Qo vs Paint Branch

I have been elated for the last 6 hours and am finally crashing down after what is sure to be one of the best nights of this fall!  How do I say this modestly?  Tobin played one heck of a game tonight!  As you know, he is the back up QB for our varsity team.  Tobin played the second half of last week's game against Blair, but because we were winning by so much didn't really get to show what he was made of.  This week...this was different.

Mikey got hurt during his first drive of the game, only a couple of minutes into the playing.  My heart sank for Mikey, but rose for Tobin as I realized he was going to be going into play.  Judging by Mikey's time on the field, down, before he walked off with the help of two people around him, I thought Tobin might play for the rest of the night!  There is no way to describe the incredible sensations that were happening inside of me!  I wanted to jump outside of my skin, literally.  But because I couldn't, I simply couldn't sit still.  Later on, after the game, another mom would tell me that she watched Tobin during this time and saw that he was mentally preparing for the next moments of the game.  She says that Tobin shook his head (looking at Mikey on the field) and then pumped his arms and clapped his hands to warm them up. And then Tobin went in!  Tobin was nervous and jittery.  One of his first plays, the ball fumbled and was recovered by the other team.

When Tobin first went in I noticed that the announcer was saying Tobin's name last wrong.  I was way to far away to do anything about it.  And to be honest, I think it was the least of my worries.   At this point, Andy found me in the stands and were sitting together when we heard the announcer say on the next play, "I've been told the last name is Pagley."  Andy looked at me and said, "That must be your mom."  It was.

After that when Tobin was in, we would look at each other and smile!  It was a smile that said so much to each other, that we are proud of Tobin, he can do it, he is doing it, i want this for him and 1000 other things, but to everyone else it just looked like we were happy, which we were!

However, it didn't last long and T was back out on the field in no time still close to touchdown territory.  This time, Tobin was ready!  And it worked like it was supposed to, the QO well-oiled machine stepped in.  Tobin through a TD pass for 11 yrds.  And that began a great game for Tobin!  He was 6-6 tonight and scored 2 touchdowns himself!  What an amazing game!   After Tobin scored the first touchdown, he accidentally took the ball off of the field with him.  The head coach had to walk over to him and say, "Pagley, this isn't the NFL.  You don't get to keep the football of your very first touchdown.  Give it back." 

I was a little neurotic.  I couldn't watch, but I couldn't not watch.  I felt like I either wanted to throw up or walk around.  So, I walked around.  I wasn't afraid of Tobin getting hurt; I just wanted it so badly for him that I didn't want to see it if it wasn't going well.  For the second half of the game, i sat with Andy in the junior parent cheering section.  Every time something happened, I tapped him on the leg to say something about it.  I hit him so much in the same section of leg that he now has a bruise.  I couldn't help it, even after he asked me not too.  I was amazed at how calm and cool Tobin seemed, as if he had done this all before!  I know it was what he had practiced for, but it was amazing to watch him do it before the crowd of fans in the stadium.  It was a little bit humbling to realize that after Tobin went in that in some small way, all of those people were there to watch my son play football!  Amazing!

We won 34-0!  Even with Tobin in the game and our running back down, we dominated!  It is so great to see that QO has so much depth tonight!  Bradley, Tobin's "cousin"  was also able to play a lot and had a great game!  I am glad that it coincided tonight for both of them.

I hope Mikey gets better quickly!  I have heard through the rumor mill that it could be an ACL.  It is such a bittersweet thing to see Tobin's success and know that Mikey had to be in the background for it.  But he is so completely awesome and such a stud, I know he will work hard to get back on that field!  I know he can do it! 

Here is a link to the first article of the night about the game!
http://www.gazette.net/article/20120914/SPORTS/709149494/1009/depleted-qo-dominates-paint-branch&template=gazette