It was a cold and windy Friday in Dublin. The whole town was busy getting ready for the game of the year. Dublin High was playing against the best team in the nation for the NCS title. The team was De La Salle and they were 13-0. Dublin High’s football team had trained all year for this game and were more than ready to take them on. All of the players were huddled in the locker room, taking a knee. The door opened and in rushed their head coach. He was so excited to coach this game yet so nervous. He was a man of few words, but when he spoke it was always so encouraging. He looked at his hardworking players and said, “First, I am so proud of you and all your hard work you have put in, secondly, whatever the outcome of this game, just know that by the end of the fourth quarter, they will know who we are and what we stand for and lastly, let’s go out there and kick some butt!” By the end of that speech every player was fired up and ready to win the football game. The captains of the team stood up and started getting their team fired up. All at once they chanted, “let’s go get this W!” and all the players stood up, put their helmets on and ran onto the field. When the Dublin team took the field everyone in the stadium was screaming and the stands were jam packed.
As Dublin High ran onto the field to start warming up, they were led by their captains: Eli, Kai, Jonathan, and Aj. Even though all of the captains had put their blood, sweat and tears into training and eagerly wanted to win, Jonathan had his own personal vendetta. About 4 years ago, Jonathan was best friends with a boy named Jared. Jared was captain of De La Salle and Jonathan was captain of Dublin. They both were on the same club football team and both were amazing quarterbacks. Jonathan had the most beautiful girlfriend by the name of Tabitha which made Jared secretly very envious. Jared was envious of Jonathan not only because he had a beautiful girlfriend but also because he was the star football player on his team. Jared wanted everything Jonathan had. One day, Jonathan caught Jared and Tabitha kissing and their friendship was never the same. Since that day, the boys despised each other.
As the warm up clock started to wind down, the refs walked on the field and called the four captains of each team to the center of the field. Jonathan came face to face with Jared. Jonathan’s heart was racing fast as the refs tossed the coin up in the air to determine who would take possession first. Jared’s face lit up with excitement when he realized his team had won the coin toss. They elected to kick off and have Dublin high receive. As the captains all turned to run back to their huddles, Jared grabbed Jonathan’s arm and said, “I’m gonna steal this game, like I stole your girl!” Jonathan’s face grew hot with anger, he was more determined to win than ever.
The whistle blew and the game was underway. De La Salle kicked off the ball to Dublin and their kick off receiver ran the ball for thirty yards. Jonathan took the field as their number one quarterback. Two plays in and he already had his team up 7-0. De La Salle answered back and tied the game up. As the game went on, they were constantly neck and neck. By the time the clock reached halftime, the score was 20-20. Both teams retired to their locker rooms to re-evaluate their game plan and get feedback from their coaches. In the De La Salle locker room, Jared was yelling at his teammates for not playing harder and was getting more angrier by each word he said, while in the Dublin locker room, Jonathan was encouraging his teammates and telling each and every one of them that he believed in them and the history they were going to make tonight. As the team ran out together onto the field one last time, they were greeted with loud cheers and chants from their fellow classmates and family members. At that moment, Jonathan knew he had to leave everything on the field, no matter what.
The game went on as the minutes dwindled down, and by the end of the third quarter, Dublin was trailing behind 20-30. It was Dublin’s turn to take the field on offense. Play after play, they got closer and closer to the end zone. Finally on fourth down, Jonathan was hiked the ball and looked down the field for his receivers but quickly realized no one was open, so he tucked the ball in and ran it in himself for a touchdown. The kicker came onto the field and made the field goal and was granted the extra point. The score was now 27-30. De La Salle came onto the field with only four minutes remaining. As they got further and further down the field and closer to the end zone, Jonathan got more nervous on the sideline. On their final fourth down play, Jared attempted to throw to one of his receivers, but the ball was intercepted by Dublin. They ran down the field for twenty yards and was now in possession and in the perfect position to win. Jonathan ran onto the field and was ready to finish this game. One play after the next, Jonathan was moving his team down the field. With twenty seconds left in the most important game, Jonathan threw for thirty yards and placed the ball perfectly in his receiver’s hands in the end zone. As the scoreboard buzzed to signal the end of the game and as the crowd rushed the field, Jonathan’s team picked him up and chanted,  “DUBLIN, DUBLIN!” After all the chaos and all the excitement wore down, Jared came to Jonathan and said, “Congratulations, your team outplayed mine and it goes to show who the better leader is, by the way…Tabitha says hi.”  Jonathan simply replied, “Man, this trophy sure will look good on my nightstand.”