One Great Game: Two Teams, Two Dreams, in the First Ever National Championship High School Football Game

Summary

For more than a century, no number one and number two high school football team had ever met—until October 6, 2001.

This is the story of two teams—Concord De La Salle, a private Catholic school in an upscale Northern California suburb, and Long Beach Poly, a proud public institution from a blue-collar SoCal seaport—striving to achieve the same goal: the all-American dream.

In this supercharged account of the first-ever national high school championship game, acclaimed sports journalist—and former Poly varsity football player—Don Wallace goes out onto the field and straight into the heart of each team. One Great Game offers a rare look at the world of young-adult sportsmanship, featuring up-close and personal interviews with the team players and their families, coaches and cheerleaders, rabid fans and sworn enemies. The result is a powerful piece of sports literature in the tradition of the classic Friday Night Lights. More than a book about football, One Great Game is an engaging cultural history about 21st-century American life.