True Grit- in real life...

I'm going to warn you.  This one is about football, again.  Yes, again.  How can I not brag about the Broadway High School Fighting Gobblers?  This team has something special.  They never give up.  They have GRIT!

Dictionary.com defines grit as "firmness of character; indomitable spirit".  Perfect description of this year's football team.  I, and half of the Shenandoah Valley, saw it last night.  There was a beautiful catch by Jefferson Forest.  The Broadway defender even got a piece of the ball, but the JF receiver stayed with it and subsequently scored a TD.  Mind you, it was one of those touchdowns that takes the air out of the fans.  It was so quiet you could hear a mouse fart!  Ok, maybe not that quiet, but you get the picture.  Come on folks, I'm typing a dramatic sequence here!  Anyway, the Broadway boys went in at the half down 14-6 after that stinkin lucky catch.  Seriously, he couldn't have done it twice if he tried!  Just sayin...
 
The second half began.  What would these boys do?  Would they respond to the challenge or just give up?  Not this team.  This is what I'm trying to tell you- Grit.  They are marching down the field.  Closer and closer to the endzone they come, QB Quinn Arbogast, who is tough as nails, goes down on the 5 yd line.  Folks, there is no feeling like seeing a young man hurt and not able to get up.  You feel for these kids.  If you could take injury away from sports, it would be perfect.  I thought about his mom and how she was feeling.  You know it's different for us moms.  Your instinct is to go down and fix it, but you can't.  For one thing, your child would be utterly embarrassed by you doing such a thing.  Secondly, you would never hear the end of it.  These are teenagers after all.  So these "rules" make the wait to see if your child is ok agonizingly long.  They finally helped him off the field.  I'm not sure what happened, but he was on crutches later.  I hope he heals quickly and completely.  So, the boys compose themselves, attempt and make a field goal after what could potentially throw another team into a tailspin.  Now it's 14-9 JF.


G R I T... this is where you see it.  Do you give up?  I mean your starting QB is out of the game.  You have a back up who is not tested in this type of fire.  Broadway kicks off.  The JF receiver fumbles and the boys get the ball back on the 14.  One play later, the Gobblers score!  It was crazy at the field.  I bet they heard it miles away.  They tried a two pt conversion and failed, but they now had the lead 15-14.  They were pumped up.  They were raising their hands to get the crowd more pumped.  Pandemonium had broken out now.  Ok, maybe not that wild, but it was loud and uproarious.


Broadway starts the fourth qtr, the untested QB pulls it off with a touchdown pass.  Without the receiver's effort the TD would have never happened.  He gave his all and so did the entire team.  The Gobblers ended up winning the game 29-14.  They never gave up.  They played every minute on that field.  They believed in each other.  One guy goes down, another steps in for him and does the job.  It's expected, not a surprise.  This is why you want your kids to play sports.  Not to be a "jock", but to learn how to work together and to believe in one another.  To learn that you do not truly have to do everything yourself.  If you work together, you can accomplish great things.  They have.


Congrats on being the Regional Champs, Broadway!  Next weekend at 1pm, Christiansburg will play at Broadway High School.  It's a semifinal game.  I guess the whole town will be shut down and at the game.  If you come, don't expect some showy team.  What you will see is a never-say-die team with GRIT!