“Tomorrow is going to be the most important game of the season and maybe your lives. Now bring it in,” yelled Coach Frank.
The team got into a huddle and yelled Gators (The team name) as loud as the New England Patriots on a game day. Jacob was thinking nervously in his head of everything that could go wrong instead of what could go right. Greg picked up on this and as he came over he whispered “Don’t think about it just go out there tomorrow and bring it to them.”
As the coach started walking toward the football field he shouted, “follow me!” After saying this all nineteen kids started jogging to the field. When they got up on the field Jacob, the quarterback, Greg the star running back, and Mark the star wide receiver all stood next to each other. While Jacob was standing next to his two best friends waiting for the coach to let them go home he was staring at the football field.  The turf looked like perfectly cut grass and had Gators spelt into it in neon orange letters and the lights were so bright they made him squint. When he looked at the stands he could hear the crowd screaming and cheering his name even though they weren’t there. Jacob could even smell the fresh tasty donuts the concession stands always made which made his mouth water. “Jacob are you even listening to me?” Mark screeched.
“He doesn’t want to hear another terrifying story of how he’s going to get squashed like a bumble bee by star linebacker Rick Chandler on the Bears,” Greg hissed.
“Fine” Mark snapped back.
“Time to get home and get some shut eye for the major game against the Bears” growled Coach Frank.
As Jacob said his goodbyes to Greg and Mark his mom was yelling for him to get in the silky baby blue van. While he was running to the car he said his farewells to the coach and hopped in the front seat of his moms blue 2002 mini van and blasted the heat while spread out on the leather front seat. On the entire way home Jacob was getting butterflies in his stomach from how nervous he was and even all through the night. There even came a point, around eleven thirty when Jacob called Greg and talked about what they thought was going to happen tomorrow in the super bowl game until they both eventually fell asleep.
The next morning was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot and not too cold. Jacob woke up better than ever knowing it was game day and time to beat the Bears and make the fans and coaches proud. For breakfast he ate scrambled eggs and gulped down a glass of milk just like he did every day before a game. When he finished eating he started to prepare for the game by putting his football gear on so he could leave early and pick up Greg and Mark. Jacob nagged his mom all morning to leave to go do warm ups before the game until she finally gave in and complained “Fine we can go.” soon after they were on their way to pick up Greg and Mark for the big game.
When they got to the practice field to warm up for the game the first thing they noticed was how big the other team was compared to theirs, especially Rick Chandler the biggest and toughest of them all. About two hours later the Gators finally finished warming ups and started jogging to the field with the Bears trailing slightly behind them. When they got up to the field both teams stood in two lines and listened to the loudspeaker play the national anthem.  As soon as it ended the coach called out to the three seventeen year old boys Jacob, Mark, and Greg to be the captains for the coin toss. Grasping each other’s hands and walking side by side they went out to the middle of the field with one of the four referees while the other refs were waiting for them. After winning the toss, Jacob asked to defer, they then shook hands with the other team including Rick who squeezed Jacobs hand really hard before they started running back to the Gators bench where their team awaited them screaming and yelling to get pumped up for the start of the game.
Show them what your made of someone said from the crowd as the gators were about to kick the ball off to the Bears. The kicker ran up to kick the ball and as soon as his toe hit the leather the ball went straight to the other teams star player Rick and that’s when Jacobs bad thoughts began to scramble in his mind. Sure enough, Rick ran the ball all the way back for a touchdown. When the Gators took possession of the ball Jacob was sacked twice and Greg the running back had a two yard loss on his only rushing attempt, which forced them to punt. When the bears got the ball they kept scoring and when the Gators got the ball they would always have to punt until the score was twenty eight to zero with only two minutes left in the first half.
Right when the Gators thought it was all over they got the ball on the Bears five yard line and it was fourth down which put Jacob under immense pressure. The crowd was yelling and the other team growling. As soon as Jacob called hike Mark became wide open so Jacob threw a bullet pass to him for a Gators touchdown! Right then and there Jacob felt a spark of hope for his team going into the half, not just because he scored, but because he knew he could do good under pressure.
“Lets go!” yelled coach Frank.
Going into halftime the team started to walk down to the practice field, dust was hitting against their sweaty cheeks and the air was much colder from not moving around in the game. While the team was on a knee in a huddle Jacob was wondering why their team couldn’t have just started playing like they did on their last drive when they scored but he wasn’t going to keep letting that bring him down so he stopped thinking about it and tried to find ways to correct it.  He thought the best thing he could do know was to get rid of the disappointment in everyone’s eyes and turn it into positivity. Taking action he stood up in front of the team and coaches and began listing off ways the offense, defense and even special teams could do better in the second half. Greg came up to talk with him and soon Mark followed until the whole team was thinking of ways to do better. Not much later the end of halftime buzzer went off which meant the teams have head back to the game field. That’s just what the Gator’s did but they came up pumped up and with potential in their eyes. When they reached the field it was much brighter because the lights were turned on and brightening the turf. The crowds were even starting to get louder than in the first half.
Pow! The ball just left the foot of the Bears kicker’s and went straight into Greg’s hands. As Jacob was watching Greg from the sideline he was feeling confident about going onto the field. When Greg was tackled he hustled to the offense of line and called hike, and handed it off to Greg who ran it for twenty yards before being taken down. The next play was a pass where Mark goes on a deep pass pattern to the right side of the field once Jacob calls hike. He did exactly that at the sound of hike.  Jacob called hike and dropped back to pass and threw it with all his might towards Mark in the end zone. Jacob’s heart skipped a beat as the ball was sailing through the air but in the blink of an eye Mark jumped up and comes down in the end zone with a one handed snag for another Gator’s touchdown! The crowd is going crazy as the Gators make the extra point to make the score fourteen to twenty eight with the Bears in the lead. The game still had nine minutes left in the third quarter.
When the Bears got the ball back the Gators forced them to only a field goal which is worth three points. Jacob was feeling great when he went onto the field and his feelings turned into reality because Mark had a twenty yard catch and soon after that Greg had a forty yard rushing touchdown, while breaking many tackles on the play. Jacob was mind blown of how good him and his team were starting to do. When the Gators kicked it off Rick got the ball and Jacob saw him get crushed. Jacob could also see the anger Rick had in his eyes and then pointed at Jacob’s teammate Greg, the one who hit him. When the Gators went on defense they held them and forced them to punt. On the punt Greg caught it but Rick came running full speed and smashed into Greg like a bull and you could see Greg’s leg hyperextend, then you could hear a very loud snap which made Greg scream in agony. When Rick was getting up he spit in Greg’s face and said, “that’s what you get”. All the refs saw this, blew their whistles and threw Rick out of the game. The EMT’s came rushing onto the field and took Greg out in an ambulance with the sirens flashing red and white. Soon after the Gators offense were back in action but with a new running back named Jim. Jim was a decent player but not as good as Greg. This meant they would have to pass the ball more. “Down set hit” growled Jacob. As Mark did a five yard square out pass he became wide open and caught the ball, as soon as he turned someone was there to tackle him but Mark juked him out and started running down the sideline as sweat was running down his eyes, he then dove into the end zone right before someone grabbed him. This made the score twenty eight to thirty one with the Gators trailing by three points. There were only two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The only hope the Gators had of winning was to kick an onside, which was a slim to none chance of getting it.  It was worth a shot so they did it. They gather together on one side of the field to kick it so they had more people to try and get it. As the ball was kicked it bounced off of someone on the bears teams facemask and went right into the Gators hands, they got it! It was their one and only chance to win the game. “Lets do it for Greg” Jacob yelled as the offense was jogging on the field. While the offense was on the field Jim had a surprising twenty yard run which brought them fifty yards away from a touchdown. They ran it to him three more times for a twenty yard gain. Now they were thirty yards from the end zone but with only thirty five seconds left in the game. They immediately called hike to get the play off.
Jacob had two options for the final play which would make them super bowl champs or make them lose and they were to either throw it to Jim who had one guy covering him but couldn’t catch well or throw it to Mark who was a phenomenal receiver but had two guys on him. Jacobs decision was to throw it to Mark, as he chucked the ball up it went flying through the air looking like it was going right to Mark but a really tall cornerback from the Bears jumped up and picked it off and slid to the ground to end the game. Jacob was practically lying on the ground for the next five minutes of the horrifying scene he made until he had to get up to shake the other team’s hands.  He went through shaking the other teams hands with his head down the entire time. The whole car ride home he felt like the worst person in the world because of what he thought was his entire fault. The only thing that got him through his pain was how good the team did the entire second half and what was waiting for him in football in the future.