“BSH players gave all they had.“ I truly did not want to go back down on that field. The press box was depressing enough, but I knew I did not want to face the abject dejection the Knights were trying to cope with. The thirteenth step in Coach Mike Henderson’s State Championship program had proven to be just inches higher than the other twelve and the Knights had tripped and fallen over it. Badly. Northcross School 21, Blessed Sacrament Huguenot 6. Professionally, I was committed to at least get a post-game comment from Coach Henderson and as I gingerly made my way down the slick field-side hill and into the wet mist, I promised myself to make it surgically quick, as much for my own feelings as for Coach Mike’s. Yes, I know there would have been similar feelings on the opposite side of the field had the score been reversed, but I did not know those kids over there, had not watched them grow and prosper, had not personally experienced the commitment to achievement the 2008 Knights embraced. Plus, I have been with some of the BSH players for all four years of their varsity experience. I truly know these kids, many of their parents and the coaching staff. And I could see from the body language that they were, all of them, devastated. There is an odd thing about the football experience. Helmets and face masks, worn almost constantly during games and practices, make the players somewhat anonymous. I would facially recognize Nathan Smith, number 54, Russ Leboff, number 34, maybe Austin Wingfield, number 12 and Connor Paul, number 88 and Ryan Bendele, number 33 (only because he looks so much like his brother) around the Academy Road campus, but the others I would only be able to identify by their jersey numbers. When they took their helmets off for the ritual post-game huddle, I wished they hadn’t. Parents and classmates ringed the field trying to give the runners-up encouragement, but for the most part they were having none of it. Coach Henderson had to herd his seniors forward to accept the second place trophy and team Captain Glen Newlin was so distraught that it took his mother’s intervention to keep him from walking off the field. Coach Henderson, trying to be stoic but obviously holding his emotions in check, gathered the team under the goal posts and told them very simply “I wouldn’t love you any more if you had won the game.” Christy Henderson stood nearby, waiting to give support and encouragement, crying softly. Then Coach Mike gave the “helmets off” order to the kneeling Knights. Every upturned face hemorrhaged personal emotion. Anger, sadness, distress, dejection, tears, or a combination. But every face was drawn by exhaustion. Sixteen-, 17- and 18-year-old kids now looked 10 years older and totally drained. The Knights had left if all out there on that misty, wet field. They had nothing left physically and now emotions were taking their turn to exhaust them. Senior Chris Howard’s eye-black had run so much that it covered his entire lower face. Deon Watts, who stood with his separated shoulder in a sling muttering over and over, “second place is just the first loser, second place is just the first loser.” His eyes were damp. Howard had played the game of his life, particularly on the defensive side of the ball and it had not been enough. That was also easy to read in the faces of seniors Smith, Newlin, Chris Sill and Leboff: We gave it everything we had and it was not enough. They had all starred on one play, or several, during the game, contributing a marvelous catch, dazzling run, shoe-top tackle or fourth down stuff, but not often enough, not with consistency. And they knew it. More tragically, they knew this had been their last chance. I truly was affected by the obvious anguish drowning that kneeling group as well as the circle of parents’ sincere, but totally ineffectual, attempt to smooth over the loss. It motivated me even more to get a quick comment. I really didn’t know what to say to Coach Mike. I got my short statement and retreated. But somehow, the walk back up that hill seemed far longer than I ever remember it being.

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