EPTOk, just a bit of background info. I'm a sophomore at Troy High School in Fullerton CA. I'm in the marching band there (play the alto sax), and as such, try to attend as many football games as possible. Our football team was pretty scary these last couple of years, but this year is pretty sucky because we lost our best player Derrick Coleman (#3 runningback in nation senior year i believe. full ride to UCLA.) as well as other key seniors. So far we've been playing pretty crappy (1-2) and a lot of people go into the game with pretty low expectations and expect our team to lose (not necessarily a blowout, but just lose)
They had no idea what they were in for for the next ~3 hours.
ok, maybe not for the entire ~3 hours. the first half was pretty unexciting. our defense looked pretty solid and we only gave up 3 in the first quarter and 10 in the second half. however, our offense looked pretty crappy and only scored like 6 for the entire first half (i think). so the game looked like it was going to be another boring drawn out game with the other team eventually outclassing us in the second half.
halftime comes along. i get pretty excited because halftime usually means that the other marching band performs their show. Diamond Bar High's marching band is frucking big (rumors say 300+) and have a pretty big reputation for being one of the biggest and best bands in southern california. however, i completely forget the fact that this particular game is Diamond Bar's homecoming game. homecoming game = no field show, which made me depressed because i really really wanted to see what Diamond Bar's field show looked like. At this point I'm pretty bummed. After all, the new rule regarding marching bands is actually getting enforced now, which makes away games frucking lame, and it seemed as though it was going to be a really boring night.
We should really give more credit to our varsity team than we already do.
3rd quarter is where the action finally starts warming-up. the coach apparently got the team pumped up and soon after the second half kickoff, our team scores almost right away and plays some stellar defense, managing to limit Diamond Bar to 7 points. so at this time, it's 19-13, and we start gaining more momentum.
4th quarter is where everything got out of control. Our offense decides to say "lol. fuck, we were just screwing around. we're gonna win this shit, starting by taking the lead" and once again, scores about 3-5minutes into the 4th quarter. 20-19. of course, by this time, our defense starts slacking a little and gives up a touchdown and a 2 pt. conversion, making the score 27-20, with about 5 minutes still to play. At this point, most of the people in the stands are like, fuck. we're screwed now. whatever. it's their homecoming game. we'll let them win it. But the offense just says "lol. fuckyouguys." and slowly but surely, gets all the way to about the 20 yrd line. at this point, i'm debating with my friends whether we should risk the 2 points or the field goal, when at that point, we turn around in time to see a perfect, perfect fucking pass to a wide open receiver. in the end zone. the troy fans go fucking wild. i resume my debate with my friends, saying that we should settle for the field goal, when, once again, i turn around and see our running back getting the ball....... and scoring. the crowd has pretty much lost their voice by this time. 28-27, with about 2 minutes remaining.
fast foward to about 40 seconds remaining in the game. during the fast foward, our defense forces them into 4th down 2 or 3 times, but each time, Diamond Bar finds a way to get 1st down. 40 seconds, with 40 yards to go.
HIKE! ball is given to running back, but our defense were like "fuck no" and don't give him that many yards.
HIKE! same scenario as the first down
HIKE! the quarterback is in deep doodoo and desperately tries to pass it to the people in the end zone, but falls miserably short.
4th down, with about 15 seconds. our crowd is going fucking nuts. we think we have this game won. think we spoiled Diamond Bar's homecoming game.
do we?
HIKE! the quarterback gets some blocks, sees an open target, and throws.
the receiver catches it, and the diamond bar stands goes crazy.
our stand is just stunned and we can't believe it.
....
until..
"wait a minute. is that a flag on the ground?"
suddenly, the troy fans are anticipating the call, and scream in excitement when the penalty is called against diamond bar
(what for, i'm still not sure).
so, 4 seconds remaining, still 4th down. both stands going absolutely insane.
HIKE! the quarterback is in immense pressure, and out of desperation, tries to throw it in the end zone.
doesn't come even close. our stands explode
until
"..... please don't tell me that's a flag"
yup. the refs decide that we did something retarded and dimaond bar gets another chance. "oh well" we shrug. we've stopped them at least 4 times now, we can do it one more time.
HIKE! once again, the quarterback finds himself in total pressure. one of our guys was literally an arm's length away from sacking the quarterback.
once again, the quarterback throws out of desperation. our cheers could be heard 5 miles away as we realize that the pass is once again, too short. just about 5 yards away from the end zone, and there are at least 2-3 guys covering it. there's no way that we could screw this up, right?
.... right?
5 seconds later, our stands are fucking silent as death as we watch the diamond bar stands cause an uproar and the diamond bar players rush into their end zone. we're going "wtf? did... did that just happen."
what happened?
an inch or two happened
our players jump up to try and smack the ball down so that a diamond bar player won't try and sneak the ball into his hands. they fall literally about an inch short. as they try to smack the ball down, the ball hits the tip of the players fingers and instead of plummeting into the ground like we thought would have happened for sure, it takes an extra bounce off their fingers and flies behind our defenders.
right into a receiver's hand. it only took 2 steps to secure the touchdown and the game.
very anticlimactic for us, but it was an intense game down the stretch, and we probably made diamond bar extremely happy, especially since they literally pulled a miracle out of their ass, in their homecoming game.
so all i have to say:
GG Diamond Bar. VGG
(share any intense football stories?)
