Page 89 of Hometown Halftime

And now I just hope we can make them proud.

The first ten minutes of the game are a little sketchy.

Nervous energy explodes the second the girls step onto the field. Jefferson Prep comes out aggressive and organized, their forwards crashing hard into contact while ours overcommit at nearly every breakdown.

“Spread out!” I yell from the sidelines. “Talk to each other!”

Brooke drifts too far inside and misses an early tackle. Tara mistimes her jump at the lineout. Megan panics and sends the ball straight into touch.

Basically, everybody looks like they’re fighting for their lives out on that field.

“Settle down!” Riley shouts beside me. “Play your shape!”

And slowly, they do. That’s the thing I’ll remember most about today. The way the girls stopped spiraling and started trusting themselves.

Tara crushes a tackle near midfield later in the first half hard enough that the entire Cedar Falls sideline erupts cheering. Brooke recovers after her rough start and breaks through two defenders and dives over the try line for our first try of the game. Brynn screams loud enough to scare nearby birds out of trees.

“That’s our Wildcats!” she yells, and I hide my smile.

By halftime, we’re somehow ahead.

The girls collapse near the benches, breathing hard, while Riley kneels beside them talking through adjustments.

“Defensively you’re doing fine,” he says firmly. “Stop doubting yourselves.”

“Watch the offloads,” I add. “They're trying to draw your defense in before shifting it wide.”

Megan wipes sweat from her forehead. “Coach, I think I blacked out during that last scrum.”

“You stayed standing,” Riley tells her. “That’s all that matters.”

The second half feels completely different. They’re more confident now, and that changes everything.

Suddenly the girls start yelling louder. Support lines tighten up, tackles are cleaner, and the panic disappears and instinct finally starts taking over.

And God, they look good out there.

Late in the second half, Brooke intercepts a pass near midfield and tears down the sideline while the entire crowd rises to their feet screaming.

“GO!” Riley yells beside me.

Brooke scores again seconds later. The Cedar Falls crowd explodes. The final whistle blows less than ten minutes later.

We won.

For one stunned second, nobody moves—then the celebration begins.

The girls scream and collide into each other near midfield while parents cheer from the sidelines. Megan barrels into Paige, sending them both sprawling into the grass with a huge smile while Brooke sprints toward us yelling incoherently.

Beside me, Riley turns with the same stunned expression that mirrors my own.

Holy shit. We actually did it.

Without thinking, I throw my arms around him.

Riley catches me, lifting me off the ground while both of us laugh breathlessly in complete disbelief.

“You did it,” he says.