The Perfect Gesture.
The perfect form football tackle, that is the perfect gesture. The person that made this gesture was Gary Kmiec. I witnessed this event for the first time, Labor Day, at the junior varsity football game against North Park College. The day was hot and humid, like a regular Chicago summer. The North Park Viking's field was hardly appealing to the eye. The field was one of those contraptions of a baseball/football field combination.
It was the third quarter of a very intense game, the score was 8-6 we were winning. Both teams were relying on their defenses to stop the opposing offense and in our case to score. From what I have heard through the “grape vine” is that the offense of North Central isn't the greatest, but we have one of the best defenses. The stands, like every other junior varsity game, had only a handful of people in them. Most of the die-hard fans were either family or girlfriends. Unlike the North Park Vikings, who suited up over 60 players in their royal blue, our junior varsity team had suited up about 29 players total. Out of those 29 select few, only 13 were on the defensive side of the ball.
North Park was on offense. The cardinal defense stood strong. It was second down and North Park needed five more yards to get the first down. I was not in the game at this time so I had an exceptional view. The Viking quarterback dropped back 2 steps then he handed the ball off to the half back. Kmiec, like he had always been taught, mirrored the half back shuffling parallel with him. Kmiec accelerated towards the ball carrier. Then it happened. The perfect gesture, the perfect tackle.
This was it. Kmiec had reached top speed when he met the ball carrier. When they met, Kmiec placed his right shoulder pad in the gut of the running back, making him lose his breath. Kmiec then wrapped his hands around the back of the ball carrier and pinned him to the ground. His helmet hit the ball directly, causing the pigskin to fly free from the running backs grip. Our free safety, Bob Goins, was right behind Kmiec and recovered the fumble on the North Park 25 yard line. The North Central crowd cheered and the North Central sidelines were in an uproar.
The Buffalo Sabres were playing the Florida Panthers. Thousands of spectators cheered as Buffalo took a 4-3 lead. The puck flew down the ice to the corner left of goaltender Ryan Miller. Players from both team rushed after the puck, 10 minutes and 4 seconds into the 3rd period Florida forward Olli Jokinen... ... middle of paper ... ...
The first day we got there we had started off so wrong by arguing. We weren’t doing well and we argued most of the time. Us as a team, we honestly made ourselves look bad in front of the coordinators and other teams that were watching us. The coaches had given us a real big pep talking about sticking together as a team to make us better. Although we didn’t think we needed it, it actually
WIth a minute left in the first half, Cobbin decided to throw the ball on third down which was an usual running down. Plymouth North senior captain Cam Drew threw a bullet pass right into the chest of Plymouth North Josh Pestana giving Plymouth North a 15 to 0 lead at the
Alder started the game off strongly with a defensive stop and an ensuing offensive drive ended in an Austin Fooce touchdown. The Vikings then responded with a touchdown of their own. The Pioneers
That is the nature of "The Play", which is perhaps one of the most memorable plays in American sports history. The Play was a kickoff return during a game between the University of California Golden Bears and the Standford Cardinals. We could go on and on describing the Play in all it's intensive detail but it's something that just needs to be seen. Surely, ESPN and CBS Sports wish the Play happened every day. It is truly a once in a lifetime event that you all should experience.
One of my favorite memories in my sports career was in the third grade, being the first year I played tackle football instead of flag football. This transition was a huge step for me because at such a young age I have never had much contact before. On the fifth day of practice after completing the conditioning our coach yelled, “time to hit!” Being a bunch of little kids we all screamed with extreme joy as this is the first time we get to tackle each other. My face grew the biggest smile as I was up first to tackle one of teammates. Our coach explained the
Riley, our starting quarterback, placed his hands on the helmet of the right tackle, as he did every play. He called the play looking straight into my eyes signaling the pass was coming to me. My entire body tingled with excitement as I ran to the left of the field. I could feel my cleats dig into the soft, freshly cut field as I took my stance. I looked up into the sky seeing only white lights which created the stage for the football field. As I brought my head down slowly to see the white eyes of the defender across from me, my heart beat slowed and I was still, in peace for the short moment. The quarterback hiked the ball and I began in pursuit; shifting, juking to get away from my defender. We were side-by-side running down the field as the ball was thrown into the air, coming strait to me. I jumped up and became airborne, snagging it from the lit up, night sky. Falling back with the ball secured into my arms, I felt my defenders full weight push into my left leg. A snap rang out as we hit the ground together and I looked down to see a large bump sticking straight left out of my
The horn blew and the game started, Dedham won the face off and is running down the field at a faster pace than I was used to. They shot the ball! I couldn’t move my stick quick enough to save it, so I threw my body in front of it and got hit right in the shoulder. It hurt a lot, but what I hadn’t realized was that it hit my shoulder and reflected ten feet away from the net where my player caught it and ran down the field and scored. The other team didn’t know what hit them. It was the half now and the score was three to nothing in our favor. Our couch told us that we needed to keep up the good work.
After a grinding football practice on a warm fall day on J.B. Murphy Field my coach announced that we were having a team meeting in his classroom. Once the entire team was seated, three of our teammates, Joe, Mark, and Jaedon came up to the front of the classroom. They announced that they wanted to take a knee during the National Anthem of our first league game, but they could not do so without the
He took a while to think about it but something popped in his head. He said “ Back in High school I played football and we was trying to go to the playoff. We was 8-2 last game of the regular season 4th down and we need to score to when the game. Coach called a timeout to get the offense in a good play to when the game. Coach said we going to run I right 28 sweep and, he spoke up and said no lets run off set I 24 power and I will get the ball in the in zone and score. The hold team is looking at him like man what you doing if you don’t score we don’t win the game. The coach looked at him and said okay this own you so they ran the off set I 24 power. He said the QB said go gave the ball to him and he wasn’t going to be stop, he was going to get that touchdown to win the game and send his team to the playoff. I put my head down and pushed my way into the in zone and I got in and we won the game. He said the coach gave him the game ball because at the time of the game he wanted to ball in his hands because his team needed someone to step up and be leader and I stepped up and rally my team be hide me”. As a football player myself I know that feeling when you need a touchdown to win the game and, you looking around like who going to make a play to win this game for
On a hot Saturday afternoon my team had our first football game. Unfortunately I wasn’t starting this game and I was determined to retrieve my position. It was a hot day so most of the players that were in were extremely exhausted. The coach figured the player who was in my position was tired, so he subbed me in for him. At that moment, I was determined to prove to him that I deserved to start in that position. On the first play, as soon as the ball snapped, I struck off the line of scrimmage as fast as I could to tackle the running back. I hit him so hard that I forced him to fumble. From the momentum of that play our defense dominated their offense. After the game, the coach finally gave me back my starting position. By being determined and anxious I got what I wanted
It was a touchdown! the first of the game for either team, so we were quickly up on the scoreboard 7-0 against Marshall. Marshall was the toughest team in the division at the time and we didn’t let them score the whole game! So for the first time in like eight years, Coldwater actually beat Marshall in rocket football. The next day we were in the papers, life was great as a eleven year old kid at that
The play was "Red 334"which is a run to our halfback, me, out of our dive series. I crouched over the ball as I jetted past the quarterback and ran the play so we could observe the changes we needed to make. I let out a sigh of relief because we were finished with the most dreaded part of practice; well, only until someone complained about not knowing their job on one of our pass plays. Coach Nelson undoubtedly decided we needed to run through the final pass play before we perfected our defense. The play was quietly called in the huddle with intentions of getting it right. I ran the play through my mind while I tried to remember what the snap count was and what I was supposed to do for that play. The ball was snapped and I jolted to the left of our team's quarterback to set up his backside protection. Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed the defensive end raging toward the quarterback. I intensely stepped into him while lowering my body and exploded through his shoulder pads sending him stumbling into the line's pass protection.
Long , Howie , and John Czarnecki . "America's Greatest Game." Football For Dummies. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing Ltd, 2007. 12-13.