Chapter 29

The trip to Forrester was one of the longest of the year. The Panthers piled into the old buses and started the long trek down the two-lane, bumpy highways. Cole thought of how nice it would be to take the interstate or turnpike to games like many other schools did instead of always traveling down these narrow roads.

But he also knew those schools didn’t not get the kind of views the schools in this part of the state got while going through the forests and mountains.

Petros’ coaches were not the type to demand complete silence from his team. Cole did not want the guys to get too rowdy, but it was okay for them to talk and laugh some.

He just did not talk much anytime, and these road trips were no different. Cole answered when addressed, and liked to point out interesting things, but did not keep up a constant chatter like Stub.

Cole wished he could get frequent travel miles for all the trips on these buses. If there was some way to get them, Cole figured he could travel around the planet for free.

He had been all over this part of the state. This trip would take the Panthers almost to Texas, one of the longest district trips he had been on. There was a big map in his office with pins indicating all the towns where the Panthers played. Cole would get to add another pin after this one, hopefully a green one, which meant a win. A red one indicated a loss on the first trip.

As they pulled into town, Cole saw Forrester was a bigger town than Petros. The two-lane road switched to four-lane as they got inside the city limits. The highway had stores and businesses on both sides of the road. Many of these were dedicated to tourists heading to Lake Forrester, just on the outskirts of town. It was a popular vacation spot, a large lake with cabins, a lodge and camping spots.

Cole was surprised how clean the town was, no litter dotting the roads, and that all the buildings appeared to be in good shape. When they got to the high school, he saw Forrester had a brand new school.

The gym was a new metal building, a huge structure for a high school. The football field had been around for a while and it didn’t take long to see most of the dollars in this town went to basketball.

Petros’ contingent filed out of the buses and stored their gear in the small, cramped locker room under the visitor’s bleachers. They walked out on the field and were not surprised to find the grass mowed so low it appeared to be a green on a golf course.

Cole had hoped this was one of those fall evenings when it rained all day and night, making the field a sloppy mess. That would definitely help the Panthers’ chances, but the skies were free from clouds. It was just a beautiful fall evening, the temperature a little cool but comfortable.

There was a little nip in the air tonight so Cole hoped Stub would give up on his shorts. Stub’s favorite pair was a little too tight and a little too short. The long pants would be a much better choice, at least in Cole’s opinion. But Cole doubted that would happen since Stub was convinced the shorts were why Petros won the last two games. That Petros was the better team apparently did not enter into Stub’s reasoning.

Stub emerged on the field wearing those ugly black shorts along with a white shirt. Cole had on a white jacket along with black slacks, the same outfit Ichabod was sporting.

The Panthers walked around the field, trying to get loose after the long bus trip. It was a nice field, not the best they had seen, but still a good one.

The players retreated to the locker room, dressing quickly to get out of the cramped conditions. The Panthers soon came back out on the field, wearing their away uniforms. Petros had on its white helmets and shirts, along with black pants.

Forrester’s players took the field at the same time. The Grizzlies wore solid black uniforms, even the socks and shoes the same color. The only other color was the yellow in the numbers and the yellow logos on both sides of the helmet.

Either it was the uniforms or the weights in the programs did not seem accurate, Cole decided quickly.

“I didn’t think they were this big,” Stub mentioned, the same thought Cole had.

“It’s the uniforms,” Ichabod argued, not sounding like he completely bought it.

“Whatever, but they look pretty impressive.”

The players were unfazed, of course, having played such a difficult schedule and Monroe was actually bigger, but also a lot slower.

The Grizzlies had a bunch of players who looked like good athletes, and others with good size.

During the warm-ups, Cole watched the Grizzlies work on the option and sweep. Forrester’s coaches wanted to get outside, of course. Cole knew if his team had that much speed, he would try to do the same.

It was hard for the coaches to tell how the players felt about this game. There wasn’t a lot of hollering and encouragement going on, but Cole knew his guys were not scared. Instead, they seemed to have a quiet determination about them. Like they knew they had a job to do and were ready to get it done.

Cole thought they were ready to play, so he reminded them of a few key points and sent them out to play, not needing to use a stirring pre-game speech.

Despite the long drive, there was a huge crowd from Petros at the game, almost as many fans as Forrester had.

The Grizzlies won the coin toss and elected to receive. Cole told Jeremy to go with a deep onside to the right, wanting to keep the ball out of the hands of the best returner, a wide receiver who had already returned two kickoffs for touchdowns this year.

Also back deep was a senior running back that was not as fast, but an excellent returner. Cole had stressed all week how dangerous these two players were and did not want to give up a big play.

As the referee blew his whistle, fans from both sides stood, some hoping for fireworks right from the start, Petros’ side hoping for a good stand.

Jeremy trotted forward and kicked the ball high and short to the right side of the field, just as Cole hoped. The upback tried to field the kick, let it go through his hands and retreated backwards to fall on it at the 18.

Ichabod had assigned Skip to cover the split end, whichever side the player chose to be on. This was a little change the Panthers implemented this week. Usually, the cornerbacks stayed on the same side, but Ichabod knew Skip was the best cover person for the Panthers and got the call.

Lucky shaded in that direction, wanting to help Skip. The Grizzlies came out in the Pro-I with the split end wide to the right. A tight end and flanker were on the other side.

On the first play, the quarterback handed off to the fullback right up the gut. He was small for a fullback, weighing only 170, but was strong for his size and fast enough to go the distance.

But not this time as Garrett whipped the blocker and drilled the fullback, leaving the Grizzlies with only a small gain.

Forrester came out in the same formation, sending the flanker in motion this time. The Grizzlies liked to run the sweep out of the formation and with motion. The Panthers started cheating in that direction.

When Stewart Andrews saw what was coming, he moved out a few yards from his end position. When the ball was snapped, he exploded straight ahead into the backfield. It was the sweep, but with Stewart in the way, the tailback had to cut back inside, where the rest of the defense waited.

It was a loss of two, setting up third and long. Forrester broke the huddle quickly and came to the line. After getting the snap, the quarterback dropped back and looked for the split end, blanketed by Skip and Lucky. Seeing his favorite target covered, the quarterback ducked the ball and ran. He dodged one tackler before Ronnie Jones got him.

The Panthers had held and Cole told his guys to go for the block, hoping for a big play early. Murray Perdue broke through the line and had a straight shot at the punter but tripped and fell, letting the punter get the kick away.

The punt was as good as anybody had seen in a high-school game, a long, high blast that seemed to disappear into the sky before finally coming down. It soared way over Kenneth’s head and rolled to a stop inside the Petros 20, where it was downed.

“My gosh, he killed that ball,” Stub commented. “It went a good sixty yards in the air!”

“That kid could punt in college if he did that every time,” added Ichabod, who was a pretty good punter in his day. “If I ever kicked one that far, I’d get a hernia.”

Backed up deep in their own territory, Cole sent Happy in and told Lucky to go with the wishbone. The Grizzlies were in a 5-2 with all the defensive backs crowding the line.

Happy got the call on first down, rumbling behind D.J. over the right side for three yards. Lucky then faked a handoff to Happy, spun around and handed off to Skip on a crossbuck. He sliced through the line, was hit, spun away and picked up five yards.

On third down, D.J. ran a counter up the gut. There wasn’t much of a hole against the blitzing defense, but he was patient, found a small hold and squirmed through for three yards and the first down.

“This is how football should be played,” stated Stub, mainly to irritate Ichabod, who favored a more balanced offense. “Smashmouth, baby!”

Petros’ line was winning the battle, so far. The Panthers actually did not have a size advantage, but they were stronger and had better technique.

Happy pounded ahead for three more yards. The Panthers were playing keep away, running the play clock down between every play and keeping the ball away from the Grizzlies.

Skip added five yards on a sweep. D.J. followed with a four-yard gain on a blast for another first down.

The Grizzlies were now stunting or blitzing on every play. Petros’ line was picking it up, though, and giving the backs good holes.

After the Panthers reached Forrester’s 40, Happy jumped on first down, leaving the Panthers facing first-and-15. With the way the offense was operating, picking up short yards on every play, it could have been a killer and Lucky reminded Happy of that in the huddle.

When the Panthers came back to the line, Lucky faked a handoff to Skip and rolled out on a bootleg. The play and the fake fooled the Grizzlies long enough for Lucky to get outside. Forrester’s players tried to run him down, but found out Lucky also had pretty good speed. He sprinted to the outside, outran one defender, then ducked his head and ran over a defensive back, picking up eleven yards in the process.

Happy added three more yards on second down, setting up third-and-short.

The Grizzlies were cheating up bad and Cole couldn’t resist. Lucky thought his father was joking when he heard the call, but ran it anyway.

He took the snap, faked a handoff to D.J., dropped back and saw Anthony Hart open in the flat. Lucky lobbed a pass that led him perfectly. Anthony grabbed the ball, put it away and ran for good yardage before getting tackled.

Forrester was getting frustrated. The Grizzlies were not used to having teams do this. They were undefeated and had pretty much did what they wanted.

Skip added five yards on a blast over the right side, putting the Panthers inside the 10-yard line. D.J. followed with a sweep the other way, cut back inside and dove forward to the six.

Happy blasted forward for two more, giving the Panthers a first-and-goal. Skip got the first crack and picked up two yards. Facing second-and-goal from the two, D.J. followed behind Skip and Happy into the end zone for the score.

It was a drive that went exactly as the coaches hoped, also sending a message to the team across the field. Forrester might have just dropped down a class, but the Grizzlies were finding out all 2A teams would not be breezes like their first five opponents.

The drive took over seven minutes off the clock. The Panthers went over 80 yards and aside from the one penalty, were nearly perfect.

Jeremy added the extra point and the Panthers led, 7-0. Now, it was the defense’s turn, a task much harder than the one the offense faced.

After the kick, the Grizzlies picked up two first downs before the Panthers stiffened and sacked the quarterback on third down.

Cole sent in the same call on the punt, only this time, nobody tripped. Harry flew in from the right side, was never touched, dove forward and blocked the ball with his chest.

The ball bounced once and took a big hop. Tim Treadway had to wait for the ball to come down before grabbing it. He took off for the end zone, traveling the final 20 yards for the touchdown.

Jeremy was perfect on the kick again, giving the Panthers a 14-0 lead and sending Petros’ side into a wild celebration.

The Panthers smelled blood and wanted to go for the early kill.

Cole realized this, but it was too late by then. Forrester had first down on its own 27. As the Grizzlies lined up, Cole and Ichabod noticed the defense was cheating forward, wanting to make a big play. They tried to get the players’ attention, but nobody on defense heard them.

It was a simple handoff up the middle again, just like the previous tries. But this time, there was a small gap and with the secondary and linebackers rushing forward, the back cleared the line, saw the opening and turned on the speed.

“Uh-oh,” Stub groaned, even before the back got five yards down the field. He was right. All the coaches had been around football long enough to see players with good speed, but they had seldom seen anybody run like this. As soon as the tailback was past the linebackers, they knew he was gone.

Lucky and Skip tried to catch him, but it was a case of a couple of fast players chasing a sprinter. The distance kept increasing. The two Panthers chased him all the way down the field, but never got close.

The tailback never slowed until reaching the end zone, some 20 yards ahead of the pursuing defenders.

Ichabod was furious on the sideline, mad enough to throw down his hat and clipboard, then storm out on the field before realizing what he was doing. He retrieved his hat and clipboard and slowly walked back to the sideline, ready to chew on eleven players for not following directions.

The extra point was wide right, leaving the Panthers with a 14-6 lead.

Ichabod was waiting for his defenders as they came to the sidelines. It was a good thing Ichabod had calmed down a little by then.

He gathered his players around him, his glasses far down the long nose and his hat leaning off to one side.

“That’s not how you were coached on playing defense for this game,” he yelled, loud enough the fans in the first few rows of the bleachers heard. “All week we talked about keeping your distance and not giving up big plays. I want you to be aggressive but you’ve got to do what you’re told or I’ll put somebody out there who’ll listen.”

The Panthers got the ball back, but the momentum had changed. This time, the offense was shut down, a holding penalty on second down pushing them back farther than they could overcome.

Petros had to punt for the first time, now leading by only one touchdown. Cole looked down the field and saw the same running back who had just burned the Panthers waiting to return the punt.

The punt was a beauty, sailing high and long toward the sideline. The returner caught the ball, but only took a couple of steps before getting forced out of bounds.

The Panthers did listen to the coaches this time as the players lined up correctly and followed their assignments. It had worked the last time, so the Grizzlies ran the same play again.

But this time, there were two linebackers and another defensive back waiting for him. Tim Treadway blasted the runner first, a blow that knocked the runner back two yards before Derwin put on the finishing touch.

The running back was staggered from the hit and got up slowly, eventually making his way to the sideline, moving like the town drunk at the end of a Saturday night. As he reached the sideline, the quarter ended and the teams switched sides.

As the coaches did earlier after the players screwed up, this time they showed some zeal in congratulating the players for the good play.

Cole was still worried, though.

“You can’t relax for one second against these guys,” Cole advised his players. “The guy they are bringing in is just as good.”

Cole was mistaken. The new running back wasn’t just as good. Many Forrester residents believed he was better. He was a sophomore named Darious Jordan, standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 200 pounds. Jordon got the call on his first play and flew through the line, gaining six yards before the Panthers brought him down.

On third down, he picked up another five yards for a first down. The Panthers were not doing anything different or wrong, they just had trouble tackling the new running back.

Cole and the Panthers did not know it, of course, but Gordon was a player Forrester’s coaches had been watching since he was a small boy dominating pick-up games on the playgrounds. They knew he was something special, probably the best running back ever at a school with a long line of great running backs.

He was even better at basketball and expected to start even though the Grizzlies had five starters back off a team that reached the state tournament last year.

The Panthers pounded Jordan, but it did not do any good. One person could not bring him down alone. Two players did not fare any better.

“Who is that guy?” Derwin asked.

“I don’t know,” Tim answered. “But he’s a load.”

“Now I wish we hadn’t knocked out the starter.”

“Just keep blasting him,” Skip advised. “He’ll slow down.”

Skip was of above-average intellect, but this time he was wrong. If anything, Jordan looked like he ran better the more and harder he was hit and the Panthers did not have an answer.

He finally ended the drive with an 11-yard run up the middle after busting through the line, breaking a tackle by Skip, and jogging into the end zone. Since the earlier extra point had failed, the Grizzlies went for two. Jordan got the call again, smashing ahead for the conversion to tie the score, 14-14.

On the kickoff, Kenneth brought it out to the 35. The Grizzlies were now so pumped that it carried over to the defense as they stuffed the first two runs and forced an incompletion on third down by putting so much pressure on Lucky all he could do was throw the ball away.

The starting running back was back deep, waiting for the punt. Jeremy tried the same tactic, but the ball went off the side of his foot and out of bounds.

Forrester’s coaches were not fools and went with Jordan again, as most coaches would. He looked like a college back with his size, speed and skills, with a talent reserved for a chosen few. Unlike many gifted players at the high-school level, Jordan had desire and worked harder than any of his teammates, knowing this was his opportunity to make something of himself.

The Panthers did everything possible to stop Jordan, but the Grizzlies had no problem moving the ball.

There was only a minute left when Jordan blasted in from the two and after the conversion Forrester had its first lead of the game, 21-14. Petros moved to midfield before the half ended, sending the teams to the locker rooms.

The Panthers were staggering as they retreated from the field. Earlier, it looked like everything would go their way, but as soon as Jordan entered the game, everything went sour.

The players had no idea how to stop him. Neither did the coaches. In addition to being confused, the Panthers were taking a beating.

Cole gathered his coaches together away from the players. He removed his hat and rubbed his head.

“Anybody have any brilliant ideas on how to stop them?” Cole asked.

“We’ve tried just about everything and nothing worked,” Ichabod responded. “We’ve blitzed, stunted and used different alignments. When we do get in position to make the play, he runs right through us because we can’t tackle him.”

“It’s like a man playing with boys,” Stub added.

Cole was about to say something, stopped and glared at his assistant.

“Thanks for your input, Stub,” he muttered. “That’s really gonna help us slow him down.”

“We’ve already got nine guys in the box,” Ichabod cautioned. “If we put anybody else up there all they’ll have to do is throw the ball to the split end and I’m just as worried about him.”

Lloyd felt a little awkward in the huddle, preferring to just watch and listen. But he had the impulse to say something that was overpowering.

“If we can’t stop them, we’ll have to outscore them,” he suggested.

“How do you plan to do that?” asked Stub.

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard,” Cole stated. “We’ll just have to score more points than they do. I don’t know how yet, but we’ll figure something out.”

Chapter 30