High School Football

I am a football player. I ended my last post saying that I rode the bench. That bench riding was on the freshman B team at Shawnee Mission Northwest high school. I was 5'9", 150 lbs of pure athlete. Too small to play on the line or linebacker, so I was a backup corner back and running back. My hair was not good enough to be quarterback, so that went to Phil Wood.

A few plays sum up my career as a football player. The first play was during summer practices. I knew the playbook and how the plays were supposed to work. As a running back, I would keep my eye on the butt of a lineman that would be the key blocker for a running play. By doing so, I could blaze through the hole he created and look like a superstar. On this particular play, the lineman opened up a nice hole. I was in the zone. Like a gazelle, I was through the hole, running tall. Nobody had even touched me. I thought to myself that it was just too easy. It must be my athletic ability. I hope everyone is watching. Maybe I can get a scholarship, maybe I'm NFL material.

That was my last vivid recollection of the play. A linebacker running at full speed put his helmet right on my chest. It was a big hit. To add insult to possible injury, he then leaped to his feet, and looked down at me asking "You okay man?" A couple minutes later, once I caught my breath, I said "Yeah, I'm fine. I must have slipped." In reality, I am surprised I stayed conscious. He cleaned my clock and it hurt bad. I think my style of play from that point forward became one of just trying to stay alive.

The second play I remember was being put in to run back the opening kick off. This was the only game that my father attended. I recovered a fumble on that kick off. Without regard to my own health, I threw myself on the ball and made sure my team retained possession. This new found dedication was probably because I was the one who fumbled the kick off. It hit me in the chest and bounded away. After a couple failed attempts to pick the football up and run it back for a touchdown, I settled for just recovering it. So we started the drive from our own 3 yard line.

I was once put in to play corner back during a goal line stand. Since each play was run to my side, my role was to rotate up and stop the run. The opposition ran 3 consecutive plays into our linemen and were knocked down each time. I then blocked any attempt by the runner to crawl forward. I did so by positioning myself between the tackled running back and the goal line. It worked perfectly and they did not score. I did not even get a grass stain on my clean white pants.

My career in organized football was over. I was able to walk away with perfect stats. I had 0 yards on zero carries, 0 interceptions, 0 tackles, and 0 lost fumbles. Our team finished 6-4, which at the time was the best record by any football team, any year for the newly opened high school. I decided to move on to other activities, having proved beyond a doubt, my abilities on the gridiron.

The sophomore team went on to a better record during the next season. Their success became a source of pride for me. I made each and every one of them better just by being part of the freshman team.