Craig Wild was the star of my first movie and had grown up in the business. Both he and Halle’s brother had problems with drugs and alcohol.
I was nominated to make breakfast. We’d listed the two scripts that Rita pointed out, the Japanese sunglasses ad, and two others as possibles. I let Caryn call Saul and give him the news. He told her he’d get working on them.
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We had a one o’clock game today, and what had started out as flurries turned into real snow. By the time I arrived at school, we had three inches on the ground. Duke was a total spaz. He loved the snow, and I had chased him around in the backyard before the game. The good news was that it wasn’t really all that cold. It was currently thirty degrees, and the wind had stopped.
I’d eaten lunch at home, so I didn’t venture out to the hospitality tent today. Instead, I was a good boy. I got taped, put my earbuds in, and listened to rock music to get ready.
The managers ran around and switched out our cleats. Coach Hope felt we would need longer cleats in case the ground became slippery. I’d also broken out my football gloves and fanny pack with a hand warmer in it. I was ready when the coaches sent us out for warm-ups.
Central traveled well. Their side of the field was packed. It could also be that they’d never made it this far in the state playoffs before. Our fans seemed to be waiting for the last minute to take their seats because of the weather. I really didn’t blame them.
After warm-ups, we began to run our pregame drills. After I tossed a couple of balls to loosen up, I started to throw in earnest. Throwing with gloves on is different from with bare hands. You just didn’t get the same feel of the ball. I was sailing the ball and overthrowing my receivers.
“Dang it!” I yelled when I overthrew my fifth straight receiver.
I stepped back from the drill and let my backups get their turns while I got my head into the game. In my head, I ran through the steps Bo Harrington had taught me. Three-step drop; stay on my toes; get my base right; step towards my receiver as I threw; and my release point should be a couple inches in front of my front foot. The problem was my release point: I was letting go of the ball early.
I got back in the drill and focused on my mechanics. I drilled Wolf for good measure.
“Asshole!” he called.
“Wuss!” I shot back.
We were good.
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Central won the toss and elected to take the football to start the game. They had a big bruiser of a running back who slowly brought them down the field, three to four yards a clip. What amazed me was that we were putting the wood to him. Someone would wrap up his legs and then someone else would finish him off. I’d had that happen to me, and when you have no momentum to offset someone running up on you, that’s when you get pancaked. I flinched each time this kid ran the ball and started to worry that he might get hurt.
That’s when I spotted something.
“Coach, put me in for Jake. I can get us the ball,” I said.
Coach Zoon looked at me, and I took that as assent. I sprinted out onto the field and told Jake to go back to the sideline. The coaches were yelling at me, so I made it a point not to look over at them. Hopefully, they wouldn’t call time out and force the issue.
I missed playing linebacker. I lined up next to Yuri, with Johan and his brother Milo in front of us. Central ran the same play. Milo grabbed one of his tree trunks of a leg to slow him down. Their running back twisted to put his body between me and the ball. I saw him prepare to take the hit, but I stepped to the side and snatched the ball out of his grasp. He would lower his shoulder to the oncoming tackler, and the ball in his hand would separate from his body. We were trained to protect the ball by tucking it hard against our torso and to have two hands on it if at all possible.
I ran right past the quarterback as he executed his fake. It seemed everyone was stunned for a moment as I sprinted the forty yards for the score. I handed the ball to the referee and jogged to the sidelines. Coach Zoon met me, and I winced for a moment, but he picked me up in a big bear hug and about snapped my back in celebration.
“If you ever do that again …” he began when he put me down.
“Yes, sir.”
I guess I was a good-enough actor because he didn’t seem mad anymore. I told him what I’d seen. Of course, I probably should’ve done that to begin with, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to play defense.
On the third play of Central’s next series, Yuri punched the ball loose, and Brock landed on it. Three plays later I hit a streaking Roc for the score. In under four minutes, we were up 14–0.
Central’s game plan was to run the ball, control the clock, and then play hard-hitting defense. They hoped to frustrate us and get us in a three-and-out. I had to give them credit because even down by two scores, they stuck with their running game. This time they’d driven to our 34 yard line before Jake was able to separate the ball from their running back.
We ran a simple dive play for Ty, and he showed why I was so excited that he had transferred from Washington to play here. Johan had his hands full with their squat nose tackle, but this time he got some leverage. Johan was able to move him to the side enough for Ty to find a hole. Bryan fired off the ball and got into the legs of his linebacker to slow him down. Ty was at full speed when he slipped through the gap the two linemen had created. Then he must have mashed all the controller buttons on his game console. Ty made this spin move where he juked one way and then spun the other that had their safety completely turned around as Ty jetted by him. The first quarter ended with us up 21–0.
The game then settled into a defensive battle when it began to snow in earnest. By the end of the half, we were almost ice-skating, because the wet ground began to freeze as the temperature dropped.
When we came out for the second half, Central lined up for the kickoff. The wind blew the ball off the kicking tee, and a gust of wind caused the ball to stand up on end and spin like a top. I personally had hated the cold ever since I’d been trapped in that basement when the avalanche happened. Everyone was wet, cold, and miserable.
With the wind, the passing game went out the window. We adopted Central’s strategy and just slowly worked the ball down the field with short to medium gains. Coach Diamond had us use up all of the clock for each play. We ate up nearly eight minutes before we had to punt. Both teams traded punts the rest of the game. I was never happier for a game to end than I was that one.
The good news was I was never touched all game, so I felt great. I felt even better after a hot shower. Before we left, Coach Hope had us gather around.
“I just got word. We’re playing Unity for the State Championship next week.”
Unity was the result of several high schools being combined downstate. I’d heard rumblings that they had a good team this year. I don’t believe anyone expected them to be this good. Everyone was fired up to be returning to the State Championship game. We were one game away from fulfilling the dream to repeat.
Coach Hope made some vague threats about what would happen if we lost focus on the ultimate prize and celebrated too soon. I don’t expect any of us wanted to be out in this weather. I knew Mom had put on a Crock-Pot of chili with my name on it, so I was more than happy to go home and keep warm.
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Chapter 11 – Don’t Forget About Me Sunday November 22
My wild child loved the snow. Duke was a one-year-old now and still acted like a puppy. He figured out there was ice on the driveway and would run full out, with snow flying all around him, and then slide. I admit it looked like fun, so I had to try it. Precious hated the white, wet, cold stuff. She had taken one look at Duke and me playing and turned around and went back home. Of course, Duke spotted her and had to roll her. The yowl had us both running for the back door.