“Oh no,” I thought to myself. “I need to be out there. But I am not. I’m in here.”

With only two seconds left, the ball gently flew through the field goal posts. St. Louis University High School beat Chaminade College Prep, 33 to 32. Players, coaches, and fans from the SLUH side rushed the field in an elated frenzy. Players jumped on top of each other, coaches screamed into the sky.

If you follow high school sports at all, you probably know of St. Louis University High School’s incredible win over Chaminade College Prep last Friday night in Creve Coeur, Mo. But if you were were not at the game, you did not see a photo of the incredible 42-yard field goal on our Web site, STLtoday.com.

You do not see the photo because I had to decide to make deadline for our Web site instead of covering the end of the game.

Let me explain. At 9:25 P.M. I left the sidelines of the game with about 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter to start editing pre-game and third quarter images (I go to high school games earlier to shoot fan-fare). In the middle of editing an image of a high school freshman getting his face painted, I heard an uproar from the crowd. I looked up from my laptop to see people bracing for the possibly game-winning play. St. Louis University High School kicker Joe Schrick wound up for a 42-yard field goal while down two points (30 to 32) with only two seconds left in the fourth quarter. In parallel with the St. Louis Rams’ win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday by a field goal in the final moments, Schrick had just won the game with his kick.

I missed it. I had my laptop propped on my lap (there was no table) so I could not stand suddenly. I grab my camera with a zoom lens and starting taking pictures of the crowd on the field while seated.

Although this may show an overall appearance of the situation, all I can think of are the little moments i missed:
The kicker’s reaction to his win
The coaches reactions
The lineman lifting the kicker upside down
The dejected Chaminade fans
the list goes on

I had very little to show for what happened at the end of that game. If this was a playoff game I probably would have been given a later deadline to make, so not as to miss the final moments. Unfortunately, we cannot plan these kind of exciting game-winning plays. But I guess that is what makes them so special.