Derek topped the ball, and it dribbled forward right in front of me. The Broadview players realized what we were up to, and they tried to stop to come back to cover the ball. The rule is that no player on the kicking team can touch the football until it has gone ten yards down the field. Coach Stevens had drilled us on that over the past couple of days. It took everything I had not to grab it early. When the ball had finally traveled ten yards, I scooped it up and began to run up the field.
Their kickoff-return team reacted, and all seemed to converge on me. I fought free of the first tackle attempt and saw I was about to be buried. Ed was set up near our sideline, five yards behind me, so I pivoted and fired a pass to him. He gathered it in and ran straight up the field. Just like that, we were up 6–0.
Our offense ran onto the field and lined up like we planned to kick the extra point. I was the holder, and Ty was our kicker. Broadview got down to attempt to block the kick. When everyone was set, I jumped up.
“Shift! Shift!”
Broadview stood up, confused when we scrambled into position to run a play.
“Blue!”
Roc was standing all alone in the end zone. I zipped it to him before a defender could get out to cover him. We were now leading 8–0.
Coach Stevens had said we would run the same onside kick until they stopped it. His goal was that we would recover one in ten.
Broadview lined up, and, on the run-up, they sprinted back again. They must have thought we wouldn’t do it again. This time, though, they came back quickly, so when I recovered the ball, that was all I could do.
We didn’t huddle up. Our goal was to run them off the field. Coach Mason had a special play planned because Percy Wilkes was sure to make his presence known on the first snap. I looked across the line and shivered. He was a monster. Percy was three inches taller than me and outweighed me by at least fifty pounds. I didn’t look forward to tangling with him. But that was precisely what I was supposed to do on this play.
Milo Bauer was our left tackle, and it was his job to slow Percy down. Coach Mason lined up Wolf Tams and Don Crown, our biggest receivers, just outside to help Milo block their star defensive end. On the snap, we ran the option with the plan that I would cut inside Percy. I watched in horror as he took one hand and pushed Milo into the turf and then discarded both Wolf and Don. Percy gathered himself and zeroed in on me. My life flashed before my eyes as I was about to die.
Then my angel appeared in the form of Johan Bauer. Coach Mason had him pull to trap-block Percy. One-on-one, Percy would normally be able to handle Johan. The difference was that Johan had room to get up to full speed, and he buried his pads in the defender’s side. Johan had always been strong, but with the help of our training staff, he’d become a beast in his own right. Johan drove Percy to the artificial grass.
I stepped into the hole that Percy left and darted upfield. Their linebacker had tracked me, and right before I was tackled, I tossed the ball to Ty. He made it up the field another ten yards. Just before he would have been tackled, he turned and pitched the ball back to Jake. Jake outran them for our second score.
This time, we didn’t bother with the fake extra point. I noticed that Percy wasn’t on the field. I would want to take a few plays off if Johan had buried me like he’d just done to my nemesis. Don and Wolf lined up to help block if needed. Without Percy on the field, Wolf ran four yards downfield and turned towards me. I threw the ball at eye level for him to gather it in for the score. We were up 16–0.
On our next kick, their front line got into position to cover the onside kick. Derek topped the ball, and one of their linemen rushed forward to recover it. As soon as Broadview touched the football, it was live, regardless of how far down the field it had gone. I hit their upman to push him away, and Ty scooped it up. We couldn’t lateral the ball, but we had it on their side of the fifty.
Coach Mason called a long pass to break their backs. It was the old Oakland Raiders mentality in him. The long pass was the great equalizer because even superior defenses typically had to guard this play one-on-one. I would take my chances with Roc catching the ball against almost anyone.
Percy was back in the game, so we did the same thing with Wolf and Don to help Milo. I’d never seen where we’d needed three to block one, but it took all of them to handle him. I had to scramble because the rest of their defensive linemen were better than most we’d faced. Roc got a little separation as he sprinted upfield, and I let the ball fly. When the ball went into the air, the Broadview players all turned around to watch it rocket down the field. Roc reached up and gathered it in without breaking stride.
