We ended the season undefeated and drew a bye in the first round of the playoffs. We watched the first round of games to see who our opponent would be. We would be playing Southside High, a relative newcomer to the playoffs. They had a coach who was very outspoken, in fact, a lot of people said he was downright arrogant, but his team bought into it. They only lost once all year, that game being decided by three points. They ran a veer type offense which basically hinged on my play. The entire offense was schemed on how the defensive end's reacted, I knew I would be heavily involved in the game. I talked to my Dad on Tuesday, he told me he would fly in Friday evening in time for the game. He would fly back out Friday night. We prepared hard that week, I knew we had a good game plan going in.
As usual I was taped up early and ready to go over an hour before the game was to start. I was sitting in the corner of the locker room alone as usual when Coach Mike approached me.
"Brian, can I ….. can I see you a moment son.", he asked, in a shaky voice.
I got up and followed him out of the locker room to the coach's office and went inside with him. He motioned for me to sit in the chair across from the desk. I had no idea what this was about, somehow it didn't look good. I had never seen Coach Mike this somber. Not even during our loss last year was he this quiet. There was a knock on the door, one of the other coaches opened the door, and walked Ashley. As soon as I looked at her, I knew. I looked back at Coach Mike.
"Son, there isn't an easy way to say this. Because of the man you are, I am just going to say it. Your Dad's small plane went down about two hours ago. No one made it out alive.", he said softly.
I turned to look at Ashley, I could see tears streaming down her face.
I stood up and walked over to her wrapping my arms around her. We both cried as Coach Mike quietly left the room. I don't know how long we stood there, it seemed like forever. I led Ashley back to one of the chairs and helped her sit down, I sat in another. A minute or so later there was a knock on the door, Coach Mike opened it just wide enough to stick his head in.
"Can I come in for a moment ?", he asked.
I nodded to him and he stepped in and closed the door behind him . He moved over and sat on the corner of the desk, the weight of this was bearing down heavily on him. He was one of my Dad's best friends, I knew this was killing him.
"Brian, I want you to take Ashley home right now. Don't even go back to the locker room, go straight home. I don't know how I am going to tell the team but it was on the radio at least an hour ago, people in the stands are going to know. I can't let the kids find out like that.", he stated.
Ashley nodded quickly to him, he got up and headed back to the locker room. I got up and reached for Ashley's hand, which she placed so gently into mine. As bad as I felt for myself, I felt worse for her. She stood up slowly and turned to the door. I guess we took about three steps, the sound of my cleats deafening on the gray painted concrete floor, before she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Brian, I don't know how you feel and if I am way off base, please tell me.", she said, "But personally, I think your Dad would want you to play tonight, for him."
It took a few seconds for what she had said to sink in. I could see she was sincere in her words, she was not saying this for my benefit.
"Brian, if these roles were reversed and we had just lost you, he would be devastated. But he would still lead those young men in that locker room onto the field tonight. He would hate to be out there without you, but he would do it.", she ended.
Again I thought for a moment, hard as it was to think about, she was right. My Dad lived for this game, now he had died for it. I stood there looking into her eyes for several moments. I knew she was right. I moved over and hugged her once again, her arms holding onto me tightly.
I walked out of the small office hand in hand with Ashley. I left her at the locker room door, she wished me well, saying she would be watching. As I opened the locker room door, everyone was kneeling, their heads down, a lot of tears were being shed. Most of these guys in here had played for my Dad at least one year, some of us three years. As hard as he was on us, everyone, to man, respected him. Everyone looked up as I entered the room, some in disbelief.
"Coach, I had a talk with Ashley. I'm going to play for my Dad. All I ask is that everyone act normal, give me some space.", I said calmly.
Coach Mike stood up and walked over to me. He put his arms around me and hugged me as only a coach could. He stepped back and looked me in the eyes.
"Brian, you're quite a man. But make sure you are doing this for the right reason.", he said, "Not for us, but for you."
"This is not for me Coach. This is for him.", I answered, walking past him to pick up my gear.
We hit the field several minutes later to a packed crowd on both sides of the field. I looked up into our stands, and a lot of familiar faces were present. I could see from their demeanor just about everyone in the stadium knew by now. Coach was right to tell the team when he did. The game started with our offense getting the first possession of the night. I sat on the end of the bench as they went on a long drive. I could feel the anger and hate boiling up in me as I sat. I was not sure who I was angry with but I knew who I was going to take it out on. With barely four minutes off the clock, our offense punched a touchdown in the end zone. I got up, putting on my helmet and gloves, preparing to take the field. I saw our quarterback Jason talking to the official in the end zone, then turn and jog off the field towards me. He stopped a few feet ahead of me, walking the last few steps.
"This is for your Dad. And we're not done yet.", he said, extending the ball to me.
"Thanks Jason.", I said, taking the ball.
We kicked off and they started their first drive from their own twenty six yard line. I was already on the line kneeling down when they broke the huddle. As they lined up, I looked into the backfield to see their all-state running back strut around the backfield like a rooster. Now I knew who would be the victim of all of this anger.
The entire game seems to move in slow motion for me. It was like I knew what they were running and where it was going. I ended the night with twelve tackles, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. We won easily 28-7, their only score coming late in the fourth quarter when most of the seniors were off of the field.
The next few days were really hard, thankfully Ashley handled everything. The funeral was held Thursday morning, it appeared the whole town turned out. In fact I was told that my mother and my grandparents were there, which really surprised me. By the end of the day all I wanted to do was be away from people. I know everyone meant well, it was just a very long and sad day.