The game

It was the first playoff game this town has seen in 7 years. The atmosphere was nuts. There was a brisk chill in the air. 40 degrees to be exact. The Prospect Knights were hosting the Dekalb Barbs, at home. At George Gattas memorial stadium to be exact. The game was expected to be a shootout, however the Barbs of Dekalb were expected to win by all the prep sport “experts”. The team started getting ready at 5:55. Getting all their gear on, and heading out to the field house to meet before they headed to the stadium to warm up. As they arrived, people were already in the stands. One hour early. As they entered, Hells bells by ACDC started to play in the overhead speakers in the stadium. They went through their warmup. As they exited to go back to the fieldhouse, to have their team meeting and make their way to the stadium behind the drumline, the adrenaline kicked in. In my time here, we had made it to the playoffs twice, both in my junior and senior seasons. This was the first time however, we actually stood a chance. As we made our way to the stadium, Mekky and I were in the front, as usual. Screams from my teammates behind me got me AMPED. We walked through the darkness of that cold fall night, not knowing what was about to happen. Was this going to be my last football game ever? I was not ready for that. I would do anything in my own power to not have that be the case. We made our way through the opening gates. Students and parents waiting to get through the ticket line had their phones out recording it. My mouth guard was dangling from my helmet. I pulled my arm sleeve tighter, and read the message I wrote to myself in sharpie while I was in the training room. I was ready, I knew my teammates were too. We made our way through the cheerleaders and Poms team before we sprinted to our endzone. When we make it to the endzone, that is my time to scream my message at my teammates. As we get to the endzone and wait for the rest of the team to make it there, Dekalb started walking in. I was screaming at the top of my lungs, not saying anything, just yelling. I looked around at everybody, all eyes on me. I repeated the same message I say before every game, “As long as I’m with y’all, as long as I’m with the boys with those Ps on their helmet, I know we’re good no matter who it is. The experts said it was going to be a shootout, and that is exactly what they got. In the first half, there were 75 points, 1 defensive stop for both teams. The Barbs were leading 40–35. They were starting with the ball, and had all the momentum. The message to our team at half was that our defense needs to get a freaking stop. That is exactly what they did. We go out there to start the second half and they get a stop, so did Dekalb though. Dekalb scored and went up by 12 points. Nobody on the sideline was phased. I looked to the crowd and saw people sad, screaming come on guys, as if they didn’t believe in us. We marched down with 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter and scored. 6 point lead for Dekalb. The 4th quarter started and the defense got another stop. We went out there and scored again. We were up by 1. Our defense got a stop, and we scored again. We went up by 8. 3 minutes left, up 8 and our defense was on the field. 2 times on that drive it was 4th down and they converted. 12 seconds left, 4th down, season on the line, Dekalb’s quarter back rolls out of the pocket, chased by 3 prospect players. The running back ran open at the last second and caught the ball, made a cut inside and dove for the endzone. They needed a 2 point conversion to tie it. On the 2 yard line, the crowd was on its feet, the Barbs snapped the ball. Instant pressure came as the Dekalb quarterback rolled out of the pocket once again. He rolled to his right, back 15 yards and tossed up a desperation heave. A Dekalb receiver was in the endzone and was running towards it. 2 Knights in the area. Adam Mekky swatted down the ball to seal the victory. I sprinted to the field. I had the most sincere hug with Mekky, it was crazy. All the work we put in paid off. We had won the first playoff game in 7 years.

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