“Something else,” Coach Rector continued. “If the referees aren’t going to call the pick play, I want you to flatten the obstructing receiver. If they’re going to cheat, they need to pay for it.”
I was never one who thought two wrongs made a right, but if I was going to get hit, I wanted to make it worthwhile.
“When it happens, you have to switch. If your receiver’s on the ground, pick up the one running free. I want the safeties to keep an eye on this potentially happening. You must warn your teammates. If you have to, tackle them both. I would rather take the penalty than give up a score,” Coach Rector instructed us.
We’d practiced against this play and knew what to do. The problem was that we’d prepared for the referees to make the call if it were an illegal pick. The offensive players could cross, but they couldn’t run into the defenders while doing it. It gave them an unfair advantage.
It was almost time to go back out. Coach Hope had us all gather around.
“We did okay in the first half, but this one isn’t over. This is the game that Eastside circled on the calendar this year as the one they wanted. They caught a break on that last score. You need to know that no one is going to give you this game. I want the defense to get us some turnovers. We can’t let them drive down the field with ten-play drives.
“They get the ball first in the second half. I don’t care what you have to do, get us the football. When we get it back, I want all eleven men on the field to do their job. If we do that, we can start to take over this game. I thought we were there in the first half, but they found a way to close the gap.
“Now go out there and win this,” Coach Hope concluded.
“Who are we?” I barked.
“Bulldogs!”
◊◊◊
On the first series, Eastside started to move the ball down the field.
Then ‘the tip’ happened. There are some plays that get a name and are remembered for years to come. Auburn has ‘the prayer.’ In 2013, they had a 20-point lead over Georgia. However, three straight touchdowns from the Bulldogs, including the go-ahead score with 1:49 left on the clock, quieted a stunned hometown crowd. The Auburn offense struggled to respond and faced a 4th-and-18 at its own 27 yard line. Then ‘the prayer’ happened. They threw a pass into triple coverage and hit a Georgia defender in the hands. But it bounced off him and to the Auburn receiver, who scored a seventy-three-yard touchdown to win the game.
We were in man coverage, and the receiver I was covering did a down-and-out. Eastside’s quarterback had been flushed from the pocket when Bryan Callahan beat his guy. I saw the quarterback’s eyes and could tell he decided to throw the ball away out of bounds. When it left his hands, I reacted. I dove to catch the ball. As I launched, I knew I would end up out of play. That was when I did the dumbest thing you can do in football: I tipped the ball back onto the field.
We were taught to knock the ball down since you didn’t want to have what happened to Georgia happen to you. Players assume the play is dead and let up. A tipped ball caught by the offense in that situation can mean disaster. Unfortunately for Eastside, Ed gathered it in. Of course, later, everyone assumed I’d intended to do that. Who was I to tell them any different? I just never confirmed it.
The only player who had a chance to stop Ed after the tip was their quarterback, but he was no match for Ed’s open-field running skills. Two minutes into the second half, we were up two scores, 28–14.
I think even the most rabid Eastside fan knew this game was over. Eastside never gave up, but I put on my imaginary cape and played Captain Chaos to the hilt. I was 24 of 29 passing in the second half, and we scored five more times to make the final 59–14.
This was one time I was glad Coach Hope hadn’t pulled the starters.
◊◊◊
I hurried to shower because we had to catch a plane for our official visit to Clemson. The press wanted to talk to Ed and me, so I made a brief appearance. My dad stuck his head in and told everyone we had to leave. I left Ed to explain how he was tonight’s hero. He deserved it.
Since it was an official visit, the moms were coming with us. I’d pulled Fritz and Chuck as my security. I was surprised when my girlfriend joined us. Not that I didn’t want her to go; I just hadn’t been told.
Traveling to Clemson turned out to be a pain in the butt. The nearest airport was the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, 46 miles from Clemson. It was nearly three in the morning when we finally got to our hotel.
Brook made me carry her bag to her room. I put it next to her bed and began to leave.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To bed.”
“I have a bed,” she said, pointing.
It took me a moment …
“Uh, yes, you do,” I said, smiling.
She soon had my shirt off and then looked at my torso with concern. I had the beginnings of some serious bruises.
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“Only when I think about it. Right now, I’m not thinking about it.”
