10-1.
It sounds like a record to be satisfied with, but for Miami University’s Club Football team, it’s not.
On Dec. 5, 2015, our club’s season came to an end after a 33-26 loss against Middle Georgia State in the National Club Football Association (NCFA) National Championship in Salem, Virginia.
This season has been one of ups and downs, and on the largest stage, we experienced our deepest heartbreak.
The deciding MGS touchdown came with 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter. It broke my heart seeing teammates that have become my closest friends looking and feeling the way I did on the sideline – defeated.
Losing the National Championship isn’t what upset me. What hurt the most was being so close (sorry for the Rascal Flatts reference).
So close to accomplishing the goal that we set at the beginning of the year – to win the National Championship and so close to giving the seniors a high note to end on. So close to changing an entire university’s mindset on what football is supposed to mean. And so close to bringing the winning tradition back to Miami.
Being a junior, I have one season left playing organized football. But for the seniors, this is the last time they’ll ever play football.
I’m not sure how I’m going to handle the moment when my last game comes, knowing I’m done playing the sport I grew up around and love.
We had so many moments during the season where we were tested:
- Injuries of key players at important positions on offense and defense.
- Playing in the NCFA’s toughest conference (Great Lakes Conference).
- Our last three games being decided by a touchdown or less.
- Carpooling from Oxford, Ohio, to Baltimore, Maryland, hours before the biggest game of the season in Week 2 because we didn’t have a bus.
Our coaches talked about it all season, and especially in the locker room after the loss – we’re a classy group of guys, always respectful to one another, to the team across from us and towards our university.
Sometimes those group of coaches go unnoticed.
Miami’s varsity football is known for the “Cradle of Coaches.” Nine outstanding individuals forever frozen in bronze, remembered for the legacy they left behind. Our coaches remind me of them. They don’t coach us for the money because they do it for free. They don’t do it for the recognition – a lot of people don’t know our club exists. They do it for the love of the game. To leave their legacy – our club’s legacy. And most importantly, they do it for us.
We all come from so many levels.
There are guys on our team who have been playing football their entire life. A few who never put on shoulder pads and a helmet before this year. We’re a combination of different skills, experiences, and people, but for four months, we came together as a team.
Club is by far the purest form of football you can play. You don’t do it for anyone but your teammates and coaches. There are no incentives, scholarships, or money involved (except the $450 you have to fork over to be a part of the team).
We’re college students. We have our own lives, dreams, aspirations, hopes and fears. We’re student-athletes and honestly, it can catch up with you – I know it has for me.
Looking across the field in Salem as time ticked away and we walked off, I could only think of one lasting impression.
I am so lucky to have these guys in my life.
This is closest team I’ve ever been on. We care about each other outside the game of football – how we’re doing in school, at home and in our daily lives.
After the game, I remember checking my phone and seeing a text message from my sister, Samantha. She said how proud she was, not of me, but of us. Of our team and of everything we accomplished, and even what we could not.
We were a team of destiny.
When my football career ends, I’ll be able to look back and say I made the right decision. Not only coming to Miami, but deciding to play club.
As the season wraps up, those of us who are coming back have a legacy to protect. A tradition to continue.
A National Championship – this time, to win.
