Big Game

“Red, nineteen! Set, hike!”
Jon took the snap, and scrambled out. I stood there, on defense watching Jon and his offense run around the field. One of the receivers, Frankie, ran out deep for a pass. He was fast, and I watched him run right past me. As he ran past me, I froze. Eventually, I realized he was running deep, and I had to catch him. The cold air made it even harder. Frankie was a few feet ahead of me. I wasn’t even looking at Jon throw the ball; I was just looking at Frankie as his speed got the best of me. I noticed him look up. With that, I knew the ball was coming. Frankie started to slow down, so I knew Jon under threw the ball. I decided to use all the power I could to catch up to Frankie. He stopped trying to catch the ball, and he was a good six feet from me. Prancing vigorously, I managed to catch up to him and swat the ball. I managed to push him over, and he tried to pull me over. Falling over, I managed to reach for the ball. The ball was just in my reach, and I grabbed with one of the tightest grips I ever had. I successfully held on to an important interception.

                It was December 24th, 2009. I was at my aunt and uncle’s neighborhood, with many kids. There were sixteen kids around this neighborhood, all ages from ten-fourteen. They have eight one eight teams in football, and they take it very seriously. They have a large field, with people who ref, and even their own field goals and scoreboards. It’s amazing, and it’s almost perfect. They have strict rules and very strict game play. I admired it completely. I went to my aunt’s for Christmas Eve, and they asked me to play since I’ve played with them before and they knew of my love for sports.  I was pretty excited, and I was pumped up with the cold weather. It was snowing lightly, roughly twenty degrees. After my interception, my team got the ball back. The current score was seven-seven with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. As my team prepared for an offensive drive, we discussed the play. Soon, we lined up in a single running back formation (me at running back), and four receivers. Collin, our quarterback called for the ball, and our center, Greg, snapped the ball to him. I ran toward Collin prepared to take a handoff. One of the defenders, Eric, ran after me. He tried to tackle me, but Collin faked the handoff, so Greg released me and tried to run after Collin. Collin then threw a short pass to me. I caught it easily, and ran. Frankie, who was playing defensive-back on defense, ran after me with his speed. I saw him coming, and tried to shake him off. However, it was to no use. Frankie got me down pretty easily. Still, with being down, I gained a solid nine yards. My team called a timeout to discuss our strategy, as I was wondering how to get score

                With the clock running and less than four and a half minutes left in the game with a tie score, we set up for a play. I was lined up at slot receiver. Collin called hiked, and I ran my route. I took three steps, then ran to the right. Collin through a bullet pass to Lenny, a receiver. Lenny caught it, and ran. Lenny’s not very fast, but he’s big, so he didn’t get far. The clock continued to run, but we didn’t run too fast. After more plays going by, the clock hit two minutes and counting. We had ten yards to end zone, and Collin got the ball. I ran around four yards to end zone, and caught a short pass. As I ran to end zone, Frankie ran to my knees and tackled me down. As I started to come down, I felt the ball come loose. I knew what was coming. The ball came out of my hands, and I landed on the ground. I didn’t have possession of the ball. I tried to find it, but Frankie already got it. He started to run. He ran fast, and no one could get him. He ran back and forth trying to avoid people. All his shaking allowed me to catch up to him. I managed to tackle him thirty yards from the end zone. I felt so stupid. I fumbled the ball two yards from the end zone. I could tell the rest of the kids on my team were mad, but I had to get over it.

                I lined up at defense, in a deep coverage set up. Jon called for the ball, there was thirty seconds left. I was deeper than usual, watching out for Frankie. As I expected, Jon threw to Frankie. The ball was high in the air, and I don’t think Frankie realized I was right there. As Frankie grabbed the ball, I pushed him over, and he bobbled the ball. I managed the intercept the ball. I had to run. I ran as fast as I could. I ran past five other people, and had two kids to beat. I was ten yards from the end zone. Jon tried to pull me down, but I shook him off. I ran to end zone, and I got the touchdown. I had successfully made up for my mistake, and gotten the pick-six. There was six seconds remaining once we kicked off, and we eventually won the game. I had won the game for my team, and they were so proud of what I had done. I was proud too.