High school provided trying times for all that have made it through those four years. In my case there is a week of my senior year that sticks out more vividly than any other. School began Monday just like it always does, but football practice started much different. This is because we would be facing the Helena Bengals that Saturday. See, in Helena, the biggest sporting event of the year is the cross-town football match-up. On one side of town are the Capital High Bruins and the other the Helena High Bengals. The game is all about bragging rights around town for the seniors.

The Bruins had won the previous 11 contests and were underdogs coming into the game. This is how life was all through high school for us. People predicted that the seniors of 1999 would be the ones to finally lose to the

As the captain of the team I couldn't help but have an added sense of pressure on my shoulders. Who wants to be the captain of the team that breaks the win streak? This motivated me even more and I knew that I had to be physically ready as well as mentally. Well, the physical thing wasn't a problem at all. However, mentally I was a wreck. Everyone that was close to me knew it too. There was nothing they could that would calm me in the slightest way. I wasn't able to sleep Monday night, I think I might even have shed a few tears. Mostly my thinking was that if we lost I would be a failure. Now I know that thinking that way doesn't help, but I wasn't able to bring myself to the actualization that losing didn't mean the end of life. For that week though, that game was life and I had to win.

My dad would always talk to me before devotionals, and then not again until after the game. I went upstairs to let him know I was going. He knew I was about to explode, and then he said something to me I will never forget. For me it would change my view on things forever. With a tear in my eye from the hug he just gave me he said, "Son, you know I love you and you know I have never lied to you. You also know that I will never lie to you no matter what the truth may hold." I simply responded with a nod. "You're going to win tomorrow." He then gave me another hug and told me to hold my head up until he saw me after the game. That comment put me onto an emotional roller coaster.

This got to me a lot more than I had planned. I played running back and had always had a very competitive relationship with Grady who played running back for the Bengals. He received all the attention before the game, not even a word about his competition. The town and the media seemed to already know the outcome of the game. I knew if we could win the game that people's perceptions would change instantly. With all that we practiced hard on Monday. You could feel the pressure in the air. Things were intense and nerves were tested. As a team we had one goal in mind for that week, come out of the game with more points then them no matter how we had to do it.

Then I finally saw him, not close to me, but standing 100 yards away in the opposite endzone. I didn't know what to do. Should I run to him? Was he going to run to me? Would we meet halfway? He answered that question better then I could ever have planned. He simply pointed at me with his right index finger for a second, and then turned his thumb to the air and walked out of the stadium. I was so moved I didn't know where I was or what was happening. His actions spoke much louder than words ever would have and I think he was trying to get a point across to me that day. Sometimes there is a time for words and sometimes there isn't. Later he would tell me he was proud of me for just playing the game. The Helena High people ran their mouths for four years and in 4 seconds I said way more than they ever did.

Some topics in this essay:
Helena Bengals, Moon Rising, Tipton Essay, Sam QB, Bengals Helena, win game, bad moon, bad moon rising, week game, played running, wasn't able, captain team, straight home, football game, game-winning touchdown, sleep night,