Tucson Wildlife Journal: Glory Days. Flashback- 1980's soccer championship (not wildlife related)

HS Soccer- Senior year

Recently I revisited my high school yearbook. I sometimes get a lift by the things my friends wrote, truths that surfaced as we realized the shortness of time in this golden era of deep friendship. It was a vehicle to write deep thoughts, unsaid compliments, and hope for the future. I searched a little deeper into the pages this time, and saw classmates I hardly knew, and the contributions they made to different school organizations. Looking at their accomplishments , I had an epiphany. All that time we want to distinguish ourselves as different, yet seeing the achievements of my fellow classmates, I realized we were and are all the same. We just fill different parts of the same puzzle. Had I the chance to go back to this time period I would want to be more involved, be a part of the whole school, not just one segment. I'd push my insecurities aside, relax, break out of my shell, and enjoy the camaraderie of my fellow classmates- their strengths, their flaws, and their struggles. I'd throw off the extreme shyness that held me back at the time, and laugh at the folly of life.

Speaking of laughter one of my greatest accomplishments in high school was also a moment I could also enjoy laughing at my antics, and how much luck can be a part of success. I felt the need to let my classmates, especially my soccer buddies, know the whole story behind one of our successes which slipped narrowly from the grip of failure. Although it is not wildlife related, perhaps you'll relate. I pick up the story in the middle of my letter;

Speaking of soccer, if anyone still has the video of our 1982 county championship finals with McMahon I would love a copy (our senior year of HS). My copy was suspiciously lost along with a video of us ice climbing the Frankenstein ice cliffs. From the feedback I've heard, my slow ascent up the cliff face would classify the video as a torture technique that,if ever used against prisoners of war, would violate the Geneva convention. Showing to relatives is OK though.

1/10/13-1/11 back east. I still have characters remaining and drank coffee tonight so let's revisit the McMahon county championship and the question, "Why did you go back to the ball and reposition it when the clock was counting down." As I've told Dave Cole and Guy Welton seemingly a hundred times(translation-4 times), "If I hadn't repositioned the ball we would have lost the game."
Lets revisit. It's a good crowd, say 1500 to 2000 people watching this FCIAC championship night game. McMahon is up by one and Mike Perman, our announcer for the game, is wondering what the headlines will read the next day, after our loss. We have a free kick from just over the half line. Everyone goes up to the opposing goal to score and I am left by default to take the kick. Countdown from about 10 seconds is being chanted by the crowd but, to tell you the truth all I heard was a dull roar. As I set the ball I notice the guy covering "Guy," was giving too much room- if I banana'd the kick I could curl it around him toward the goal, and Guy's amazingly accurate foot.
Here's the problem. As I backed up from the ball some force moved it off its perch and into a divot, creating the distinct possibility I could "knub," the ball, dashing our hopes to tie the game. I can only imagine the crowd's reaction when I rushed up to fix the ball, but then again, I was so focused it was only background static (only when I saw the video did I see the hear the intensity before and after the moment). I had the crowd tuned out, but our coach, Al Diniz, had a voice like a hurricane that could pierce through their clamor. As I backed up I heard the urgency in his tone. I took three steps and made contact. The ball did almost exactly what I wanted, curling around the defender, where Guy made the kick look like a walk in the park, launching the ball into the back of the net. There were 2 seconds on the clock at the time of the goal. The spontaneous roar from the stands could have competed with Grand Canyon thunder. We battled to break the tie for two overtime periods, then were declared co-champions for the FCIAC championship. And the rest, I guess, is history.

College soccer

I am thankful for that brilliant moment in the sun, a lasting positive memory of success, mostly due to Guy's foot. I realized that I have only told part of this story before, to Guy and Dave, and perhaps others may remember that day and wonder, "Why did you.... Hope you found it interesting. Brian