One day before the big day I told the team to get ready and set your alarm for 5:45. The next day [the big day] I get there at 5:30. I am the coach so I'm usually the first one there but to my surprise everybody was all lined up with their pads on and did the lines for the practice field too. I could tell that they were ready to play. I said “Here we are boys! 30 minutes before THE game for the championship. This game is going to get intense, you're going to get bruises but we're not afraid. Am I clear?” The team mumbled “Yeah”. I yelled, “AM I CLEAR?” The team yelled “YES COACH!’’ During the coin toss our team captain asked me which to pick, head or tails. I replied with “heads”. The referee stated the coin landed on “tails”. The Lions said they chose to defer. The Lions, who we are playing in today, have won the last six seasons, but today we are going to shut the scoreboard off the Lions. The first play was play 5, a pitch to the running back, and we got the first down and an extra 20 yards.  We came out strong, but struggled during the rest of the first half and we were down 24 to 7 at halftime.

As the coach had to think of a game plan.  “Bingo”, I mumbled. I'm going to give a pep talk, I said to myself.  I was really hoping this would work to get them pumped up and ready to play hard.  “Alright boys, we did not start off good. We need to be aggressive and get in there! ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK and hit them hard” I said. ‘’AM I CLEAR??’’ I shouted. “YES COACH," the team replied.  I told the players that we’d go out there and be successful. 

We started out great on the first play of the second half.  We got a pick six with a 66 yard catch and run by our safety. We then went back on defense with the score now 14 to 24. They started off with a 20 yard gain, then our safety hit their running back so hard that he fumbled the ball.  Our safety picked it up and scored a TOUCHDOWN. THE CROWD WENT CRAZY. The score was 24 to 21. We were so close and decided to make a big decision and go for the onside kick. It is the 4th quarter now and the onside kick is….goooooooooood!!!! We did it, we are going to win! I told the QB that I believed in him and to start running the clock down. We were at the 25 yard line and we are so close to scoring with only 5 seconds left. ‘’Timeout”, I said. We are going to do play 6, a crossing play. ‘’Are you sure this is going to work coach?” a player said.  ’I replied, “Sure it will, I believe in you guys and you will win this!”  With five seconds left in the game, the QB said “Set, Hike” and threw the ball down field to the wide receiver.  The wide receiver jumped and caught the ball ONE HANDED!!  GAME OVER!! WILDCATS WIN!! The announcer shouted as the crowd went CRAZY. So crazy that they started to throw things onto the field. “What a game”, I said. With the final score 27 to 24. ‘’Good game, your team is amazing and they never give up”, the other coach said to me. I replied, “You too! That was a great game!”