The tale of Dobbs Ferry Football: Part Two

The next year was a completely different story. I was a freshman, and me and the rest of my class served as the tackling dummies for a team that would go undefeated until the state championship, where at the Carrier Dome, our team hit a road block named Mike Hart, the current running back and heisman hopeful for the Michigan Wolverines. He was a sophomore at the time, but age did not matter. He was as impressive on that field that day as he is presently, running over and around defenders just like he does every Saturday on national television for the Wolverines.

2002 was a storybook year of sorts. We came into the season with high hopes, as we were ranked among the top teams in the state. After starting off the season 2-0, we were feeling pretty good about where we were headed, until a unsuspected event ended my season, and side tracked a few others as well. A bunch of us ate out at our pre-game dinner at a Westchester hot spot called Candlelight, known for the wings. After the meal, we all packed into whatever car we could fit in, and headed home. You see, after taking a hit on the football field, you can usually pop right back up to your feet and get ready for the next play. But when your car, going 40 miles per hour, slams head on into a telephone pole, well, thats just an impact one cannot put into words. This car accident was a life changing event for me. Although I was sitting behind the passenger seat of a four door Honda accord with my seat belt on, I took the brunt of the injuries. I ended up spending a week in the intensive care unit at Westchester Medical center, and spent a total of 15 days in the hospital. I sustained a ruptured spleen, a punctured lung, and had a good amount of internal bleeding from other injuries. I was able to rejoin my team after not even being on the sidelines for week 3 and 4. We were 4-0, and we were rolling through opponents. We cruised all the way to the state championship for the second straight year, although there were a couple of exciting finishes with last second victories along the way. In this years state championship, we would be playing the Dolgeville Blue Devils, an undefeated team from the Middle-of-Nowhere, New York. They were a bunch of giant farm boys, but they were good. They were ranked #1 in the state, and we were right behind them at #2. I could only watch from the sideline of the carrier dome, but I watched my team come out flying. We had a commanding lead all game, and had controlled the pace of the game well, but Dolgeville never gave up. They came back to tie the game in the fourth quarter, 35-35. We drove down the field on that last possession, and got into field goal range for a kicker. It was almost a forty yarder, but our guy booted it through the uprights. Dolgeville could not connect on their final desperation play, and the little guys from Dobbs Ferry won it all, and ended the season at a perfect 12-0.

It was tough for me to have to sit out my sophomore year, but I think the whole experience with the car accident has helped put me where I am today, and helped me gain the success on the athletic fields, as well as off, that I have had in recent years. I could not play another sport for the rest of the year, but in that off season, me and the rest of my teammates worked harder than ever to help our chances of repeat championships for my junior and senior year. Did it happen? We'll see in the last part of the Dobbs Ferry Football Trilogy.