Stephen Fitzgerald

            On the sideline each down was just ticking away down by down. 1^st down ….. 2^nd down ….. 3^rd down ….. 4^th down. Coach Chitwood yells out, “Punt, punt team.” Sitting back there, stomach churning, and staring at the ball, waiting for it to come to you. Snap your fingers open and then the ball is in your hands. Take a jab step, then two big steps and swing your leg through. The ball “pops” and then the ball is flying through the air. He catches it and he’s coming right at me, I try to grab him and he jukes me out. I try to catch up to him, but it’s too late. He has already scored. I grab my helmet and scream.

            I practiced every day all winter and summer. Learning and practicing the technique and waiting for the moment to be able to kick. The year before I tried out for kicker in middle school. I went out to practice every day and kicked and all I got was 3 plays in the 5^th quarter of a game. That made me a little nervous to try out for high school as the kicker, but Coach Puckett saw the potential in me.

            “Stop walking to the side, walk straight down the field!” yelled Coach Puckett, the kicking coach.

            “Ok Coach,” I said.

            The very next day I started to walk straight and the ball went sailing every single time. It felt so good because they were perfect.

            That day before the first game I was mentally getting myself ready all day long, thinking of how each play was going to go down. On the bus ride it was silent. Everyone was getting ready. They didn’t give us a locker room so everyone was getting angry and pumped.

            The second punt that came up I got back there and prepared for the snap. He snapped it and it had a bad bounce and skipped off my arm and rolled all the way back towards the end zone. I picked up the ball, turned, and saw two giant linemen coming at me. I dropped the ball and kicked it all the way to the 50 yard line. Once the ball left my foot I got drilled by the two linemen, one on each of my shoulders. As I was jogging off the field all the refs, coaches, and players were congratulating me.