You see a lot when you cover sports for a living.

I saw plenty in 2021, but two games stand out — for the same reason.

Resiliency.

Slippery Rock’s high school football team and Moniteau’s girls softball team demonstrated plenty of it in these two games.

The Rockets hosted Sharon in a critical midseason game in terms of the region standings. They did so on this particular Friday night without head coach Larry Wendereusz, starting quarterback William Mokel and starting running back Brett Galcik.

Slippery Rock won this game, 35-33, due in large part to the play of Mokel’s and Galcik’s replacements and a gutsy call by defensive coordinator Eli Christy, serving as interim head coach on this night.

Quarterback Eli Anderson completed eight of nine passes for 76 yards. He threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score. Maddox Allen, making his first varsity start, carried 19 times for 184 yards, including scoring runs of 68 and 53 yards.

Even with that, Slippery Rock clung to a 35-33 lead and was preparing to punt on 4th-and-1 from its own 16-yard line with 1:43 to play. Christy called a timeout, reconsidered, and sent the offense back out.

Ryan Montgomery dragged two defenders with him for a 2-yard gain and the Rockets went on to run out the clock for a much-needed win.

Last spring at Heindl Field in DuBois, Moniteau took on Keystone for the District 9 Class 2A softball championship. The Warriors collected 20 hits and outlasted the Panthers, 16-13, in a game that took nearly three hours.

Courtney Stewart pitched the entire game for the Warriors, striking out 10, walking 12 and tossing a few wild pitches as she later admitted to having trouble gripping the ball due to the artificial turf’s affect on it.

Stewart delivered two doubles, two singles, three runs and two RBI at the plate. Moniteau coach Bob Rottman described the game as “seven innings of nerves.”

The lead changed hands four times. Moniteau snapped a 10-10 tie by scoring four runs in the sixth and two in the seventh, holding on from there. Emma Covert had four RBI in the victory.

Keystone slugger Natalie Bowser, one of the top players in the state, entered the game with a .763 batting average and 13 home runs. She was intentionally walked four times in five plate appearances.

The one time she was pitched to, Bowser drilled a two-run homer deep into the left field bleachers.

Both of these games were back and forth. The outcome of both games was critical to all four teams involved.

Seeing local teams come out on the winning side of intense, tight games like this — from a reporter’s perspective — is fun.

That’s why I select both of them as my favorite games of 2021.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle