We broke up into offense and defense and listened to what we should expect in the second half. We were warned that there would probably be more blitzes coming. I prepared myself to get hit more; so far, I’d been lucky. We then trotted out to play the second half.
Springfield got the football first to start the second half. They hadn’t changed much, but they did use the play-action pass more. I ran over to Coach Zoon.
“Let me play safety to help with the play-action. I can at least warn them when it’s coming,” I suggested.
He gave me one of those looks you see old people give young people that says, ‘Leave me alone, kid.’
Springfield pounded the ball at us, drove right down the field, and scored. We were now down 31–28.
On the following kickoff, they finally made the mistake of kicking to Ty. He’d gotten better at returning kicks. I’d talked to him about following his blocks. Ty admitted that he got excited and just tried to use his speed. This time he followed Ed up the field behind the wedge. There was a big collision as the two teams came together. Ed darted through a hole, and I was afraid it would close before Ty could get through, but he broke an arm-tackle and was clear of the pileup. I jumped up and started to bounce up and down as Ty tucked in behind Ed rather than jetting past him. The kicker rushed up to stop Ty, but Ed got in the way and gave Ty enough room to come into the open. It was a near thing, but Springfield wasn’t able to catch him. We were now up 35–31.
On the next drive, Springfield started on their 20 yard line.
“Dawson,” Coach Zoon called out.
I didn’t wait for him to tell me what he wanted but sprinted out to play free safety. I peeked over and saw Coach Hope’s shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh at his disgusted defensive coordinator. With me at free safety, I could see the whole field. I saw how their linemen changed their stance and how engaged their receivers seemed when it was a pass play. I was able to warn my teammates when it was a run or pass before the snap. Springfield did manage to get a first down, but with my help, they had to punt.
We started our drive. Springfield did begin to blitz, and I was in football heaven. I dropped into the zone and exposed them every time they came after me. I simply saw the field better and was able to decipher the puzzle. Working at all the camps and Elite 11 had exposed me to a lot of excellent coaching. This time last year, I would have become rattled and gone into chaos mode. Now I was able to do controlled chaos.
By the end of the third quarter, we had pushed the score to 49–31. That was when we saw Springfield give up. They had given it a tremendous shot. I felt they were by far the best team we had played to this point, even if the score didn’t show it. I played one more series on offense and hit a pretty teardrop bomb to Roc, extending our lead to 56–31. After that, I was benched to prevent injury and to give our backups a chance to play against a quality opponent.
When the game ended, I pointed to the sky to acknowledge my best friend Jeff.
“That one was for you, Buddy.”
◊◊◊
I’d just come out of the shower when Alan found me.
“Coach Hope says you have to talk to the press.”
“It’s Homecoming,” I complained.
“Tell it to the boss.”
Alan was a jerk sometimes, but I was okay with that. We hadn’t been as close friends since the whole Tami incident, but thinking of Jeff had reminded me that we once were best friends. I put on my suit. I was wearing Dakora tonight. I actually liked this outfit. Some of their clothes were a little too metrosexual for my taste.
When I walked into our new press room, Springfield was still fielding questions. They typically let the visitors go first because they had to ride their buses home. My entrance got the place buzzing, so I walked up front.
“Which one of you is the defensive coordinator?” I asked.
A man who appeared to be fresh out of college raised his hand. I walked up and shook his hand, then turned to their head coach.
“I hate to say this, but once people figure out just how good this man is, you’ll lose him,” I said, then turned back to the defensive coordinator. “You have the best defensive scheme I’ve ever played against. I’ve been told that what I needed to do to improve was play against better competition. I want to thank you for making me a better player. I learned a lot this week while I prepared for your defense. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew how truly talented you are.”
“Sit down, David,” Jeff ordered me.
I sat down beside the Springfield coaching staff.
“You’re complimenting their defense after you just ripped them 56–31?” someone asked.
“Springfield played us at the wrong time. I predicted before the game that we would win by three scores. It wasn’t said to be arrogant or to denigrate Springfield. It was from watching practice. Everything we’ve been trying to do just seemed to come together this week. I also think we caught a break when I had to sit out from practice because of my concussion. It allowed me to put in the needed time on the Springfield game film. That was when I discovered their evil defensive coordinator.
“This man knows the game and has devised traps that had me scratching my head. If I hadn’t worked with my coaches to prepare, I’d have thrown more than one interception tonight. The preparations and coaching I received allowed me to see his tricks. Luckily, we were able to sidestep most of them. He did get me to bite on a too-wide-open receiver. As soon as I threw it, I knew he’d hoodwinked me into throwing into his trap. With his help, Springfield has a great chance of winning the 6A State Championship this year,” I concluded.
The Springfield coaches were gracious and said kind words about our team and me. I shook their hands, and they had to leave. Then Tracy and Coaches Hope, Diamond, and Zoon joined me on the platform.
Tracy eyed the reporters.
“Does anyone need to hear the rules, or are you all frequent flyers?” she asked.
“ESPN isn’t here, so I don’t think you need to kick anyone out,” Jeff told her.
Tracy gave them the stats for the game and told them they were up on our website if they didn’t get them all. She made a point to say I had zero tackles, which for some reason was funny.
I was becoming irritated with all the questions but didn’t let it show until someone asked me what I was wearing. I then perked up and went into full model mode. They all moaned when I walked in front of our table and did some poses as I acquainted them all with Dakora’s winter line. I was let go at that point so I could go have fun at the dance, or so I told myself.
◊◊◊
I walked into the gym, and the first thing I saw was that Halle and Brook were there with dates. Brook was with someone I suspected was in college, and Halle was with Bryan Callahan. I then saw Pam walk in with Brock Callahan. My stomach began to knot up. Tracy had followed me in, and she grabbed my arm when she saw me begin to move towards them.
“Hang on there, Cowboy,” Tracy ordered.
The look I gave her made her flinch. Then she turned me, and I saw Zoe. She was a vision in a sparkly silver dress. This was not the farm girl I was used to seeing. There was also plenty of cleavage. My desire to kick some serious butt was set aside for now. When Zoe saw me, her whole face lit up. I opened my arms, she fell into them, and our lips met. That was all it took for me to decide to deal with Brook, Pam, and Halle later.
They had a photographer, and Zoe wanted to get our picture taken. We hadn’t been able to do the ‘have our pictures taken’ bit at her house because we both had to be at the game. I had to stop myself from offering to reposition the lighting because the photographer was apparently not a professional. Tonight was about fun and Zoe.
I smiled when Bill and Ridge arrived in suits. They looked good dressed-up. I wasn’t as happy when they both asked Zoe to dance before I got a chance with her, but she seemed to like the attention. Zoe didn’t have much experience with guys, and Bill and Ridge were both good-looking. Tim and Tracy joined our table. I was surprised he’d asked her to the dance, but I figured they must have hit it off. I was happy Tracy had found someone she seemed to like. Wolf and April joined our table to fill it up.