I really didn’t feel sorry for him losing Sammie as a girlfriend. No high school girl wants it getting around she’s sleeping with a guy. I take that back. Girls talk. The difference is they’re in control of the conversation. If a girl bestowed the gift of sex to you, guys should have the common courtesy to keep their mouth shut.
This whole incident had left a bad taste in my mouth. The two people I considered my closest friends had caused me a lot of grief. I also wondered why I’d bothered to help the freshman cheerleaders. I guess I questioned whether I would revert to my normal method of just taking it, or if there’d be consequences for disrespecting me. I knew that was what it was. By my past actions, I’d shown you could do whatever you wanted to me, and I’d forgive you. I had to figure out if I was okay with being a doormat for the rest of my life, or not.
I GOT TO SCHOOL EARLY, so I went to the hospitality tent to get some food. I wasn’t surprised when half the team was there, and they’d helped set everything up. The boosters seemed happy to feed us. Today they had steak sandwiches. The quality of food must be a result of us going to State.
A man in a Notre Dame jacket strolled in. Trinity Catholic had a pipeline where they funneled their best players to Notre Dame. Last year two of their defensive linemen had accepted scholarships. This year Trinity had a defensive end who was supposed to be a Top 100 recruit and had Notre Dame and Ohio State as his final choices.
“Here’s the deaclass="underline" you tell your boy to take it easy on me, and a certain Catholic university, that shall remain nameless, goes to the top of my list,” I said.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” he asked.
I deserved that.
“I guess, nobody,” I said as I walked away.
Jeff Delahey had watched the whole interaction and was amused. He got in line with me to get a sandwich.
“How’s Ed Pine doing?”
“He’s out for the rest of the season with a broken collarbone. Mike Herndon looked good in practice. He has some of his brother’s moves. We should be fine with Jake and Mike playing tailback.”
“Are you worried about Trinity’s dirty play?” Jeff asked.
I gave him a look. That was a loaded question.
“Are you getting background, or looking for me to put my foot in my mouth?” I asked.
“A little of both, I guess,” he confessed.
“I’ll make you a deal. Let’s sit down and enjoy our sandwich, and then we can do a presser.”
“Okay, but I don’t want to hear all about how good Trinity is, and how you’re just lucky to be here.”
“But we are. I think it all has to do with God,” I teased him.
“Oh, Jesus! Don’t do your Tebow on me.”
We talked about everything but football while we ate. His granddaughter had started to get some recruiting interest. She was a pretty good point guard. When we finished, he waved the other reporters over. I looked up and the Notre Dame man finally realized who I was. He gave me a weak smile.
Jeff got his notes out.
“David already told me how lucky Lincoln was to be here, and that Trinity Catholic is probably the best team in the state ... Oh, and he thanked God,” Jeff said to the delight of the other reporters.
“How am I supposed to ramble on about nothing for five minutes if you take my A game material away?” I complained.
“How about you do something new? Why don’t you give us straight answers? I’ll start with what I asked you earlier. Are you worried about Trinity’s dirty play?” Jeff asked.
The whole tent went quiet. Tracy had taught me it was okay to think about your answer. Silence was not your enemy.
“No, not really. I guess I don’t understand why you’re characterizing their play as dirty,” I responded.
“In the last three games, they’ve hurt eight opposing players, two seriously,” one of the big-market reporters filled me in.
“Coach must have taken those plays out before I saw the game film. I remember last year when they had several personal fouls. Are you expecting the same sort of thing today?” I asked.
“I had a big article about it in the paper today. Are you admitting you don’t read me?” Jeff teased me.
“You know me, Jeff. If it isn’t about me, I don’t read it,” I said, and then got serious. “I’m always worried about player safety, as are our coaches. I also know the HSAA takes player safety very seriously. If Trinity Catholic is deliberately trying to hurt opposing players, I would expect the officials for the game to step in and protect us.
“This is high school football. I know I’m going to be crucified for saying this, but this is supposed to be a fun game. I know people try to make it more than that, but we’re not out to hurt other players. That being said, if I see someone trying to hurt another player, I will not sit back and watch it happen.”
“Is that a threat to Trinity?” asked another reporter.
“I never said Trinity played that way. I was making a general comment,” I said, fixing him with a stare.
“So, if Trinity comes after you today, you’re going to retaliate?” Jeff asked.
He was helping me, and I needed to take his lead.
“Yes, I expect them to come after me. That’s just football. I actually like the rough-and-tumble part of the game.”
“So, you’re not going into today’s game looking to confront Trinity?” Jeff followed up.
“No. I’m approaching this like any other game. It’s just being played on a bigger stage since it’s the State Playoffs. I personally hope both teams give it their all. We’ve worked hard to get here, and I’m just lucky to be on a team that’s worked as hard as they have. The key is, we are a team. Between that and the grace of God, I’m blessed to be playing today.”
Jeff rolled his eyes. The other reporters didn’t realize I was done, so I had to do another five minutes of my ‘aw shucks’ routine. Jeff decided to give me a parting shot.
“So, how bad are you going to beat Trinity Catholic today?”
“Three scores,” I said with a big grin, and then made a break for it.
Coach Hope would kill me if Trinity found out about my comment before the game.
WE WERE SCHEDULED FOR a three o’clock kickoff. The city had asked the county to send police to help with crowd control. Bleachers were set up in both end zones to accommodate the larger-than-normal number of fans. We were also the high school ‘Game of the Week’ on one of the regional sports cable and radio networks. Dad promised to record it for me.
It was a perfect fall day for football. Coach had told me I would play both offense and defense today. That meant they pulled me from special teams. We lost the coin flip, so we were on offense first. Trinity kicked the ball out of bounds, and we started on our 35 yard line. Coach Diamond sent me out with a run play to start the game. I needed to hit someone to get the jitters out of my system.
We lined up in the shotgun with Bert a step behind me. Mike was lined up in the slot. We had modified our read option so Bert was my dive back. Mike would go in motion so he was at full speed when he got to me, and he was to run outside. If both of those were covered, I was to run off-tackle.
“Down,” I said, and Mike started his motion. “Set ... Hut!”
Their defensive end shoved Jim down and leaped over him. This was the kid Notre Dame and Ohio State was recruiting so hard. There wasn’t going to be time to run our play, so I just tucked the ball to protect it. He then launched himself at my knees. There’s a reason they teach you not to leave your feet. If I hadn’t trained with Cassidy, and most recently with Tish and Dylan, I would have been hurt.
I did two things at the same time. I pushed his helmet down and got my cleats off the ground. Dylan had been tossing me around enough that I knew how to fall. When his helmet hit my leg, I went head over heels and came straight down on him. Somehow, my elbow caught him in the kidney with all my momentum. I knew it hurt him because it hurt my elbow.