A City Championship to Remember

A City Championship to Remember

Matt Bowersox

It was a brisk fall evening in Kings, Ohio, where the omnipresent cheers of friends an family heated the night air, sparking passion on the football turf. I was a part of the 6^th grade Anderson Wildcats football squad, and we were matched up against a formidable King’s team for the title of Cincinnati City Champions. Both teams came in with nine and one records, but King’s were the heavy favorites, with lineman that looked like rhinoceroses. In fact, one defensive end had a Grizzly Adam’s beard protruding from his crimson red helmet. I normally started at wide receiver and cornerback, but was forced to play fullback on this fateful day due to an unfortunate skiing accident incurred by our typical fullback. I was arguably the smallest kid on the field this day, but that did not stop me from wanting to prove to myself and to my team that size is only a number, it is the character and heart of a winner that drives a team to victory.

As the whistle blew, signaling the start of an epic battle, I could feel the “heeby jeebies” racing up my spine. We started the game on offense, and I was given the signal to run up the three-hole for the first play of the game. I timidly took the handoff from our quarterback and was immediately swarmed by red jersey’s like seagull’s discovering a dropped batch of French fries on the ocean sand. With my confidence slowly withering, our offense still managed to march down the field sixty yards, capping off the drive with a 30-yard touchdown to the awaiting paw’s of my twin brother. We managed to completely crumble King’s offense through the first two drives that they had on offense, as they also stymied our next two drives with relative ease. At this point in time, it appears as if a defensive struggle is occurring on this dreary fall night, and it did not seem to be heading in any other direction except right down the wire where the true heroes can emerge victorious.

We had arrived at the fourth quarter, with king’s twenty yards from breaching our end zone and knotting the game at six. After a steady pounding of rushes up the middle, the Kings gargantuan running back managed to cross the plain, knotting the game up and leaving our team with a chance to perform a surgical final drive. We started on our opponent’s forty-yard line, battered and bruised from the array of beatings we all had received at this juncture of the game. Our final drive started with a rush from our halfback in which I was assigned lead blocker. I charged out of my stance and had my eyes honed in on the linebacker that was creeping just outside of the defensive line. I approached the larger fellow with extreme speed, and managed to push him back just enough to allow for a slight hole for our speedy running back to burst through. With cat-like speed, our runner bolted through the line like the roadrunner and scampered for a forty-five yard gain. With only fifteen yards to go and about two minutes left, we were all excited to score and gain our crown as city championships. After two short runs by our running back and a failed pass, we were stuck at fourth down with about thirty-five seconds left. To my utmost surprise, the coach hollered over to our quarterback that we were to run a fullback sprint through the five holes. A large layer of sweat slowly trickled down my forehead as I heard the news that this game was to be placed squarely in my hands. The quarterback set up behind center, barking out random words until hike was called. I busted through the line and noticed a Chevy sized hole appearing right in front of me. I dashed through the line with my adrenaline running at a dangerously high rate, stiff arming one linebacker and pulling a Barry Sander’s juke on the safety and cornerback. I could see the touchdown line coming at me at a rapid pace. I made one last hoist at the line, and was instantly smothered by four King’s players. After a few moments of deliberation by the referee’s, the head referee signaled a touchdown, and we had one the game at the very last moment.

A joyous bunch of young fellow’s all surrounded me, as we walked off of the field that brisk night with a city championship in our belt. What was becoming a nightmare of a game for me, turned out to be one of the defining moments of my amateur sports career. All of us went on to play in middle school and high school, yet for me, this moment represented what I tried to adhere to as a person. Determination, character, and the will to achieve success are enough to make even the most unlikely of occurrences to become a reality.