The rain was starting to be a problem. The field had gotten soft, and the cold temperature caused me to have problems gripping the ball. When we came off the field, the training staff went to work putting longer cleats on the skill player’s shoes. I was given a fanny pack with a warmer in it to help with my hands. The backs and receivers were given gloves.
We watched as Eastside’s quarterback proved his worth. He methodically moved the ball down the field, eating up the clock. I saw Kevin line up to blitz. The Eastside quarterback called an audible. On the snap of the ball, Kevin dropped back and stepped in front of their intended receiver and intercepted the ball. He had learned his lesson in practice. We had first and ten at our 36 yard line with a minute ten seconds left in the game.
As we lined up, I saw they had their dime package in. I turned to Luke.
“Outside left.”
“Down. Set. Hut, HUT!”
I don’t think anyone thought we would run the ball. We were 10 yards down the field before we met any resistance. I saw their defensive back play the pitch, so I stepped inside of him. I was hit hard from the side by my buddy. I guess this was his payback.
We quickly lined up. The referee had stopped the clock so that the yard marker could be set. I looked at the clock: we had 48 seconds left, and we were 54 yards from scoring. I looked at Bill and nodded.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
He ran a 15-yard down-and-out. I hit him just before he stepped out of bounds. We now had 40 seconds and 39 yards to go. The clock had stopped, so we huddled up.
“If we get caught in bounds we’ll call time. Let’s catch them by surprise. I’m going to call Blue, but we’re running the inside option. We still have three time-outs, so be ready to call it.”
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
I handed the ball off to Luke. He found a hole and broke free for a seven yard gain.
“TIME! TIME! TIME!”
The umpire stopped the clock. We were now at the 32 yard line with thirty-four seconds left. The offense jogged over to talk to the coaching staff.
Coach Lambert was as excited as we were.
“Gol Dern It, y’all are going to win this thing. We have two time-outs. USE THEM! I want you to run the outside option and get a first down. We then have four shots at the end zone. I want all four receivers to go long and Luke to sneak out about 7 or 8 yards and be the last option.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
Luke and I sprinted down the line. I saw they were stringing us out to eat up clock. I cut up and took on two of them. There was a resounding crack of pads. I stumbled forward and picked up the first down. The referee blew his whistle to stop the clock. One of the Eastside players was slow to get up, so play was stopped to help him off the field.
We were lined up on the 29 yard line with thirty seconds to go. I jammed my hands into the fanny pack so I could get them warm. I had a huge grin on my face.
“IT’S SHOWTIME!” I shouted.
My counterpart from Eastside pointed at me.
“Dawson, you’re dangerous.”
“You have no idea. Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
Bill and Magic went straight up field and at the 5 yard line they cut to opposite corners of the end zone. I lofted the ball so Magic could run under it. He pulled it down and the crowd went wild until the back judge indicated that he’d caught it out of bounds. I couldn’t see where his feet were. It didn’t matter because we didn’t have instant replay in high school.
“Shake it off. HUDDLE UP!” I called.
I smacked Magic’s pads.
“Good catch. We have twenty-three seconds. We can get three plays in if we need to. I want Magic to move to the right outside position. I want you and Bill to run a crossing pattern and I’ll either be throwing to the goal post or the corner,” I said, and then we lined up.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
I looked up to see my buddy had decided to blitz. I smiled as I released the ball for the corner. I was sitting on my butt when I saw Bill go up for the ball and start to bring it in for the score when one of Eastside defenders made a spectacular play and punched the ball out. My hands went to my head.
“FRICK!” I shouted
The crowd moaned when the saw the incomplete pass sign. My buddy helped me up and shook his head.
“That’s two you should have had.”
We had twelve seconds left. I called time out to get my head back into the game. We trotted over to the bench. Coach Lambert was talking to Coach Engels, and they agreed on a course of action.
“Boys, they’re going to pack the end zone. I want you to run the same play, but this time I want you to dump it to Luke in the flat. Luke, punch it in. If he’s stopped, we have one last time-out. Twelve seconds is plenty of time.”
We trotted out on the field. My buddy nodded to me and I did the same to him. Twelve seconds and this thing would be over. The crowd stood and gave both teams a standing ovation. They’d gotten their money’s worth tonight. Win or lose, this one would be barbershop talk for years to come.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
I dropped back and looked at the clock as it ticked down. I pumped to the end zone and then turned to find Luke 9 yards down the field. He was met at the five yard line.
“TIME! TIME! TIME!” I yelled to get the clock stopped.
The ref blew the clock dead with three seconds left. We were five yards from scoring. We found chaos on the sideline. Half the coaches wanted to run the ball and the other half wanted to pass.
I stepped into the middle.
“Stop! Roll me out and give me the option to run or pass,” I said.
Coach Lambert looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.
“At least someone around here is keeping their head on them. Coach Engels, you have a play like that?”
“Yes, sir.”
He pulled out a marker board and drew out a play. The ref came over.
“Coach Lambert, it’s time.”
We came out and Kevin reported in as a running back. There was no way we could keep him off the field for this play. His job was to give me time to throw the ball. There wasn’t anyone I would rather have my back. Luke was moved to a slot receiver. All four receivers were on the wide side of the field. Bill was the closest to the ball, then Luke, then Magic, and then on the far outside was the tallest wide receiver we had.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
Luke went straight to the back of the end zone and then started to work his way to the left. Magic made an aggressive move straight at one of their backs and then did a quick turn just across the goal line. Right before Magic’s move, I had drifted to the right when I heard a tremendous clash of pads behind me. I ignored them, knowing that Kevin would protect me. I ripped the ball to Magic and it was there when he turned. The ball hit him square in the chest and bounced out of the end zone. Bill was doing a slow drag in front of me as my outlet. The ball bounced up and he snagged it out of the air. I heard the gun go off to indicate the end of the game. Bill planted his outside foot. He was going to score. His footing gave way and he went down on the one yard line.
Final score was 42–34. I was exhausted after the game, and I helped Bill up. He had tears running down his face. I gave him a hug.
“Buddy, we weren’t even supposed to be in this game. We play them again and we win.”
“But I lost the game.”
“Bullshit. I threw the pass too hard for Magic. I threw the ball out of bounds. I could go on all day about what-ifs. You made a hell of a play just to make it possible for us to have a chance. So quit hanging your head and go have fun tonight. Tonight you’re a football god, and some pretty girl is going to show her appreciation.”
“You think so?”
“Hell, yes. Now let’s hold our heads up high and go show some sportsmanship and congratulate Eastside on giving us a game to remember.”
Chapter 16 – Kentucky
Friday September 27