Harry’s High School Football Game
A
Harry Miles Short Short
By
Ed
Benjamin
Harry looked at the ball tumbling as it sailed its
way down field. He could tell it was
headed straight for him.
He barely heard the crowds cheering as he gauged the
approaching ball. It was the opening
game of the season. It was a regional
North Carolina tradition which had begun eight years earlier pitting the AA
team of A.L. Brown High School of Kannapolis against the AAAA team from
Grimsley High School in Greensboro. Someone said it started when a former
Grimsley ‘Whirlies’ star became the coach of the lesser ranked AA Wonders’ in
Kannapolis about 60 miles away..
Traditionally, the Kannapolis team got stomped; or as the Greensboro
pundits would declare, “they got their butts handed to them again this year.” The Greensboro press likened the games as
“practice sessions.”
No one knew why the tradition continued, but it
did. Now the Wonders were trying to
upgrade their football program from AA to AAA.
The school expected to receive the AAA rating within the next two years. As a result, the Wonder Football Boosters had
lobbied unsuccessfully for the coach and the school to cancel this rivalry so
that each season would not start with a major loss.
All this meant little to Harry because he was focused on receiving the opening kick of the game and fulfilling his assigned job which the coach had assigned to him. They had practiced this several times and Harry had been assigned to receive on the left side of the field while Gene, the fullback had the right side.
“Get the ball to Roger.” The coach had drummed into
their heads time and time again and they had spent countless hours practicing
various ways to do that.
Roger was a halfback the same as Harry and Gene was
the fullback. The Boosters had let out
an agonizing cry when they lined up to receive the kickoff. Normally, there was a special team to return
kickoffs. Both Roger and Harry were sophomores.
This was the second season they had played North Carolina High School football
and more often than not they started. Gene, a senior, was also on the field and
he was the most experienced fullback beginning his third season of play. The crowd was visibly upset and vocal. After
all, you don’t waste your starters on kickoff returns.
It was a simple plan. Lateral or hand off the football to Roger
Hobson, the fastest player on the team and let him work his magic. The players had speculated that Roger would
advance the ball to the forty or fifty yard line and give the Wonders a chance
to score. Most of the players were enthusiastic
about this strategy since the Wonders had been scoreless against the Whirlies
for the past four years. The team
members wanted desperately to get on the scoreboard.
Harry focused on the ball. He had always had the ability to concentrate
on the task at hand, a trait which would serve him well in the future.
The ball landed in his arms and he began running
cross field faking a handoff to Gene and tucking the ball against his
side. He saw Roger headed toward him and
the handoff went smoothly. The transfer
took place at the three yard line and Harry continued toward the other side of
the field pretending he still had the ball tucked inside.
He did not see Roger after that because of Dink
Black.
Dink Black was a 300 pound junior who played Tackle
for Greensboro. There were rumors about
Dink throughout the state. First, the
High School did not have a uniform big enough for Dink so the Whirlies had to go
to the North Carolina State college football team for uniforms to fit
Dink. You did not want to meet Dink in a
game, especially if you had the ball. When
Greensboro played him during the game, Dink would mow down the defensive line
trying to get to the player with the ball.
He tired easily and wasn’t that good.
He never got credit for a tackle but when they played him, he made
serious dents in the defensive line. The
Greensboro coach would play him about once or twice a game and on occasion when
it was deemed that speed was not a problem, as a Special Teams member on
kickoffs.
Harry did not get to see the result of his handoff
to Roger because when he reached the side of the field and turned as if to run
the ball down field, he saw Dink running for him head on.
Harry quickly assessed the situation. Dink had been running for about thirty yards and
was obviously out of breath. In a few
spilt seconds, Harry imagined he felt the turf heave under Dink’s thudding
feet. He heard Dink’s labored breathing. The realization dawned on Harry that Dink was
still under the impression that Harry had the football.
There was no escape so Harry did the only thing he
could think of doing. He turned so he
was facing full body toward Dink and held his arms out so Dink could see he did
not have the football. To his credit,
Dink did try to stop.
Harry learned a valuable Physics lesson that
day. “A body in motion will remain in
motion.”
Harry did not really recover from the impact until
the third quarter and it was minutes after the play that he learned that Roger
amazed the crowd with his speed by running ninety-seven yards for a touchdown. It was the first score against Greensboro in
four years.
The enthusiasm among the team was so great that Kannapolis
won the game 31 to 28, ended up with a 9-1 win/loss record, and became the
North Carolina AA State Champions.
In one game, Harry learned the importance of coming
back from a crushing blow, the value of surprise, and how enthusiasm can lift
the human spirit.
Harry’s best friend, Roger, never played football
again, but that is a story for another day.
Author’s note:
Thank you for reading this story.
I hope you enjoyed it. Ed
If you are interested in how Harry did or did not apply these lessons flying company as an Air Force fighter pilot, you can check out Harry's War, available on Kindle or wherever digital books are sold.
Kindle Link is
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00794LZTU/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00794LZTU&linkCode=as2&tag=flowatpre-20
If you are interested in how Harry did or did not apply these lessons flying company as an Air Force fighter pilot, you can check out Harry's War, available on Kindle or wherever digital books are sold.
Kindle Link is
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00794LZTU/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00794LZTU&linkCode=as2&tag=flowatpre-20