Tonight was the night. The night that the Fremd Vikings were going to beat the Stevenson Spartans in the district championship. The whole team was gathered up in the locker room getting ready for the showdown. We all had started getting in a circle to talk over the game plan when I saw Kirk, one of my teammates. He was sitting on the bench sulking. I approached him to ask him what was wrong with him. He responded in a very eerie tone, “I don’t know if I can do this.” Kirk was our star point guard and I was a second string. I asked him why he was feeling this way but he just got up and walked out of the locker room. As the team was all ready to head out the double doors onto the court, coach Sellers and I made eye contact. I couldn’t break away from it. I walked up to him and said, “He’s not here coach.” He responded surprised, “Who’s not here?” I explained the story with Kirk in the locker room. He looked at me and smiled. “Get warmed up son; you’re our starting point guard now.”

My throat stared to swell up. I didn’t know what to do. Kirk had always started as point guard for the past two seasons, but this was no time to panic. I knew I had to go out there and give it all I’ve got for my team. Five minute of warm up before show time. When the buzzer rang and the ref called for the players to take the court I was ready. Ready to give it all I got for my team. I looked at Coach Sellers and whispered, “I got this.”

The first half was brutal. It was a back and forth game. When we made a three pointer, they did too. When we got a fast break down the court, so did they. I knew that I had to lead my team to victory and we needed to do something special for the second half. The third quarter was nothing different from the previous two periods. “Alright guys it’s time to get our heads in the damn game and stop messing around,” I yelled at my teammates for motivation. The score was 55 to 55 in the fourth quarter with minute left. I inbounded the ball and ran whiskey 27. The Spartans were playing two-three zone defense. That resulted in a turnover which led to them scoring a layup on the break away. 25 seconds on the clock and we were down by two. This is it. It all came down to this one moment. I inbounded the ball and called stargazer 21. Kirk had always run this play in the past when he wanted to score and make a scene. It was the only play I could think of. 10 seconds left on the clock. I passed to Johnny in the alley and he passed it back to me. I was unmanned in the corner with a wide open three pointer. Johnny dished it to me; I put it up as fast as I could. Swoosh. The buzzer beater three pointer to win the division championship.