Jacoby: One loss doesn’t define a team that brought great pride to their school & community

Back when I was a teenager – when I knew everything and wanted to win everything – my competitiveness got the best of me in a golf outing with my dad. I wanted to win so badly and actually practiced before the big match.

After he made like a 20-foot putt that won a hole, I just dropped my putter and shouted to the heavens. As he walked toward the hole to retrieve his ball, he said something to me that really hit home and has stayed with me ever since: “I was trying to make it, you know.”

Now fast forward some 40 years. Even though I am a diehard N.Y. Mets fan, I can’t stand Jeff McNeil. The former All-Star batting champ throws a tantrum every time he makes an out. There was a play a few years ago when a third baseman (who was a gold glove winner) made an exceptional play on a McNeil shot down the line and threw him out by a step. McNeil threw his helmet and looked up in the sky like he had just been robbed.

And I thought, well, he was trying to make the play. He is a gold glove third baseman playing in professional baseball and getting paid millions to make plays just like that. You didn’t get robbed, Jeff. Another great baseball player made a great play. Just tip your baseball cap and go back to the bench.

It took us a while to get here but this all brings us to Friday night and Dexter football. It was a heartbreaking way to lose and it’s always difficult dealing with your emotions after realizing you aren’t going to accomplish one of the goals you have been working on since August. But sometimes you have to tip your hat (or helmet in this case) because the other team was trying to win too.

This wasn’t a regular-season game against a 1-5 team. This is the playoffs. Every team here earned the right to be here. They all worked hard in the weight room. They all gave up free time to run or study film or work on parts of their game. And at this point of the season every team wants to win just as much as you do – there is no such thing as they wanted it more.

It all came down to who made the big plays, how the ball bounced and how the game unfolded. If East Lansing had taken the lead with 53 seconds left, would Dexter have come right down the field and won the game? The answer is somewhere between probably and possibly.

It’s a good bet Dexter would have won this game in overtime – somewhere between probably and possibly – and that’s what East Lansing was thinking when the Trojans decided to put the outcome on one single play. They rolled the dice, and it came up Trojans.

The Dreadnaughts didn’t play a perfect game and mistakes were made but East Lansing can say the same thing. All these sports critics and experts will point to a few plays and say if they had made them, the (Jets, for example) would have won the game. But can’t the other team say the same thing? Aren’t there a few plays they would like to have back?

Dexter gave up 50 points to East Lansing when the most they gave up all season was 26 points way back in the season opener. It’s hard to win a playoff game when the opponent scores 50 points. The Trojans scored 50 or more points twice in the regular season. Last year, Dexter gave up 27 points in their second-round playoff loss and the year before allowed only 20 points in a semifinal loss.

Still, they almost pulled it off.

The Dreadnaughts had an amazing season. 9-0 in the regular season. SEC Red champions. Seventh straight playoff appearance. A roster full of players headed to play college football. Another huge group coming back to go for eight straight next year. And a group of men who learned sacrifice, commitment, teamwork and many other valuable lessons this game teaches that they will take with them in the game of life.

This game didn’t come down to who worked harder in the off-season or who wanted it more or even who was the luckiest and/or most fortunate. Two very good teams met in a playoff game and only one team can win. East Lansing wasn’t lucky. They were trying to make it, you know.

Dexter won 10 games as a team. They lost one game as a team. And one game doesn’t define a team – a season does. They will eventually look back at this season with great pride and cherish the wonderful memories they created not only for themselves but for their school and community.