This is It


Life as I knew it was over. It was the last half. There was only a minute left in the game, and the score was four to five. We were losing. Anf d to top it off, I had to score two goals to win, one goal to tie. The pressure was on.

“C’mon Zach! I know you can do this!” I heard my mom scream at the top of her lungs.

“C’mon Son! We didn’t come all this way for nothing!” my dad shouted across the field.

My parents. They always tell me not to feel pressured, but they’re the ones that give it to me.

The opposing team had just scored a goal, giving them five a total of five points, and also the lead. Once again, the pressure was on.

I glanced over at my coach. He was yelling at me. What else was new? Coach always yelled at me.

“Pass to Jacobson!” I heard him say.

Of course. Lenny Jacobson. Why wouldn’t I pass to Lenny Jacobson? He was the best player on our team! He’s scored us all the goals that we had made this game. And, if I passed to him, he would probably get us the next.

All of a sudden, I felt the ball at my feet. I knew what I had to do.

I glanced up. My eyes quickly darted left and right, scanning the field for Lenny.

As my eyes landed on Lenny, my stomach dropped to the ground. I guess the other team had guessed what I was about to do, because there were tow of them guarding Lenny. He desperately tried to get around them, but there was no possible way.

I looked at everyone else on the field. They were scrambling everywhere, also trying to get open. It looked like I was on my own.

My heartbeat quickened. I started dribbling the ball between my feet. I easily got around the midfield. Then I got around the defense. Now it was just me, the goalie, and the wide open net.

Before I could think about what I was doing, I had kicked the ball.
It was now flying smoothly through the air. I held my breath as I watched the goalie dive into the left hand corner of the net. But he was too late. By the time he hit the ground, the ball was already nestled into the back of the net.
“GOAL!” I heard the loudspeaker shout.

I raised my hands in triumph. We had tied!