Roc was past the 50 yard line with both the safety and corner on each side of him. He reached for the ball, and the safety grabbed for his near arm to prevent the catch. Roc snagged the ball out of the air with his free hand and pulled it in. Roc tucked the ball and fought off the tackle from the cornerback. The safety tangled up with his teammate, and Roc stumbled too. I began to jump up and down and ran down the field as Roc gathered himself and ran in for the score. We were now up 30–16.
King ended up being the one that crumbled under the pressure. I threw two more long passes for scores to Roc to make the final 44–16. Roc had scored 4 touchdowns and had 13 receptions for 408 yards. That wasn’t bad for a freshman receiver, and he and I were named co-MVPs of the game. I really wished they had just given it to him because he deserved it. Yuri also earned recognition; he had performed great. He had fifteen tackles, three for a loss.
The three of us joined Coach Hope for an interview on the field with Margaret Chin. Both Yuri and Roc looked scared to death, so I hogged the interview. I suspect Margaret saw how frightened they were and let me answer for them.
“What do you think about your resounding defeat of King High School? Do you believe you should be rated in the top 25?”
“I think we got lucky and King underestimated us. I want to point out these two. They’re both underclassmen, and you saw what they’re capable of. I believe we can expect that Lincoln High will be a power in the years to come if we have freshmen and sophomores that can play like this. If they keep this up, we might even find them girlfriends,” I teased.
They both looked like they might die on the spot. I gave Margaret a deadpan look.
“Was it something I said?” I asked.
They both lunged for me, and I danced away, laughing, leaving Margaret stuck with Coach Hope as Roc grabbed me to slow me down and Yuri brought me down. The next thing I knew, I was under a pile of my teammates. Thankfully, Wolf and Jim saved me, and we all ran to the stands to thank our fans. This was almost better than winning State.
◊◊◊
After I showered and dressed, they had arranged an after-game press conference. There must not have been much going on as far as other local sporting events because the room was packed. They had the usual questions about what it felt like to win and be a top-rated player. I spotted Jeff Delahey and winked at him as I did my humble All-American boy routine. Then things took a turn.
“Bill Kelly, with Sports Illustrated. Can you tell us what’s your relationship with Alabama?”
“I attended a football camp there this summer, and they made me an offer. Bo Harrington was my personal quarterback coach until Alabama hired him to coach their quarterbacks,” I said.
Jeff had taught me it was better to get out in front of something and be honest because the cover-up was what sunk you.
“So Alabama hired your personal coach?” Bill asked.
The self-satisfied expression on his face told me this guy was a jerk. I needed to take control, or this would get out of hand.
“Of course they did. Do you even know who Bo Harrington is?” I asked.
“No. Should I?”
My turn to get a self-satisfied expression on my face.
“Have you heard of …” I started and then listed several college and professional quarterbacks. “Something they all have in common is that they were having some problems and Coach Harrington was called in to help them. He’s the guy you call if you want to get better. He helped me become Co-MVP at Elite 11.
“Believe me, Coach Harrington got the job at Alabama on his merit and not because of any relationship we had. In fact, I had no idea he’d been offered the job until he told me he’d been hired. So, can I pick up the phone and call him? Of course I can. Does what I have to say hold any sway over what Alabama does with other recruits? Probably not, but Coach Harrington will give me a listen and then investigate it for himself. The only ‘special’ access I have is that we’re friends,” I said.
“Kyle Moore with the Indianapolis Star. You and Todd Davis seemed to go after each other both verbally and on the field. Are you always that competitive?”
“First, I want to apologize if I said anything to offend anyone during the game. ESPN put a microphone on me, and I simply forgot it was there. Guys trash-talk each other to get into their heads. I’m usually a target for such talk. Personally, I think most of it’s just stupid, so I decided to think of the most juvenile things I could come back with. My favorite one was the village idiot comment, but I’m afraid that may have gone over Todd’s head,” I said. I received the appropriate mild chuckles for my bad joke.
“But it seemed you two went at it on the field as well. I noted three times in the first half when you didn’t pitch the ball and seemed to go directly at him. Was there something going on?” Kyle asked.
“Can I tell you something and you not tell Todd about it?” I asked.
Kyle snorted, which got everyone else to laugh.
“On our first offensive play, Todd blasted me so hard I wasn’t sure if I was hurt or not. Then I handed off to Ty, and he had to leave the game after Todd hit him. I worried that Todd might kill some of us. So I decided that if he were to be involved in the tackle, I better be the one he tackled,” I admitted.
“You actually thought it would be better to let him tackle you than your teammates?”
“I’m pretty tough,” I said with a big smile.
“Chill, or I’ll have my daughter kick your ass,” Coach Hope said.
I meekly sat back.
“Yes, sir,” I said.
That resulted in a room of confused looks.
“See what I have to put up with?” Coach Hope said in an exasperated voice. “To think, he’s scared of a little girl.”
I just nodded and acted like I was looking for her. Sometimes my acting classes came in handy.
◊◊◊
After the press conference, the team loaded onto buses, and we drove to a pizza place. The Booster Club had arranged everything, and we had pizza waiting for us when we arrived there. The pizza place also had a huge arcade room, and the Booster Club gave us all tokens.
I was kicking some Donkey Kong ass when I felt arms go around my waist. I looked to identify the culprit and promptly died. Cassidy.
“I hear you’re scared of me,” she said.
I might act stupid, but I really wasn’t.
“Of course I am,” I said as I reached around her and squeezed her butt.
“My dad’s in the other room,” she warned me.
In response, I leaned down and kissed her. I guess I became lost in the moment because it startled me when I heard Coach Hope.
“Dawson!”
“She made me,” I said as I released her.
“Cassidy, did he force his affections on you?” he asked with a stern look on his face.
“Of course not, Daddy.”
He gave me a hard look.
“You can hurt him if you want,” he said.
I took a step back and bumped into Donkey Kong. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out all my tokens and gave them to Cassidy. She smiled at me and left to play pinball.
“You’ll never hurt her, will you?” Coach Hope asked when we were alone.
“No, sir. I’ll never hurt her, and I promise not to do anything you wouldn’t approve of. I’d hate to lose her friendship or your respect.”
Since I now had no tokens and didn’t feel like buying any more, I went back for more pizza. Mary Dole, Tracy’s mom, saw me and motioned me to come sit with her.
“Have you talked to Tom since the weekend?” she asked.
“No. I thought everyone needed some time.”