Drew Stegall

My First Touchdown

                My first day at Hidden Valley middle School was one of the most nerve racking days of my life. It was my first day attending a new school with all new kids I’ve never seen before. But most importantly my first practice for the football team. All my life I had played basketball, baseball, and soccer but my family talked me into playing football because everyone in my family had played when they were my age.

                After the last bell of the day, I feel like my heart just fell off a cliff. All the sudden my stomach started to grumble and I began to doubt myself. But as soon as we get dressed and step out on the field, I feel just as if I were playing any other sport. I’m not sure if it was just being nervous or rushing myself but I walked on to the field with my jersey on backwards which was really embarrassing! Luckily most of my teammates were my friends so everyone had a good laugh out of it.

                Finally the coach walked on the field and put everyone into individual groups according to your position. The sun was beating down on the field. I was a quarterback so there was only one other kid in my group. Coach Z. was our coach so we immediately went into some warm-up drills. My heart was beating faster now and it showed in my throws so I pretty much forced myself to calm down. I took some deep breaths and focused into what coach was telling me. I was locked in like I was Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. People always told me I was shy and quiet and that’s a big reason why I was a good player because I listened to what coach taught me and I used that to play well.

                The practice was winding down and it was time to scrimmage. I felt pretty good about how it had gone so far so I really wanted to make a good first impression. Coach yells “Drew, you’re in for Zach on offense.” I was really excited about getting in and I wanted to show I could be a starter. It felt like there were a million pounds of pressure on my shoulders on the last drive of the game. Coach signals the play and the center yells “huddle, huddle.” I repeat the play to the team with my mouthpiece in so it really just sounded like I was slobbering all over the place. Thankfully I said it clear enough that they got the play and ran it great.

                Time was running out and I could see the defense was lined up in a perfect coverage for this play to be a touchdown. I had already thrown one touchdown pass but I glance at the person I am competing with and he didn’t look happy at me. But that motivated me to play better than I had all practice. So I called the play that Coach insisted we run and it didn’t work out for three straight plays. The atmosphere was like Game Seven of the NBA Finals and I wasn’t going to blow this lead. It was time to finish this game by throwing a game winning touchdown. Finally I get a great play call and I say “Down, Set, Hut!” It was a vertical route going all the way downtown. I reared back with giants rushing me and let the ball fly. It seemed like an eternity until Ben caught the ball. He made a move on a player and walked into the end zone. Not only was it a great feeling but there would be no hiking up the Eagle hill for the winning team!