Chapter 45

It was a beautiful night, a little cold but not a cloud in the sky. It was one of the nicer nights for a playoff game Cole could remember. It was usually bitterly cold and wet this time of the year so he hoped the fans enjoyed this because it wouldn’t last.

The Panthers knew their coach was angry and it carried over to them. It started on the kickoff as the players went looking for somebody to pound, usually finding a player not expecting to get drilled.

Two Owls were laid out after the play ended, including the returner, who was the victim of a vicious hit by Derwin that forced the player’s helmet to turn sideways.

Octavia had the ball on its own 25 after the short return. After finally getting the injured players off the field, the Owls broke the huddle and came out in the I-formation. The Panthers knew what was coming, a blast up the middle, probably to the right side.

The Panthers’ line easily blew past the blockers and busted the tailback in the backfield, not even allowing him back to the line of scrimmage.

On the next play, Derwin nearly tore the quarterback’s head off on an option play. It was a legal hit, one that sent a clear message to the Owls, who were already wondering what they had gotten into.

Third down resulted in another loss and the Panthers had forced a punt. Cole liked what he had seen the previous week when the special teams went after the punt and decided to do so again.

The Owls came out in a spread formation and never adjusted, even after seeing the Panthers were coming after the kick.

Kenneth was back to return the punt. The other ten players were all close to the line. Skip and Harry were out a little bit to give the impression they were covering the wideouts, but as soon as the ball was snapped, they sprinted toward the punter.

The upback chose to block Skip, leaving nobody between Harry and the punter. The snap was low and bobbled, giving Harry extra time. He dove several feet away, leaving the ground with his arms extended, coming in at the correct angle. Both his hands deflected the ball shortly after the punter’s foot sent the ball airborne.

The ball was blocked with such force it bounced into and out of the end zone, before any Panthers could recover it. The officials signaled a safety for the Panthers, giving them a quick 2-0 lead.

After the safety, Octavia had to kick from its own 20, choosing to punt instead of kick from a tee. It was a low, end-over-end kick Seth Cummings fielded at the Petros 41.

He was in because Skip had the wind knocked out of him during the blocked punt and had not recovered. Seth took off slowly, waiting for his blockers to make a seam. He finally found it, taking advantage of a crushing block by Ronnie Jones that laid out another Octavia player.

He squeezed through the opening, juked one Octavia player at the 42, cut outside and was in a race with two Owls. They had the angle but never had a chance to catch Seth. He sprinted down the sidelines, increasing his lead with every step. The Octavia players gave up quickly although Seth never slowed down until reaching the end zone.

Jeremy’s kick was perfect and the Panthers led 9-0 without even taking a snap on offense.

“You think their coach wished he kept his mouth shut now?” Ichabod asked.

“I doubt he’s smart enough,” Stub answered, pointing across the field. “Look at him.”

They looked across the field and saw Octavia’s head coach chewing out his players, pointing his stubby little finger at them and finally, to top off the performance, grabbed the green hat off his head and threw it to the ground and kicked it.

Cole knew the coach was trying to excite his players and also show off for the fans and the school administrators. Still, it bothered him.

He felt for the kids across the field, knowing what a disservice the coach was doing to the game and his players.

Cole turned his attention back to the action just as Jeremy approached the ball on the kickoff. He nailed the kick, sending the ball long and high, finally coming down at the 10. Octavia’s returner only made it to the 18 before Kenneth flew in out of nowhere to nail the Owls’ player with another vicious hit.

The force of the blow leveled the returner and caused the ball to fall free. There was a huge pileup, everybody fighting for the loose ball. The Octavia player was shaken up, lying flat on his back while everybody else’s attention was on the pile of bodies dressed in black and white.

Even as the officials dug into the pile to find out who recovered the ball, two Octavia coaches came out on the field to check on their injured player.

The officials finally got the bottom of the pile and watched as Sam Roberts fought free from the pile and crawled out, the ball safely nestled in his arms. The officials agreed it was Petros’ ball and gave the signal.

Petros’ offense finally got its chance to take the field after the excellent play by the special teams, a group that had already blocked a punt for a safety, returned a kick for a touchdown and now gave the offense great field position after a turnover.

The Panthers had the ball on Octavia’s 18. Cole sent in a simple dive, wanting to see how the Owls’ defense lined up. As Lucky came to the line, he saw Octavia’s defense was lined up with the tackles too far inside and the ends a little too wide. His suspicions proved correct when Skip took the dive, blew through the line and was never touched until his teammates congratulated him in the end zone.

Jeremy was perfect on the extra point, giving Petros a 16-0 lead before the first quarter was half over.

The Panthers congratulated each other, but were not overly celebrating, knowing the game was still early and there was a lot of football left.

A different player came out on the field to return the kick for the Owls this time. The ball came down in his arms at the 6. He slowly advanced up the field, looking out for speeding Panthers. He reached the 29 before stepping out of bounds to avoid a group of Panthers descending on him.

Cole saw something on the Octavia player’s face he had seldom seen in all his years of coaching. The kid was scared. It was clearly evident during the run, along with a look of relief after the play ended with his body still inact.

The kid did not want to be on the field and Cole wondered why he was.

“That boy didn’t want to be out there,” commented Stub, who noticed the same thing.

“He had to,” said one of the officials. “He’s the head coach’s kid.”

Octavia quickly broke the huddle and came to the line, this time with three wide receivers to the wide side on the left and one lined up wide to the right.

The Panthers knew what was coming again and adjusted. Every time the Owls lined up in the formation, they ran a screen to the wide side.

Skip edged closer to the line, knowing the Octavia tackle was coming after him. But if Skip got across the line quick enough, he could disrupt the play and not let the blocker even come close.

The quarterback took the snap and dropped back deep. Half the Panthers’ line slid over to where the screen was being set up, the rest went after the quarterback.

Skip had the receiver blanketed even before the quarterback tossed the ball in that direction. Since it was a screen, the blockers had only bumped the Petros line before releasing to go block somebody else. That caused the quarterback’s only receiver to be covered and several Panthers coming after him like a bunch of wild animals that had not ate in days.

He started to throw the ball away when Tim Treadway stormed in and buried his helmet directly into the quarterback’s chest.

The ball fluttered to the ground and looked like a fumble to the Panthers, but the officials ruled it was an incomplete pass.

Octavia’s quarterback was slow to get up and had to get help from teammates. He held his ribs and refused a handshake from Tim, instead choosing to cuss the Petros player and actually reared back to hit him before realizing it was not a good idea.

The quarterback did stay in the game, but was hurting badly. Octavia’s coach called two running plays that gained nothing and the Owls were forced to punt again.

Octavia changed its punting formation this time, deciding one blocked punt was plenty.

Derwin almost got another block as he broke free and the ball actually went between his hands, close enough he felt the air from it. The punt went off the side of the punter’s foot, not really a shank but certainly no thing of beauty.

Kenneth sprinted across the field to get the ball, finally pulling up as the ball bounced out of bounds on Octavia’s 41.

Cole never liked kicking somebody when they were down, but also didn’t want to keep the players from playing hard. He knew the play would work and probably give the Panthers a quick touchdown if he called it, but considered just running up the middle instead.

He finally decided to run the play, knowing his players needed to keep playing hard and run the plays they practiced all week.

And this was one that usually worked well.

Lucky took the snap and faked the dive to Kenneth, took a couple of more steps down the line to make it look like an option before drifting back into the backfield.

As the play started, Harry jogged off the line toward the safety, giving the appearance he was looking for somebody to block. The Octavia safety paid no attention to Harry as he sprinted toward the sideline, hoping to help stop the option.

As soon as Harry got past the safety, he turned on the speed and broke into the clear. He was so open all Lucky had to do was throw a halfway decent pass and Harry would score.

The pass was better than that, however, leading Harry just enough he never had to slow down. Harry hauled in the pass and sprinted to the end zone like the whole Octavia team was bearing down on him.

They weren’t, of course, as the nearest defender was well over 20 yards behind.

The fans had reason to celebrate again, jubilant that it appeared the Panthers were well on their way to a blowout.

Jeremy’s kick was good again, giving the Panthers a 23-0 lead with just over a minute left in the first quarter.

Octavia’s chances were further weakened as the quarterback came back for the next series, despite the sore ribs. He threw two incompletions on the first two downs. Ichabod blitzed on third down and the Panthers swarmed all over the quarterback, forcing him to throw the pass quicker than he wanted.

The pass sailed way over the receiver’s head and wound up in the hands of Skip. He was brought down immediately, again giving Petros great field position.

The Panthers steadily drove down the field, picking up good yardage on most plays. Lucky capped off the drive this time, keeping it on an option from the 6.

Petros’ onslaught was far from over, however. Midway through the second quarter, Skip broke free on another dive play and went 68 yards without ever getting touched.

The Panthers had vaulted out to a 37-0 lead at halftime. While walking to the locker room, Cole wondered what all the people who predicted an Octavia win would think after hearing the halftime score.

Cole was pleased to see the players’ reaction in the locker room. Even though they led by such a large margin, they were not satisfied and wanted more.

This team was really starting to jell, Cole thought, and at the right time. He glanced around at the players, looking so young and innocent, not yet exposed to some of the cruel things life had to offer. But Cole also knew they would be better prepared for the difficulties because they were used to fighting, a lesson they learned by competing in sports.

He also thought there usually wasn’t a whole lot of difference between his best teams and the teams that struggled. The talent was a little better, of course, but Cole firmly believed the biggest strength a player or a team could have was character.

The more you had, the better you were. This team had character, a lot of it. That character was showing the farther along the Panthers went. That was proven when his team recovered from the 0-3 start, won six-straight district games and then beat Summerfield in a game nobody thought the Panthers had a chance to win.

That character made him a better coach and made coaching a lot easier to have kids like this. It was a group that made good grades, stayed out of trouble for the most part, and gave everything they had every time they stepped out on the football field.

“That was a good half, guys,” Cole pointed out. “We showed some people a few things tonight. But don’t be satisfied. We’ve got them down. Now we’ve got to keep them down. Play this half like we're behind. Let’s win the second half just like we did the first half.”

The coaches made a few adjustments and talked among each other about the rotation of players. Cole wanted the starters to play at least one more series, hopefully score, then turn it over to the reserves.

Petros got the ball to start the second half. Octavia came out showing more emotion than the Owls had all night. They were jumping around, hollering and whooping.

Lucky wondered if they were on something. The Owls were acting like they planned to make the biggest comeback in football history.

Octavia’s players even started talking smack, not a good idea when your team is down 37-0 at halftime and your opponent has mauled you physically.

The mauling continued on this drive as Petros took the kick and practically shoved the ball right down the defense’s throat, shutting the opponents’ mouths quickly.

Petros’ line blocked great, opening holes big enough trucks could drive through. The backs took advantage, racking up good yardage on every play.

After one impressive run, Cole shook his head, not believing how much Skip had improved through the year. Skip had not been all that blessed as a young child, had actually been chubby and slow.

But as he matured, Skip lost weight, replacing it with muscles. Sometime during the transformation, he also got fast, almost like one day he was slow, the next day fast.

Much of his development came from the time in the weight room. Cole liked the previous run so much he chose to give the ball to Skip again.

As he took the pitch from Lucky and edged past the defender, Cole knew it was a touchdown even before Skip was past the line. Nobody came close to him, cementing the belief Skip was now one of the better running backs Cole had coached.

There had been a lot of good ones over the years, but Skip belonged in that list, even though he was only a junior.

The touchdown and extra point by Jeremy gave Petros a 44-0 lead and the smack talk disappeared entirely.

Ichabod sent out the starting defense for one more series. The Panthers stuffed the Owls on two running plays then sacked the quarterback on third down.

After the play was over, the quarterback jumped up and slammed the ball down, drawing a yellow flag from the referee. Lucky watched the performance and shook his head, knowing if one of the Panthers acted like that, the player would never appear in another athletic event for Petros High School.

The reserve offense took the field, with the exception of Gary. Cole sent in Frank Beck, a sophomore quarterback who had not seen any action with the varsity this year.

Frank was so nervous he couldn’t find his helmet and had to borrow one. Seth and Happy joined him in the backfield. The line consisted of mostly sophomores who had seen little playing time.

Despite the changes, the Panthers again started to drive. Happy kept hammering away at the Owls, running like a freight train. A clipping penalty nobody saw ended the drive as the Panthers could not overcome the 15-yard tax.

When the Panthers’ defense came back out on the field, it was a mixture of juniors and sophomores. The young Petros players flew around like their older teammates, hitting anything that wore a white jersey.

Octavia did not exactly shine against the Petros reserves, picking up one first down before getting stopped.

After the punt, Petros began another drive. Seth looked like a cat with his quickness and moves while Happy resembled a battering ram, running over anybody that got in his way.

It was a drive the older guys would be proud of, one that took fourteen plays and covered 74 yards. Happy finished off the drive, plowing over a linebacker to score on a 4-yard run.

Ichabod’s young defense also continued to shine, holding Octavia in check. When Petros got the ball back, Cole reached even farther down the bench.

It was the guys who seldom played, the players who stayed on the team even though they knew their playing time would be limited and they had little chance of ever starting.

The fans and teammates cheered as loud for them as they had when the game’s outcome was still in doubt.

The Panthers picked up a first down before the drive stalled. Neither offense moved again until late in the game when the same reserves took over at midfield after Seth nearly returned another punt for a touchdown. The Panthers were positive he scored, but one of the officials said Seth’s foot hit the chalk and marked the ball.

Petros’ reserves slowly started driving down the field mixing the dive and other inside handoffs since Cole did not want to go outside with such a big lead.

It wasn’t really even necessary as it was a beautiful drive. The Panthers easily overcame two penalties, much to the delight of the crowd.

All the other players and the fans wanted to see these guys score a touchdown. Cal Doggett was a senior who had never missed a practice in the three years on the varsity team. He was a straight-A student who seldom played, thanks to a physique that at 6-3, 150 pounds was not exactly the usual football body.

Cal was also slow, uncoordinated, clumsy and unable to even touch the rim on a basketball goal even with his height. But he was also a favorite of everybody, from his teammates, to the teachers and community. He was an excellent tutor to many of his teammates, the kind of person always willing to help any way possible.

Cole usually had him play receiver. But once the Panthers reached inside the Octavia 10, he told Cal to go in at running back.

As the Panthers broke the huddle, everybody on the Petros side cheered after seeing Cal at running back, hoping he could score a touchdown.

On first down, he got the handoff and slipped just short of the line. It appeared like he would have scored easily on second down, but dropped the handoff and had to dive on it.

Cal was tackled in the backfield on third down. Cole was not about to give up, though. On fourth down, Cole was as nervous as he would have been if the game was on the line.

Cal took the handoff on another straight dive, keeping his feet and the ball this time. The line opened a hole and Cal took advantage, squirting through. He got hit at the 2, spun around, bounced off one more defender then leaned toward the goal-line, barely breaking the pane with the ball.

The players and fans went crazy, acting more like it was a touchdown to win the game instead of a score at the end of a rout. Cal casually flipped the ball to the umpire like he had done this many times before and scoring a touchdown wasn’t that big of a deal and jogged to the sideline.

The kick was good again and Petros had a 58-0 lead.

Neither team threatened to score again. Cole enjoyed watching the reserves play, letting them get more playing time than they likely ever would again. They might not be as athletic or talented, but they played just as hard and with as much emotion as any player who started the game for the Panthers.

As the buzzer sounded to end the game, Petros was now 9-3 overall, winners of nine straight and headed to the quarterfinals.

Chapter 46