Tay and his teammates…

Yesterday Tay’s team headed north to take on St. Ignatius High School soccer team on their home field. Number 5 vs. number 6 in the State. More indicitive of their elite stature, Ignatius has won the Division 1 State championship 4 of the last 5 years – the one exception was won by Olentangy Liberty, Tay’s team. Rivalry games get everbody going…

The game started off with the center ref, a John McCain look alike, swallowing his whistle. He didn’t call a thing. On a narrow, fast pitch this provided St. Ignatius with their kinda match – tight, physical, and a one through ball kinda game. I looked at Miss and told her we were in trouble. Our players were getting beat up on every possesion and looking at the ref, who simply looked the other way. This was NOT going to end well, I thought to myself. Of course it didn’t help that my son was absolutely getting drilled in the back by number 16 every time he took a touch. Tay was knocked off the ball and his teammates were knocked off their game. Yikes. It was only a matter of time…

Midway through the first period a through ball found it’s way to a Catholic’s foot and a side net goal was the quick result. We were down one. The half would end this way but it felt worse. We were totally dominated and appeared deflated. Miss and I left the stands and took up residence away from the parents. We are both intense fans and can let our mouths run a bit unfiltered, if you know what I mean. Best to be by ourselves…

The second half began with us standing by Frank the photographer down by the pitch and away from everybody else. We planted our feet by the fence and hoped the ball would be at our end, the Liberty scoring zone. We weren’t too certain we’d see much. We were wrong. Two minutes into the second half, the Liberty team found the net on a pure hustle play in front of the net. Donnie Deep got his head on a ball that he took out of the air right in front of the opposing keep.

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL.

Thirty eight minutes to go and we had the equalizer. Miss and I shared a high five and could sense the turning of the tide… Liberty took the fight to St. Ignatius and responded in kind to each and every foul. Finally, McCain found his whistle and even his cards. The game was too far gone for him to get it under control. The game was going to be a brawl. Suddenly Liberty was pushing back and Tay was greeting number 16 with a little of his own medicine. I smiled and might have even yelled a few encouraging words toward my son. Tay and his mates changed their game to match their opponent and the ref. Suddenly the Catholics were on their heels and a second, scrum like goal came within a few minutes more. Donnie got his head on another and Liberty took the lead 2-1. Tay and his teammates celebrated in front of the net at the 65th minute. Fifteen minutes of fouls was all that remained between them and a REAL, HARD, FOUGHT “W.” For fifteen minutes Liberty continued to fight back. I do mean fight. This was not a pretty version of the beautiful game. Funny, huh.

Tay and his mates were tired and trying to hold on. St. Ignatius was not about to give up and kept surging forward with their same kinda reckless abandon. The last couple minutes were completely nuts as they pushed everybody forward and Tay found himself playing defense exclusively. With a little less than a minute to go his nemisis was tracking forward for a final push. Tay tackled him, ball first, and sent him tumbling head over heels. My grin was so wide it hurt.

The final seconds ticked off as players from both teams scrumed for the ball 35 yards from our net. Three, two, one and the game was over, or so we thought. The game ended and we celebrated. McCain and his fellow refs were conferencing, however, at midfield. McCain turned to the stands and asked that three seconds be placed back on the clock. The Liberty bench and stands went nuts but to no avail. St. Ignatius was awarded a free kick from the 35 and Liberty set the wall ten yards away. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening and am getting crazy just writing about it a day later…

The kick was struck with authority and seemed to just skim over the top of the Liberty wall. Our amazing goalie, Sam Nelson, lept and extended his right arm as high as he could to no avail – the ball just made it over his glove covered fingers. Thank God for the big, ole white bar. The ball struck the goal bar and shook it for what seemed like seconds before the ball landed harmlessly ten yards from the line. This time the game was over for good. I jumped at least two inches off the ground and might have even added a punch to the sky. I was so happy for Tay and his team – so happy.

Tay and his teammates learned a ton from this game. They learned how to fight. They learned how to come together. They learned how to look within, not at the ref, if you want to turn a deficit into a victory. They learned that the second half is always the most important. They learned that you have to play to end. And, sometimes you have to play a bit longer. They learned that just because the cards are stacked against you, you don’t have to fold.

I can’t wait to learn what their coach told them at halftime. Who know’s maybe I’ll get something worth applying to me and to you. Who knows. Well done, Tay and team. Well done. Now, apply all that learning to your next one. The next one…