The Guy Named Harrison: Book One

72

Harrison watched as the great game against the Falcons quickly turned into an ugly ending. They were winning by 14. In the first half, the lead bounced back and forth between both teams. Now the Panthers had secured the lead.

It all started after a tackle. There was a fumble after the Falcons running back was brought down by Luke. Now Harrison was to far away to get in on the pile, it seemed that the running back was able to recover his own fumble.

As he came over to help his teammates up, the referees also got in on the pile by pulling players out to confirm who had the football. That was when he saw once of the Falcons offensive lineman pull Luke out of the pile by his collar.

Being pulled by his collar, Luke flailed as Harrison ran over. That should've been a flag on the lineman right there. But of course it wasn't called. Then just as Harrison reached Luke, one of the refs stepped in front of him.

He grabbed Luke around the waist from behind with his arm wrapped under Luke's arm and hand on his chest. Luke had no idea it was the ref pulling him away. Already frustrated with being pulled by his neck, he swatted at the ref who dragged him away from the pile.

Luke reacted the way anyone who was grabbed unexpectedly around the waist would do, try and get away. Unfortunately, he pushed away the ref with his forearm. That drew a penalty for making contact with an official. The official who he didn't even know was behind him.

"You're gone," the ref told him.

"What!?" Luke demanded, holding his arms out.

None of the refs said anything as Luke walked off the field to cheering from the Falcons fans. Then Harrison stepped in. "What's going on here?"

"Your teammate made contact with an official. That's an automatic ejection."

Harrison held his arms up as well. "Did you see him get pulled out of the pile by his neck before you grabbed him?"

The ref didn't say anything. "How was he supposed to know there was an official behind him? He reacted the way any of us would after being grabbed around the waist and arm!"

Then one of the refs pushed him back towards the Panthers huddle. "That's the rule. You make contact with an official you're gone," the ref that ejected Luke told him.

Harrison shook his head. "That's bullshit!"

The ref put a finger in his face. "One more word out of you and you're gone!"

He simply walked back to the huddle as Luke's replacement, David Mayo jogged onto the field. Last time it was Luke playing without Harrison. Now it was Harrison playing without Luke.

❺❾

The Falcons were on offense for the final play of the game. Harrison and all the cornerbacks and safeties were back towards the end zone as the Falcons gave one last shot to score.

The ball was snapped and Harrison covered a receiver who ran through his zone. Quarterback Matt Ryan threw the ball in their direction and it was easily swatted away by Harrison.

The Panthers had done it. An undefeated regular season! Harrison gave all the defenders high fives as they jogged to meet all the other players. Cam came running towards Harrison, and together they both jumped at the same time and did their famous chest bump.

"Let's go get coach."

He followed Cam to the sidelines where they each grabbed one of the Gatorade containers and ran out to dump them on Coach Rivera. Harrison and Cam soaked their coach with Gatorade.

The two of them got a picture with their Gatorade soaked coach before Harrison spotted Carrie. She ran up to him wearing her favorite Panthers hat, t-shirt, and jeans with her bag slung over her shoulders. He gave her a hug.

"Great job today!"

"Thanks."

"Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure."

Harrison moved to stand next to his fiancée as she held her recorder out. "Harrison, you guys just completed an undefeated regular season. How does it feel?"

As he was about to answer her question, he spotted the ref. "Hang on a second."

He jogged across the field to meet the ref who tossed Luke out of the game. "Steve!"

"Yeah."

"I'd like to apologize for my comments regarding Luke Kuechly's ejection. I lost my cool and I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. You were only doing your job."

"Thank you Harrison." He held his hand out to shake. Harrison happily shook it. "Looking back on it now, I understand Luke's reaction."

"Well I have to go. See you in the playoffs."

Harrison came back to Carrie who was interviewing their head coach Ron Rivera. As soon as she was done he answered her questions.

"Undefeated season right?"

"Yeah."

"All of the guys on this team contributed to the undefeated season. It feels great to know you played all 16 games without a loss. But now it's onto playoffs and what happened in these last 16 games doesn't matter anymore. It's one game at a time."

"Thank you Harrison. Now give me your thoughts about Luke Kuechly's ejection."

"It was complete bullshit."

Carrie sighed. "I won't put that in the article."

"Luke reacted the way any of us would've in the same situation. He'd just come from being pulled by his collar to be grabbed around the waist and under the arm. I know I would react the same way if someone were to unexpectedly grab me like that. Unfortunately, he didn't know it was a referee. I know Luke well, and if he would've seen the ref, there wouldn't have been an ejection."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome sweetheart." He whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.