Chapter 11
The Panthers started working on the wishbone the following day. Gary was at quarterback, but Lucky got more reps than usual. Happy was at fullback with Skip and D.J. at halfback.
That gave Petros three sophomores in the backfield, a scary thought to Cole. He taught the basic plays, the dives and blasts up the middle. It was fairly simple and the offense picked it up fairly quick.
Lucky knew the Panthers would use the wishbone from talking with his father. Like Cole, Lucky loved the offense and could not understand why only a few teams still used it.
He thought the only negative to the offense was it failed to stretch out the defense. When he said that to his father, Cole started thinking about ways to counter that and have an effective way to throw the ball.
There were some passing plays available in all the formations, of course, but it was something he needed to think about.
---------------
Saturday finally arrived, a day the team had been looking forward to all week. It was finally another chance to hit somebody wearing a different uniform and using different plays and formations.
The players arrived on time, got taped and dressed for the short drive to Hon. Even though it was just a scrimmage, there was a nervousness in the air.
The players were quieter than usual, changing and getting their equipment ready. The coaches could not sit still either, pacing back and forth, trying to shake off the nervous energy.
All the equipment was loaded on a trailer and the guys climbed on the school’s activity buses. The buses were painted black and white instead of the usual yellow and black.
They were basically old Greyhound buses that had been modified. They were much more comfortable than a school bus, giving the players more room.
As Cole settled down in his usual seat, Ichabod sat opposite him. Cole decided that when he did quit coaching, one thing he would not miss was riding in buses.
Most of the players had been to Hon before and were prepared. For the ones making their first trip, it left them more than a little awestruck when they arrived at the field.
The home of the Hon Hornets was the nicest football field any of the players had seen for a high school. Only two years old, everything still looked new, no paint chipping or scoreboard with lights burned out. It was simply an awesome stadium.
The field itself was just as impressive. The turf was almost like the putting surface on the greens of a golf course.
The Panthers finished getting dressed and were preparing to take the field when Hon’s players started jogging out on the field, wearing their bright green helmets, jerseys and pants. Like the field, the uniforms appeared new also.
As the Petros players watched, the line of Hon players kept coming, seeming to never end.
“Dadgum,” Stub remarked, watching the final players pass by. “How many do they have?”
“I got ninety,” Ichabod mentioned.
“Shoot, that’s a lotta players. We could take every boy in high school back at Petros and still not have that many.”
“They can only play eleven at a time,” Cole reminded.
“Yeah, but after watching those guys, I imagine it takes them a little longer to get dressed than it does our players.”
Cole looked up at the corner of the stands and saw coaches from several schools on Petros’ schedule gathered together, swapping stories and rumors, armed with their trusty notebooks. Conser’s coaches were the first to arrive, surprising Cole.
He didn’t expect them to worry about scouting Petros, after not doing it the previous year. Cole planned on making their trip a waste, not showing anything new.
The main thing he wanted his team to do was play football the right way. He wanted to see his guys block and tackle like they were taught. It would be nice to run up and down the field, scoring touchdowns at will, but knew that probably wouldn’t happen against Hon.
The Hornets were too good.
It would be a boring scrimmage. No trick plays, blitzes or anything out of the ordinary. If the other coaches wanted to see Petros do those things, they had to wait for the season to start.
The Panthers wore their white helmets, jerseys and pants. The numbers had not been put on the sides of the players’ helmets as the coaches were waiting until the first game to do that. The players wore their practice pants and old jerseys with different numbers than they wore in games.
None of Petros’ players were concerned with how many players Hon had or how big the Hornets were. The Panthers were used to playing bigger schools and players. The only thing that impressed them was Hon’s stadium and the field.
“Feel this grass,” Happy told Lucky as they stretched. “It feels like a pooting surface.”
“Don’t you mean ‘putting’?” asked D.J.
“Whatever, I wasn’t talking to you anyway.”
Even though it was only a scrimmage, Petros’ fans had crossed the state line in droves and filled the stands on the visitor’s side of the field.
After the warm-ups, Petros had the ball first. Hon took the field, acting like it was fixing to play in the Super Bowl. The Hornets jumped up and down, hollered and pounded each other’s shoulder pads.
“Kinda excited,” Stub commented
“After we knock them on their rears they won’t be so perky,” Derwin stated.
As Cole expected, the Hornets stacked the line just like they did every year, knowing the Panthers weren’t going to pass. It made their defense look better as the Hornets could brag about shutting down Petros’ offense, but Cole knew if this was a real game Petros would loosen up that defense and make them pay for playing this way.
He also knew Hon’s defense would blitz every play.
Gary noticed it while walking up to the line for the first play. He turned around to look at Cole for direction. The Panthers had a dive play called, not the best play to run when a blitz was coming, but one Gary didn’t need to change.
“Run the play,” Cole muttered.
Every year he got irritated at Hon’s coaches and vowed not to scrimmage the Hornets again as most coaches didn’t blitz or stunt in scrimmages. But he changed his mind later, knowing this was good for the players and fans since it was a close trip and the Panthers would see this style of defense in the season.
Gary nodded and took the snap, handing the ball off on a straight drive to Skip, who hit the hole like a blur and picked up five yards. The line had blocked it perfectly, giving Skip a good crease to hit.
The Panthers ran the same play to the opposite site with Derwin bulling ahead for three yards. That left Petros facing third and short, the way Cole liked to see his offense operate.
Skip got the handoff on third down, easily picking up the first down. Cole kept calling dives to both sides, planning to ride that play until the Hornets stopped it. As the drive continued, some of the steam left the Hornets. They stopped jumping up and down and yelling encouragement like earlier. That enthusiasm was quickly replaced by frustration over the inability to stop the drive.
It was set up perfectly. After running so many dives, the play should work like a charm. Cole relayed the call to Gary, a simple play where he would fake the dive to Skip, then follow behind with the ball. With the defense so keyed on the running backs, Gary should have a good hole.
The play worked just as it was set up. Gary slipped in behind Skip and broke free, nobody within five yards of him. As he started to veer to the outside, the ball tumbled out of his grasp even though nobody touched him. Gary stopped quickly and dove for the ball, but one of Hon’s linebackers already fell on it.
Cole was a little hot. His offense was based on not making mistakes like turnovers or penalties. He stressed that constantly. His offense couldn’t succeed with those types of mistakes. After seeing so many last year, Cole wasn’t going to go through that again.
He was still chapped about the turnover as Hon came out in a spread offense, receivers all over the field. The Hornets started passing on the first play and never quit. They threw on every play except for three runs.
Petros wasn’t prepared for this type of offense as the Panthers hadn’t practiced against it. The players responded fairly well, pressuring the quarterback and sacking him twice even without running any blitzes.
Hon’s threat ended when Gary made up for his earlier mistake by intercepting a pass in the end zone.
In the second series, D.J. replaced Derwin at running back. As soon as the move took place, the offense looked even sharper. The Panthers drove down the field, capping it with an eleven-yard touchdown run by Skip, the only score in the scrimmage for the starters.
The reserves took over a little later. Petros’ reserves looked just as good or better. The Panthers nearly scored twice, coming up a little short. Hon’s spread offense confused the Panthers but Lucky and his sidekicks stopped both drives, the first ending when Art Miller made a diving interception.
Andy helped end the second drive, beating a tackle, flying in and splattering the quarterback, causing a fumble the Panthers pounced upon.
After the scrimmage ended, Cole gathered all the players around him. He was pleased with the scrimmage and made sure the players knew it. Cole pointed out they had just played a huge school that was expected to make the playoffs and dominated.
There were some mistakes, as could be expected, but nothing that couldn’t be corrected.
As he walked to the bus, Lucky was a little disappointed. He was not used to watching games from the sidelines and didn’t care for it. Lucky had been thinking about it since the start of practice, trying to reason that it was only because he was a sophomore and playing time would come, but not quick enough.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around, surprised to see Gabby walking beside him, matching his stride. She had on a white hat with OSU’s logo on the front, a light blue sleeveless blouse, white shorts and a pair of sandals. Her hair was in a ponytail, sticking out the hole in the back of her hat.
“Good game,” she stated. “You keep playing like that and you won’t be on the sideline long.”
She smiled one last time, scurrying away toward where D.J. was walking toward them. Lucky was surprised, almost like Gabby had read his thoughts. He knew that wasn’t possible, but sure seemed like it happened.
As he climbed the steps to the bus, his mood changed and a smile replaced the frown.
Chapter 12
That gave Petros three sophomores in the backfield, a scary thought to Cole. He taught the basic plays, the dives and blasts up the middle. It was fairly simple and the offense picked it up fairly quick.
Lucky knew the Panthers would use the wishbone from talking with his father. Like Cole, Lucky loved the offense and could not understand why only a few teams still used it.
He thought the only negative to the offense was it failed to stretch out the defense. When he said that to his father, Cole started thinking about ways to counter that and have an effective way to throw the ball.
There were some passing plays available in all the formations, of course, but it was something he needed to think about.
---------------
Saturday finally arrived, a day the team had been looking forward to all week. It was finally another chance to hit somebody wearing a different uniform and using different plays and formations.
The players arrived on time, got taped and dressed for the short drive to Hon. Even though it was just a scrimmage, there was a nervousness in the air.
The players were quieter than usual, changing and getting their equipment ready. The coaches could not sit still either, pacing back and forth, trying to shake off the nervous energy.
All the equipment was loaded on a trailer and the guys climbed on the school’s activity buses. The buses were painted black and white instead of the usual yellow and black.
They were basically old Greyhound buses that had been modified. They were much more comfortable than a school bus, giving the players more room.
As Cole settled down in his usual seat, Ichabod sat opposite him. Cole decided that when he did quit coaching, one thing he would not miss was riding in buses.
Most of the players had been to Hon before and were prepared. For the ones making their first trip, it left them more than a little awestruck when they arrived at the field.
The home of the Hon Hornets was the nicest football field any of the players had seen for a high school. Only two years old, everything still looked new, no paint chipping or scoreboard with lights burned out. It was simply an awesome stadium.
The field itself was just as impressive. The turf was almost like the putting surface on the greens of a golf course.
The Panthers finished getting dressed and were preparing to take the field when Hon’s players started jogging out on the field, wearing their bright green helmets, jerseys and pants. Like the field, the uniforms appeared new also.
As the Petros players watched, the line of Hon players kept coming, seeming to never end.
“Dadgum,” Stub remarked, watching the final players pass by. “How many do they have?”
“I got ninety,” Ichabod mentioned.
“Shoot, that’s a lotta players. We could take every boy in high school back at Petros and still not have that many.”
“They can only play eleven at a time,” Cole reminded.
“Yeah, but after watching those guys, I imagine it takes them a little longer to get dressed than it does our players.”
Cole looked up at the corner of the stands and saw coaches from several schools on Petros’ schedule gathered together, swapping stories and rumors, armed with their trusty notebooks. Conser’s coaches were the first to arrive, surprising Cole.
He didn’t expect them to worry about scouting Petros, after not doing it the previous year. Cole planned on making their trip a waste, not showing anything new.
The main thing he wanted his team to do was play football the right way. He wanted to see his guys block and tackle like they were taught. It would be nice to run up and down the field, scoring touchdowns at will, but knew that probably wouldn’t happen against Hon.
The Hornets were too good.
It would be a boring scrimmage. No trick plays, blitzes or anything out of the ordinary. If the other coaches wanted to see Petros do those things, they had to wait for the season to start.
The Panthers wore their white helmets, jerseys and pants. The numbers had not been put on the sides of the players’ helmets as the coaches were waiting until the first game to do that. The players wore their practice pants and old jerseys with different numbers than they wore in games.
None of Petros’ players were concerned with how many players Hon had or how big the Hornets were. The Panthers were used to playing bigger schools and players. The only thing that impressed them was Hon’s stadium and the field.
“Feel this grass,” Happy told Lucky as they stretched. “It feels like a pooting surface.”
“Don’t you mean ‘putting’?” asked D.J.
“Whatever, I wasn’t talking to you anyway.”
Even though it was only a scrimmage, Petros’ fans had crossed the state line in droves and filled the stands on the visitor’s side of the field.
After the warm-ups, Petros had the ball first. Hon took the field, acting like it was fixing to play in the Super Bowl. The Hornets jumped up and down, hollered and pounded each other’s shoulder pads.
“Kinda excited,” Stub commented
“After we knock them on their rears they won’t be so perky,” Derwin stated.
As Cole expected, the Hornets stacked the line just like they did every year, knowing the Panthers weren’t going to pass. It made their defense look better as the Hornets could brag about shutting down Petros’ offense, but Cole knew if this was a real game Petros would loosen up that defense and make them pay for playing this way.
He also knew Hon’s defense would blitz every play.
Gary noticed it while walking up to the line for the first play. He turned around to look at Cole for direction. The Panthers had a dive play called, not the best play to run when a blitz was coming, but one Gary didn’t need to change.
“Run the play,” Cole muttered.
Every year he got irritated at Hon’s coaches and vowed not to scrimmage the Hornets again as most coaches didn’t blitz or stunt in scrimmages. But he changed his mind later, knowing this was good for the players and fans since it was a close trip and the Panthers would see this style of defense in the season.
Gary nodded and took the snap, handing the ball off on a straight drive to Skip, who hit the hole like a blur and picked up five yards. The line had blocked it perfectly, giving Skip a good crease to hit.
The Panthers ran the same play to the opposite site with Derwin bulling ahead for three yards. That left Petros facing third and short, the way Cole liked to see his offense operate.
Skip got the handoff on third down, easily picking up the first down. Cole kept calling dives to both sides, planning to ride that play until the Hornets stopped it. As the drive continued, some of the steam left the Hornets. They stopped jumping up and down and yelling encouragement like earlier. That enthusiasm was quickly replaced by frustration over the inability to stop the drive.
It was set up perfectly. After running so many dives, the play should work like a charm. Cole relayed the call to Gary, a simple play where he would fake the dive to Skip, then follow behind with the ball. With the defense so keyed on the running backs, Gary should have a good hole.
The play worked just as it was set up. Gary slipped in behind Skip and broke free, nobody within five yards of him. As he started to veer to the outside, the ball tumbled out of his grasp even though nobody touched him. Gary stopped quickly and dove for the ball, but one of Hon’s linebackers already fell on it.
Cole was a little hot. His offense was based on not making mistakes like turnovers or penalties. He stressed that constantly. His offense couldn’t succeed with those types of mistakes. After seeing so many last year, Cole wasn’t going to go through that again.
He was still chapped about the turnover as Hon came out in a spread offense, receivers all over the field. The Hornets started passing on the first play and never quit. They threw on every play except for three runs.
Petros wasn’t prepared for this type of offense as the Panthers hadn’t practiced against it. The players responded fairly well, pressuring the quarterback and sacking him twice even without running any blitzes.
Hon’s threat ended when Gary made up for his earlier mistake by intercepting a pass in the end zone.
In the second series, D.J. replaced Derwin at running back. As soon as the move took place, the offense looked even sharper. The Panthers drove down the field, capping it with an eleven-yard touchdown run by Skip, the only score in the scrimmage for the starters.
The reserves took over a little later. Petros’ reserves looked just as good or better. The Panthers nearly scored twice, coming up a little short. Hon’s spread offense confused the Panthers but Lucky and his sidekicks stopped both drives, the first ending when Art Miller made a diving interception.
Andy helped end the second drive, beating a tackle, flying in and splattering the quarterback, causing a fumble the Panthers pounced upon.
After the scrimmage ended, Cole gathered all the players around him. He was pleased with the scrimmage and made sure the players knew it. Cole pointed out they had just played a huge school that was expected to make the playoffs and dominated.
There were some mistakes, as could be expected, but nothing that couldn’t be corrected.
As he walked to the bus, Lucky was a little disappointed. He was not used to watching games from the sidelines and didn’t care for it. Lucky had been thinking about it since the start of practice, trying to reason that it was only because he was a sophomore and playing time would come, but not quick enough.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around, surprised to see Gabby walking beside him, matching his stride. She had on a white hat with OSU’s logo on the front, a light blue sleeveless blouse, white shorts and a pair of sandals. Her hair was in a ponytail, sticking out the hole in the back of her hat.
“Good game,” she stated. “You keep playing like that and you won’t be on the sideline long.”
She smiled one last time, scurrying away toward where D.J. was walking toward them. Lucky was surprised, almost like Gabby had read his thoughts. He knew that wasn’t possible, but sure seemed like it happened.
As he climbed the steps to the bus, his mood changed and a smile replaced the frown.
posted by Craig Hall at 4:39 AM
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