Not the way, one would like the season to end.
It was a rough discovery. A key player was lost to injury.
Weather was cold. Team from the other division were better than their record
reflected. All these don’t matter. It was a factor, but not ever the true test.
People cried. Coaches went silent. Players on the sidelines
were a whisper. The usually rowdy crowd of fans that jumped up and cheered were
seated and quieted. No after game talks. No family and friends on the fields.
Just a quiet, early exit out the stadium and that was the end of the season.
Ten and one season. Finally getting over Valencia. Making
them give up. A great performance was always expected. Soundly winning Golden
League. School history. An undefeated regular season. One hundred and fifty
plus win for the coach.
Maybe after the sting of the loss, then maybe we could see
the season for what it is. The colored glasses are tinged with hurt and doubt
right now. In time, maybe. Just painful
when the only loss of the season is the last one.
High expectation. Great regular season. Early exit. Whew. . .Just rough.
Don’t want to throw away a great performance because one
defeat. There is a mighty foundation here.
Many good things happened. Stadium was filled. Fans were showing school
pride. Cheerleaders were enthusiastic. The band. . .well, their musical choice
seemed a bit high brow. I mean Stonehenge for half-time show. Still we showed
them love. Great success was expected. There was purpose, team purpose.
This playoff test was to be the first of many in this deep run.
Discovery—Other team was victorious.
It was chilling. At the end of the game, heads were not held
high. Not the fiery battle of the team’s soul, it felt inevitable. It felt like
factors gave them permission. Weather, loss of big time players, opponents
played in a division where State championships were won with regularity. Team performance
this year raised the level of expectations. Big plays were expected. Blow out
victories by half time. Outcome of the game was long decided. 
This game big plays just did not happen with regularity.
Half time was tied at 7. Average point
disparity for the undefeated regular season was almost forty points. Offense
was not as successful. The other team
went for 4th down and long and converted.
One could sense it was different this game. In the way the
other team warmed up. In the tone of the players. In the way, whole game was
played. There were glimpses throughout
the game that gave the our crowd Hope. In the end, this one the team performed better.
Big test is this.
Will the team, the individual players, all those involved—will they take this
setback and use it to fire them up? Will the expectations remain high? Can the
this team take this knockout blow and get back up again, better than before? Soul
searching is a rough task. Still one realization…is this. Its not over, it is
never over. Now is a time, when Lambs become Lions. This is a time to get
stronger than before. One loss hurt, but it is time to get better than before. May beat the body. May lose the Mind. Can’t
defeat the Spirit.
This is the great Discovery.
