We arrived back home about three thirty in the afternoon, I undressed and laid down for a while, Ashley did the same. When I got up about six o'clock she was in the kitchen making soup and sandwiches. We ate, cleaned up and watched TV in silence, nothing really needed to be said. I took Friday off from school, I told Coach Mike I would meet the team at two o'clock the next day at school. We were playing out of town so we had about a ninety minute bus ride to their stadium. We were two games away from the State AAAA Championship, a goal that still seemed so far away.
We won our next game in a close hard fought battle, the score was 14-10. Defensively we didn't play well, we allowed them to convert too many third downs, letting drives continue. In the end we won, but I didn't play well, most of us didn't. Coach Mike let us know about it too after the game was over.
I went back to class on Monday, Ashley went back to teaching her class. I pretty much went through the motions that week at school, nothing seemed to really matter. We practiced every afternoon getting ready for Friday's game. A win would insure us of a spot in the State Championship game. Emotions were running high at school, despite what had happened.
We played the next game at home, our record was better overall, giving us the home field edge. Everyone stepped it up a bit, the defense was exceptional, we won easily 21-7. We would play in the State Championship next Saturday night in Midway, a large town 150 miles away. We would play in a college type stadium with an artificial surface, something we had never experienced.
School was absolutely crazy the following week, everyone was riding a very tough emotional year. No team from this town had ever been in a State Championship game, no one had ever gotten even close. The news media showed up at school on Tuesday for an interview with our coaches. After the interview with Coach Mike, one of the reporters asked to speak to me.
"How does it feel to be this close to a State Championship Brian ?", he asked.
"Good I guess. It still doesn't seem real, I guess.", I replied.
"It only seems fitting that after your Dad's accident, his former school should be here.", he stated.
"I guess, I dunno. I am sure he is happy.", I answered.
"You're being touted as possibly the best defensive player in the State. Any ideas on where you would like to go to school ?", he inquired.
"No sir, not at all.", I replied.
The interview was on TV that night, I basically came off looking like an idiot, at least I thought so. Thursday morning's paper ran a five page special article on the entire team and what we had been through this year. It listed all the players and their respective resumes. It was really a nice article, until we got to the last page. They had interviewed the coach of the opposing team, Parkview High, a powerhouse school with eleven state championships to their credit. Their coach got extremely personal in his article about me.
{ "You know, there is a difference between a great team and a very good team. Yea, they're good, but we're great. Other than the freak they have on defense, they're a pretty mediocre team. And by the way, that kind of size and strength is not normal, if you know what I mean. I'm just saying….that's all….. }
I had to read the article three times to let it sink in. In this day and age, it was surprising an opposing coach would give his opponent billboard material to add fuel to the fire. Yep, we were the small school, we were the underdog, but still you never know. As I walked down the hall in school that day, apparently everyone else had read the article as well. I was getting some pretty strange looks from everyone. At the end of fourth period, I was headed to lunch. Courtney caught up to me and we sat together in the corner of the cafeteria.
"Brian, is what they say in the newspaper true ? Have you taken drugs to get this big ?", she asked quietly.
"Courtney, it's not worth talking about. All they are trying to do is get in my head. They can say what they want, I will answer them Saturday night.", I answered.
We took the school bus to the stadium Saturday, we left town about noon, the game was for seven thirty that night. There were close to fifty cars that followed the bus up to the game, it looked like a parade. We arrived at the stadium about three o'clock, we had stopped for a meal on the way. We went out on the field at our allotted four o'clock slot and got our ninety minutes of work on the artificial surface. I found it to be very fast, I liked it a lot. As we were winding up, the opposing team gathered at the tunnel on the north end to come out. Their head coach walked out and shook hands with Coach Mike. I never took my eye off of him, I stared him down the entire time. We left the field quickly, beginning our pre-game rituals. I was taped up and ready to go an hour and a half before kick off. I just sat quietly in the corner, my eyes closed, waiting for what would be the biggest game of my life thus far. About thirty minutes before kickoff one of our assistant coaches came back into the room and walked over to me.
"Brian, every major college in the region has someone here. And apparently, they all are here to see you.", he said as he patted my shoulder.
"Thanks Coach, I hope I don't let them down.", I replied.
I couldn't speak to anyone about a scholarship until after the season was over, but that was almost here. My Dad had warned me that I would probably get an offer or two immediately after the game. He told me we would take it all in, relax then make a smart decision down the road. I had until May 1st to commit, it was still early.
We exited the south tunnel at exactly 7:11 pm Saturday evening, I noticed the clock as we ran out. The stadium was packed, we were greeted with a warm reception. As one of the team's co-captains, I would be allowed to go to mid-field for the coin toss before the game. As the referee explained the ground rules and the coin toss, I looked over at their quarterback. He looked extremely nervous, his eyes darting around. They were known as a wide open passing team, he knew the game depended on his having a good night. We lost the coin flip and had to kickoff. They started from their thirty four yard line.