League Champs!

Ok so I said I wasn't going to get too wordy in this blog...so, um, I misspoke. :-)

Josh's junior high football team finished the season undefeated Tuesday night with a 16-12 win to earn the League championship. It is the first time that a junior high football team from our school district has gone undefeated in over 30 years! It was not to be had easily though. Here's a brief recap of Tuesday night's game for my football fans or Josh fans out there:

The other team came ready to play and ready to win! The 1st quarter remained scoreless. By halftime, we were leading 6-0. Then on the other team's first possession of the 2nd half, they scored, but missed the 2 point conversion try, making the score 8-6. The 4th quarter was downright scary!! The other team scored as soon as they had the chance making the score 8-12. We were all stunned. Ok, ok I know...yes it's just a game, a junior high football game at that,and winning is definitely NOT everything...I know that, BUT when I see the passion on my son's face that he has for this sport and how important it is to him to do well, and I remember the time he's spent lifting weights, practicing, preparing for this game.... for him, it IS much more than just a game - it's perseverence, it's dedication, it's accomplishment. So, anyway, Josh's team was unsuccessful to score on a couple tries and with less than 2 minutes to go, it was looking very grim when the other team got the ball, that we would even have another chance. BUT...our boys were able to hold them in 4 downs and we got the ball back with a little under 1 minute to play. It still wasn't easy. Our QB got sacked on the first down, then completed a short pass to Josh on 2nd down. A pass was thrown incomplete on 3rd down. We were 4th and 10 (!!) when our QB threw a 69 yard pass to Josh, who had 2 defenders on him, but somehow made the catch AND ran away from them to score, to take the lead 14-12 with 36 seconds to go!! We were able to make our 2 point conversion, making the score 16-12 and our defense proceeded to keep the other team at bay as the clock ran out!! I was a nervous wreck! My hope every time my kids get on a field or a court to play a sport, is that first and foremost, win or lose, they do their best, feel satisfied with their own performance and be a good sport no matter the outcome. Josh hasn't always been on an undefeated team. In fact, he's finished at the bottom of the pack many times. They only won 2 games in football last year. Living and learning through those low experiences has only made the success of this season that much sweeter for each of the kids on his team. Way to go Josh and way to go Blue!!!

Big bro Jake was one of the first to get out on the field and congratulate Josh.

It warmed this mom's heart!