Last night I had the amazing opportunity to witness an amazing football game between my alma mater, Flushing High School, and Brandon High School. The Brandon Blackhawks entered the game with a record of 2-4, already eliminated from playoff contention and simply playing for pride at this point in the season. Flushing, however, started the game with a 5-1 record knowing one more victory would gain them admittance to the 2014 playoffs. On paper, one would think Flushing should run away with the game, that it would not even be a contest, yet games are not won on paper. In fairness, I feel obliged to also mention it was Flushing's homecoming game with all the traditional festivities and goings-on occurring as well.
The game began and already I could tell there was something off, the team from Brandon was able to march down the field with little to no difficulty and within four minutes it was already 7-0 Blackhawks. I was astounded; I had done my research and knew the Flushing defense was better than this considering the teams they had defeated earlier in the season. Immediately my football mind began to look deeper, what were the intangible elements that led to such a weak defensive showing on the first drive.
Putting that conundrum on the back burner until the next defensive series, I resigned myself to witnessing what our offense could achieve. I could hardly blink before it was 7-7 as Flushing's run game carved up the Blackhawk defense in 3 plays. Not only did the fast score tell me I had nothing to worry about with the offense, but it would allow me to figure out what was bothering me about the defense far sooner than expected.
On the second defensive series, I saw the reason why our defense looked like a paper wall. The Brandon receivers were not only faster than our cornerbacks, but also much taller. This physical mismatch combined with our corners playing man coverage with no cushion was making it far too simple for the opposing quarterback to simply look to whichever receiver had gained a step and throw it up for grabs. This trend continued for the rest of the first half, leading to a halftime score of 35-14 Brandon.
As the second half began, I could sense something different, something strong coming from the Flushing team. They came out of the locker room like they still owned the game, that it was theirs to lose even though they were down by 21 points and seemed to have no answers on defense. This sense of confidence was immediately confirmed with a quick touchdown after halftime.
The defense was back on the field and it became apparent that the coaching staff must have noticed what I had seen. The corners began providing cushion and they were going with a nickel package almost every play; the only way for undersized corners to combat a tall, fast passing game. For the first, and not the final time in the game, Brandon was forced to punt.
I'm not going to bore you with the rest of the game's details as it became a repetitive cycle of Flushing scoring and Brandon punting. The final score of the game was 42-35 Flushing. They secured a playoff spot and provided an amazing victory for the whole community to rally around going into homecoming weekend. Most of all, they gave me a memory I will never forget.
I have always held the ideal of perseverance very high. Many things in my life have given me cause to give up, yet still I find a way, a reason, to move forward. The definition of perseverance is the steadfastness to do something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. That entire game was the epitome of perseverance.
Alas, I arrive at the true reason for the story above, a promise:
I promise to all those I love to never give up, to always love you no matter how difficult it becomes or whatever obstacle stands in my way. I will overcome anything to make sure you know I adore you with everything I am.
No comments:
Post a Comment