“The referee is worried things are going to get out of hand. He warned Wesleyan that if they continue to go after David’s legs after he releases the ball, the officials won’t hesitate to toss someone. All I’m going to say is protect yourselves out there. Watch each other’s back.”
On the next play, I threw the ball over the middle to Don, who gathered it in and picked up good yardage. It was good that I listened to Coach because one of their linebackers suddenly broke through the pocket and ran straight for me. This was
The game had to be stopped as both our and Wesleyan’s trainers rushed out onto the field. Soon, paramedics had joined them. State had a modified golf cart that was made for moving injured players. As they worked on him, I gathered my teammates together on the sideline.
“Look, I know you want payback for the cheap shots. It’s normally the guy who retaliates that gets into trouble. I want you to play like you’ve been taught and not lower yourselves to their level.”
When we finally got back onto the field, they had replaced the referee. With three games being played today, they had plenty of officials. Coach Ryan did the right thing and sent their linebacker to the locker room.
On the snap for the next play, I dropped back, intending to throw long down the sideline to Roc. He got tangled up, so I looked to my second and third reads, with no success. The clock in my head told me I had to get rid of the ball. So, I dumped it to Ty, who had snuck past the line and was five yards deep. I was hit as I released the ball and popped back up in time to see Ty do what Ty does. He made this shake-and-bake move that had their backup linebacker tripping over his own feet. It really wasn’t fair to put the kid up against someone with Ty’s talent in the open field. Ty squirted through, and no one was going to catch him. We scored on the two-point conversion to go up 8–0.
On the next series, Damion got loose, and Mike hit him for a fifty-yard touchdown. They kicked their PAT and trailed 8–7.
Both teams scored on the next three possessions. Damion was literally keeping them in this game. Their defense couldn’t stop us, and what we were doing with Tim wasn’t working. Damion was just too good. When the first half ended, we were up 32–28.
◊◊◊
When I got to the locker room, I told the offense to get a drink and relax. Meanwhile, I found Coaches Hope, Rector, and Moose discussing what to do about Damion.
“Put me on him,” I said. “Let me play him one-on-one and move Yuri into the middle with Tim. Mike is the weak link, and if we pressure him, he’ll make a mistake. Blitz him and force the ball out of his hands. With my size and speed, I can keep Damion occupied. Just don’t make me cover him all day.”
“What do you think?” Coach Reactor asked.
“If anyone can cover him, it’s David. He has enough size to negate Damion’s advantage over Tim and the cornerbacks,” Moose said.
“Do it,” Coach Hope said, and Coach Rector nodded.
They knew how competitive I was. This was about to get interesting.
◊◊◊
On the opening kickoff, I had to hand it to Wesleyan. They onside-kicked to give us a taste of our own medicine. We were ready for it, though, as we practiced it regularly, and our upmen did their job and recovered it. Unfortunately, five plays into the drive, I had a ball tipped, and they intercepted it.
I saw the swagger Mike had as he came out to take over their offense. I really hated him.
“Please make his life miserable,” I said to Tim.
“If you handle Damion, I’ll take care of Mike. We got this,” he assured me.
I knew they would. I think Yuri was the most eager to take Mike down. Our big bad Russian hated him almost as much as I did. Yuri did have a bit of a temper and was protective of me. Heck, he’d gone after Pam when her father had put the restraining order on me, and I couldn’t go to school. Pam hadn’t taken much grief from him, though. Instead, she’d chased him down the hall with her Taser. What I did know was that between him and Tim, they would at least chase Mike around.
When they lined up for their first play, Damion looked up and saw me.
“Oh, crap! This is going to get interesting,” he said.
“You better believe it. Let’s have some fun,” I challenged.
He shook his head and raised his arm to tell Mike he thought he could take me. It was game on.
On the snap, I surprised Damion when I didn’t try to jam him. He about fell on his face, expecting the contact. When he stumbled, I gave him a nudge, and he did fall on his face. By now, Mike was running for his life.
“I’m open!” I screamed.
Mike whipped around and almost threw me the ball. Wouldn’t that have been sweet? It gave both Yuri and Tim enough time to put him down.
“That was dirty,” Damion said and chuckled.
