Part 16

Right before halftime, we kicked another field goal , giving us a 13-0 lead at the half. We had played really well to this point but we knew just how explosive they were, this was far from over.

We opened the second half on offense since we had deferred on the coin toss. On third down, disaster struck as we fumbled the ball at our own twenty four yard line. Three plays later they scored a touchdown cutting our lead to 13-7. Our offense struggled the entire third quarter only picking up one first down. They scored once again , taking the lead 14-13. The defense had been on the field almost the entire third quarter, you could see some fatigue setting in. We rallied together on the sideline and decided if we were going to win this game, the defense needed a few huge plays.

On the next possession our offense drove down the field but stalled out, we had to settle for a field goal recapturing the lead, 16-14. I had played well up to this point, had several tackles, had knocked the quarterback down a few times, but had no real impact play. They started the next drive on their own thirty two yard line, we knew we needed a stop right way. They picked up a first down out to our forty five, but we held the next two plays, forcing a third and eleven. I lined up wide, on the tackle's outside shoulder, they put a tight end on my side as well. I'm not sure what happened, but someone blew an assignment, I wasn't touched. I rounded the corner quickly, as just as the quarterback stepped up to throw, I hurled myself into his back, taking him clean off his feet. The ball tumbled backwards down field, I never saw it, but by the time I got up, we had recovered the ball on their twenty eight yard line. Three plays later we scored on a twenty yard pass, extending our lead to 23-14. It was now a two possession game with slightly over nine minutes to play, we knew another big play would probably put the game out of reach.

They came out on the next possession, lining up in shotgun formation, they were going to try and get one score quickly. For the next few series of downs, the front line went all out, trying to get as much pressure on their quarterback as possible. On third and twelve, I leveled him again just as he threw, but he completed the pass to his receiver. I could tell as he got up off the ground, he was hurting.

With a first down at our forty and roughly seven minutes to play, Coach Ray decided to take a gamble. We ran a double cross stunt up front, and blitzed both the Will and Sam linebackers. The pressure was immediate, the quarterback had no choice but to back peddle quickly and attempt a screen pass. I read the left side of the line immediately moving that way. The quarterback lofted the ball high to his running back who never saw me bearing down on him. He had just secured the ball in his hands when I hit him head on at full speed. I felt the ball roll down my arm, I knew he had lost it. At the same time, I felt five or six bodies fall on top of us, everyone in the pile fighting for the ball. I could hear the officials above us, trying to get to the bottom of the pile, pulling players off. It took a while to get to the bottom, but we had indeed recovered the ball again. The referee gave the signal, first down, our ball.

The Coach from the opposing team was livid, screaming his running back never had possession, it was not a fumble, but an incomplete pass. One of the officials on the sidelines starting talking to the other official who called it a fumble. They decided to send the play upstairs to the booth to be reviewed. Both teams took a breather while the referee was on the headset with the officiating crew in the press box. You could tell from the length of the conversation, they were having a difficult time making a clear cut decision. That was good for us, because there has to be irrefutable video evidence to overturn the call, being it was called a fumble originally on the field. The crowd was starting to grow restless as close to five minutes passed, before the official removed the headset and trotted to the center of the field and switching on his microphone.

"After further review, the ruling on the field stands, it was a fumble.", he stated to the crowd.

The crowd erupted in unison, as the opposing coaches went absolutely insane on the sidelines screaming at the officials. We took possession at our own thirty eight yard line with just under seven minutes to play. If our offense could pick up one or two first downs, there would not be enough time for them to get the two scores they needed. But in football as in life, things never go as planned. We failed to get a first down and punted the ball back to them with six minutes left to play. They took control on their own eighteen yard line. We knew they were going throw on every down, so we adjusted our personnel, adding six defensive backs, using one linebacker and our original front four. There was going to be no reading the offensive line, or back field motion. The four of us were simply going to pin our ears back and rush the quarterback giving him as little time to throw as possible. On first and second down he completed short passes across the middle but he was knocked down both times. I was getting close on every play, my opponent was simply exhausted.

They picked up another first down getting out to their forty four yard line. On the next play they ran a deep post pattern, the quarterback held the ball for quite a while allowing his receiver to get deep. I rounded the corner, I knew I had him. He stepped up in the pocket and had just released the ball as I smacked him down from behind driving him to the ground. As I got up, I saw the yellow penalty flag near me, I figured someone on the offense had been holding. The referee's conferred for a second then the umpire turned his microphone on once again.

"Personal foul, unnecessary roughness on the defense, late hit number 99. Fifteen yard penalty, first down.", he said, clicking off the microphone.

Coach Ray came across the sidelines, screaming at the official who threw the flag. There was no way I was late, he barely had released the ball. I looked up at the large video screen the in the center of the stadium, they were replaying the down. The ball was just inches out of the quarterback's hand when I made contact, it was a bullshit call. But there was nothing we could do about it, the referee marched off the penalty to our forty one yard line. On the next play, our secondary blew a coverage package and they completed a pass and ran the ball down to our twelve yard line. I looked up at the clock, it read 4:45 minutes left to play in the game.

They lined up for the next play in an odd formation, we had not seen this look before. It was a designed roll out, the quarterback kept the ball running to one side, while all the receivers but one ran to the other. It worked perfectly, he trotted into the end zone untouched for the score. After the extra point was kicked, the score had been cut to

23-21, with just under four minutes to play.

As our kick teams gathered on the sidelines, they were discussing what our opponent would do next. Would they onside kick and try to recover the ball, or would they kick it deep and hope their defense would hold us again and force us to punt ? The conventional wisdom was that they would kick the ball deep to us, an onside kick was too dangerous. If we recovered and picked up a single first down, we would at least be able to kick a field goal, forcing them to have to get a touchdown in what few moments remained.

We sent our regular kick return unit in and they lined up in regular formation. They as well took a normal kickoff formation, we had been correct. The kicker approached the ball full speed, but then lofted an awkward high short squib of a kick that landed just behind our front line of blockers. Both teams arrived at where the ball was bouncing at the same time. It resembled a massive traffic accident as players hurled themselves at the bouncing object, bodies crashing into each other at full speed. There were at least ten players involved in the pileup, everyone pulling and fighting for the ball. It took forever for the officials to pull everyone off the ball until they could assess who had recovered the onside kick. You could hear the emotion being sucked out of our sideline as the official signaled they had indeed recovered the kick. I reached over, grabbed my helmet, and trotted back on the field. Once again, our backs were against the wall.

The ball rested on our forty seven yard line, they needed about fifteen yards to get into field goal range and tie the game sending it into overtime. I looked up at the overhead clock, there was 3:34 left to play, they had two timeouts left, that's an eternity in football. What made it worst is that now we had to be aware of the run, they didn't have to pass every down. You could see they broke the huddle with new hope, they could theoretically win this game.

They ran the ball the next two downs, picking up a total of six yards. It was now third and four, a huge play in the game. Surprisingly they ran the ball again, to my side this time, just off guard. I slightly over ran the play, had to dive back towards the running back as he went to my inside. I had one leg almost wrapped up, but he was able to pull away and run through the hole for a gain of seven yards and a first down. I had just missed what could have been the biggest tackle of my life, I was disgusted with myself. They now had a first down at our thirty four and within field goal range, though it would be a long attempt. Before we could huddle up, the whistle blew, they had used a time out. There was 2:01 left on the game clock as we trotted to the sidelines. Coach Ray was as emotional as I had ever seen him. He looked me right in the eye and let me have it.

"Fuck Stevens, you had him in the backfield, fucking wrap him up.", he growled at me, "What the fuck kind of effort is that ?"

No one said a thing, we all knew what was at stake, I knew it wasn't personal, it was the emotion of the game. Coach Ray then decided to go into a defense that we hadn't shown all year on film, it was designed for a specific moment just like this, to perhaps confuse the defense. Basically, we lined up in a five man front, moving me over the right side, next to our right end. I would be standing until the snap count began, then I would move to the line and assume a normal stance. The linebacker on that side would get on my inside shoulder and show blitz, the other five defensive backs were responsible for anything that got through.

The offense lined up and the quarterback began his snap count. I moved forward to the line, the linebacker jumped my inside shoulder. They snapped the ball and tried to run off tackle on our side, I met the ball carrier in the hole, driving him backwards, I had been unblocked. The clock was now under two minutes and running, they had lost four yards. They quickly lined up again, ran a trap to the left and gained only two yards. It was third and twelve, this play would decided the game. Coach Ray signaled us back into our base defense, the gamble had worked for now. I moved back to the left side of their offensive line.

As the offense approached the line, our defensive backs came right up on the line of scrimmage, they were in press coverage. I moved out a little further than normal, getting outside of the left tackle's shoulder.

The quarterback began his snap count, my eyes were glued to the ball careful of jumping offside. I looked at my opponent and I could tell from his stance and his weight shifted to his feet, they were going to try and pass. I leaned all my weight forward, getting into a standard sprinter's position. On the snap, I came out of my stance quickly driving to my opponents outside. I had him beat right away, I put my left arm under his right and lifted him off balance, pushing him away from me. The quarterback stepped up in the pocket away from me, looking down field. I saw one of our other lineman breaking through forcing him to move quickly in my direction. He rotated his eyes across the field, apparently finding another receiver open. His eyes picked me up, as soon as he started to draw the ball back to throw. He knew it was going to be close as he shifted his weight to his front foot, his arm cocked, ball up high. Just as his arm began to move forward, I got there, my left hand coming down on his throwing arm violently. I was able to pull him down from behind, but as I did I saw he did not have the ball. I rolled over and looked up just in time to see one of our cornerback's snag the ball out of mid-air and begin down the sidelines. Apparently, when I had hit his arm, the ball had went high, straight up barely clearing the line of scrimmage. I just stayed there, flat on the ground, head up watching our corner Terrell Jackson sprint down the sidelines for a touchdown