The game started close enough, O. Henry took their starting drive and passed and ran all the way for their first score. We returned the favor with a beautiful 60-70 yard sccamper down the sideline, the difference being we converted the two point conversion. We managed to score again in the second quarter to go up 14-6, but with a few seconds, they came back and this time they did convert the two points, so at the half, the score was 14-12, Bedichek. The boys did kick an onside kickoff and managed to get the ball back, but could not convert before O. Henry scored their second score.
The third quarter was a blur, O. Henry took most of the quarter's time, but were stopped at the goal line, so that looked pretty good. At the start of the fourth quarter is when it got exciting, I mean, their cheerleaders were relentless and screaming to the point of being annoying, mostly because our cheerleaders were not there to counter them. People were standing up, so it meat we had to be standing up, everyone was screaming. I was just having that feeling where although our boys have had the lead, there just isn't any fuel left to keep it up and gradually the other team gets ahead.
They scored, but again, missed the two point conversion, which put them up 18-14. With them missing the two point conversion, all we would need is another touchdown, we were going to have about six minutes and then they did an onsides kick, the ball looked like it bounced off the center's helmet (Javalina said it was the center after the game), and O. Henry got the ball back. Isn't that what you expect when you've lost so many games? I was pissed because I could see our boy heartbroken at losing such a close one, but this time they did not give up like they usually did. Javalina said, even in the huddle, there was no finger pointing, they just wanted to get the ball back. They stopped them in four downs, Javalina had the third down stop mostly, he hung unto that running back and dragged our boy on his knees about three steps, but he did not let go.
With less than four minutes, our boys tried a couple of plays that went nowhere but back, but on fourth and forever, they managed a beautiful pass to the same guy that scored the other touchdowns and he did what a fast boy does, he turned on the jets and scampered about 50 yards after the pass being about twenty yards. This gave us the lead of 20-18, and then we scored the two point conversion, so we were up by four. The only problem is that there was 1 minute and 55 seconds or so. Could the defense stop them (and the referees, it seemed)?
In all the games, the referees just want time to run out, this was the first time all season, the ref added a few seconds after the clock was down to 1:36. They ran and passed pretty good, the difference from the rest of the season was that the guys did not give up on their responsibilities. They got as far as the 25 yard line, with 25 seconds, but they ran out of downs. All our guys had to do was line up a tight formation and kneel the ball to run the clock out, but they came out in a full spread offense like they were the Houston Oilers back in 1987, made no sense, and they even got a penalty which pushed them back 5 yards to the 20. It was ok, next play they knelt and time ran out.
This was clearly a game to remember, such a perfect ending to their junior high experience, to go out on a high. To be continued....
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