I looked at the determined faces staring back at me and felt proud. Proud of them for sticking with me even though my linemen were beat up. Beckett had a trail of blood that had dripped from his nose down the front of his silver and blue uniform and our center, Justin, had been pushed to the ground so many times protecting me, his uniform was almost green. I was proud of myself for getting us here. Proud of keeping my focus after such a shitty start to my senior year.

“This is it. This is our time to shine.” They were exhausted, bloodied, but determined to win this game. “Stay focused and give Max the room he needs.”

He locked eyes with me and nodded solemnly. “Let’s get this done, Pumas,” he said.

I barely heard the roaring crowd that filled both stands. Two towns had showed up to this game and the seats filled up quickly. Their screams and fist pumps meant nothing to me. I heard the excitement in the announcers’ voices, but I couldn’t make out their words. My heartbeat was so loud that my ears were throbbing. We lined up in formation.

“We’re coming for you, girl!” a tackle yelled, emphasis on the word girl.

A few more unsavory things were said before I got into position. “Blue thirty-two. Blue thirty-two.” I looked to my right as the wide receiver lined up and then to my left as Max ran by. “Arizona.” The defense pointed at Max and two defenders slid over to cover him. Fuck. It was going to be impossible for him to make anything happen. One Mississippi. “Arizona.” Two Mississippi. Justin snapped the ball and pushed at the line fighting to get to me. I fell back into the pocket and waited for Max to set up. He twisted and turned to get away from the two defenders. Nobody was open. When he slipped and fell, instinct took over. I tucked the ball under my arm and ran. Everything seemed to be in slow motion except the clock. The seconds slid off faster than I could run. It was too late to drop and call time out. It was all or nothing.

“Unhitch that trailer, Sutton!” my dad shouted from the sideline.