Confessions of the girl who ran the wrong way

The seniors were up 6-0 in the annual Homecoming PowderPuff game. The juniors had the ball and the line was set. Their quarterback snapped the ball and the action began. I watched Morgan Anderson, junior, throw the ball. Towards me. I reached out and made the interception. I had no idea what to do next, so I ran like crazy. I ran, and I ran, and I ran . . . in the wrong direction.

This was the scene at yesterday’s Homecoming carnival PowderPuff game on the field by the middle school. And that girl, the one who ran the wrong way, that was me, Bridget Maas.

Let me start by saying, football is not my thing. I do PowderPuff for the school spirit, the fun, and of course, the cool t-shirt. I was not on our starting defense—for a reason. The closest I usually get to a football field is playing pep band on the sidelines. I don’t do contact sports; I stick to tennis and golf and couldn’t tell you the first thing about pretty much any other sport.

So when I was put in the game and caught the ball (I’m told this is called an “interception”), I had no idea what to do next. In retrospect, it would have been better off if I had frozen and gotten tagged by a junior where I stood, but that didn’t happen. I had the ball, and all I knew was that I wanted to score.

I’ve never truly understood what athletes mean when they say they get “tunnel vision” during games. But when I had that ball in my hands, I experienced tunnel vision.  I focused on one thing: the end zone. Unfortunately not the correct one, but hey, I’m just pretty impressed that I caught the ball. With absolutely zero lack of knowledge about football, I just turned and ran. I don’t even recall making a decision about which way to run, I just knew I had to be fast.

I have been told that my team was yelling “Wrong way!” “No, stop!” and the girls on the sidelines were waving and pointing behind me. But I didn’t hear or see any of that. Like I said, tunnel vision. I just sprinted down that field until a few of the girls on the sidelines moved into the field and in-between the laser focus I had on the end zone. At that point, the damage was done, but at least I didn’t make it all the way and score a safety for the other team . . . small victories. On the plus side, I did get the seniors possession of the ball even if I pushed us back some thirty yards.

Thankfully, my team was very kind about and laughed with me instead of hating me, which would be understandable. Some of them even expressed that they didn’t know I was going the wrong direction until someone else told them. So ha, I’m not the only one who could have made that mistake.

For all of the sophomore and junior girls looking to play next year, I would highly encourage you to join; however, before you play, just make sure you know which way to run.