2010 Game 5 vs Andalusia

It was late September, 2008 and we had traveled to Grove Hill to take on the always tough Clarke County Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs are particularly good at home and we knew we had our work cut out for us.  The first half was very physical and we had great difficulty blocking them.  We had played hard on defense but were behind as we went to halftime with little offense to show for our performance.  We made a few adjustments and found a couple of plays that we thought would work against their defense.  It was a great second half.  We got the ball outside on a couple of option plays and started hitting a few passes.  We threw a TD pass with just a few minutes left in the game to give us a lead and managed to hold off a last ditch effort by Clarke County to score.  But what I remember about the game was not the final minutes but an individual battle that took place in the fourth quarter.

In his book Uncommon, Coach Tony Dungy said that his college coach Cal Stoll of Minnesota said that, "Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man. I am looking for uncommon people."  Clarke County had a great defensive tackle who had caused us problems throughout the game. He used his helmet and shoulder pads on every play. He was a strong and physical player who played hard on each down.  This is uncommon in high school football.  In order for us to win the game we had to have someone to challenge this uncommon player.  In the heat of a late September night, Malcolm McMillan found himself in front of this great player as the fourth quarter began.  His team behind,  Malcolm had a decision to make.  Do I attack this great player and accept the physical and mental consequences or do I find an easier way?  In Uncommon, Dungy says that the character is developed by facing tough decisions and choosing to do the right thing over and over so that it becomes second nature.  Malcolm recognized that in order for his team to win he must attack.  His training and character told him that he must do this for his team to experience the thrill of victory.  And attack he did!  He and this great player from Clarke County battled play after play. I would loved to tell you that Malcolm whipped him until the end of the game.  But facing a physical mismatch, all Malcolm could do at times was to play as hard as he could to the best of his ability and hope that it was good enough to get the job done.  And there were times that this great opponent just took on Malcolm's block, defeated it and made the tackle.  What makes Malcolm's play even more impressive was that after each such play he played even harder and attacked even stronger on the next play.  Now that is an uncommon effort by an uncommon player.