I worried their safety might get him, but he used his long stride to eat up yardage as he scored. On the two-point conversion, their linebacker was all but hanging on Wolf. Don had flared out, and I hit him for the score. We were now up 24–0.
On the next kickoff, they brought in their ‘hands’ guys. They finally recovered one. I couldn’t ever remember seeing a game where one team was up 24–0 before their opponents even got their offense on the field.
On their first play, they tried to get it all back. Coach Rector sent Tim and me to blitz. Their quarterback looked shocked to see us both in his face. He did the smart thing and took the sack for a seven-yard loss. We were able to force them to punt, as our defense held on for the next two plays.
At that point, their defense stiffened, and we found ourselves in our first fourth-down situation. We needed four yards for a first down. Their defense began to run off, and their punt return team started to run onto the field. As soon as the ball was set, I had Johan snap it. Their punt return team was taking their time getting on the field, so I looped out towards our sideline to make it nearly impossible for them to catch me.
Our fans were going crazy. I doubt anyone ever expected we would be up 32–0 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter turned into a slugfest. I don’t expect Broadview Academy had ever had a team go toe-to-toe with them. It was also bound to happen that Percy would slip through and put me on my ass. He did it three times, and it was as horrific as it had looked on film. Without my protective gear, my training with Cassidy on how to fall, and my Vitamin T shot, I would have been out of the game.
The first half ended with us up 40–14.
◊◊◊
When we got into the locker room, Doc Grog pulled me into the training room and instructed me to strip down to my shorts.
“With your painkiller, I need to make sure you haven’t injured yourself and not realized it,” he explained.
My back and uninjured side showed signs of fresh bruises. The coaching staff crowded into the room.
“How is he?” Coach Hope asked.
“He’ll be stiff tomorrow, but he’s good to go,” Doc said.
“We’ll need him for the playoffs,” Coach Mason reminded Coach Hope.
“I agree. David, I’m only going to let you play a couple more series at the most. This game is in hand right now, and I want to make sure we break them before I take you out.”
“My guess is they’ll be hurting by the fourth quarter,” I said.
The coaches hadn’t really paid attention to the Broadview players this morning. I was betting our opponents would start feeling the effects of our hurry-up offense, and their drinking from last night would catch up to them late in the game.
We went out for the first series, and you could tell that Broadview planned to stop us at all costs to turn this game back in their favor. This time, when Percy got free, I saw him coming. It looked like he thought I would try to dodge him because he dropped down and squared up to give himself the best chance to go either direction. Squared up like that, Percy had rocked back on his heels. I tucked the ball and exploded into him. You could hear the crack of my pads as I drove through him. One moment Percy was standing, and the next, he was flat on his back, gasping for breath.
I staggered, then gathered myself and sprinted upfield, only to be brought down hard by their linebacker after a short gain. We called the same play, and I planted Percy once again. This time, he took me down with him for no gain.
Percy got up and began to strut around like a pissed-off bull. There was no way I was going to do that again. We called the same play yet again, and I could see he hadn’t dropped down in his stance to prevent me from cutting. Instead, he ran straight at me, so I cut around him, making him grasp at air. Their linebacker was in position, and I let him get close before tossing the ball to Ty. He had a defensive back in his face. Then Ty did what Ty does. He smashed all the control buttons on his Xbox at the same time and did this spin, jig, stutter, sprint move. Ty had the poor kid trying to figure out why his jock was around his ankles.
I untangled myself from their linebacker and sprinted upfield. I was rewarded when Ty was about tackled by their safety. He tossed the ball back to me, and I was gone.
The third quarter was probably the most physical quarter of football I’d ever been involved in. I was relieved when Coach Hope pulled me at the start of the fourth quarter. We were up 56–21.
As I predicted, Broadview Academy ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. Coach Hope called off the dogs, and the final score was 56–28.
At the end of the game, Percy sought me out.
“Was it something I said?” he asked.
“You did motivate us a little when you said we were ‘irrelevant.’”
“Where do you plan to go to college?” he asked.
“I have it down to Michigan, Alabama, Oklahoma, and USC. What about you?” I asked.
