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What a classy, gutsy, championship football-type call that was that Gainesville High School Coach Miller and his staff made on the final play of the state football championship against Peach County.
For sure, there are naysayers out there opining that he should have called for the more-likely-to-be-made PAT kick (although we had already seen one PAT fail earlier in the game).
However, there are plenty who think the call was classic. Miller knew well the capabilities of his boys and demonstrated his confidence in the Elephant athletes. He knew they had a chance to make the play and win like the champions THEY ARE.
Risky, some will say. Well, yes. Every play in the state championship is risky. You have a field full of the best athletes in the state (and nation) and these "gridders" are capable of making the big play, offense or defense, at any time. That’s why they call it "championship" football.
Coach Miller says he’ll have to live with the call for the rest of his life and always wonder "what if?" Sleep well, coach; this team deserved that call. They have played championship football every Friday night this year and the coaches lead them all the way to the dome with their enthusiasm, knowledge and willingness to make the gutsy call.
Long before Coach Miller’s time, Mrs. Mary Pentecost taught English at GHS. She required that I learn the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling. And, she said if I not only knew the words, but believed them, I would be someone, of whom, my mama would be proud.
The poem says, in part:
"If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss."
And then:
"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!"
I never thought I’d get Miss Pentecost’s English class to the gridiron and, for that, I apologize to "Bloody Mary" and to Mr. Kipling, but it seemed appropriate. What I saw out there, as that two-point PAT was batted down, was a field full of really good men. Champions all!
Jim Brewer
Gainesville