My son recalled how he felt last night when he watched his opponent kick a 49-yard field goal late in the game. "Dad, it looked like our hopes of winning the state championship were crushed. Our coach gave us the best half-time talk of his life. He told us he wanted more time to impact our lives and we needed to give him that opportunity by coming back in the second half. Once they got that field goal late in the game I thought we were done. There was hardly any time on the clock and we needed a touchdown, a two-point conversion and a field goal just to tie the game."
My wife was sending me text messages throughout the game. I could see the stadium lights from the Interstate as I exited, hoping to see the last part of the game when her message came through...
Tied! 1min 20sec left!
I called her for the play-by-play commentary. She was so excited she could barely speak. I could hear the fans roaring.
"What happened?" I asked.
"We're in overtime and we have the ball first. Everyone's running all over the place. Wow! Touchdown, Williamsburg. They're going crazy on the field. Now it's the other team's turn. They're lining up for the first play. We stopped them. 2nd down. It's another run. We stopped them again. Now they're passing to a guy in the end zone. He dropped the ball. They're trying again. It's 4th down. We tackled him. The game's over. We won!"
I pulled into the parking lot just in time to hear the victory bell clanging and the pandemonium of the crowd. The home team won their first round playoff game in dramatic fashion against an amazing team. The team needs two more playoff wins to advance to the state championships. Congratulations, Raiders. You've given our town an amazing treat and we're rooting for you. And thanks, honey, for the play-by-play. Move over, Bob Costas.
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