It was a cold and rainy Friday night Timberland Wolves were set to play Fort Zumwalt South Bulldogs. We had won 2 of our last 3 games while the bulldogs had just come off a big game. On the St.Louis Sports website we were picked to lose the game despite streaking a couple of wins at the end of the season. 

It was around 3:30 and we got all our equipment together and ate as a team. The bus got there at 4:30. I remember thinking on the bus about how we are missing key players to our team. They are starting middle linebacker and starting running back but I couldn't let these things bother me, as I knew we needed to win tonight. The bus ride was colder than expected, I checked the temperature for gametime and it said right around 30 degrees. We arrived at around 5, Starters went out to warm up at 5:15 we got out there on the cold turf with this big ugly bulldog logo in the middle. I normally have nerves before this especially because this was a playoffs game but it was weird. I had no nerves. It was the most comfortable and relaxed I've felt in pregame. In warm ups the team was looking good and we all had a different energy. Warms were 15 to 20 minutes. We came back into the locker room and made sure the helmet and all the pads were ready. We had padded warm ups with the whole team at 6 just one hour before kick off. Time felt like it was flying before we knew it, it was time for kickoff they ran out of the tunnel and we stood there, staring them down as they ran out you could tell the energy was high. Before the game even started things were getting heated. They didn't like us mocking them. They tried getting in our faces before the game even started, The refs had to break both teams up.

It was time for kickoff. There was this cold breeze and good Playoff football feeling , we had won the coin toss and chose to defer, meaning we would start the game on defense. We practiced all week on stopping number 5, their best player. Very first play of the game we got a sack and a few plays later we forced them to punt the football. We started at the 35 yard line in the 7th offensive Play we called a run right, the ball was snaPPed and the running back was running behind me. I blocked the outside linebacker and the running back ran straight through the gap I had made in the defense for a 40 yard touchdown. The Wolves were up 7-0. Defense got another stop and put us in a good position to score a couple plays into the next drive. I ran a hook route right in the middle of the defense. The qb threw me the ball, I caught it and easily scored. The game was 14-0 wolves at the end of the first quarter. They drove down the field on their next possession and scored 14-7. We went down and answered and scored 21-7. But the game was far from over and they scored again. It was a close game now 21-14. Offense needed to score to keep building the lead but we couldn't pick up a 4th and 8 and turned the ball over. The bulldogs were on fire. They started limiting the other receivers and I with different defensive looks. At halftime the score was 21-24 Bulldogs.

Second half we started with the ball and still couldn't find a way to score. They drove down a score to get a 2 possession lead 21-31. The game went back to fourth. Late in the fourth quarter it was 34-37 bulldogs, in the back of my mind I was thinking the season was over. They had the ball and we haven't stopped their offense since the first quarter. The bulldogs quarterback threw a risky side arm throw across  the field and it was intercepted. All we had to do now was go down and score. We picked up a couple first downs but the drive started to stall out. We had a 4th and 12 to pick up and just launched the ball to the back of the endzone and we came down with it. The end score was 41-37 Timberland.