A 5 on 5 pickup game after school one fall day in 1988 on my high school field...
From my pop-warner days thru to high school I was always a bit undersized (understatement ), but was always considered the top tackler on the team (technique wise). This was something I was most proud of. I never tired of taking down bigger guys and watching the look on their faces as they found themselves on the ground.
Well on this day we played pretty much with our normal crew, along with a couple stragglers from a neighboring town. One of them, we'll call him Craig, weighed in at about 260 while most of us were in the 150 range He was a dreidel shaped kid, with a huge shoulder span and tiny little legs... a regular bowling ball. He had played some organized ball as well and showed some skill as a straight-ahead runner, along with playing the line on defense.
When on defense I was playing a safety or "rover" type position that day. It was always fun to try reading the eyes of the guy playing QB and get to measure up the intended receiver for a nice jarring hit, or maybe a pick. Well on this particular play they sent the bowling ball kid out in the flat for a quick screen play. There were really no blockers in front of him as he methodically rumbled down the right sideline stiff-arming one of our guys along the way. The only thing left in between he and the endzone was me as I angled over to meet him at about the 5 yard line..
Now any sane 150 lb kid at this point would have realized that this was merely a pick-up game and would have allowed the rumbling big guy an uncontested trip into the endzone. I was'nt having any of that though. I decided that this was the time I would show this big out-of-towner just how good I was and give him a close up view of the dirt. He had been running fairly upright all day, and I certainly wasn't going to get him down by hitting him high, so I got in position for a typical wrap/slide down/ and tighten tackle which surely would knock his top-heavy frame off balance and down him somewhere inside the 5. As I led toward him and lined up my left shoulder to meet his lower leg, suddenly he lowered himself to the point where his own shoulder was lined up to mine in a surprising display of balance! I then braced myself for the big collision that was inevitable at this point. Well that collision came and a "snap" could be heard as he split my collar bone like a wishbone on Thanksgiving! As I struggled for a moment on the ground I realized that I had indeed stopped him and downed him at @ the 2 yard line, but the price I think you will agree was far too great