Heavy Hearts

With great sadness, I write to tell you Oldest and his team suffered a huge loss on Saturday. The end of his youth football days came to a crashing halt as we all sat dumbfounded in the stands. Lake Braddock is amazing. I think we kind of figured that out on play 1 of the game when our quarterback fumbled the ball. Could it be his nerves were ruffled at the size of the opposing team? Good golly. These boys were huge. To say they were huge is an understatement. Oldest and his crew hardly had a chance. We would have needed a miracle. And as I sat in the stands praying for God's favor on our spectacular team, I was sure enough praying for a miracle. Yet, it wouldn't be in God's plan that way. So our boys lost a sad 59-18. I'm even surprised we got those 18 points. By the looks of our creaming, I don't know when or where we earned those 18. Perhaps they ran the touchdowns for us, just to help us out. It was bad, friends. Really bad.

Oldest handled it with the utmost character and poise. His team was saddened, a little shaken at the sudden end to their football careers, but resigned to the state of things, and ready to move forward. Next chapter: getting Oldest into college. Goodness, just shoot me now.

Charge Ahead

And those Chargers did it again! Oldest and his team of brothers came out to the game on Friday night and shut down Centreville. Final score 30-13 and how that team got that 13 is beyond me. I believe the second string was sent in, giving Centreville a moment to put themselves on the scoreboard.

Friends, amazing game. Uh-May-Zinggg. It has to be written that way, because it was every bit so. I was so nervous going in. This was the Regional semi-finals game and who knows what Centreville was bringing to the party. Admittedly, they beat us in the regular season, so there's the added anxiety that they could somehow do it again. On the other hand, Oldest was ready. His team was ready, and they were all feeling like they owned this game before they stepped on the field. Shutting down the trash-talking running back was job #1. Oooo boy. Did they shut him down. Centreville didn't score a single point until 4th quarter. We ran right over top of those boys. All year we have been heavy on defense and ehhh on offense. Our defense has been carrying our wins. Yet, this game, offense came out and showed some real talent and skill for putting the points up.

Let's just say, this lovely mama had NO appetite until 2nd quarter. Two minutes into the game Chantilly scored. Made it look so easy, even I could have done it. Okay, we know that's not true, but that run was sure beautiful. By the time we reached the 2nd quarter I could finally exhale a little bit. When we pulled ahead of them by 20+ points I hit the concession stand. During my food visit, I apparently missed the play of the game in the Copeland household. Oldest had a tackle on that running back that probably left the boy seeing stars. Now this is important because this young man happens to be the same boy who got a full-page spread about him in the newspaper last week. Over-confident and sounding a little arrogant, he went into this game knowing they would win. Boy, was he mistaken. From the stands, it was plainly obvious that every chance he got, he was in our boys face talking some serious smack. We could see the finger pointing, neck rolling. And Oldest, just as calm and cool as can be. Oldest said, "scoreboard, baby. scoreboard." Yes, friends, the points don't lie. Nor did they disappoint.

So while I missed that huge tackle, www.gamedaymagazine.com has a fabulous picture of it that i intend to purchase in a size extra large. Let me just tell you, Oldest is all over this boy like white on rice. What a fun game to be a part of. We are all very proud of this team. We advance on Saturday to face Lake Braddock for the Regional Finals. Can you see that we are inching our way to States? Lake Braddock is a good team, with a star quarterback. But they will be shut down. Just like the other teams we have faced. Our defense is ridiculous. Teams that are historically scoring in the double digits have struggled to score at all.

Worst and best part of the game: At the conclusion of this fabulous game, our boys line up to shake hands. Where is Centreville? Oh, man. They are huddled in the corner of the field. It takes a few short seconds to realize they have no intention of shaking hands. None. Really? This coach wasn't insisting that his boys showed good sportsmanship? Tacky. So amidst my screaming for Chantilly to go over to them, show them what class looks like, our fabulous coaches tell the boys to do just that. And thank goodness for that. If you can't take your butt whipping fair and square you have no business playing. With the county league of elementary and middle school boys, I can understand having a hard time swallowing the loss. But these boys are almost men. Too old to be acting like babies. I know if we lost we would have still lined up to shake hands. Disappointed, tears flowing, but would have shook hands.

As Chantilly crossed over to the corner huddle spot, Centreville clearly still wasn't interested in shaking hands. Our boys did their best and congratulated them on a good season. Oldest told me that when they reached the third quarter, trash-talker running back actually stopped running his mouth and tears were flowing down his face. Oldest said at that moment he truly felt bad for him. They totally expected to win, and when the realization set in that they wouldn't and that this was the end of their season, his heart began to ache. I felt bad for him too. You know I did. But...I must move on. Lake Braddock on Saturday. Um. They have a quarterback with a verbal commitment to attend Conneticut on a four year scholarship. Um. They are a good team. They lost one game this season, to Robinson, and we beat Robinson. We have more than a glimmer of a chance. We can shut them down. This past week, Lake Braddock won the game, against Robinson in the playoffs by 1 point. They obviously had to fight hard for that win. We'll give them something to fight for. Saturday, friends...Saturday.

Big, Big Game!

Are you excited, friends? Big game tonight. Centreville vs. Chantilly. We have the powerhouse momentum to take this team down. No penalties, no injures = game in the bag. Stick with me, friends. This one's a big one.

When we win, we'll advance on to round 3, regional finals. Regional. Finals... Let's Go Chargers! Can you tell I'm a bit excited?

Full Speed Ahead

Well friends, if you haven't friended me on Facebook then you don't know Oldest and his team had a big win Friday night. What an exciting game. I inadvertently even punched my oldest daughter in her prescious arm during a particularly lively moment. It was that intense! I was blessed enough to have my dear, sweet baby sister in attendance and her dear-sweet husband by her side. What a game, what a game!

Our outstanding defense held Westfields to 0 points. A big, fat "goose egg," as Oldest likes to refer to it. We won 7-0. I was confident in our defense holding these boys back, but a little concerned about our offense scoring. Finally we got a touchdown on the board and a anxiety-ridden mama could exhale. I was texting my mother updates along the way. Love that she wanted to know. It's nice that someone else jumps in my mini-obsession besides me. Besides that, we are all rooting for them to make it to the State Championship game and get the chance to play in my hometown of Charlottesville. How completely cool would that be? If you are in the Charlottesville vicinity, you WILL be invited.

Best part of the game for me would have to be that my guy had a big job to do: push back two dudes. Have you seen high school football-playing boys lately? They don't come small, particularly if they are on the line. So here my boy is holding his ground, pushing two boys back, getting in there for tackles. An extremely good game for him, for sure. He was thrilled when he got home. Just kept repeating: "We beat Westfield, Rach. We beat Westfield." This game had the boys on edge. This was the one they had a second thought of maybe this win is questionable. They believed in their strengths, but there is major rivalry between these these two teams. This was a big one.

Great news is we are on to round 2 of the playoffs. This Friday's game is a match up against Centreville. Now this is just too perfect, friends. Remember, weeks ago in regular season when I blogged all about the referree issues with this game? It has been all over the sports news articles and open forums. It's well-known that the regular season went to Centreville by the direction of the referee and their ridiculous calls. So here we are, set to face them again. The ones who broke our winning streak. The game we should have won. We can't wait to tear them up. Oldest is so fired up about this. I feel sorry for the other team. The desire of our Chargers to chew up these Wildcats and spit them out is extreme.

Soccer Chick ended out her season with a fabulous win in the early morning hours of Saturday. Her team won 4-1 with 3 of those fine goals scored by Soccer Chick herself. We advanced to the second game with a loss of 3-1. I'm not sure how it happened, but three less-than-powerful goals just crept their way right on into our goal. Ah well, I am confident Soccer Chick is happy for the season to be over. Put this one to bed, I say. What will these three youngest children do with themselves on Saturdays for the next few months...Why, drive their mother crazy, of course.

Game-Ready

Ah, first round of playoffs tonight. Can I say that I have been nervous about this all week? Whoever said "it's just high school football" is seriously mistaken. Seriously. For this team to have come this far, against so many odds, and play so cohesively is simply amazing. And as the parents of a kid on that team, we are extensions of the team. Honorary cheerleaders, if you will. Everybody has "Tilly Fever!" So, tonight the fever will be raging more than normal. This is a big one. Facing Westfield, oh boy. Cue the nervousness.

If you have never been to a high school football game you simply don't know the fun. There's no way college or professional ball even compares. This is up-close, live action with boys that you know and a team you can wrap your head around supporting. Besides, if you can't get some joy out of the crazy, ballistic parents yelling from the stands, well...then something is plainly wrong with you.

We're hoping for a big win and advancement on to Round 2 of the Regional Playoffs. Oldest is geared up with an incredibly tough week at practice all week. These boys come prepared to take the win. Let's Go Chargers. A little supernatural favor is being invited on the scene and any positive thoughts you want to send this way are welcome too!

Saturday morning Soccer Chick has to be up way too early and on the field for her first round of a tournament. Not saying I'm hoping for a loss, by any means. But friends, you know, this season, with this team, has run it's course. If they win, they play again in the afternoon. If they lose, that's it. If her eyes are awake and she can focus to play, we'll see what happens. We'll see if I'm able to report back to you what the outcome was. Those sports chairs on the sidelines can be mighty comfy in the cold, wrapped in a blanket...

Don't forget to cheer on those Chargers tonight. How cool would a win be??? I'll let you know when we get it!

Holding Our Heads High

Friends, this is one blog post I didn't want to have to write. Who wants to spend time reflecting on the demise of a certain "sure-win?' Well, sure as I was, Oldest's team proved me wrong. They lost to Oakton, 17-14. By a simple kick of the foot; a swing really. Nothing spectacular or awe-strikingly beautiful. Yet, worth three lousy points. I fear, I am still in shock. I've had plenty of distractions throughout the remainder of the weekend but all in all, I can't get away from thinking I'd never thought they'd lose.

Actually, I must say it probably hit me at about the third quarter when Oakton got on the scoreboard. Somewhere around that time, they were playing sharper and our "sure thing" was losing it's shine. There was just something in the air. Maybe we picked the wrong section of seating on the bleachers. Something was just..."off". Our defensive team played spectacularly. Oldest and his lineman really don't give up much when it came to yardage. There were plenty of tackles, not much gain for the Cougars. You know, the Cougars, the one with the literal Cougar roaring sound played out of the Commentator's box. Or perhaps you know them by the gun pop that they insisted on shooting off at every (arguably) good play the team had. I think that gun thing was just to ruffle my nerves. I, friends, am not bitter. As you can plainly see.

I can not attribute this atrocity to referee ridiculousness or even to them being a better team. Our offense simply wasn't able to rack up the points as they should have been. Being the amateur at this game, I can't tell you if there were a lot of mistakes that we made, but I can tell you there was a sad, sad moment when I realized, for the first time that night, we may lose. Friends, actually losing was so much worse. Up until the last two minutes of the game I was thinking we may have a sliver of a chance. That was, of course, until I realized these Cougars (Roarrrr, inserted here, apparently) are just ticking away at the clock. Just shuffling their feet on the field, willing to have the Delay of Game penalty, as the time just ticks terribly by. That was hard to sit and watch. That's the kind of thing that makes you yell at refs and shake your fists at players. Of course, I did neither of those things. You know me better than that.

Nonetheless, Oldest and his guys walked off the fields, with their heads held high enough to see the tears streaming down. This was for the District Title. What senior would like anything better than to earn the distinct privilege of being District Champions? Instead, across town, the only other team to beat them in regular season, Centreville, went down without a prayer, costing themselves the Title too. There was a little yelp of joy attached to that. The Title, by default, went to Robinson. Did they earn it? Technically, yeah, I guess. But emotionally, no way. Chantilly has poured their guts into this season and man, it would have been really nice to see them get that Title.

Oakton needed the win to make the playoffs so we knew they were bringing all they had on Friday night. We, on the other hand, were in either way. So other than the Title loss, it's a moot point for us. Except that I wanted my boy to earn that Title. Can I tell you from the minute I realized we lost this game I started fretting over next week's game. Oh, my. This one is going to be a whopper. We play our biggest rival, Westfield. Oh, my. The only team to give us trouble this year, beating us 14-0 until the 3rd quarter when we came back to beat them 17-14. Here we face them again and the nerves are already a twitchin'. This is not the team we wanted to face in the first round of playoffs, friends. This week will be a week of massive preparation for the Chargers. They simply must come up with a few new plays (so says my football loving Hub), they simply must take Westfield by surprise, and they simply must win. The defense will have to bring an A++ game and the offense, well, they just have to bring it. period.

Saturday morning we got to finish up the regular season of baseball with a chilly, chilly day and the regular season of soccer. Baseball Chick did wonderfully and enjoyed an end-of-season party to boot. Youngest scored no less than 4 of his team's 6 goals in this final game. My favorite would have to be when the other team kicked off and after a half second hesitation by both teams, Youngest was off. Took the ball down the entire field and straight to the goal. Teammates and opposing players stood stunned, not quite sure if they could believe it themselves. It was beautiful.

Must of have been the Mohawk. Youngest begged (begged, friends!) to get a Mohawk like his brother. He is officially an honorary Chantilly Charger football player. He is sporting that thing around and as if he didn't get enough already, is getting ALL the attention from everyone. He's one cool dude.

Soccer Chick's game would also be a reason I delayed posting today. I've told you before how frustrated she has been with this season and this week's game was no different. My role here is just keep telling her to keep her head held high. She tied the game up 1-1 with a beautiful side shot, sunk deep in the net. Gotta love that left foot. And I swear, we blinked, and they scored 3 more. We lost 4-1 just like that. I think I must have bent to get something out of my purse, looked up and we were facing a losing game. We apparently are still at the level of all girls having equal playing time and rotating positions. Rotate-schmotate, I say. Let's win some games for goodness sakes! Frustrated doesn't begin to explain how this poor girl felt. Soccer Chick, I mean of course. You know I don't get too attached to these games or anything...

Just when Soccer Chick thought "good, I can put this season behind me?" we discover, all teams play in the tournament this upcoming weekend. With our 2-5 record this season, can we just put this thing to bed? Apparently not. Before these girls' eyes will be fully open next Saturday morning, we will be up on the field trying to save face. If we lose, Lord help us, we're done for the season. If we win, we play again in the afternoon.

In the Copeland house, we're down to two out of four athletes left in games. When you get a minute this week, say some happy thoughts for those Chantilly Chargers. Wouldn't that be fabulous for Oldest, advance to the next round of playoffs. C'mon, you want it much as we do. Start your happy thinking today. You got all week to practice.

Favorite Youngest moment of the weekend:
"Mom, do you know what hot chocolate is made out of?"
"No, Youngest. What is it?"
"Hot and Chocolate. I've seen the chocolate at the store but I haven't seen them sell the hot yet."

Who's Ready...

Friends, I hope you're ready. Chantilly Chargers are set to take down Oakton tonight. In a tough competition game, Chantilly is looking to take home the Concorde District Title! With many humble apologies, I tell you we want to see Centreville take a face down, mud-kissing, boot-licking fail to Robinson tonight. Don't be shocked at my language. As out of character as that mean-veined response sounds, Centreville's loss will literally be our gain. Their loss and our win will give us the title. Two wins would be a co-District title. Who wants to share? All's fair in love and football.

Cover your ears, you will surely hear us screaming from Oakton, VA tonight. It's going to be a big one. A hurricane compared to last week's quiet and subdued crowd. We won't even talk about Saturday's games. It's the end of season ordeal for two of our three younger athletes. And it's going to be cold. I hate the cold.

The Lesson of the Loaves

Sunday's sermon was "The Lesson of the Loaves." One of my favorite things about God is how He can take a story we've heard forever. I mean forever, and give a new spin to it. Everyone knows the story of how Jesus fed the 5,000 followers with five loaves of bread and two fish. Amazing, God. We know that story and we know the point behind it. God is a miracle-bringing, people-feeding, dynamite Man. He is The Man.

Sunday, I listened to a fresh perspective. Instead of reviewing the facts and hearing about faith for God to provide, my Pastor preached about how we have to be in close proximity to God to watch Him work. Jesus had doubters around him, like Philip, who questioned whether or not this meal time was possible. Yet, Jesus knew this was going to get done. What's required for us to be up close in such a miracle moment? Proximity. Getting close to God to watch Him work.

I'm reading a book, Prayers That Avail Much. It's a much needed refresher on how to approach God, when to approach God and why to approach God. And, maybe more importantly, why you want to make sure that you don't miss opportunities to approach God. We have to be close with Him to receive from Him. We won't know His voice if we never have a conversation with Him. We have tons of conversations with tons of people about tons of problems. But we can take one problem to One God and get THE answer. God is not a give-you-everything-you-think-you-need God. But God is simply, that great, and that reliable. We can expect that when we pray, God moves. Get to prayin' and let God get to movin'.

The Monday After...

The great big news is Oldest and the rest of the Chantilly Chargers plummeted poor Herndon on Friday night. It was slightly entertaining that Herndon had essentially a zero fan base and slightly disappointing that Chantilly fans thought we had this so "in the bag" that we didn't bother to show up or show out either. The 30 degree weather with wind had a little something to do with it. Nevertheless, we did stomp those poor boys 27-10. Why we let them get that 10 points is beyond me. The Herndon squad is having a rough season to say the least; coming into our game with a 1-8 record. This was their final game of the regular season, playoffs are out of the question and the talk on the line was "thank God this season ends tonight." Hats off to them; they played well despite their slim to none chances of taking a win.

We huddled up on the bleachers and did our best to cheer our way to warmth. Special treat in the mama and sister and two fabulous nieces coming to join the show. Just a pinch of sadness that this particular night was so cold that our usual rowdy fan base was nonexistent. Someone made some lovely "face on a stick" contraptions that were quite fun. Blown up picture of Oldest, attached to a stick. Great, just great.

With this win added to our belts, we head on to the last game of the regular season. Oakton. Oakton's having a pretty good year, with a 6-3 record. We will certainly need to not sleep on this one. Great news is the one team that beat us this year (let's not relive the trauma attached to that), lost on Friday night. Making their record identical to ours, 8-1. We both head into this last game with a lot on the line. They are playing Robinson. A squad we beat, but gave it everything we had to do it. There's a strong possibility Centreville could lose on Friday night, giving Chantilly the Concorde district title, and moving us into regional playoffs with a big smile on our faces.

I missed Baseball Chick's baseball game as we had to do the "divide and conquer" thing with our two overlapping games. I hear she played well. After the way the soccer game turned out, I really wish I would have opted for baseball. It was bad, folks. Just...bad. Soccer Chick's team lost 2-0, and with two pitiful goals. Just...pitiful. Our defense is nonexistent and the goalie literally left the goalbox, um...chasing the wind I think, to give them a wide open shot with no resistance. No. Resistance. Painful to watch, folks. Just...painful.

I'm going to get on my mom-soapbox for one minute. Just one minute. For some reason the Coaching staff continues to put Soccer Chick on defense. Seeing as how this is a U11 squad, I would think we were beyond the rotating positions, and "everybody gets fair playing time" thing. I would think that when we lost our second consecutive game of the season we would have reevaluated who plays what positions better and who sucks at what positions and don't dare put them there. That's kind of like Soccer Chick on defense. It ain't happening. She performs poorly, to say it nicely. It's not a good thing, at all. Put her on forward, or even mid-field and she's a soccer over-achiever. Put her on defense and you might as well hand the ball to our goalie and say "throw it in behind you Chick", cause it's going in.

Here we are Saturday and Soccer Chick is on defense. I already told you the outcome of the game, so I won't relive it for us here. Soccer Chick comes out at her "fair playing time" interval, and is in tears. Tears, friends. She is so frustrated with this team and with the skill level and the lack thereof. We got one more game left and with a 2-4 record, such as we have, I seriously doubt we are getting a shot at the end of season tournament. We need to put this baby to rest, so I'd be good with that. I comforted Soccer Chick by reminding her this is House league. This is what you get. We don't play Travel because of the Sunday games, but I sure can see why folks opt for the commitment of Travel. House is...let's just say, frustrating, if you are even semi-talented at soccer. My theory is that the longer you play the more kids that drop out as they become interested in other things. I would think that opens up the door for more competitive play. That's what I think, anyway. That's what I hope, anyway. Poor girl. She had a rough game to play Saturday. And watching it from the sides, folks, was just brutal.

Later on in the day Youngest had his game. In the ripping, ridiculous wind, his team tied 3-3. Of course, no one is supposed to be counting at this age, but you know how we roll...we are counting. Two of those beautiful goals belonged to my man Youngest. He was doing his thing out there, unfortunately ripping the ball from his opponents and teammates left and right, zipping up and down the field. It's U5 soccer, so you know they don't know what a team is yet. Just every man for himself. And that young man understands how to get the ball, take the ball down field and get himself a victory. The coach for the opposing team came over to our sidelines and asked who Youngest's parents were. We nonchalantly shrugged "Oh yeah...that's us." with the best "no big deal" attitude we could give. "That's not Youngest out there. That's Pelle." Yes folks, that is Pelle. Moves, grooves and soothes all the way to the goal.

Favorite weekend moment would have to be at Soccer Chick's game, Youngest wants to go clear on the other side of the field. "No, Youngest. That's too far. I can't see you clearly."
"Oh mom, Just look through the players and when you see the half size kid," Youngest replies with his hands stacked one on top of the other, like a half of something, "you'll know that's me. I'll be the half size kid."