I like this time of year when the nights get cooler and the humidity drops. It reminds me of corn "shellin" and playing high school football. Those were fun times. I would like to tell you about one of those times.
I was a junior at Fulton County High School in Hickman, Kentucky. The time was the fall of 1968. I was center for the Fulton County Pilots football team. We didn't win alot of games, but we had fun anyway. We were getting ready to play Lake County, Tennessee the next week. Lake County was known for their excellent football team. Those guys were big, tough and could definitely play football. We had to come up with a very good game plan to be victorious over them. Well, Coach Moore introduced us to a trick play in practice that week. The play was called "bullfrog". Here are the details. When Coach Moore sent in the play, we were to notify the referee of what we were about to do so he could make sure we were following the rules.
Remember I was the center, the one who hikes the ball to the quarterback. Next when the play was called, my job was to hike the ball to the quarterback and fall down to the ground on my knees and hunker down over the football. The quarterback would then place the ball under me, carefully placing in where it didn't touch me anywhere. Technically, this was considered a fumble if I didn't touch it. Then, the rest of the players, except the right guard, were to run to the right like we were running a sweep right. The quarterback was the key player in this play. He had to perfectly deceive the defense into thinking he had the ball and immediately, everyone else had to run to the right of the field as hard as they could go. When the players were to the right of the field, the right guard was to pick the ball up from under me and take off running as fast as he could the other way to the goal line. The key again was deception. We had to get every player on the defense following all of our players to the right.
Well, the time came, coach relayed the play call to us" bullfrog". We had practiced all week. Had we perfected it? I hoped so. If I touched the ball after the quarterback dropped it under me, it would all be over. The ref. was warned and watching me. I know why they called it bullfrog, because I looked like a big bullfrog crouched down over that ball. My heart was pounding, "hut one!, hut two!" and I hiked the ball. This play worked perfectly. The quarterback was a master of deceit. The rest of our players took off running like they were running from a bear. Herd instinct set in on the defense, and they took off, too. After they were away from the ball, our right guard, Don Lattus, picked it up and ran for about 60 yards before they stopped him. I can't remember if he he scored or not, but the play worked perfectly. We had pulled it off. The defense had been caught off guard. No player on their team was watching the ball. They had just assumed where it was.
Now this play is only good for once every ten years, and this is why. The last game of the season was with Sharon High School in Sharon, Tennessee. The game was going good and Coach Moore again called the play "bullfrog". We were all confident knowing that the play had worked so well the last time. Well this time when I hiked the ball and fell to my knees, I believe all of their eleven players jumped on top off me. I thought I was going to smother before the refs got them off. You see, they had been prepared to be vigilant in watching for any trick plays, and they executed well. They had studied our plays and especially this one. With that kind of preparation ,we could not possibly deceive them.
Satan pulls trick plays on us everyday. Paul says Satan can transform himself into an angel of light. (2Cor. 11:14) We need to be vigilant and not take our eyes off the ball. (1Peter 5:8) We were able to deceive Lake County because they took their eyes off the ball . Sharon's football team was vigilant and watching. They did not allow themselves to be deceived. Check out God's word and make sure no one deceives you. Be careful of what you assume in your faith.
Just remember we do not want to be deceived and follow the devil. We know where he is going for deceiving us. We do not want to ignorantly follow him and deceive others. ( Read Revelations 20:10)
Let's not let the devil or anyone else pull a "bullfrog" play on us. Be vigilant!!!
I would love to hear from you. We passed the 2000 read mark yesterday. Please send your comments to me on facebook or at rhepler52@gmail.com .
Thank you so much!
Rick Hepler
