Chapter 37

Lucky hated wasting the day away in bed, but had a rough time getting out of bed the morning after the Big Cedar game.

He looked at the clock one more time, knowing it was time to get the day started. Every muscle in his body ached and made him feel like he aged some twenty years in one day.

He finally drug himself out of bed and walked into the bathroom. Sleep had been elusive all night, too tired to sleep, something that really made no sense.

After the game, they rode around for a while, laughing and having a good time. Toni had sat close to him, his arm draped over her shoulder.

Everything had been so good that Lucky hated for the night to end.

He slowly got dressed and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. His father and brother were already gone to the school.

Lucky ate a light breakfast, cringing every time he moved. It seemed almost impossible to be this sore and tired. A trip to the whirlpool would be nice and he planned to do just that after practice.

He was one of the first players to arrive for practice, finding the coaches in the office watching film. They had already turned their attention to the Lovings Lions, watching Summerfield rip them apart.

Cole knew this was this was a good time to play Lovings, a team that had won only one game all year.

After the battle the previous night and with a game against Summerfield the following week, this would be a difficult game. The players knew Lovings’ record and would look forward to playing Summerfield.

But there were ways to get the players’ attention and Cole already planned a week of practices that would keep the players’ attention glued solely on the Lions.

None of the coaches would mention the upcoming Summerfield game. Cole would see to it that his players did not look past Lovings, knowing how dangerous that could be.

It would be a week of physical and hard practices for the Panthers. It was time to get back to the fundamentals, the basics of blocking and tackling. Cole had not really seen any breakdowns, but felt like the players were not as sharp as they should be.

Cole knew most other teams would not spend extra time on blocking and tackling in the ninth week of the season, but hoped this gave the Panthers an edge.

Even though Cole would not talk about Summerfield, he was already scouting the Spiders, looking for weaknesses and ways to win the game.

The players filtered in slowly. The players who played last night were the slowest, of course, but even the reserves were drained, the effects of the previous night having an effect on all of them.

Most of the boys moved around like old men. Their muscles and tendons had been stretched to the max and their bones battered and bruised.

This was why Cole liked his guys to come in the day after the game. He always felt it was important to get the players some light running and lift weights to work out the kinks and soreness. This helped the recovery process instead of letting the players lay around all weekend.

Several of the players actually fell asleep while watching film of the game against Big Cedar, not that Cole blamed them. He was tired also, and did nothing but coach.

Lucky and his teammates started feeling a little better as the morning wore on. He just needed some sleep, like most of his teammates. He granted his body’s request early in the afternoon, taking a long nap. The phone rang several times but Lucky slept too deep to hear it.

It was late in the afternoon before he got up. He found his father and Lloyd in the family room, stretched out on a couch and recliner, catching some sleep while a football game played on the television.

Lucky showered and changed clothes. Now he needed nourishment to meet the demands of his growing body.

Toni picked him up a short time later and they left for a date. It was not the best-planned date as they never actually got around to planning anything. They went to Hodgen to get something to eat and Lucky ate and then ate some more. They decided to rent some movies and went to her house to watch them.

It wasn’t anything fancy, but still a good night, sitting on the couch holding hands and watching a movie she chose, a love story that quickly bored Lucky. The next movie was about the Civil War. Lucky enjoyed this one, but knew it probably bored Toni, although she failed to mention it.

They both wished the night could last longer, but it didn’t, of course. Around midnight, she escorted him to the door and surprised him, leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the lips.

It was their first kiss, one that caught him completely off-guard.

“Sorry,” she said, smiling. “I’ve been wanting to do that.”

“It’s okay,” Lucky responded. “I kind of liked it.”

“Good,” she added. “There’s a lot more where that came from.”

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Cole pushed his players hard all week, running drills and emphasizing the fundamentals. The players had slacked off a bit and were getting what amounted to a refresher course.

The practices were long and hard, much different than any other week. If the players expected an easy week, they learned quickly the coaches had other plans.

But the players responded well, little grumbling aside from Garrett. They knew the coaches had a reason for it and the thought of an easy game this week was never brought up.

The Panthers were now 5-3 overall, 5-0 in district play and riding a five-game winning streak. A playoff berth was pretty much in the bag but nobody would be satisfied without winning the next two games and grabbing the district championship.

Lovings was only a short drive, less than forty minutes away, barely into the next county to the west.

It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and the forests. Lovings was a small town, an old farming town that had seen little changes over the years, mainly the decay of the downtown buildings.

Everybody liked playing at Lovings. The facilities were excellent and the visitors were treated like royalty. They dressed in a large, plush locker room nicer than most dumps they visited. Plus, it was usually an easy win.

But that had not always been the case. Lovings was a power when Cole first took the Petros job, a team nobody wanted to play. But over the years, the talent pool went dry and the coaches either retired or went elsewhere

Like many schools around the state, it was now a program constantly rebuilding. When a good coach came to town, he stayed two or three years before a better job came along. Then they would turn to somebody who they expected to stay for a while, usually an old assistant, only to find he did not have what it took to move the program to the next level.

There was another new coach this year, one that was an assistant coach out west for years before deciding to take the plunge, fearing this was his only chance to be a head coach.

Petros’ bus arrived just over ninety minutes before kickoff. The players walked around the field for a few minutes then returned to the locker room to get dressed. During their short stay on the field, the players liked what they saw.

“I wish our field was that nice,” Harry stated. “This is like a golf course.”

They felt the same way about the locker room. It was really nice, starting with lockers for everybody. They were not jammed together like sardines, the case at many schools. This place was large, clean, well lit with toilets that were clean and did not have presents left inside.

The players dressed quickly. The specialty players took the field first. Some of the Lions were already on the field, getting warmed up.

Lovings wore its home uniforms of white helmets, orange shirts with white numbers and orange pants.

Some of the Lions actually waved at the Panthers, who nervously waved back.

Stub was not impressed.

“If I ever saw any of our boys doing that, I’d pop them upside their head,” he commented.

“You’d just get beat up,” countered Ichabod.

The Panthers wore their usual road uniforms of white helmets and shirts with black pants. The players were ready, Cole was sure of that. The players were keyed up, not showing any signs of letting up. After hitting each other all week, they were ready to hit somebody else.

The Lions had a decent running back and that was about it. They were a young team looking to rebuild with a bunch of guys not talented enough or mature enough to compete in a tough district.

Ichabod had been harping all week about not allowing the running back to get over 50 yards. Derwin planned to keep him below that.

While there were some empty seats in the Lovings bleachers, the Petros side was filled to capacity early, overflowing with many more lining up along the fences. Cole looked to the side and was amazed again to see Petros had more people at an away game than the home team did.

After all the warm-ups and the final talk, the Panthers flew out of the locker room. A huge roar erupted from the west side of the stadium as their heroes burst through the spirit line and out on the field. The school song was easily draining out that of the Lovings band.

Cole walked along with Lloyd, who was also amazed at the reaction. He was certain the Petros fans were the best he had ever been around. Even during the bad times, the Panthers always had huge crowds.

“I miss this,” said Lloyd, as he looked up into the stands.

“You’re still part of it,” Cole pointed out. “Until the day you die you’ll be a part of this program and this school.”

Lloyd looked over at his father, not understanding what Cole meant.

The players jogged up and down the field, waiting for the game to start. Cole seldom had to talk to his players less than he did tonight.

He stopped near midfield and zipped up his jacket and raised the collar, trying to keep his neck and ears warm. The first cold snap of the year had arrived the previous night and as the sun went down, the cold moved in hard.

As far as Cole was concerned, this was football weather. It rained some earlier in the week, but the field was in great condition. The wind had a bite to it, making Cole think of other games through the years when his teams played in conditions like this and much worse.

The Panthers won the coin toss and elected to receive. Cole wasn’t planning on doing anything fancy tonight, just going with the basic offense to go along with his wish to return to the fundamentals.

Lovings chose to defend the north side, choosing to have the wind at its back for the first quarter.

The teams took the field and waited for the officials to give the okay. After giving his approval, the kicker slowly jogged toward the ball and kicked off, a long high kick that sent Skip back near the goal-line.

He fielded the ball cleanly and started up the field, looking for any kind of gap to get through. The coverage was good, however, dropping him just short of the thirty.

The remainder of the offense sprinted out on the field, lining up in the split-back set with Andy flared out wide to the right. Lucky looked across the line and saw Lovings lined up in a 4-2 defense with the defensive backs playing deep to try and prevent big plays.

He liked the way the defense lined up, knowing this would be a long night for the Lions unless they made some changes. Lucky knew the offense would just plow ahead for good yardage all night if the defense continued playing this way.

As he started barking out the signals, Lucky was stunned at how small the Lions were. They were easily the smallest team he had seen, not much bigger than some ninth-grade teams Lucky had competed against.

D.J. got the call on first down, stopped at the line and cut back to his left, finding a big hole.

He picked up four yards and nearly spun free before getting stopped. Skip got the call on a dive play next, also gaining four yards.

Cole sent Happy in on third down as the Panthers came out in the wishbone. Lucky faked a dive play to Skip, then handed off to Happy on the belly play. Happy powered ahead for three yards, giving the Panthers their initial first down of the game.

Happy checked out after his run, replaced by Andy. Skip got the call on a counter dive, picking up five yards. A trap up the middle to D.J. easily picked up the first down.

Lucky kept the ball on an option, getting another big gain, leaving only one yard to add another first down. Skip had a huge hole and zipped through it, easily picking up the first down.

The drive continued racking up first downs. It was an eleven-play drive that covered just over 70 yards. The final three yards and the score were picked up by D.J.

Jeremy’s kick was good and Petros had an early 7-0 lead. Cole looked up at the clock and saw his team used up almost eight minutes off the clock, the kind of drive he loved to see.

Petros’ coverage on the kickoff was excellent, nailing the returner on the 22.

Lovings came out in an offense nobody had seen the Lions run, a flexbone with two halfbacks lined up on the wings, two ends split wide on both sides and a quarterback under center with the fullback behind him.

The Panthers were confused by the offense and all the motion, allowing two first downs on the sweeps, options and traps.

Ronnie Jones finally stopped the drive, bursting into the backfield, grabbing the quarterback from behind and tossing him to the ground.

As the clock ticked down, the Lions called a timeout so they could punt with the wind. It was a magnificent punt, a high one that got up in the wind and sailed 20 yards over Kenneth’s head. The punt was downed on the 8 and the two teams switched sides.

Cole expected the Lions to change the defense after the Panthers had their way on the first drive, but was surprised and relieved to see the same alignment. He didn’t really understand the reasoning except the Lions just did not want to give up any big plays.

But it was certainly fine with Cole. If it meant a bunch of eight minute, 14-play drives every time for the Panthers to score, that would be great. That was how he thought football should be played anyway.

Petros began another drive, basically shoving the ball down the Lions’ throat, picking up first downs all the way down the field.

This time the drive took 14 plays and ate up almost eight minutes off the clock before Skip scored on a dive from the five.

The extra point was low and blocked, leaving the Panthers ahead, 13-0.

Lovings came back with a drive of its own, eating up the final four minutes of the quarter. The Lions reached Petros’ 30 before Gary knocked down a pass in the end zone to end the first half.

The players retreated to the locker room, not knowing what to think of the first half. The offense was pleased, since they scored both times they had the ball. But they were also disappointed to only lead 13-0.

The defense was not quite as pleased, especially after Ichabod chastised them for too many mistakes. Their coach knew part of it was because the Panthers were not prepared for Lovings’ new formation, but Ichabod was really disappointed to see the Lions move the ball so well after struggling in most of the films he had seen.

“Play your normal defense,” he stressed in the locker room. “We’re getting caught shifting too much because of the motion and wind up out of position. The linebackers need to drop back just a little bit and the secondary needs to come up a little. Lucky, I want you to line up wherever you think the ball is going, but don’t overplay it until the play is started or they’ll flip the play to the other side.”

Cole waited until Ichabod was finished before giving his two cents.

“We’re gonna blitz them this half and make things happen,” he said. “Defensive line, you guys need to get in the backfield and put some pressure on them. We’ve not gotten any penetration so far and that’s not gonna cut it.

“Boys, don’t be satisfied with what we’ve done. Treat the rest of the game like it’s tied right now. We won the first half. Now let’s go win the second half.”

Cole would like a bigger lead also, but learned long ago that winning was the main thing, whether it was by one point or 30.

He had no doubt his guys were ready for the second half. The Panthers were far from satisfied and Cole liked seeing that.

All he wanted was a solid second half, hoping the starters built a big enough lead so his subs got some playing time.

The Panthers kicked off to start the second half. With the wind behind him, Jeremy almost kicked the ball into the end zone. Gary flew down the field, sliced between two blockers, dove and flipped the returner just short of the 20.

Lovings came out in the same flexbone offense. Ichabod surveyed the field and saw his defenders following his instructions. The Panthers would not forget about the pass, but were going to get after the offense this half.

He sent in a blitz and saw it confused the Lions as the Panthers destroyed the play, getting into the backfield and pinning the quarterback for a loss.

It was a sign of things to come.

Petros’ line started getting into the backfield, destroying the timing of the next two plays the Lions ran, tackling the backs for losses on each play.

The Panthers had forced a punt. The punter tried to repeat his previous effort, but this time the ball got up in the wind and was held up. Skip caught it at the 45 and returned it 21 yards before getting knocked out of bounds.

The Panthers loaded up in the wishbone. Happy got the call on first down and blasted into the defense, broke two tackles and ran over a defensive back before getting tackled.

Cole noticed the defense was coming closer to the line and decided to loosen them back up.

Lucky faked the crossbuck, rolled out and lobbed a pass to Anthony Hart in the flat for a good gain.

Skip broke loose on a dive, sprinting down inside the 10. D.J. made it to the 3 before Happy finished off the drive, following behind Skip and crashing into the end zone.

His run made the score, 19-0. Since the Panthers missed the earlier PAT, Cole instructed the offense to stay on the field and go for two.

Lucky faked a handoff to Happy, followed behind Skip and went in standing up for the two-point conversion to increase the lead to 21-0.

It was exactly what Cole wanted to see. He congratulated the players as they drifted to the sidelines, but emphasized not to let down.

He wondered how Summerfield was doing and how many of his players were thinking the same thing.

Petros’ defense shut down the Lions again, only allowing five yards before forcing another punt into the wind. The Panthers’ defense looked like a completely different team now, totally shutting down the opponents.

The punt bounced out at the Petros 35, again giving the Panthers pretty good field position.

As he came to the line, Lucky saw the Lions creeping up to the line and thought about changing the play to a pass, but decided to stay with the run, enjoying how the Panthers were pounding away at the defense.

Cole’s thoughts mirrored those of his son. He really wanted to see the Panthers blast through the defense also, pleased to see the extra work this week on blocking seemed to have paid off.

The Panthers ran a belly play with Skip following behind a wall of blockers for a big gain. D.J. smashed forward on a dive and Lucky followed by faking the dive and keeping for another good gain.

It was only halfway through the third quarter but the Panthers could tell their opponents were basically worn out. Lucky could not blame them, since the Lions’ defense had been on the field most of the game and was just getting pounded.

Petros’ line was flattening the defenders on almost every play, the best display of blocking Cole had seen from one of his teams in years.

The drive continued slowly, picking up good yardage but not breaking a long one. Skip finished this drive, scoring from the five on a power play.

The Lions lost two starters on the drive. Nobody wanted to see anybody get hurt, of course, but Cole was pleased to see his team not let up. The Panthers were going for the kill, developing a killer instinct that most teams never developed.

Lovings continued to struggle on offense, again failing to pick up a first down.

For Petros, it was one of those times when it seemed like everything went according to plans. The offensive line continued creaming the Lions, creating huge holes for the backs to run through. The backs were breaking into the secondary on almost every play.

The only thing the Panthers had not done was break a big play.

Lucky finally took care of that. He kept on an option, found some room and cut up the field. Two defenders waited for him but he faked the pitch to Skip, drawing one of the defenders away as Lucky cut back across the grain. The other defensive back came after him, but Lucky stiff-armed him with his left arm and the Lovings’ player fell to the ground.

The field opened up and Lucky was off, going full speed with the end zone beckoning. Lucky heard footsteps behind him, so at least one of the Lions was after him. But Lucky would not turn around to look as he continued going full-speed, widening the distance between him and his pursuer.

As he crossed the goal-line, Lucky held the ball up. His left wrist was starting to feel a little funny from stiff-arming the defender, but Lucky did not worry about it, just shook his arm to try and loosen it up.

He accepted congratulations while jogging to the sidelines, wincing with every step as pain started shooting up and down his arm. As Lucky stood on the sidelines and watched Jeremy nail the extra point to up the score to 35-0, he looked down at his left wrist for the first time.

Lucky was not positive, but thought his wrist already appeared to be swelling.

With the big lead, Cole started rotating players in and out. The first player to leave the field was Lucky, which was okay with him as his wrist was now really starting to hurt. Lucky made a tackle on his last play, sending shock waves through his body.

He came off the field holding and rubbing his wrist. Cole noticed, of course, and came over to see what was wrong.

“My wrist feels funny,” Lucky remarked.

“Let me look at it,” Cole requested, getting a little concerned to see how swollen it was.

He sent for Doc Hardy to look at it and told one of the managers to get an ice pack and put it on his wrist.

It did not look serious, but Cole knew the doctor was a much better judge on the severity of an injury than he ever would be.

“How bad does it hurt?” the doctor asked.

“It’s not that bad,” Lucky answered.

The doctor squeezed on the wrist, just below the bone and noticed Lucky cringe and try to jerk away.

“Doesn’t hurt that bad, huh?” the doctor questioned, then looked at Cole. “I don’t think anything is broken but we probably need to get some x-rays just to be safe. I believe he just sprained his wrist.”

Cole nodded and turned to his son.

“You gonna live?” he asked.

Lucky nodded, smiling as he knew what was coming next.

“Do we need to amputate?”

“Maybe later,” Lucky said.

Cole patted his son on the shoulder pads then turned his attention back to the field. It was hard to abandon his son like this, but he had a bunch of other kids who needed looked after, not just Lucky.

Most of the starters were on the sidelines, watching the reserves get some playing time. Lovings had little luck moving the ball against Petros’ defense the rest of the game. The Panthers’ offense also struggled, playing against most of the Lions’ starters.

Neither team scored again. Cole was quite content with a 35-0 win. It might not be as lopsided as some expected, but his team played solid and everybody got on the field, much more important to the coaches than scoring two or three more touchdowns with the starters.

He met the Lovings coach at the middle of the field. Cole congratulated him on the improvements.

“I hope you guys win next week,” said the Lovings coach, an immense man standing almost six-five and weighing over 300 pounds, much of it muscle. “Summerfield has no class. They’d score 70 points every game if they could.”

“That’s not ever been my style,” Cole mentioned.

“We’ll all be pulling for you. You guys have a good team but Summerfield’s really something else.”

“I think our guys will be ready.”

Cole shook hands one final time and began walking toward the locker room. He appreciated the kind words of the Lovings coach and his support. Cole knew most of the coaches in the district felt this way, far different than the way it used to be when Petros was always the hunted and everybody else teamed up to try and knock them off.

Now the Panthers were the hunter and actually had some support. It’s funny how things change, Cole thought. He shook hands with as many of the Lovings players as possible, wishing them good luck.

Many of the Panthers were already in the locker room and stripping off their pads by the time Cole arrived.

The players stopped what they were doing when they saw their coach. Cole got a drink and stepped in the middle of the room, gathering everybody around. All the players and coaches held hands as their coach started to pray, thanking God for watching over everybody at the game and asking Him to be with them as they traveled home.

He stood and finished the prayer.

“Guys, I was pleased with how we played tonight,” Cole announced. “We’re still where we want to be. It’s been a long road but we’ve arrived at our next stop. Enjoy this one tonight and tomorrow we’ll start getting ready for Summerfield. We control our own destiny, guys. We win next Friday and we’re district champs.”

Cole walked away, a smile on his face as the players started talking and the sound of laughter filled the room, like it only can with a bunch of teenaged boys.

Chapter 38