While we talked, Mt. Vernon had kicked a field goal and was now up 10–0 on us.
We ran the play three straight times. Coach Mason was always telling us to ‘RSP’ (Repeat Successful Plays). On the first one, Wolf picked up seven yards. I kept the ball the next time and got us the first down. On the third one, Roc was open, and we picked up fifteen.
Our crowd felt the momentum change and got on their feet. We ran the play again, and I kept the ball and picked up twelve yards. The only problem was Roc was caught holding. On the next snap, Johan jumped offsides. One of the great mysteries to me was how the center could jump offsides. He was the one snapping the football. That left us first and twenty-five. We picked up sixteen of it on the next three plays, so we had to punt.
That was when our special teams failed us. Derek Hofmann completely whiffed. The only thing he did right was fall on the football so the defense couldn’t pick it up and score.
I had the pleasure—note that my sarcasm meter was at eleven—of watching Mt. Vernon run down the clock for the half. They kicked a field goal to take a 13–0 lead into halftime. To add to the fun, they would get the ball to start the second half.
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Technology is wonderful. One of the audio-visual guys had figured out that we could load specific plays during the game. Transferring all of them from the cameras would have been too time-consuming. Coach Mason and Coach Rector quickly reviewed what was uploaded to our coaching software and brought us together to our respective units.
“Look how they’re bunching up in the box,” Coach Mason showed the offense.
The ‘box’ was considered the interior of the defense close to the line of scrimmage. When a team ‘loaded the box,’ it meant they had more players than the offense could block. It was designed to stop the run. It could also be effective against the pass if they quickly got pressure on the quarterback, which Mt. Vernon had done in the first half. By switching to a power running game, we’d played right into their game plan. They could defeat our superior strength and size with numbers and quickness.
What had me smiling was now that I saw it on film, the answer to the second half was obvious. If Mt. Vernon was bringing seven to nine players inside to stop the run, they had to be covering our outside receivers one-on-one. We had to go to a short passing game that got the ball out of my hands quickly.
Coach Mason wanted to disguise our intentions by running motion. That meant that before the snap, we would run our slotback toward the center. On the snap, I could hand him the ball, and he would run around the end. Or, I could let him go by me and possibly toss him a little flare pass.
Coach Mason wanted me to key on the two safeties. If they stayed back to play the pass, I was to call a run at the line. If they cheated up, we would pass. Sounded simple. In practice, it was harder because the safeties wouldn’t commit one way or another before they had to. This was designed to keep us guessing.
I then switched over to the defense, where Coach Rector was giving his charges the second-half adjustments. He wanted me in for the first series to help stop them and hopefully get good field position.
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Coach Rector had us come out aggressive. On the first two plays, he had either Tim or me blitz. We held them to no gain. On third down, he sent both of us. Their quarterback dropped back to pass, and Tim had come free. The correct play would’ve been to throw the ball away and punt. Instead, he decided to be a hero and try to evade Tim by losing ground. By now, I’d come free and guessed he would try to roll outside the pocket. I ran to where I thought he would end up and guessed right. Their quarterback saw me and decided he’d better not make it any worse and dropped to a knee. I tapped him on the helmet as I ran past him.
He’d lost sixteen yards, and the ball was on their 4 yard line. Their punter was backed up to the back of the end zone. This was the worst place for a punter to kick from. If he gave any ground, he could step out of bounds and give up a safety. If the kick were blocked, he would give up six points if we recovered it. Finally, if he got off a bad kick, we would start with excellent field position.
Coach Hope called for the block and sent ten guys. The punter saw them coming and hesitated for a half-second. Ed stretched out and got a finger on it. Of course, the punter flopped like he’d been hit, hoping for a roughing-the-kicker penalty. If he got it, they would have received a first down, negating all our hard work.
The punt looked like a wounded duck as it flew off the side and out of bounds. The Mt. Vernon coach had a fit as the side judge kept running towards their end zone to mark the ball. He stopped on their 15 yard line. Even I thought it was a little generous.
We lined up like we were going to run our power game. I watched the safeties inch forward.
“Down! Set!” I barked, and Jake began his motion.
“Hut! HUT!”
He was at full speed as I turned back. I had the option of giving the ball to Jake as he jetted past me or to Ty, who would run it up the middle. The third option was to keep it and pass. I picked the first option. Jake ran wide, and Wolf, at tight end, got in the way of three Mt. Vernon defenders who were chasing down the play from the inside out. If their safeties had stayed back, they could have come over and helped support the outside run. Since they’d moved forward, they didn’t have the angle to catch Jake when he cleared the defensive end and headed upfield. Don Crown was in because he was one of our bigger receivers and a superior run-blocker. He blocked the cornerback, and Jake was able to sprint to the end zone untouched. We were now within a score of taking the lead at 13–7.
Late in the third quarter, Mt. Vernon broke a long run to add to their lead, 20–7. Coach Mason decided that we needed to mix it up on the next drive. He’d seen something and called a play that took a long time to develop. Basically, it was Roc going five yards up and then cutting across the field underneath the coverage. If they were in man-to-man, it gave him plenty of time to outrun his defender. Roc’s long strides made him sneaky-fast because he didn’t need near as many steps to cover the same amount of ground.
On the snap, I stood tall in the pocket and surveyed the field. Mt. Vernon was doing all they could to get to me, but my line was holding. The clock in my head was screaming to throw the ball, but I had to hang onto it long enough for Roc to cross the field. Most of my passes were out of my hands in one to two seconds—this one I would have to hold for over five.
We had run all the other receivers into the center of the field. I acted like I couldn’t find anyone open. Mt. Vernon’s defensive ends finally came free, and instead of running out of the pocket, I stepped forward. It bought me enough time to throw the ball to Roc, who had begun his run upfield. It was an easy pitch and catch for the score. I wasn’t happy shortly after when Derek missed the extra point wide right. We needed a touchdown to catch up, now that the score was 20–13.
We got the ball back with only nine minutes left in the game. There was still plenty of time, which allowed us to mix runs and passes. I’d tried to handle the ball on the runs as much as possible because it gave us a numbers advantage. Mt. Vernon figured it out and sent a linebacker to spy on me. We found ourselves inside their 20 with only five minutes to go. We scored on the run-pass option play when the cornerback tried to jump a pass to Wolf. I pump-faked and tossed an easy throw to Phil, who’d entered the game to give Roc a breather. Now the game was tied at 20–all.
We forced a three-and-out and got the ball back on our 25 yard line with less than two minutes to play. Coach Mason called the long drag play for Roc again. This time, Mt. Vernon also blitzed one of their linebackers. Instead of having the luxury of standing in the pocket, I was soon running for my life. I rolled towards where Roc would end up and drew the defense to me. I faked tucking the ball, causing Roc’s defender to step towards me, so I pitched the ball end-over-end above the defensive back’s head. Roc gathered it in and sprinted upfield. Because I’d run towards the play, their defense was pulled that way as well. This time, Roc didn’t make it to the end zone. He was forced out of bounds on their 38 yard line.