It was Thursday night, on the football field, my freshman year in high school, and it was the second game my dad had ever come to watch me play. I was playing middle linebacker and I was ready to put on a show for my dad. I was up against the biggest quarterback in the league. He stood 6 foot tall and weighed 210 lbs. I was only 5 foot 6 inches and weighed 165lbs. This quarterback was known for running over 100 yards per game and I was ready to stop him from gaining an inch. The show had begun with the first play when this huge quarterback came running up the middle right at me I felt my legs scramble, like I had no control over them, then as I hit him I realized I was pushing him back words. I was surprised but at the same time I realized that all of the hard work before this game had paid off. I thought to myself "dad should enjoy this show for a change." I had no idea how wrong I was until after the game.

I spent every play on the field playing that night. I played linebacker on defense and fullback on offense. I wasn't on the first squad on offense or defense but that night I had been fortunate to start because both of our regular starters were injured so I had to play in their place. I had spent the previous two weeks getting ready getting for this game, working out, running plays during practice, and hitting the tackling dummy for hours a day.

Every play this huge quarterback ran I seemed to have a direct connection to him as he approached the line of scrimmage I would already be there with a crunching hit to stop him in his tracks. This guy wasn't going anywhere. On offense, I was given the ball late in the first quarter on a slant run off of the weak side. As I hit the line running I realized I had an open field in front of me and slanted back towards the opening. It seemed like only a second and I was standing in the end zone and had made the first touch down of the game. Everything seemed like fast motion and I was watching the game from somewhere else, like I wasn't there at all, just watching from behind a camera or some black hole.

It was late in the fourth quarter and our team was getting tired. We had ran all over the field that night and scored points almost at will. The score was 27 to 0 and we had beaten this unbeatable team to a pulp. Just as this huge quarterback was calling the signals I realized he was coming right at me again. I could see it in his eyes. As he retrieved the ball from the center he stepped back

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