When we lined up for the first play, I had Wolf and Jim line up on the line with me in the center. The quarterback started with the ball. There was no center snap. The Washington players’ eyes got big when they saw our twin towers. Both were at least six-five and 240 pounds. To my right, I had bunched three receivers together. I had Ed right behind me.
Washington was playing zone, so we outnumbered them on the side with bunched receivers.
“SET, GO!” I called out the snap.
I dropped back and did a little shovel pass to Ed. I then sprinted ahead of Ed and followed Jim and Wolf up the field to find someone to block. They had a rule that you could only screen block, which meant you could only stand in front of the defender. On the other side, the defense couldn’t run through a block. They had to go around the offense. The rules were so no one would get hurt. Ed did as we’d taught him: he took his time and let us get on someone to block. When he found a hole, he kicked it into overdrive and was gone. 7–0 for the good guys.
We switched to defense, Jim came out, and Tim took his place.
On their first play, their quarterback threw the ball into the dirt. The second one, he dropped back and held the ball for over four seconds. He completed the pass, but the ref brought it back and they lost a down. In this league, there were only three downs. If you didn’t pick up fifteen yards for a first down, the ball was turned over.
The next play Ty took off up the sideline. He was wide open for an easy score. Unfortunately, his quarterback threw the ball just out of bounds. We got the ball back.
The next series I used the twin towers to move the ball down the field. It was simple pitch-and-catch with the two big guys. For the score, Mike made a nice move on his guy and was running free when I hit him with a pretty pass.
It just was not Washington’s day. We were up 28–0 at the half. In the second half, I switched with Mike so he could play quarterback. We ended up trading some scores for a 42–14 final.
After the game, we all went to lend support to Coach Hope’s team. They were in for a battle with Lakeside. The game was back and forth. Everything was going well until they figured out that Brad wasn’t accurate past twenty yards. Once they knew they didn’t have to worry about his deep ball, they cheated up and shut us down. We lost the game 35–21.
Coach Hope’s team got a bad break in the loser’s bracket and had to play Washington as soon as they were done. Ty caught fire and ran them off the field. They lost 28–7. I was disappointed when most of our other team decided to go home. Brad wasn’t happy, because his dad was staying. Brad finally arranged a ride with one of the other guys. Only Bill Callaway and Coach Hope decided to stay and watch us.
We got Mt. Vernon in the next round. Ty came over and gave me some pointers. He had watched their previous game. They had one kid who was their whole offense. He caught ninety percent of their passes. I talked to Magic and Coach Hope about it. Coach Hope suggested that I play him one-on-one and continue the zone the way it was with the other guys. Coach Hope took me aside to help me.
“Keep the count in your head. You know that it’s going to be one, two, throw. Watch his hips. That’ll tell you where he’s going. Have someone call ‘ball’ when it’s in the air. You focus on him. Take a quick peek when you hear ‘ball.’ Try to knock it loose if he gets his hands on it. If it’s a jump ball, you go get it.”
“Okay, let’s do this.”
From the first snap, it was a battle. The kid was about five-ten. He had me in quickness and moves. I had him in height, reach and speed. The first series was a lesson in humility. The first play he put a triple move on me that had me spun around and on my ass. Luckily, our zone saved us. Ed picked him up and made a good play.
“Get your head out of your ass and in the game!” Coach Hope ‘encouraged’ me.
By the third play, I learned to step back a couple of steps to keep him in front of me. Staying back, I could watch him make his moves, and when the clock in my head said to go, I would break on the ball. The fourth pass I intercepted.
“That’s it, David! Good job!” Coach Hope called out.
Okay, that was real encouragement.
When we lined up, I found my new buddy. They were playing man-to-man defense, and he seemed to have zero interest in playing any defense. I had to look twice, but he wasn’t even looking at Jake. I figured I would give it a shot and audibled.
“Jake One! Jake One!”
Magic wasn’t the most imaginative coach but, in his defense, we only had a few days of practice. A one route was a quick post. The name was who was doing it. Coach Hope’s head snapped to Magic who was explaining what we were doing.
“SET, GO!”
Jake ran right at his defender and then cut for the post without slowing down. I threw to the spot where I knew he would be, and he gathered it in and was off to the races. Jake had been our freshman tailback, so he had enough speed to get into the end zone. We were up 7–0.
The next series the kid got me. I bit on a fake and he gathered it in. I think he thought he was going to score but I caught him. He was hotdogging and had the ball away from his body. I snatched it out of his hand. If looks could kill, I was dead.
“Nice recovery!” Coach Hope yelled.
My buddy was upset and jawing with his teammates. So I just nodded to Jake that we were running the same play.
“SET, GO!”
When Jake blew by him, he didn’t even try to catch him. I lofted it enough so that Jake could run under it and pull it in.
“That’s how we do it. Good job, Jake!” Coach Hope said.
Their next play the kid came straight at me and pushed me. I don’t think he realized that I weighed fifteen pounds more than he did. It threw his timing off and I was able to tip the ball to Mike. We had the ball again. The kid was warned about contact.
This time I could see Ed’s guy cheating over to help.
“JAKE ONE! ED THREE!”
This would send Jake on the same post route we had burned them on twice. Ed would do a similar route but to the corner of the end zone.
“SET, GO!”
I pump-faked and saw Ed’s guy jump Jake’s route. I threw a corner route to Ed. The throw was a thing of beauty and I could feel I was getting into the zone. The ball just came off my hand like it should. Ed didn’t have to slow down or make any adjustments. It hit him softly in the hands as he raced to the end zone.
By now we were collecting a crowd. Magic and Coach Hope were high-fiving each other. We were up 21–0. There were several State jackets in the crowd. It looked like their whole coaching staff was watching our game.
On the next play, Mt. Vernon put two guys in front of their kid to screen me. As soon as I heard ‘ball’ I broke forward, splitting the two screeners, and knocked the pass down. I hadn’t touched either one of them, so it was a legal play. The kid went ballistic and his coach pulled him from the game.
From there, it was game over. I used a short passing game and threw the ball all over the field. I made sure everyone was involved. We rolled them 70–14.
Between games, Coach bought us pizzas. He went in with Washington’s coach and both teams ate together. During lunch, people wearing Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern and Iowa jackets all stopped by to talk to Coach Hope. The same group of scouts was talking to the Washington coach, I would assume about Ty.
We won our next two games by an average margin of 28. We were now facing the winner of the loser’s bracket. It came down to Washington and Lakeside. The winner of that game would have to beat us twice since it was a double-elimination tournament.
The first half was all Lakeside. They had a group of three receivers that had obviously played together for several years. I was surprised when Magic told me that they were all seniors. I would have thought they would want to play guys who could play next year. In the second half, Ty had a heck of a game. He was catching everything and making big gains after the catch. The game went into overtime and Washington won.