I love football. I can say it a thousand times and scream it at the top of my lungs but few people understand how much I love the idea, the concept, the game. Many may say that I’m just a girl who’s never put on a football uniform before—and this is true—but, for every year of my 18 years, football has been a big part of my life. When I was an infant, my mom would swaddle me close to her and head out for local games. As I got older, my dad would lift me up onto his shoulders, explaining the ins and outs of the game and giving me the best seat in the house.

Football, in a lot of small towns like mine, is the heartbeat of the fall. And although football doesn’t completely dominate my small town as I’m sure it does in some small southern towns, it’s such a big part of fall life here. Whether it’s a football game played by the local youth, the high school team, the college players, or a professional team, football is uniting. Football, more than any other sport in America, brings people together.

It’s the anticipation that gets me, the whole week of preparation for one game. The buzz in the school hallways about our strategy and defeating our next opponent. The well wishes from the locals and the lead up to game day, the pregame, the tailgate, and finally the kickoff.

In football, unlike almost every other sport, every play is pivotal, every snap has the potential to completely turn the tide of the game. And football has a crazy way of having insane upsets, the classic-movie-script type, underdog-come-from-behind kind of thing. The kinds of last-second tie-breakers, and game-winning touchdowns, the kinds of plays that start with a pit in your stomach and end with chills. Football is exciting; it’s action packed, and to small town people like me, it’s important. Every game ends with tears whether it’s a win or a lose.

Whether it’s the mother rooting on her son, the girlfriends decked out in their boyfriends’ jerseys, or the old man who played on this same team himself many years ago—everyone comes out for the game. The small sports store in town sells the jerseys of the high school football legends. The band gets the crowd hyped up as we cheer until we lose our voices.

I can remember spending all day, all weekend, watching games. I’d wake up early to watch my brother play and then stay for the next game, and the next one, until the sun went down and I’d realized the only thing I had eaten all day was a pretzel from the snack bar. I even announced a couple of youth games before I realized that being a screaming fan was more my forte than holding back my cheers through the loud speaker.

For some people, the hype around football is hard to understand. The critics complain about the emphasis on the what some call the violent nature of the sport. They complain about the stereotypical “dumb jocks” that football players are made out to be, and although I don’t think they’re heroes like some claim, they’re for the most part good guys and together they make a family. A football team creates the type of comradery that is rare to come across because every single person is critical to every single play. Every team member has to come together each play to make the pieces work; one man can’t hold the team up alone. In my town, the football family extends beyond the field, from the players and coaches to the families and fans, the small businesses, and the booster clubs—football allows people of all backgrounds and walks of life to come together to support one common goal.

I recently read a novel, "The One and Only" by Emily Griffin, about small town Texas football. Griffin ended her novel with the following quote, the kind that reminded me of how great football is, and how much I’m going to miss the way football brings us all together here: “I stare up at Coach, against the backdrop of a black velvet sky filled with a million stars, a planetarium above the most famous stadium in college football, and marvel that we can be this happy from winning a game. Then again, I know it’s not the win itself, but everything that went into the victory. The effort. The passion. The faith. The things that endure in defeat, and even in death. The things that make football like life—and life like a game of football.”

Fall is in the air and football teams in town have started their practice and conditioning season. This fall will be a bit different. I will miss seeing my younger brother’s games and the fan section full of familiar faces at the high school games. But you can guarantee that I’ll be in the stands at Georgetown, at every game cheering on my new team because that’s what I know how to do best. As I leave my small town, Home of the 2014 Undefeated State Champions, I will take the memories of the good times, the amazing victories, and the family football has given me, with me. Because where I come from, football brings people together.