The top picture is of a few players warming up before that game. The middle picture is a play being run. The bottom picture is of a huddle.
In one of my games against Grand Forks AFB on the defensive line, we were defending at the goal line. The snap came and I was able to leap between the two offensive linemen in front of me before they could block me, stand before the running back, and pull his flag before he could score. In his frustration at being stopped, he raised up his arms which were holding the ball together at his chest and slammed them upwards against my chin, driving my head backwards. He was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty and they were moved back from the goal line.
Unfortunately, we lost that game, another close one, in Grand Forks. In my final game against Grand Forks in Minot, I was playing tight end. I caught one short pass for a touchdown over the middle when I and the wide receiver crossed in the end zone. We had been one yard from the goal. I also caught another short pass over the middle for a four-yard gain on our end of the field.
For most of the game, I was being ignored since I stayed in and blocked. Our wide receivers were being blanketed, however. I said in the huddle that I would be open deep if the quarterback, who had played in college, would toss me the ball. He agreed to give it a try. We snapped the ball and I took off. Sure enough, I was wide open down field; but the QB never released the ball. When I looked back, fifteen yards away from the line with only open field and the end zone ahead of me, the quarterback was getting surrounded and his flag pulled. Had he let the ball fly, I am certain I would have run under it and taken it into the end zone unopposed.
We had the lead, but Grand Forks methodically moved the ball down the field in the final series. Their QB completed one short pass after another, befuddling our pass defense. Our coverage was leaving a hole open on one side or the other, repeatedly; and our defense could not seem to counter what their offense was doing, down after down.
They scored at the end and we lost another football game against Grand Forks. Had our QB let the ball fly before being surrounded, I am certain I would have scored the touchdown that would have made their final score meaningless. Should I have looked back at the QB earlier than I had? Or should I have kept my head turned toward him the entire time, just so he knew that I was looking for his pass the whole way down the field? The Grand Forks defense was watching his eyes, so that while my looking back might have given the confidence our QB needed to throw me the ball, but it would have also alerted the defense that I was the primary target.
It was one of those might-have-beens of my brief football career. I have had to be satisfied with two catches for five yards and one touchdown instead of also catching a bomb that would have given us an insurmountable lead and our lone victory over Grand Forks in my three tries from 1974 through 1977.
We always seemed to beat Grand Forks in the minor sports like tennis and golf and badminton, but almost never with the major sports.
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