Greetings all. Here to give you an update regarding Haywood Jefferies semi pro football team, the Bay Area Pearland Gamblers.
Elgin TX was our first stop on the road to Miami FL Nov. 15. It was here that we tested our Metal against the home town heroes, Texas Yellow Jackets. With some new faces on our Gambler squad (including yours truly) and some starters returning for the first time from the previous seasons, we were untested and had a lot of questions still needing to be answered.
No preseason games were played b/c no team wanted to travel to Houston just to get there ass kicked. We went into this game cold and the Yellow Jackets were about to become the barometer for our team. This was also going to see where I stood having not played football for 8 years.
Didn't start out real great for me personally. Got out of work late and did not get up to Elgin till after 6. By that time the team had already stretched out and suited up. Once there I went into the locker room to change only to find out that the locker room I was in was the other guys. I was wondering why I didn't recognize anybody but I was sure the Jerseys they had on were ours. I was part right, those were our last years Uni's and we sold them to the Yellow Jackets. Our team had already hit the field.
During warm ups I am informed I will be playing left tackle. I didn't vocalize it but what I said inside my head was, "You want me to do what?" Coach asked me if I had ever played tackle before and I answered him honestly, Yes I have. He just forgot to ask me when I played tackle. Which was in the 7th grade. 3 months of training and not one snap as an OL. But I am a warrior and warriors do was is needed and without complaint so I nodded and warmed up with the offense.
Its game time and we are kicking off. B/C I knew I would have a hard time seeing the field I volunteered to play special teams, both Kickoff and return. So here we go, its after 7, the sun is going down, and there is a nice cool breeze blowing. Its perfect football conditions. My stomach is in knots as I pick out the guy I am about to tear into. The kick is off and way on the other side of the field, the YJ fumble the ball and there is a scramble, we recover, I thought, but I guess the ball squirted back out. Well While this is going on I broke into a trot, again I thought we had the ball, I get leveled by some dude that came out of my blind side. He didn't really hit me hard, pansy. The only reason I left my feet is I was up straight. I made note of his number, I was sure I would see him again.
There first possession was a dud. Three straight run plays and they get a whole yard. Apparently they didn't have a punter b/c they went for it on our 50 and got stuffed on fourth down. Now its our turn. Results are not any better. You can tell we hadn't played yet. A run play for no yards and some dropped passes and we were punting ourselves. So they take the ball back over and this time they attempt to pass. I don't like to talk a lot of smack but I will say this, if you ever wonder what happens to all the trash that the garbage man picks up from your house its shipped off to Elgin TX and its made to wear a Yellow Jacket helmet. They get another four downs and the same result as the first. This series I am on LT duty. First play run to the right and as our RB was going down I get blind sided again. Dammit. This time by the RDT. I guess he pulled and took himself out of the play and was pissed. I had enough of that and from here on out I started to stick my fist in there chest and popping people in there mouths. Things looked up from there. The first 1/4 ended 0-0 but we had the ball on there 5 and punched it in shortly after. Both our offense and defense woke up a little. We were running the ball and passing the ball effectively and completely dominated there offense. We finished the first half 14-0.
Second half was a QB change for the Jackets. #10. He thought he was VY. He acted like VY. He did lead his team to there first score by running the football on QB keepers. He couldn't pass the football to save his life or hit an open receiver. Basically they ran the ball on us by letting our DE get up the field and he took off and ran. We corrected that for the next series and that was the end of that.
Our defense plays with attitude. You can feel it. Once we sealed up our running defense it was all gravy from there. Our safeties and CB were beating the crap out of there receivers. None of them wanted to man up and catch the ball and all of them tip toed through our secondary. They might as well of stayed home and stuck to playing Madden on the XBox b/c none of them deserved to be playing on a field of men.
By the end of the game I had played LT Guard for the second half due to an injury, and let me tell you, I love playing LT Guard. That is where I got nasty and picked some fights. Punks. I own you 37. You know who you are. Why don't you go cry some more to the ref. Wah, he's holding me ref, Wah.
The Gamblers are our own worst enemy at this point. We won the game 17-6, only after several personal fouls, false starts, holding, delay of game, two pics and a fumble. We even had our administrator ejected from the game cus she was talking smack to the ref. But Gamblers live on the edge, and thats exactly what we do. This game could have easily been 40-6 but some mistakes and turn overs took points off the board. This is almost like playing for the Houston Oilers.
But we over came. We came out and did our job and got it done. This was our first game and for many of us the first time we have lined up with one another. This is a damn good team and I have no doubts that we are going to be in Miami on Nov 15th.
