Saturday Night Lights

The big Game. The championship is on the line. The undefeated bears against the broncos. The broncos had just one loss in overtime against the bears coming into the final game of the season.

The bears fumble the opening kickoff to give the broncos first and ten at the 16. The broncos have a huge line with a very good quarterback and running back. The bears stuff them on the first three plays. The hits could be heard in the stands. Remember, these are 11 and 12 year olds! On third and four, the broncos try a pass. The safety, the same boy who fumbled the kick, is called for pass interference. It is now first and goal. The broncos send the running back up the middle he is stripped of the ball. Bears recover. On the second play from scrimmage the QB is sacked -- safety. My mighty bears are down 2-0. After the kick both teams trade punts. End of the quarter.

The broncos pin the bears back on their own 12 yard line early in the second quarter. The QB for the bears, hoosierboy jr., hands the ball to the running back, he goes two steps and fumbles! The broncos have the ball on the bears 8 yard line. The broncos try a quick pass to the left and it is intercepted! My bears move the ball forward to about the 20, then are forced to punt. The little one (my boy) blows his assignment and the broncos run it in for a touchdown. After the two point conversion we are down 10-0.

The bears begin to methodically pound the ball upfield. We break a big reverse and the wing back breaks free for a long touchdown run, score is now 10-6. The extra point is missed. That is the score as we move to halftime. I explain to the boys we are still OK. We have given them the 10 points. We have a whole half to go.

The second half is more of the same. The broncos coach makes a big defensive mistake. He has two very good defensive linemen. Both are nearly unstoppable. They have credit for nearly every tackle. In the first half he has them split right and left. We could not move the ball. Now for some reason he places them together on the right side of his line: I guess to stop the sweep we had to get a touchdown to that side. Now we just run to the right, faking occasionally to the left. We finally begin to move the ball. Our big center, the heart and sole of the offensive line is hurt. He refuses to go out of the game. I can hear him actually growling on the line. We pound the ball, finally breaking free on a sweep to score again. We get the PAT, 13-10. That is the end of the 3rd Quarter.

The final quarter is a mirror of the third. The bears defense gets stronger. Our speed begins to take it toll on the big line of the broncos. We force a few more punts. The bears pound the ball, mixing in a bootleg, and a few sweeps. The bears score again. 19-10. With one minute to go the broncos are again threatening. The clock is the enemy. There is little chance they can score twice in that time. With 4th and long the bears defense throws them for a loss of ten. My mighty bears take a knee to end the game victorious and undefeated.