assistant coach • sam hubbard

020

january 15th, 2023

today, the bengals play the ravens for the second week in a row in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

it's the third quarter, 17-17 and the ravens have the ball. it's third and goal from the one yard line.

just before the play started, marley called a time out. the group of 11 ran over to her. "they're doing a qb sneak, from the top." marley said.

"huntley is gonna go over you guys, you gotta stop that run, ok?" marley said, they all nodded.

the play resumed, and just like marley had predicted, tyler went over, but what she didn't predict was germaine and logan punching the ball out and it falling into sam's hands.

they next thing they know, sam was running down the field, marley running down the sideline.

she actually kind of hated this because she was currently running the length of the field as she was not built for that.

towards about the 20 yard line, mark andrews was gaining speed but with blockers, he was stopped.

it was just sam and the boys all the way to the house. everyone was cheering for him, marley, was cheering as well, but definitely out of breath.

jamar, who also followed sam down the sideline was perfectly fine, but then again, he's a wide receiver.

"how did i do that?" sam asked as he celebrated with the guys who helped him get to the end zone.

"you looked a little slow once you got pass the fifty yard line." germaine said jokingly. "no, but for real that was amazing, i think it was like 97 yards or something."

once evan kicked the extra point, it went on commercial. the team was celebrating with sam after he got oxygen.

"that was amazing sam," marley said. "really amazing."

"i didn't think you were gonna run with me." sam said.

"although i was very out of breath, i don't regret my choices." marley said with a laugh.

"so," sam said standing up. "i figured now would be a pretty great time to do this since i lowkey just made post season, and possibly franchise history," he said.

marley looked at him with a confused look. he was standing there as zach walked up behind him and handed him something.

"what are you doing?" marley asked. he got down on one knee. marley would've never seen this coming.

"i know we've only been dating since september, but these past months have been the best months of my life. and when we go on this world tour to all these exotic places, i want to do it with you, i want to do with my fiancé." sam said. "i had a lot of other things i was going to say, but now i kind of don't remember them, so i'm going to get to the point, will you marry me?" he asked opening the ring box to reveal the most beautiful ring marley had ever seen.

"yes," marley said with a huge smile. "i'll marry you." she said nodding her head.

sam slipped the ring on her finger and marley barley had time to look at it before he engulfed her in his embrace.

the entire team was cheering for them, the entire stadium was cheering for them. but in that moment, in his arms, her fiancé's arms, she couldn't hear any of it.

all she heard were these words in her ear. "we're gonna tell our kids about this someday." he said.

and this may be the end of this story, but it's only just the beginning of theirs. the family they would start, the trips they would take, the superbowls they would win, the records they would break.

all of this, they would do together. this is their family, this team, this city, is this moment, it all felt like it belonged to them.

that is the greatest gift she could ever be given, feeling like the world is hers, and for a moment, it did belong to her, to them.

so if you had told her this story five years, maybe even one year ago, she would've thought you were out of your mind.

she would've denied every part of it, but here she was, living in the moment she never thought she would, living the life she never thought she should, and loving the man she never thought she could.

maybe not if, but when they have kids someday, they would tell them how the crowds went wild. how they chanted their names, how truly happy they were in that moment.

this moment, was one neither of them were ever willing to forget, they would remember it in the back of their minds.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

thank you for reading assistant coach, it was a great one to write. here are some shoutouts, because these people had really funny comments

joeyschick
@laniyahh3