I can’t sleep, my heart is racing. I feel like I’m skiing and the wind is flying into my face. Tomorrow is an important game, well for Fonda it is anyway. It’s the final playoff game and if we win, we go to the biggest game of them all, the championship. I hope we win tomorrow. Fonda has never made it into the playoffs before. I stare at the clock, 11:37. I shove my face into my pillow. I close my eyes and wake up, 4:59. My alarm clock goes off at, 6:00. I tell myself to get some sleep. I think to myself, today’s schedule, school, then eat a light dinner, and finally the first playoff game. I feel like an idiot talking to myself. I hear my alarm go off. I get up quicker then usual and I run downstairs and see my dad getting ready for work. He says morning bud, like every morning. I told him that today’s the final playoff game. He tells me to bring lots of water. He walked out the door and I can hear his 2500 Ram start up. I rushed to take a shower and brush my teeth. As the stinging begins in my mouth from the mouth wash, I hear the bus coming. I quickly spit out the Crest mouthwash and hurry up and put on my sweatshirt and my Nike duffle bag and get on the bus.
I sat down with Dan Michaels. Dan is the defensive sweeper for my team. He tried to remind me that today’s our final playoff game, but I already knew that. We talked the whole bus ride about Northville and strategies to beat them. When the school bell rang, I quickly zoned out, so the day would go bye quickly. All I remember from class was when Mr. Vunkensteen told us about when he played soccer. He was a goalie and made it to state finals as well as us. Finally when it was time to go home, my cell phone vibrated. Mike Johnson? Mike is the right forward on the team. “Coach wants us to head out to the field for a half hour practice,” FWDFWDFWD, to all the other players. I forward it to Rob O’Brien. Rob is the captain of the team. At practice we played hard, but didn’t run very hard. We practiced the give and go and the give and go overlap.
When Mayfield showed up, we were making sure Tyler Wilson was ready. Tyler is the goalie for the team. We all got each other pumped up and ready to play hard. Coach got us all in a huddle and told us to man up, don’t make silly mistakes and after that we all rushed out to the field. When the whistle blew, I darted for the ball. I could get the ball until the kid stopped to pass it. I stole the ball and passed it up to mike and he did and 1v1 move to the defender and scored. Finally it was the end of the first quarter. I sat the bench for the second and third quarters. When I came into the game, the score was two to two. There was ten seconds left on the clock and I shot and dropped to the ground. I felt my knee snap when I hit the ground. I noticed the medical staff rushing on a stretcher. I closed my eyes and woke up in the hospital.
My parents were there, so was coach. He had a bag in his hand. Inside the bag was the game ball. He said that I scored the winning goal. The score was three to two. The Fonda Braves are in the championship. The doctor told me that I don’t have a broken knee but is sprained. Coach and I talked for awhile but he left shortly. On the TV, a major league soccer game was on, between Columbus crews and the la galaxy. David Beckham is leading the galaxies with 3-1. The championship is two weeks away and I had to spend a week in the hospital. Over the next week, I was able to convince my mom that I was good for the game. I just needed to get approval from my doctor. Saturday, the day of the game, the doctor said I could play. It was almost done with the third quarter by the time I got the message. My mom quickly drove me to the game. When I got there, Fonda was losing 3-2. Everyone was shocked to see me in my uniform. I got right into the game in the fourth quarter. I passed it up to Mike and he scored to tie the game. The clock was ticking down. Only twelve seconds left on the clock. I stole the ball and ran like a train. The clock was ticking 5, 4, 3, I did a scissor to the goalie, and 2, 1, and I shot the ball and scored. We Won! We Won! We Won!