Football season is officially over. Our last game was Friday night and I'm starting to see just how fast senior year is going by. My first quarter is already over, I've been accepted into college, and I'm starting to think about graduation. All of last week my school was getting hyped up for the game on Friday. Not only was it our last game, but it was also our rival game; Yorktown vs. Washington-Lee. It's the game everyone looks forward to, the game everyone goes to. We decided the game was a white out. We watched promos every day on the morning announcements and every day we got more excited. Thursday night rolled around and the Hype Squad met at school around eight to decorate our atrium for the game. We hung up signs and put up streamers. After almost three hours, we stepped back and looked at the white and columbia blue all over the school. This was the last football game we would ever decorate for and I had never been so sad yet so excited.
Friday morning. The football team wore their jerseys for the last time. The final "Beat WL" promo was shown during third period. Two of the hype squad signs had fallen down and I taped them back up during 6th period, determined to keep the atrium looking perfect. I heard people talking about the game all day. People who normally wouldn't go were going to represent Yorktown. Towards the end of the day, people were getting anxious and excited. No one knew if we were going to win or not, which made it that much more nerve-wracking. I went home from school that day panicking because I realized I owned absolutely zero white pants. I settled for a white long sleeve and grey leggings, It's close enough, I thought.
The game was at W-L, and the hype squad met up at 6:30 for face paint and pictures. We all walked into the stadium together, a sea of white, for the last game. Soon after we settled into the bleachers, the game started. We stood for the National Anthem and yelled "home of the Patriots", like we did at every game. Right away we had pissed off the W-L section. The first half was spent chanting the names of players, "You can't do that" after penalties, and our traditional "I believe" chant. The hype squad was more hyped than I had ever seen before. Everyone was yelling, clapping and cheering. The energy was incredible and I couldn't stop smiling.
The night went by so fast. The lights, the cheering, the cold November air, and the energy of the students around me. I was at the very front of the student section, and I was leaning on the cold metal railing of the bleachers during the game. I didn't realize how many people had shown up until I turned around during the first half. The entire section was filled to the last row. It was colder than I thought it would be. I could barely move my hands at the end of the game and my throat hurt from yelling so much. As I watched the clock count down in the final minutes of the game I realized this is it. This is my last high school football game. I had surrounded myself with my closest friends and was having one of the best nights of my senior year so far. Until W-L scored the winning touchdown. There were about 30 seconds left in the game when they scored. We had already figured out how we were going to storm the field, and for the first time that night, the Patriot nation was silent. There were no more chants, no more yelling and jumping until the bleachers shook.
Just like that we had gone from winning our last game to losing (Don't worry, this ends on a positive note!). We may have lost the game, taken the L from W-L if you want to make puns, but I believe our team played incredibly. They worked hard for their last game and I couldn't more proud to say I'm a Patriot.
