Email

Print

Heinz Field through the bars of a facemask

Monday, January 14, 2008

By Nick Camerlengo, Allderdice High School (City of Pittsburgh Schools)

When we last looked through the facemask, the Allderdice Dragons needed to win their last two games in order to get into the playoffs. After a thumping of the Westinghouse Bulldogs we needed a big win against Carrick in order to clinch the three seed.

We went into the Carrick game with tons of confidence. We came out and had a twenty-point lead before we could blink. However, we got complacent and somehow Carrick clawed back to make it 20-19 at half time.

As we entered the locker room we all knew that we needed to step our game up. We came out with a newly found fire, and scored for the first time since the first quarter. The offenses went back and fourth, trading scores. The Carrick quarterback was really impressive and almost single-handedly won the game for Carrick. The game came down to the final drive for Carrick. We scored to take a seven point lead and kicked-off to Carrick with a minute left. After two incomplete passes they threw an interception, and as we were returning it we fumbled; Carrick recovered on the fifty-yard line. Their quarterback then scrambled to the twenty-yard line, setting up the chance for a big upset. With no time left on the clock, Carrick threw a fade route to the back of the end zone. Their receiver went up and pulled the ball in, but as he came down sophomore defensive back Kedron "Chevy" Jones made a great play to knock the ball away. We won the game and set up a rematch with Schenley, the winner advancing to Heinz Field.

The whole week of practice before our play-off game, the team was nervous but excited. We were pumped to get back on the field and to have another shot against the Spartans. They stole a game from us in the regular season, and this game was for Heinz Field.

We came out and got a defensive stop right away. After getting the ball back, we turned it over and the defense came right back out. As the game went on we switched back to the defense that we started the season with. Senior Donny Fickley came back to inside linebacker and I pushed back out to defensive end; our defense really came to life. A huge turning point of the game was forcing a fumble on the goal line and recovering it in the third quarter. Our stout defense and persistent offense kept the game close to the fourth quarter.

All year long, our offense leaned on senior all-everything back Joey Short, and this game was no different. Joe’s touchdowns and one hundred plus yards paced our way to victory. Emotions and adrenaline pushed us to the one minute mark, at which point we drove down the field and took a one-point lead. As Schenley got the ball back, they had one chance to make a play. A few acrobatic plays made a Hail Mary pass seem not so unlikely. As Schenley ran seniors Greg Blair and DeAndre Kane down the field, their quarterback dropped back to pass, and scanned the field for an open receiver. I came around the end, and leveled the quarterback as he released the ball. Greg Blair caught the ball on the twenty and was automatically swarmed by three Allderdice defenders. The clock expired and Cupples Stadium turned into a madhouse. We were headed to the championship game for the first time in seven years. All the hard work that we had put in as a team looked like it might be starting to pay off.

Motivation comes in many different forms. It can come from compelling speeches, the urge to right a previous wrong, or even the effort to prove the world wrong. For the 2007 Allderdice Dragons, our motivation was to show all the people who told us we didn’t belong at Heinz Field how wrong they were. While we had tons of support from school, there were people who told us all week that we should just be happy with second place. I thought I was the only one that was experiencing this, but my teammates had similar stories when we met in the locker room before practice. These "haters" really pushed us to have a solid week of practice. We were loose during the week, unlike the first time we played Brashear, and quite focused as well. While we were all confident in our abilities, probably the only ones who were, we were all ridiculously nervous by the time Thursday rolled around.

Football is all about sacrifices: sacrificing your body, taking shorter family vacations, not going out with friends, and spending the time required to play this game. At times you wonder if it is all worth it, but let me tell you something, when you run out of the tunnel and onto Heinz Field, you know it was all worth it. Many of us had been working towards this since we were freshman, and bought into Coach Schmidt’s ideals. Now all our sacrifice was looking like it was about to pay us back greatly.

After the national anthem and the coin toss, I found myself in the defensive huddle awaiting the first play of the game. We lined up, and on Brashear’s third play of the game, we got a ton of pressure on their quarterback, causing him to throw a high lofting pass. As the pass began its descent, a flash of green and white jumped up and snagged the ball. This interception was the precursor for the career day that the defense would have.

Throughout the whole first quarter, both teams traded off three- and- outs. The second play of the second quarter, Brashear had their backs to their own goal line. They snapped the ball, and the quarterback backpedaled into the end zone. I came off the end after pulling a move on my tackle, and slammed into the quarterback. As I pulled him to the ground the ball squirted out, and senior line backer Mike Tommaso fall on it for our first defensive touchdown of the year. We walked off the field a little shocked that we were up six nothing on the "best" team in the city.

The next time our offense got the ball back, it was on Brashear’s side of the fifty. A long scramble by our offensive leader and quarterback Rob Travis got us to the ten-yard line. Two plays later, Rob rolled out and hit Donny in the flat. Donny caught the ball on the two, ran over a corner back and fell into the end zone. With less than three minutes left in the first half, we had a thirteen-point lead.

We should have known that there was going to be at least one more big play in the game, and it came on the following kick-off. Brashear took the kick 85 yards for a touchdown and cut our lead to six. While we lost some pep, we still went into the half with the lead.

We all know how the second half went. A Brashear touchdown, and a phenomenal showing by both defenses gave the Bulls a 14-13 victory. After the game as the realization that we were done for good set in, we all started to break down. I was sad not because we lost, well maybe because we lost, but mostly because I knew I would never play with these guys again. No more time in the weight room or at Eat N’ Park after wins. No more complaining about practice or watching film. I grew up with these guys and they really are like brothers to me. But, as I sat in the locker room at Heinz Field half-undressed, I looked around at my teammates. I saw Donny on my right side and senior standout Jahlil Jones on my left. As I remembered all the great times I had with these two especially, I realized how much football had given me. It gave me tools and experiences I never would have had otherwise. I felt lucky to have played this game, and lucky to have seen the world through a facemask.