Hard Lesson-Hard to Watch!

We all want our children to learn from their mistakes, but sometimes it's difficult to watch. During Friday night's football game, my son made one of those mistakes that he will not forget. While filming, I could tell that he and JA's #56 were in several "skirmishes" as someone called it and it did worry me. Zachary has never been very aggressive, in fact we've always told him that he needs to be more so when playing football. I knew there must be something going on with this guy by the way they were interacting. In the middle of the 2nd quarter, it all came to a head. They were in a pile with Josh (Prep) on the bottom, #56 in the middle and Zachary on top. When Zachary was getting up, #56 lifted up his leg and kneed him between the legs. I guess Zachary had enough and his emotions took over--he drew back and hit him. The official saw him and called a 15 yard penalty on them. Zachary was ejected from the game. He went off the field not knowing he was ejected. Needless to say, he found out quickly when Coach Black got a hold of him. He told him that you retaliate on the next play because the retaliator is always the one who gets caught.

Even though Zachary was in the wrong, I've never felt so sorry for him in my life. There he was sitting on the bench all alone during the biggest game of the regular season. I'm sure that was a lonely place because many of his teammates let him know how mad they were at him for being ejected. He knew at that instant that he had made a very bad mistake and it messed up a drive. Keith (who puts together the highlight film) is going to be so disappointed in the footage from my camera. I had turned from a "diehard football fan" back to the mother of the little boy I rocked to sleep night after night. I couldn't think of anything except how he was feeling. My dear friend, Claudia, said she wanted to go down there and sit with him but she knew he would never speak to her again. Debbie Rayner (no relation to me, but Leigh Ashley's friend's mom) said that she had to get up because she couldn't watch him sitting there. I kept getting text from concerned friends who didn't know why he was out of the game, but they knew he looked pitiful and wanted to check to see what was wrong. I really appreciate the players who rallied around him. I'll never forget Kaleb Barlow sitting down on the bench with him every chance he got. It's not like Kaleb had nothing else to do during the game. He's the one who broke the 7-7 tie in the 4th quarter with a 56 yard TD and got the momentum going. Kaleb had 12 carries with 91 yards during the game and still had time to try to make Zachary feel better. I knew before that Kaleb is a great kid, but I saw inside his heart Friday night.

Thankfully, Prep won the game 20-7 after being behind 7-0 at halftime. Zachary came home really down and not too clear on how everything happened. He said it happened so fast. He said earlier that he drew back, but thought he didn't need to do that.  Well, he did.  His sideline camera didn't show it, but the Dave's camera on the pole in the end zone did. It's evident that #56 kneed Zachary when he was getting up, but it's also evident that Zachary did hit him!


Last thing..... I have to admit that I scan the MS High School sports forums to read about other teams and the sport in general. I noticed last night that someone had a post titled "Caught on Tape". My heart sank thinking what if it was Zachary's little incident??? I think it stopped beating when I clicked on it and the first words I saw was "Jackson Prep". As it described what the person saw on Blitz 16, I knew that it didn't sound like what happened with Zachary. I scrolled down and read the posts made in response and got furious with the comments about "spoiled kids" in the MPSA! I tried to ignore the ignorance and went to WAPT's website to find the clip. I found it and it wasn't exactly as the guy had described. He said that a Prep player who was down punched lightly at a JA player and then the JA player kicked him. It was more like the Prep player reached out and barely touched his leg and then the standing JA guy kicked him! I've always heard that the JA guys play dirty and now Zachary knows first hand. Hopefully, he's learned that he will have to learn to take out his revenge on the next play of the game.....or learn to "accidently" step on his hand with his cleat. Oh, that's wasn't nice coming from a mother. If we meet JA again in the Championship, that dude better watch out! I'm sure Zachary will be ready for him without breaking the rules!