Last week was one of the biggest weeks for the football team because of the opponent they would face Friday. They would play at Mesquite Memorial Stadium against the Gilmer Buckeyes. Gilmer was one of the first teams Melissa would play that could stand against them. For most teams their week of preparations begin on Monday, for Melissa it started immediately. The team ate breakfast and watched film at 9 a.m. Saturday, the morning after the game. Monday, the team arrived to practice to install a new game plan specifically built around Gilmer’s tendencies. There were many adjustments to be made on both sides of the ball for Melissa. Gilmer relied heavily on their passing game, and loaded to box on defense to stop the run. Tuesday and Wednesday went by as usual with film in the mornings, and practice in the afternoon. On Thursday the team cleaned up small things and perfected their game plan before their game the next day.

Finally the time had come, it was gameday. Pre-game, in the locker room, was different than most. Before this year, everytime that Melissa had faced Gilmer they would be blown out. There were nerves and anxiety as normal, but there was a bit of fire and anger in the air. Athletes were itching at the chance to get revenge on all the games up to this point. 7:30 p.m. the game begins with opening kickoff. The Cardinals were playing harder than ever. The defense was getting stop and the offense was gaining yards, but it wasn’t enough. At halftime the score was 14-0 with Gilmer on top. People began to doubt our chances, but many forgot that there was another half of football to be played. The locker room was quiet. The coaches talking amongst athletes and each other as usual. The only difference was the lack of words for motivation, because the team didn’t need it. They knew what they had to do.

The Cardinals came out in the second half and began to dominate the field. The players tied the game 14-14 in no time at all in three plays. Gilmer had unleashed the Red Machine. The game was close until the end of the 4th quarter when the cardinals put the game away with another touchdown to make the score 35-23 with Melissa as the regional champions. At the end of the game, all the hard work had paid off and Melissa earned a seat in the 4th round of playoffs.