Friday Night Lights

Few things can compare to the atmosphere of a high school stadium on a Friday night. The booming band, the screaming cheerleaders, the cheering crowd, the savory smell of grilling burgers, and the resounding thud of big hits on the turf make for a truly authentic American experience. Football has been exciting this season, to say the least. Tucker is "living the dream" playing Varsity as a sophomore. His love for football is surpassed only by his mother's concern that her "little boy" will get hurt. With each snap of the ball she has to be reminded to breathe. In the first game of the season, late in the first quarter, the defensive lineman who played directly next to Tucker broke his leg. Snapped his tibia clean, leaving his foot and ankle lying at a 90 degree angle from the rest of his leg. Other players recoiled in horror, faces agape and ashen white as the paramedics rushed in to remove him from the field. Some tears were shed by some tough young men; but as Lorenzo was wheeled of on a gurney, his senior season over in less than one quarter, he smiled ear to ear and pumped his fist in the air to the delight of a frenzied crowd. The boys collected themselves and played on. The game was tight, tied 14-14 with less than two minutes to play in the fourth and Glendale on the drive. They made it as far as Joplin's 40 yard line and faced 3rd and short. Tucker and the rest of the defense held strong, stuffing them twice for no gain to get the ball back. The offense then drove 50 yards in less than a minute to set up the game winning field goal as time expired. Awesome!!! Tucker had four tackles, played well, and was out of his mind with excitement.

Week 2 was less eventful as Joplin easily crushed West Plains 42-6. In contrast, game three, against Hillcrest last night was a manic combination of big plays, painful turnovers and drive killing penalties. What should have been a challenging but certain victory, transformed into a gut wrenching struggle. The game was tied at 29 with less than two minutes to play, and Hillcrest had 1st and goal on the five yard line. Tucker broke through the line and crushed the running back just as he took the hand off, forcing a fumble and ending the threat. We won the game in overtime. See the article below from the Joplin Globe. (Tucker's big play is described in the 6th paragraph from the bottom.)

http://www.joplinglobe.com/sports/x788123971/Joplin-survives-in-overtime

Tucker's team has a tradition of carrying a pick-axe onto the field before each game and hitting a big rock. This is doubly symbolic, representing working hard and paying homage to the mining history of Joplin, but also representing the team motto "Break the Rock". (Rockhurst High School, in Kansas City, is always nationally ranked and wins the Missouri state championship every year it seems.) After each game the pick-axe is given to the player of the game to take home and love and cherish. Tucker was more excited than he will ever let anyone see, to be awarded with the pick-axe after last night's game. I'm happy to report that while it was in his bedroom, he did not actually sleep with it in his bed.

Michael R. Wallace