When a Loss is a Win (09-24-07)

This week, I learned how it is possible to win even when you lose. I was taught this profound lesson by a group of adolescents. Very cheerful, very determined, and very brave adolescents. Go figure.

After playing hard and winning most of their volleyball games, our 7th and 8th grade girls changed into a new uniform, took up their pom-poms and rushed off to support the junior high boys’ football team. I have always wondered about the justice of this arrangement. The football boys, to their credit, do watch as much of the volleyball games as time allows, but they are not required to attend practices three mornings a week, learn stunts and cheers, and they don’t have to perform in front of a live audience after sweating on a volleyball court with hardly a break for dinner. Whoever thinks that the female is the weaker of our species obviously hasn’t been to many junior high volleyball/football games!

Of course, with the exception of the occasional volleyball to the side of the head or a collision with teammate, volleyball players don’t usually have to withstand the physical pounding of football players. Especially when faced with an opponent who significantly outweighs you at every position. It is a shame that football can’t find a weight class system like they use in wrestling, but the reality of the game is that often you get David versus Goliath matchups.

Such was the case Thursday. The Eastern Heights Jaguars were big, fast, and hard hitting. When our coach asked another if Eastern Heights preferred running plays inside or liked running outside, the other coach replied, “They like to run to the end zone. They do it a lot.”

So it wasn’t a huge surprise when they scored on a long run on the first play, nor was it a huge shock when they knocked the ball lose on the ensuring kick-off, and the second score soon thereafter certainly fit nicely with expectations.

However, after that horrible first quarter, our boys settled in. They began to play defense, and while the score at half time was 24-0, the mighty Jags didn’t see the end zone during the entire second quarter.

At half-time, our boys sprinted from the field, battered but far from beaten. By that time we had gained a few first downs, and played solid defense so the attitude was almost upbeat. Then, during half time, our cheerleaders joined with their Eastern Heights counterparts in cooperative group cheering. This act of fellowship seemed to wake up both crowds, and during the second half, both cheerleading crews turned up the volume and got both crowds to stand up and support their teams.

Late in the third quarter the Jags scored one last time. Our offense began to move the ball with some consistency, and twice in the fourth quarter, we forced Eastern Heights to turn the ball over on downs.

On the sidelines, the cheerleaders reflected the intensity on the field. First we would raise a cheer, and then the identical cheer would be raised on the other side of the field. Then our girls would do another cheer, even louder, only to be challenged again by the Eastern Heights. This went on and on during the final period and by the end of the game, the girls were combining their 18 voices into hurricane force of ebullient vocalization. Their enthusiasm, combined with our boys’ courage, turned the evening from a loss to a win, a win for the spirit and determination of the junior high school student.

After the game, we heard that we were the only team to not get “forty-fived” (the score differential at which some junior high football games are ended), and therefore we were the only team to give Eastern Heights a full game. The next morning, the coach brought donuts to school, something he usually only does after a win. “That was the best 32-0 beating we ever had,” he said. “By the way the kids were acting, you’d think we had won 32-0.”

So a loss turned into a win. Go figure.

Or rather…GO BRONCOS!