By: John Ivlow
My favorite game I have ever competed in was when Saint Xavier played Marian University in the first round of the playoffs on November 17, 2018. We actually played them 10 weeks prior to the first round playoff game and we lost to them 52-7 in the season opener. We were all disappointed and knew we could’ve done so much better. Despite the brutal loss, we also knew in the back of our minds that if we made the playoffs, we would have to play them again. Then once the time came when we found out we were playing them again in the first round, we were excited and ready for business. We in fact had to travel to their stadium in Indianapolis again. Personally, I had one of my worst games against Marian’s defensive end (who was the defensive player of the year in our conference) in the first game we played them. So along with my team wanting revenge, I as well had a little unfinished business coming into this playoff game. Their record was 10-0 and were ranked #2 while we were 8-3 and ranked #17 and everyone watching the game thought we were going to lose except my teammates, coaches, and our fans. Now fast forwarding to the game and after our defense stopped them on their first drive, our offense came out. The same defensive end that made me look silly in the first game lined up on me again. I’m not going to lie but he did get past me on one play and hit our quarterback, luckily before our quarterback when down, he was able to shovel pass the ball to our running back who took the ball down field inside the red zone, however we failed to score that drive. As I got back to the sidelines, my coach came to me and was boosting up my confidence and was telling me to relax and just play football. Then I began to remind myself that I got to play better than I did in the first game when we played them. As the game goes on in the 1st quarter, we are down 14-0, in which we found ourselves in a slight bind, but we knew we were still in the game, so later on throughout the rest of the 1st quarter, the same guy is lined up on me and I’m actually holding my blocks on him a lot better than I was before, which was my whole goal for this game. Along with that, our offense executes well and manages to score a touchdown to make it 14-7. Then not long after that, we score a kick return for a touchdown to tie the game at 14. Throughout the rest of the game, we go back and forth, with a couple injuries occurring on both sides, but it just goes to show that our games against Marian are brutal and hardly fought. One touchdown and two field goals later by us, and a touchdown from Marian, and the score eventually becomes 27-21. I’m still holding my blocks pretty well on that defensive end and managed to not lose to him again. We knew we had this game won, it was all a matter of sealing the game and finishing it. Suddenly, our defense scored a pick 6 and made the score 34-21, which ended up being the final score and the Cougars win. I definitely will not forget this game. One reason being how I got a little payback on Marian’s defensive end from when we played them in the season opener, and the second reason is that after losing to them 52-7 in the very first game of the season, we came back 10 weeks later and beat them 34-21 and battled through a lot of adversity. Hands down best game I’ve ever played in.
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