On the next series, their sneaky defensive coordinator got me. A voice in my head screamed that Wolf was too wide open. I hit a sprinting safety as if I intended to throw it to him. Shit! I hadn’t thrown an interception since the first game, and again this one was a pick-six. We were now down 17–14.
I came out the next series and showed why I was the top-rated quarterback. I was sure I made Ridge proud because I eviscerated the Springfield defense with my short game. I was seven for seven and threw to six different receivers as we marched down the field to make the score 21–17.
Springfield pounded the ball and scored with just over a minute remaining in the half to take a 24–21 lead.
I loved the pressure. Coach Hope wanted to take a knee and run out the half, but Coach Diamond and, to my surprise, Coach Zoon convinced him to let me loose. I would call the plays at the line. I had eighty yards to cover in a minute and five seconds. I had all three timeouts. I huddled up the troops to get everyone on the same page.
“We’re going to go back to the triple option. If you hear ‘Bulldog,’ that means to spread out into the slotback formation. Hustle to the line and don’t assume I’ll call time. I want to catch them napping if I can. All calls are on me, so pay attention. We’ve practiced this, you know what to do, so let’s get this score,” I said.
As I’d guessed, Springfield brought in two defensive backs to replace their outside linebackers. There was a big difference between a rough-and-tumble linebacker and a light-hitting cornerback. I glanced over at the sideline and saw a big smile on Coach Diamond’s face. He saw what I was up to, and seemed to approve.
“Down. Set. Hut, Hut!”
I saw one of the cornerbacks blitz from the outside as I handed the ball to Ty. I wanted to try the middle of the defense first. He ripped off eight yards, and the clock showed fifty-three seconds. We rushed to the line, which surprised the defenders.
“Down!”
… I called, and Johan snapped the ball to me. I faked the interior handoff, and Ed had moved on the snap to run in front of me. Jake had also moved behind me. I had the option to hand Ed the ball on the jet sweep, or go the other direction and run the option with Jake. The play almost came apart when the Springfield defensive tackle slipped Bryan’s block. It looked like everyone was going to meet in the middle at the same time.
I improvised and took a step towards the onrushing Ed, and that turned the defensive tackle for Ed to get between us. Little Ed put a hit on their defensive tackle like he was a pulling guard. That would leave a mark. Bryan saw me coming and turned to help downfield. He picked up the middle linebacker, and I danced in the hole to give him time to make the block. I then used what my speed coach had taught me and exploded into the clear. The crowd responded as if it were a living entity; everyone came to their feet and rang their damned cowbells. I would have scored except for a turf monster that suddenly jumped up and caused me to trip and land face first. All I saw in front of me was green grass. I jumped up and called timeout with forty seconds left on the clock.
We huddled up.
“Next time leave running the ball to the professionals,” Ty teased me.
“Bite me,” I replied, and everyone laughed.
I think they enjoyed seeing that I wasn’t infallible. We were now over midfield and only needed another fifteen to twenty yards to get within field goal range.
“I plan to hang on to one timeout just in case we have to kick a field goal, so don’t let up, because we don’t waste our other timeout unless we have to,” I said.
I kept the team in the huddle until the play clock was under ten. I wanted to give them as much of a breather as I could. Coach Diamond had signaled in an unusual play. He anticipated Springfield to be sneaky, and I saw that in this situation it was likely they would try something.
When I broke the huddle, we rushed to the line and were in our slotback formation. We got set, and Johan snapped the football on a silent count. Springfield rushed to get into position, and I did a three-step drop. I peeked over, and their cornerback was looking into the backfield. That was what we were looking for. Jake ran a down-and-out from the slot, and I pumped the ball like I was going to throw to him. The cornerback jumped the route and abandoned Roc. When Roc found himself free, he lifted his hand like he was calling for the ball. I saw the safety timing it so he could pick me off. What they hadn’t counted on was Ty had run a wheel route behind Roc. I had to avoid a sack and make a move to the side as I’d been taught. I planted my feet, so I had a good base, and threw a perfect strike to Ty. Roc made a terrible attempt at a block, and the safety was able to push Ty out of bounds. That stopped the clock, so we huddled up.
“My bad,” Roc admitted.
“We can worry about that later,” I barked.
That surprised everyone and caught their attention. I needed them to focus.
“Jet sweep special on first sound,” I said.
The special meant that Wolf and Jake would switch positions. The play needed his size to help block. We waited for the play clock to run down and then sprinted to the line. We were in the triple option formation, with Wolf just off Jim’s outside shoulder. Not many high schools had a six-five, two-hundred-fifty-pound tight end who could block on their team. We played him at wideout because he also had speed.
“Down!”
Ty sprinted to Wolf’s side of the football as if he were doing a flare. Ed dashed over to me, and I handed him the ball. He followed Ty around the end. I scraped off Jim’s backside to pick up any interior pursuit. Roc did a much better job of blocking and tied up the cornerback covering him. Wolf pancaked his defensive back, and that allowed Ty to track down the safety on his side. Ed scooted around him and ran in for the score.
The only problem was there was a flag on the ground. Neil had gotten excited and clipped the other safety, which pushed us out of field-goal range. There were eighteen seconds left on the clock. We huddled up.
“Wolf and Roc, do fly routes. Jake and Ed, I want you to go ten yards upfield and then do buttonhooks. Ty, slip between the linemen and do a post. Expect them to blitz. On two,” I said.
“Down. Set. Hut, Hut!”
I dropped back and saw Springfield do a line stunt. The Callahan brothers picked it up. I zeroed in on Wolf, which caused the safety on his side to drift over to help his defender out. I switched to Roc and then planted my feet in the center and tossed the ball to Ty. He had to go up for the ball because I had put a little too much on it. Ty pulled it in on the 8 yard line as he went down. I called time to stop the clock with nine seconds left.
Coach Hope motioned me over. There was an argument about whether we should kick the field goal now, or go for it. I figured we had time to get two plays in.
“Make them stop Wolf,” I said.
The defensive back who was covering him was only five-nine. Wolf had eight inches on him and seventy pounds. I would bet on Wolf every time. I ran back to the huddle.
“Wolf, it’s on you. As soon as you cross the goal line, I’ll have the ball on your outside shoulder.”
We lined up. Wolf exploded off the ball, and I had it out of my hands. As Wolf broke the goal line, he turned, and the football hit him in the facemask. Three seconds had come off the clock.
“Boomer, Boomer!” I called.
‘Boomer’ meant we’d do the same play, and everyone rushed to the line. I didn’t want to give Coach Hope a chance to send out the field-goal team.
This time Wolf was ready and caught the ball. Our fans erupted in celebration as we took a 28–24 lead into halftime.
◊◊◊
At halftime, Coach Diamond received a call from Coach Mason. Coach Mason had figured out how to get the video stream from the game. I was amazed that someone his age could figure out technology. Coach Diamond handed the phone to Coach Zoon and then shortly to Coach Hope who talked to Coach Mason the longest.