UCF Pays for Last Week, and Ray Remembers the Kid's Name
Cleveland State49
UCF14
- Game
- 2029 Week 8
- Site
- Home
- Result
- Win
- Record
- 7-1
Vikings 49, UCF 14, at home. Seven and one.
That’s the bounce-back, folks. One week after the RedHawks walked through our house, our guys took it out on UCF: thirty-five points of daylight, the defense flying around like it had something to prove, which it did, and which it proved.
My Lakers played their last regular-season game Saturday morning, and Leo Reyes, eleven, captain, in his final year before he ages out, picked off a pass. His first interception. He ran it back about fifteen yards, got pushed out of bounds right in front of me, and before he stood up he looked at me and said, “Coach, did you see that?” I said, “Leo, I’ll see it every night for the rest of my life.” He said, “Cool,” and went back to the huddle. Jess filmed it. Marco has watched the video, by his own count, forty times.
The young quarterback looks steady. The team looks hungry. Ohio’s in two weeks, in Athens. Sal’s tube is still behind the register.
Four pierogi. One for Leo’s first pick.
A thirty-five-point win over UCF one week after a twenty-two-point loss. That’s the pattern I keep coming back to: this team responds. It responded to Boulder in 2025, to Orlando in 2027, to Ohio in 2028, and now to Miami (OH). I’ll stop listing these when they stop happening.
I called my father Sunday. A good day. My mother said he’d been sharp all weekend. I told him we’d won, and he said, “Is Hocker still playing?” I said, “No, Dad, he graduated. There’s a new kid. Greg Price.” He said, “Price.” He said it slowly, like he was filing it. Then, five minutes later, while we were talking about the weather in Sarasota, he said, “Tell Price not to get cocky.” He remembered the name. Five minutes later. That’s the best thing that’s happened to me this season.
I’ve told Price, through this column. Greg: a man in Florida who’s watched Cleveland football for seventy years says don’t get cocky. That’s a blessing. Take it.
Back and forth
Leo got a pick!
I’ve seen the video. Marco sent it to me. Twice.
Your dad remembered Price!
Five minutes later. He filed it and found it. I’m going to remember that call for a long time.
A thirty-five-point bounce-back, an eleven-year-old’s first interception, and a father in Sarasota filing a new quarterback’s name and finding it again.
Split Decision is fiction. Mickey Bridges, Ken Hogmanes and The Lakefront Ledger are invented; the games and scores are not.