This week has been different. He knows, win or lose, today marks the end. And he can't help but look back and see his entire high school career in brief, brilliant flashes. The freshman learning the offense. The sophomore coming into his own. The junior leading the way. And the senior who demands that every eye in the stadium stay focused on him from the opening kickoff until the final seconds tick off the clock.
On Tuesday, Austin couldn't go to practice. Just couldn't do it, he says. He and some fellow seniors called their coaches and said they really needed the time to one another other. So as most of the team went to the practice field, the small group gathered in the last place you would expect to find football players on championship week - the school library.
They laughed. Talked about how little they knew as freshmen. How far they've come since. And, of course, they talked about Eaton.
"All year, we'd said to each other: 'This is it. Last year to do it,' " Austin says. "But then all of a sudden, it just hit us. This is it. This is our last chance."
Austin will play more games. He's hotly recruited by college coaches. Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen landed a helicopter at a football field to watch him play earlier this year. After today's game, Austin will play in an all-star game and then spend January visiting colleges. He plans official visits to Michigan, Maryland and North Carolina.
But a part of him knows it won't be the same. Austin and his teammates have done something special at Dunbar. In the past three years, their only loss was this year's season opener to Gwynn Park.
They bonded as freshmen, and Eaton knew right away that the future was bright. His wife says he had been talking about hanging up his whistle after Austin's class graduated. A part of him knew that this would be as good as it gets, that Austin would be as good as it gets.
"He watched these guys play rec ball, Pop Warner," Sandra Eaton says. "They came in as freshmen, and he told them, 'You stick together, you do what you're supposed to do and we could have a good four-year run here.' "
She paused briefly. Sandra will be at M&T Bank Stadium today. The Poets are convinced her late husband will be there, too. Another trophy is on the line. But Sandra delivered something much bigger, much more meaningful:
"Coach would be so proud of them," she said.
result, schedule
Yesterday
Class 4A: Sherwood 21, Linganore 3
Today
Class 1A: Dunbar vs. Fort Hill, noon
Class 2A: River Hill vs East. Tech, 3:30 p.m.
Both games at M&T Bank Stadium
