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Ryan Rambo English 1 Mr. Harrell November 5 2013 Size Doesnt Matter I decided to write this essay on one of my best friends, Dillon Cowan. We were born three days apart, he on October 3rd, 1994 and I on the 6th. We have known each other every since the day I was born when him and me were still in the hospital. His mom, Dawn, is quite the character. She is one of the coolest people I know, but at the same time shes the one mom that will knock anybody out if they have a problem. She used to tell me and Dillon stories about her getting in fights and id have to say that hearing them made me scared of her. But she is like a second mom to me and I know she has my back no matter what. Now Dillons dad Allen is another story. Hes about 54, 150 pounds and he likes to party. He is definitely a joker. Growing up over there, all we did was play sports with the neighbor kids. Whether it was baseball in the side yards or tackle football in the middle of the street, we were always competing to be the best. Back in the day Dillon was the star. He was bigger and faster then everybody. In baseball he played on two different teams. One team was 10-11 year olds and the other team was 13-14 year olds. He played up a year for more competition and was still one of the best players on the team. I remember

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watching him jump over the second baseman that was attempting to tag on the steal. When we were younger in football they gave him the ball every play. Our team ran twin backs and I was the other halfback. Im not going to lie, it used to make me mad when I didnt get the ball but hey, we were scoring touchdowns and winning games so I got over it. At the end of our last year of midget football Dillon got the MVP or most valuable player of our team. Everybody grew up saying he was going to be our running back when we got to high school. He was just an athlete. He was one of the best in every sport. We got to middle school and nothing changed. He was still the fastest and strongest on the team. Making plays on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. We were playing Oakwood middle school in 8th grade and we were up by two touchdowns. They were driving on us trying to make a comeback when all of a sudden Dillon stripped the quarterback on a sweep and took off for the end zone. As the safety I just stayed back and watched my boy run down the field having no doubt that he was going to score. Out of nowhere Dillon started stumbling when he got to the five-yard line. As he fell into the end zone there was just a silence, and confusion from us other players. He wasnt getting up. In my head I didnt think anything of it because Ive seen him get up from some pretty big hits. But this was different. When he had crossed the five-yard line he stepped into a whole on the field and pulled his hamstring. From that moment on everything changed. He was

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out for the rest of the season and during that time everyone was getting bigger, faster, and stronger. When he got back to playing freshman year we had all finally caught up to him. He was about 56, one of the shortest on the team. And was no longer the fastest or strongest. But that being said he still played hard, and because of that he stayed on the starting line-up. He worked so hard to get back to the athlete he was before and it paid off. Yeah he might not have been as fast or as strong but he was still making those big plays. The plays that make you wonder how something like that was even possible. I remember on play he got his helmet ripped off his head at the line of scrimmage and didnt go down. He kept running, dodging defenders and moving towards the end zone. Even though the whistle blew and it didnt count, it was still one of the sweetest runs Ive ever seen. He was back scoring touchdowns and playing as one of the best on the team until a chipped hipbone during week three against Warren Harding put him out for another six weeks. I remember talking to him during the games and asking when he was coming back but he wasnt worried about it. All he was worried about was winning the game. Whether he was playing or not, that stuck with me. He was a team player and everything he did was for the team. Him being out made me wants to work even harder so I did. He came back for the last game of freshman year against McKinley and played through the pain. We beat them 35-8 in Paul Brown Tiger

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Stadium where we became the freshmen in Massillon history to go undefeated with a record of 10-0. Our class was looked at by the city of Massillon as the best football class to come through the high school in 20 years. Sophomore year Dillon and I earned a spot on the varsity football team, which at Massillon is pretty hard to do. He was the long-snapper and I was on Kickoff, Punt, Punt return, and Kickoff return. We both lettered and were talked highly about as we were going to be juniors. Dillon earned himself an outside line backer position after the starter went out with a torn ACL. I know a 57, 180-pound linebacker doesnt sound that effective but like I said earlier, size doesnt matter. We didnt make the playoffs that year but Dillon was 3rd on the team in tackles and got honorable mention all county. The time had finally come. It was senior year. We worked so hard that offseason that coming into the first game we were predicted to go the whole fifteen weeks and bring home the 23rd state championship Massillon has had. We definitely played up to the predictions beating our rival two times in one year. The second time that has ever happened in the history of the great American rivalry. But we fell short to Toledo Whitmer in the regional championship. We might not have made it all the way but we were one of the best teams in long time. Dillon was selected to play in the East vs. West all-star game because of his play on the field. He was 2nd on the team in tackles his senior year. More then Gareon Conley, last years ranked 2nd best corner in the nation and more then

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Kentrell Taylor who received a full ride to Kent State. They were both on our team last year and were both outstanding athletes. But its not just about how fast you are, or how big you are. Dillon proved that through his play. Even when he was hurt he was still always telling coach he was good. There was a saying that our coach always told us and I live by it. He said that it doesnt matter if you get knocked down, what matters is if you have enough heart to get back up.