I watched other teams try to get them to bite on trick plays. They pursued the ball hard, but they never seemed to be out of position, and tackled with excellent technique. They were the best-coached team we’d faced to this point, and had a philosophy of ‘bend but don’t break.’ It was like Beverly was a different team inside the red zone. I watched as they became super-aggressive, catching their opponents off guard. Coach Diamond felt we could exploit their aggression.
On offense, they were Coach Hope personified. Beverly ran a ball-control form of football that was like watching the four-corner offense in basketball. They waited for teams to get impatient and make a mistake and were happy winning a 3–0 bloodbath.
I did notice something.
“Have they ever trailed in a game?” I asked Coach Diamond.
Alan was sitting behind us, so he pulled up their stats.
“No. They’ve never been behind,” Alan said.
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think we need to go deep on them early. I had a coach at my quarterback camp, Bud Mason, who was the former offensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders. He coached back in the day when they played long ball. On the last day, they put us under pressure to make quick decisions. My number-one competitor was like watching a machine play football that never made a mistake. He methodically moved the ball down the field by taking what the defense gave him. I, on the other hand, was much more likely to go deep, or take a risk; and, of course, I thought I was doing it all wrong.
“Coach Mason stopped practice, and explained to Ridge, who was the other guy, that he needed to play more like me. Quick long scores are demoralizing. Dinking and dunking, and taking your time to score, lets a team think they can get back into it. We need to take their heart out of the game. The longer Beverly hangs with us, the more likely we lose,” I said.
I hadn’t realized Coach Hope was listening to me. He kicked Coach Diamond out of his seat and sat down next to me.
“That’ll never work early. They’ll be lying in wait for the long ball, just like last year. Beverly’s game plan will be to pressure you into making decisions and protecting long. They’re counting on you making a bad decision,” Coach Hope said, and I gave him a skeptical look. “How do I know? That’s what I taught them.”
“So, what do I need to do?” I asked.
“I’ve been thinking about this since I saw the brackets. This defense is very good at being disciplined. You, on the other hand, are very good at chaos. They haven’t played anyone who can break contain and force them to make a defensive play. Bud Mason sent me the tapes of your practices. I saw you running all over the field, making plays on the run. I just honestly couldn’t wrap my mind around your style of play. That was one of the reasons I wanted Brad to play quarterback at the first of the year.
“For tonight, I want you to forget about dumping the ball off or throwing it away. I want the old David. I want you to tuck the ball and run. If you give them a steady diet of chasing you, the long ball will be there by the second quarter.”
“Are you messing with me?” I asked.
He laughed and shook his head.
“Last spring, I challenged you to win three State Championships. Something I learned in the military was the need to adapt and pressure your enemy. Your running ability will force them to change. We haven’t allowed you to improvise on the fly to this point. If you just do half of what you did in Texas, they won’t know how to cope.”
Coach Hope took a moment, and then added one more piece of advice.
“Last year, you almost beat us by throwing to the middle of the field. I guarantee you they’ll have a trap set for that play. I don’t know what they’ll do, but if it looks wide open, don’t believe it. Anyway, that’s what I would do, and I taught them, so be ready.
WHEN WE ARRIVED AT Beverly, Coach sent us in to get taped. I walked into the trainer’s room and Paige pointed at me.
“I’ve got him,” she said.
I got up on her table so she could tape my ankles. She gave me a look that I couldn’t read.
“I wanted to thank you for last week,” she started.
Mike was on the table next to me. He wasn’t even trying to act like he wasn’t listening. I motioned with my head that we had company.
“I had a good time. I even warmed up to Lydia before the night was over,” I said.
“She did say you were okay. That’s high praise, coming from her.”
“I’ll bet it is.”
She finished me up, and I got off the table and kissed her cheek. She blushed, and Mike’s eyes got big.
“I owed you a kiss goodnight,” I explained.
I skipped out of the training room to get dressed. Once I had my pants on, I needed my jersey. It was easier to put it on my pads and then put everything on at once. I went looking for the equipment manager, who sent me to Coach Stevens.
He handed me my road jersey. It had a patch on the left arm of the state and the words ‘State Playoffs.’ Above the number on the back was the word ‘TEAM’ where our name normally went.
We went out for warm-ups, and Tim and I let Bill lead us in stretching. We figured since he was low man on the totem pole, he needed to work. As we got ready for the game, I could see the stands filling up. Beverly took football as seriously as our town did, so the place would be packed because our fans traveled well to away games. The Booster Club had organized buses this year so we could get more people to the game. They were making their presence known by ringing their cowbells. It looked like our whole town had turned out!
Something that surprised me: there were a bunch of fans in the stands wearing Washington jerseys. They had come to the game to support us. It was a classy move on their part. I really thought this was going to be their year, with their senior leadership, and Ty running the ball. They just caught some unlucky breaks at the beginning of the year that kept them out of the playoffs.
I was starting to get that nervous feeling in my stomach. When I felt that, I knew I was ready, and wanted to get this game started.
We let Bill call the coin toss. We lost, and Beverly deferred to the second half, so we took the ball.
Beverly kicked it into the end zone, and Ed took a knee so we could start on the 20 yard line. I gathered everyone into the huddle.
“Finally, we get to play some football,” I said, bringing smiles to everyone’s faces.
I called the play. We were going to start in the shotgun and run our read option. We broke the huddle and I looked over the defense. They were in the Tampa 2, which was their base defense, and it meant their corners would play the run aggressively.
“Blue!”
Their safeties were creeping out to cover the deep ball. The one on Bill’s side was cheating more than the one on Jeff’s side.
“Set ... Hut, HUT!”
The middle was clogged, so I pulled the ball from Bert. The defensive end went wide, daring me to pitch the ball. I made a motion to pitch and saw he had anticipated that. Instead, I pulled the ball back, and cut inside, picking up four yards.
Coach Diamond had called the first three plays, so we hustled to the line. Beverly was ready for us.
“Down, Set ... Hut, HUT!”
I faked the handoff to Bert, stood up, and found Wolf open for twelve yards and a first down. I hustled everyone to the line of scrimmage.
“Down, Set ... Hut, HUT!”
This was the play where I was going to try to hit Bill long. We kept Ed and Bert in to help block, for maximum protection. Bill streaked past the corner and got separation. I did a high rainbow pass so only Bill could get it. As soon as the ball was in the air, the Beverly defense was screaming “BALL!”
The cornerback tackled Bill as the safety came over and intercepted the ball. The back judge and side judge both threw their flags. The side judge also dropped his hat. The Beverly crowd got onto their feet and cheered the interception.