Four Seconds Left

After winning every game in their district and winning the bi-district championship, it was time for the Tinsley High School Tigers to face the Jamestown High School Hawks for the regional football championship.

This was the first time Tinsley had made it this far in the football playoffs in the last 22 years. The Tigers had been a domineering team this whole season. Everyone in the Tinsley area just knew that this would be their year.

However, the Jamestown Hawks was not a pushover team. They also dominated all their games as well.

With two powerhouse teams competing, this game was destined to be the monumental game of the decade.

Coach Turner delivered his pre-game speech to fire up the Tigers in the locker room. The offense, led by quarterback, Doug Ballard, was ready and so was the defense. The Tigers team ran out onto the field full of energy as the band played the Tinsley High School fight song.

During the first quarter, the Hawks scored a touchdown, but the Tigers blocked the point after. Then the Tigers kicked a field goal, but so did the Hawks. At the end of the first quarter, the score was Tigers 3 and Hawks 9.

During the second quarter, the Tigers kicked another field goal, but the Hawks were scoreless. The second quarter score was Tigers 6 and Hawks 9.

During the third quarter, the Hawks scored another touchdown and went for two points, but they failed. The score was then Tigers 6 and Hawks 15.

The Tigers kicked another field goal, so the score going into the fourth quarter was Tigers 9 and Hawks 15.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Tigers finally made a touchdown and later the Hawks kicked a field goal, which made the score Tigers 16 and Hawks 18, a two-point game.

After the Hawks’ field goal, we join the action.

The Tigers have the ball on their own 38 yard line with 2:14 left to play and two timeouts.

The Tigers lined up to look like a running play, but quarterback Doug Ballard passed the ball ten yards to receiver Ronnie Mills, who runs for another 12 yards to the Hawks’ 40 yard line.

The clock is running at 1:43 when the ball is snapped. Ballard runs with the ball to the left, until he is close to being tackled and then laterals to running back Keith Sarver who manages to carry the ball out of bounds at the Hawks’ 31 yard line, which is close to field goal range.

The clock stopped at 1:34 and it’s second and one to go. The Tigers try a running play for a first down but are stopped three yards behind the line. It’s now third and four to go.

The clock is running at 0:58 when the ball is snapped. Ballard passes to tight end Jerry Fox for a quick six-yard gain at the Hawks’ 25 yard line.

Having already called the next play in the previous huddle, the Tigers line up quickly and pass to Mills near the left sideline at the Hawks’ 18 yard line where he runs out of bounds.

The clock stopped at 0:34 and it’s second and three. The Tigers attempt to pass to the endzone, but the ball is overthrown.

The clock stopped at 0:26 and it’s third and three at the Hawks’ 18 yard line. The Tigers run a screen pass and successfully run the ball out of bounds at the Hawks’ nine-yard line.

With only eleven seconds left, the Tigers run a passing play. Mills manages to break open in the endzone headed to the right sideline, but a Hawks linebacker breaks through the offensive line forcing Ballard to throw early and the ball is thrown outside Mills’s reach.

With only four seconds left, Coach Turner sends out the field goal unit for a chip shot to win the game. Everyone lines up, the snap is good, the kicker, Larry Hollis, kicks but the ball hits the left upright and bounces back to the field. Time has expired and the Tigers have lost the game.

As the team made their way back to the locker room, there was a lot of grumbling about how Hollis had let the team down.

Coach Turner asked the assistant coaches to go to the locker room with the rest of the team, while he called Hollis over to walk with him. The coach intentionally walked slower than the team to create some distance for a private talk with Hollis.

When there was enough distance for that privacy, Coach Turner asked, “Hollis, what went wrong with that kick?”

Hollis replied, "I don’t know. I should have made a chip shot like that. I guess I was at the wrong angle when I kicked.” He very sadly continued, “I feel so bad that I let the team down like that. I sure wish I had a do-over.”

Coach said, “Larry, we all have had moments like that. I know I have. We just have to accept that not everything goes the way we want.”

As they entered the hallway to the locker room, they could hear a lot of moaning. There were voices that said, “If only Hollis had made that kick,” and, “He let us down when it counted the most.” There were other similar grumblings that made Hollis feel so embarrassed and humiliated that he didn’t want to go in. But the coach made him walk in first.

As soon as the guys saw Hollis, there was an awkward silence, except for one player who didn’t notice Hollis, and he said, “What a screw up he was!” And then he realized that Hollis heard him. He quickly sat down on the bench with his face red from embarrassment.

As Coach Turner entered the room with a look of disapproval on his face, everyone gasped, and then no one made a sound. You could feel the tension in the air.

Coach looked around the locker room, sternly gazing into the eyes of each player. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Finally, he began his after-game speech.

“Football is a team sport. We don’t send players onto the field as eleven individuals. We send an eleven-man team. Teamwork! Teamwork is what it’s all about in football.

“I want each of you to ask yourselves, ‘Am I part of the team or am I just an individual doing my own job and everybody else needs to do theirs?’

“Because, if that’s what you think, you’re in the wrong sport. You need to go out for swimming or tennis or Ping Pong or chess or tiddlywinks. Those are games where individual effort is what counts. But, in football, it takes a team effort to win.

“When I stepped into this room a moment ago, I heard a lot of criticism about Hollis missing that chip-shot field goal. Let me tell you, no one feels any worse about missing that easy kick than Hollis himself. After all of you left the field, Hollis apologized to me for letting the team down—for letting his team down. He didn’t blame anyone or anything else—not Harper for a bad snap, not Thompson for the way he held the ball. He blamed himself for approaching the ball at a bad angle. He felt like it was his fault that we lost.”

After pausing for a couple of seconds, Coach Turner continued. “But was it Hollis’s fault?”

The coach quickly looked around the room again.

“How did we get to where we were? What caused us to rely on Hollis kicking a field goal to win the game?

“What about the previous play? We were on the opponent’s nine yard line. To me, that was a chip-shot pass play. Why didn’t we make a touchdown? If we had, we wouldn’t have needed to put the burden on Hollis, would we?

“What about it, Mills? Why didn’t you catch that pass?”

Ronnie Mills replied, “The ball was out of my reach, Coach.”

The coach turned and asked, “What happened Ballard? Why didn’t you throw the ball where Mills could catch it?”

Doug Ballard replied, “Because a defender was about to tackle me, Coach. I had to throw the ball in a hurry to avoid being sacked and having time expire.”

“So how did that defender get to Ballard? Did someone on the line let him slip through?” The coach paused and then continued. “No need to answer that. It just happened that way. Try as best we can, sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way we want.

“The same sort of thing happened in the second quarter, didn’t it? We were within passing range of a touchdown, but Ballard was sacked for a loss. So, we had to send Hollis out to get three points for us instead of seven points from a touchdown. If we had made that touchdown, we wouldn't have had to rely on Hollis at the end of the game, would we?

“Boys, we can play the ‘if only’ game as much as we want. The bottom line is, sometimes things just don’t work out.”

The coach paused again, and then asked, “Fox, how many points did Hollis score and how many points did the rest of the team score?”

Jerry Fox answered, “Hollis scored nine points and the offense scored seven points.”

The coach responded, “Wrong! The offense scored six points for the touchdown, but Hollis kicked the point after, plus three field goals. Hollis scored ten points and all the rest of you boys put together scored only six.

“Are you sure Hollis let you down? He’s the one who worked his tail off to score the most points. Why didn’t the offense score at least one more touchdown to win the game?

“It seems to me that you boys let Hollis down. After all, he gave you the points you needed to win the game with that last, easy touchdown play.

“What do you boys have to say for yourselves?’

After about five seconds of silence, Doug Ballard rose and said, “Hollis, on behalf of the team, let me be the first to apologize for our trash talk about you. You were outstanding throughout the game. In fact, even though we lost, I nominate you as MVP of the game.”

Ronnie Mills raised his hand and said, “I second the nomination!”

Ballard said, “All in favor say ‘aye.’”

Every player said, “Aye.”

Then they all lined up to shake his hand, saying, “Job well done!”

Hollis couldn’t hold back his tears of gratitude as they all came by.

After everyone returned to their seats, Coach Turner had the last word.

“All of you should be proud of what just happened. You’re showing signs of passing from boyhood to manhood. I’m proud of what I just witnessed.

“And men, you should be proud of what you accomplished on the field tonight. You held a powerhouse team to just two points over your own score. It literally went down to the wire. There’s no reason to be ashamed of the final score.

“As a team, you men did yourselves proud!”