Altamont was one of the top rated schools in the state and were heavily favored to win the game. Our reputation as perennial losers didn’t help matters. Before the game, I could see that some of their players towered over Tanya. I was a bit intimidated and I wasn't even playing! You would have thought it was just another game from watching Tanya warm up with her team mates. I was amazed how a girl supposedly out of her element, always seemed to exude a cool confidence, almost arrogance.

Things didn’t start out well for us. Altamont’s high powered offense ate up a lot of the clock with a long scoring drive. More importantly, the longer they controlled the ball, the longer they kept Tanya sitting uselessly on the sideline. Eventually, we got the ball back and Tanya went right to work, reeling off runs of 17, 33, and 22 yards before finishing the drive off with an 8 yard drive up the middle to tie the score at 7. I breathed sigh of relief until I realized the drive had taken less than 2 minutes off the clock, and now, Altamont’s offense would once again control the ball. Tanya was almost too efficient.

Once again their offense produced a long, time eating drive for another score. Their much larger offensive line had our defense at a disadvantage, giving their quarterback all the time he needed to complete short passes. With their size advantage, they seemed to be able to move the ball at will. I had butterflies in my stomach the size of moths, yet when I looked over at Tanya, she was sitting alone on the bench, seemingly blithely unconcerned.

Tanya may be the best player we have, but she knew next to nothing about the intricacies of the game. I decided I had better discuss strategy with her. I grabbed a water bottle and ran over to her side. “Listen, you need to slow it down” I began. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “You scored too fast last time. You need to give our defense a break. The longer they stay on the field, the more exhausted they become.” She cast a worried glance out onto the field, ”What do you want me to do”? “Just run for first downs. Ten yards at a time. That will eat up more time and give the defense time to rest”. She seemed a bit perplexed, but nodded her understanding.

I gave her a shot of water as she strode out onto the field. On the first play of the drive, she took the ball up the middle with players struggling to contain her. After gaining about 10 yards, she seemed unsure what to do. By now 5 or 6 defenders were surrounding her, trying to pull down with no success. Finally, she must have realized how comical it all must have looked, and dropped down on one knee to end the play. I was in awe. She had linebackers hanging on every limb, and yet she stood there as though she were waiting on a bus.

The strategy was a success as Tanya slowly moved the ball up the field before taking it in for another score to tie the game at 14 all. As she jogged off the field I met her with a water bottle. She was laughing about the first play. “I made 10 yards, then I forgot what I was supposed to do! I just stood there for a minute before I remembered I was supposed to let them tackle me!” I grinned “You make it look too easy”! “Yah” She replied, “I just want to keep running”.

Thanks to Tanya giving our defense a rest, they managed to keep them from scoring and we went into halftime with the score tied 14-14. For the first time since Tanya became a starter, I thought we might lose.

At the beginning of the second half, Tommy Hodges, our best linebacker was put out of the game after injuring his knee. Coach Gibbs knew this left a big hole in our defense that would be difficult to replace. And if we couldn't stop their offense, Tanya couldn't get the ball. Standing behind the Coach, I offhandedly asked, ”What about Tanya?” He turned and looked at me as if a light had turned on inside his head. He immediately ran over to where she sat on the bench with me following in his wake.

Putting his hand on her shoulder pads he asked, “Do you think you can play defense?” She looked completely surprised, “I don’t know!” she said. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do”! ”Just stop’em!” he exclaimed. “Don’t let anyone get past you”. She looked completely stunned, “I’ll try.” was all she could say. “Take Tommy’s place at middle linebacker. Get in there!” As she stood up, I gave her a squirt of water. “You sure about this?” I asked. “Whatever Coach wants, Coach gets” she said serenely as she buckled her chin strap.

I wished I could be as confident. Now she would be playing full time with no rest, and I was concerned it would wear her down. The Altamont coaching staff, thinking they had us on the ropes, decided to capitalize on the substitution by running plays towards Tanya’s position. On their first play, their quarterback dropped back while their tight end sprinted across the middle towards Tanya. The pass was right on target reaching the receiver just a few feet in front of Tanya. Catching the ball in full stride, he then lowered his helmet and continued running straight at Tanya. His helmet struck her right in the chest. As the sound of the impact reverberated throughout the stadium, I winced, expecting the worst. Amazingly, Tanya stood upright. Despite hitting her at full speed, it looked as if he had just run straight into a brick wall. Wrapping her arms around him, she lifted him off his feet before slamming him down onto the turf.

My mouth was agape while watching this. She had just taken a huge hit, yet she had barely been budged. It reminded me of a bird flying into a window. As the receiver lay groaning at her feet, the referee stopped the game so that their trainer could check for injuries. I took the opportunity to sprint out onto the field with water bottles. As I reached her, she had a look of concern on her face for the downed player. “Is he ok? I didn’t mean to hurt him!” “I think he’ll be ok” I tried to reassure her. “Are you ok? He hit you pretty hard”. “I’m just doing what the Coach told me to do” she replied. “You sure stopped him alright”. As I stood next to her, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how strong this pretty girl must be. If she could do that to a football player, she could probably kill me. ”Look. Just be careful. They’re going to try to keep running at you to see if you’re the weak link”. With that, she seemed to bristle, “I don't want to be the weak link!”

By that time, the injured Altamont player was helped to his feet and was being helped off the field. I gave Tanya another squirt of water, but she was concentrating a fixed look on the opposing team, almost glaring at them. “Uh oh” I thought to myself. On the following play, they decided to try running the ball up the middle, right towards Tanya. It was almost a carbon copy of the previous play. While their large offensive linemen easily created an opening, their running back lowered his head and ran straight towards Tanya. Again, as if running into an immobile object, he was brought to a sudden stop by a blonde haired wall of solid muscle. This time, instead of slamming him to the ground, Tanya merely wrapped her arms around him and fell forward on top of him.

By now, it was beginning to sink in that maybe they should be avoiding Tanya. This time, the quarterback dropped back to pass. Without missing a beat, Tanya sprinted forward. Two large, hulking linemen converged on her at the line of scrimmage. In the blink of an eye, her forearms slammed into their chests, sending them sprawling onto their rear ends. Now her path to the quarterback was clear. She continued on into the backfield just as the quarterback was about to throw. A fraction of a second later, she was upon him, striking with such ferocity, that they landed five yards from where she had hit him.

Again, I stood on the sidelines with my mouth agape. The two linemen must have weighed well over two hundred pounds each, yet she had flung them aside as if they had been rag dolls. Their quarterback lay prone on the turf and again, the referee stopped the game. In three plays, she had knocked two of their players out of the game. “My God” I thought to myself, “She’s even better on defense.” I took advantage of the time out to rush onto the field with water bottles. When I got to Tanya, she still had that look of determination on her face. “How’re you doing?” I asked. “Fine!” she chirped. “Well, just try not to kill anyone”. With that, we both laughed. I don’t think anyone on the other team was laughing.

As their quarterback was carried off the field, the substitute quarterback nervously took the field. He seemed nervous as if he hadn’t had much playing time. The whole Altamont team seemed to be a bit shook up and flustered by what was happening. When the quarterback saw Tanya line up opposite to him, he seemed to become even more agitated. He took the ball and backpedaled to pass. Again, Tanya proved unstoppable, exploding through the linemen like a hot knife through butter. As the quarterback saw her dashing straight towards him, he panicked and began to run backwards in an effort to evade her, but it was no use. In a blink of an eye, she was upon him. In his panic, he failed to tuck the ball in as she hit him. The ball went tumbling down the field where one of our players recovered it on their 45 yard line. In three quick plays, she single handedly had stopped their offense in its tracks, sending a clear message to the other team.

Tanya remained out on the turf as the offensive side took the field. She didn’t waste any time driving her message home. Taking the first hand off from the quarterback she drove straight ahead. No fancy footwork, no fakes to the side. She plowed straight forward, almost challenging anyone to stop her. Despite their best efforts, she broke free and took it in for a 21-14 lead. Tanya’s play had clearly left the opposition dispirited and the momentum had finally swung our way. Not only did she score two more touchdowns, but with Tanya playing defense, the previously vaunted Altamont offense had been shut down, limited to just one first down.

It was a stunning upset. What should have been a tough game had turned into a cakewalk, all because of one sweet girl who looked more like a cheerleader than a football player...a cheerleader who happened to be as strong as a tank. Against one of the top ranked teams in the state, Tanya netted her third 5 touchdown game of the season, along with 3 sacks in her first game on defense. No one would have predicted such a dominating victory.

We were on our way to the State Championship game.