The clickety clack of plastic on concrete echoed through the hallway of the old building. It felt like a bunker where you would hide in the event of an attack, the plain cement walls, a musty smell you just couldn't get used to, it was weird. It was a big day, the electricity in the air was amazing. It was so cool. Not bad tension, good tension, the kind that made you wanna expound every ounce of energy in your body but you didn’t want the tension to disappear. I loved that feeling. The crowd roared as we stepped onto the field, bells rung out, echoing to every corner of the field , every wall of the stadium reverberating the sound waves around us creating a blur of excitement. A generic announcer’s voice echoed over our head, stating something everyone already knew. The sun beat down on my back, a beautiful day for a championship. The bottoms of my feet burned, creating a tickling sensation from the heat radiating from the turf. We were ready.

I don’t remember specifics from the game other than really basic things that happened. We were up big, we came out on fire. We scored five or six goals in the first half only allowing them to score two. I remember weird stuff like pouring water on my feet a few times to keep them cool. I remember McCall making wicked saves but I can’t remember what they were. I don’t know if I actually remember all of this stuff with my mind, I’ve watched the video a few times. I get chills every time I watch it, it was such a special moment for us all. I remember being on the attack side of the field and being helpless as Garfield slowly crept back into the game and watching their side of the scoreboard click back to even at 6 to six. We were way better than they were but we let them into a game we should’ve shut them out of early.

The next really specific thing I remember was the timeout Drew took with 1:27 left and it was weird. We were both tied at 6 and we would have the ball. He kinda set up a play but not really. It was a set but what I really remember was that instead of setting up a play he just kept saying “You guys got this” “I know you’ll get the goal”. I remember watching Will dance behind the goal for a while drawing different slides until he got a shorty. Everyone knew he was gonna go, it was no secret he had a matchup and he was gonna score. It wasn’t fancy he didn’t change hands, he didn’t spin, he didn’t stutter, he galloped twice into a spring got a half step on the defender, turned and shot.

I was on the sideline at the time. All I remember was being just about knocked off my feet by Drew, he ran up and down the bench just mowing people over. Now looking back at the video, the goalie was stuck to the post just slightly out of position, the shot was decent but could’ve been placed way better. None of it matters though because I have more than 100 percent confidence that no matter what the circumstance would’ve been Will would’ve scored that goal. He always got it done, I can’t remember a time when he had complete control over something and didn’t complete it. He’s that kind of guy, he could’ve been stuck with the best defender on their team and had the worst matchup on the whole field and what would he have done? He would have taken it and scored just the same. He had confidence in himself and so did we. Looking back on it that’s probably why Drew didn’t draw up a play, he knew that Will with the ball in his hands, in that scenario couldn’t be stopped by one person on that field.

I never realized how close we were to going to overtime. I remember hearing a whistle and just charging the field with a blatant disregard for anything around me. All the students swept the field like a tidal wave, at least that’s how I remember it. It was chaos. It was the second year that Garfield had gone to the state championship and it was the second year they lost. They were scattered around the field on their hands and knees in tears. It was weird because it’s so overwhelming and then you have to reign it all in to shake the other teams hands and then it’s over. Like we got a solid five minutes of celebration and then it was done. I remember hugging Parker, he had probably the prettiest goal of the whole Garfield squad in that game. We all collected as a team and walked to the other side of the field for the championship trophy. I remember looking at Kris and just seeing all the emotion in his face, he’s a funny guy. He cannot contain his emotion to save his life. The captains raised the trophy and the crowd went wild. I looked up and saw all the people who had come out to support a team that didn’t even have their schools name on the front. I saw all my family members and friends and was overcome with emotion. I don’t know whether or not I actually cried but I was right on the verge. It was something so special that was something we had expected of ourselves all season but when it was real it was different. We had gotten ourselves there, and then executed because we wanted it, not be it was expected or because we had to but because we wanted to.

We walked backed through the barren hallway this time loud and excited, there was no need to be silent. The hard part was over we could celebrate. We got into the locker room and all sat down on the floor in a massive circle. We just sat there in silence, we didn't talk about what we did right, or what we did wrong, we just sat there. It was over, it was real, and we had won.