They had filtered in to eat and caught me as I gave my speech. Jeff was shaking his head at me, and Coach Enron gave me a little smile. I would bet he’d have a problem if one of his players made such a bold prediction about their upcoming game against Notre Dame. What it did for me was to take my feelings from being internalized and throwing down the gauntlet by declaring my intentions. Suddenly I had a lot more on the line. I’d decided not to hide but put it out to the world that we were going to win.
Ridge grabbed me before I went to get ready to play.
“Jesus, Dawson. You’ve come out of your shell. Now go show me why there’s been all the hype. I saw a glimpse of it when we were at the USC camp. I can’t wait to see you play again. Good luck.”
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I entered the locker room, got taped, and found my usual pregame seat next to Jim and Wolf. My earbuds were in so I could listen to music and visualize what I would do on the field tonight. We then went out and warmed up. Tonight, Yuri and Wolf were co-captains, and they led the team through warm-ups.
It was a big deal for Yuri because he was only a sophomore, but he’d taken over the defensive play-calling after we first lost Tim and then Mike had quit. It was too much to ask Jake to step in to play linebacker and make the defensive calls.
I felt good throwing the ball. My body had been given almost a week of no contact, and there were none of the usual aches and pains you get during a season. Coach Mason had watched the video of my practice yesterday, and he harped on my release point. During warm-ups, I focused on making sure I was doing it right. I had Alan watch each throw. He had a running commentary on every little thing I was doing wrong. Normally that would irritate me, but tonight it just reminded me of Jeff and Alan when we used to hang out. My last three throws were rifle shots that almost took the receivers off their feet. I was ready!
◊◊◊
Yuri and Wolf joined me for the coin flip with Springfield. Springfield won the toss and decided to take the football in the second half. The kickoff sailed through the end zone, so we were first and ten on the 20. I walked out with the first play ready. I took a moment to think of Jeff and scan the stands, knowing he would have loved tonight. The place was packed with orange-and-blue-clad Lincoln High fans with their damned cowbells.
We had been picked as a high school game of the week on our cable provider’s sports network. It only covered the center part of the state. They were smart in that they presented three games for their subscribers to pick from. The subscribers then voted on which game they would like to see. Springfield was a much bigger city, and I expect they had voted to see their team play an away game.
As I approached the line, the crowd started the “Our House!” chant.
Springfield was in a four-three defense (four down linemen and three linebackers). When they saw us come out with our halfbacks moved out into the slot, their outside linebackers edged out to help cover them. This left four linemen and one linebacker to face our five linemen. We had prepared for this, and I stood up from under center.
“Omaha, Omaha!” I shouted as I paced back and forth behind the linemen.
I stepped back into the shotgun, and the outside linebackers edged further out to help cover the slotbacks. We had planned this play to be started on the ball. That meant a silent count, and everyone watched the center. When he snapped the football, the play started. This caught Springfield flat-footed because typically the quarterback either calls out a count or makes some sort of hand motion.
I faked the handoff to Ty, which caused the Springfield defense to react to the run. They were well-coached, and we had counted on that. They saw what I saw, that we had even numbers in what’s called ‘the box.’ That’s where most running plays end up, between the tackles. If there were equal numbers of our linemen and their defenders in the box, it meant we had an advantage. Theoretically, if we blocked our assigned defenders, there would be no one to tackle Ty. That was why you would see defenses do what’s called ‘stack the box.’ In essence, they brought in more defenders than we could block to stop the run.
Springfield did as we expected: they snuck up both safeties to help defend the run. Their sneaky defensive coordinator, in essence, had stacked the box with defensive backs. What they didn’t realize was we had a secret weapon in Bud Mason. He had coached offense at a high level for forty-five years. He designed the play so that both Jake and Ed, our slotbacks, ran straight up the field. This forced their slower linebackers to play as defensive backs. Vertical speed was a killer, and Springfield had just outsmarted themselves. Both guys blew by the linebackers, and it was an easy toss and catch to Ed for the first score.
Springfield came out and lined up in the power ‘I’ with the tight end as an extra fullback. They were going to work at winning the time of possession and use their superior size to pound us into submission. They slowly worked their way down the field, gaining three to four yards on each play. When they reached the Red Zone, inside our 20, Coach Zoon switched up the defense. He put Johan in at nose tackle, lined up over the center, and now we were in a five-man front. As I had said in my interview, we were more experienced, and we were stronger than we had been last year. We stopped them at the 12 yard line, and they settled for a field goal to make it 7–3.
On the ensuing kickoff, Ed brought the football out to the 31 yard line. We lined up in a base formation, and I was in the shotgun.
“Down!” I called, and Wolf came in motion towards the center of the field.
“Set. Hut, HUT!”
I’d waited until Wolf had come across the face of the formation to a spot just outside Jim at tackle. What I had watched for was what the cornerback covering Wolf had done. If he stayed home, that meant they were playing a zone. Instead, he followed Wolf across the formation. This would give an extra blocker if we ran to the side of the field Wolf was now on. Their safety cheated up to help in case we ran to that side.
We ran a two-man option to the weak side. We had to hope Neil, at right tackle, could handle their defensive end. If he couldn’t, the defensive end would be in my face and cause me to have to pitch too soon. On the snap, Neil got off the ball well and held his block long enough. Little Ed did just enough to slow down the outside linebacker. I was impressed that Ed sacrificed himself. Ty and I turned the corner and headed upfield. Their cornerback was my first read, and he forced the football out of my hands. Ty took the ball as I flattened the smaller cornerback. The safety came forward, and Ty bamboozled him when he cut towards the center of the field instead of racing up the sideline. That was when Jim showed why he was considered one of the best linemen in the Midwest. He had sprinted upfield on the snap and was in position to block the backside safety. I was jealous when I heard the crack of the pads as Jim destroyed the poor kid. You don’t get many chances to hit someone that hard, and Jim took full advantage. He actually knocked the safety out of one of his shoes. Ty raced down the center of the field and scored to make it 14–3.
Springfield came out and tried to run the football down our throats. I give them credit for not panicking and sticking with their game plan. They were third and one, barely across midfield, when I spotted something I’d seen on tape. I had skimmed through their offense on the off chance I might play some defense. I sprinted to Coach Zoon.
“Pass, Pass, Pass!”
Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t hear me over the crowd noise. Coach Zoon spotted it once I pointed it out and tried to call time out. We watched as they executed their first pass play of the day to perfection. Their quarterback faked the handoff, stood up and hit their wide receiver on a slant. We had committed to stopping the short-yardage run. When our cornerback slipped, it was an easy score. They were now only down 14–10.