dad. Their QB Jake Towel was screaming out signals to their team but no one could hear anything.

Seven months earlier my dad and I were driving on the interstate when it happened. We were going around 70 on a 65 when a 2014 Ford F-150 raced up towards us it looked like he was going 100 m/p/hr. Then it happened. He clipped us on the left hand side of the car. We instantly flipped. Then everything when blank.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital. The only thing I could think of was is my dad okay. Then the doctor came in looking at the ground. Then he looked at me square in my eye and said,“John your dad passed away last night after the crash. We tried everything to save him but nothing worked.” I could feel my eyes burning up with tears. Then I remembered all the good memories I had with my dad especially watching football with him every weekend. My dad and I would watch any game that was on T.V. but our favorite team to watch was Ohio State because they would always win. But what he really loved was watching me play football.

Then I set a goal. I knew what I would do. I would get better and win state for my dad. After all the months in rehab healing and recovering. After all the months in the weight room getting stronger and faster all came down to this. It felt like my whole life came down to this.

As I lined up over the nose guard It felt like everything was in slow motion. I could hear their quarterback yelling out signals to the wide receivers. then he hunched over to receive the snap. HIKE! Instantly I jumped over the line CRACK.