Chapter 55

Lynn “Lucky” Lester thought he knew pain before. There had been bruises, sprains, aches and other assorted ailments. But true pain was introduced to him that night, courtesy of the hit in the football game.

The pain was there all night, a constant throbbing. His body was trying to remind him of the injury and tell him not to do anything stupid, like playing a football game later in the week, until his ribs and back were healed.

Lucky could not eat, cough, move or use the bathroom without feeling like a knife was poking him. Sleep would come and go away, the pain refusing to subside. It was necessary for him to sleep on his back and Lucky was not a sleeping-on-the-back kind of guy.

He was a side guy, the same side as those injured ribs. So as he slumbered away, his body would start to turn over and the pain would wake him.

Lucky had taken the pain reliever, the extra-strength kind, and now wished he had taken the doctor up on her offer to get some pain medicine.

She had wrapped his mid-section tight, trying to keep him from moving. Lucky had used ice all the way home, hoping to numb the pain and keep away any swelling. But the only thing numb was his brain as he lay awake in his bed, wishing for sleep to overtake him again.

Lucky heard his father and brother arrive earlier, Lloyd making enough noise to wake the dead. His father had come in to check on him and they talked for a few minutes, although even the simple act of carrying on a conversation was difficult.

He knew his father was concerned for him, but Lucky knew it would just take a little time and everything would be back to normal. He just hoped it would be by this weekend.

The thought of his team making it to the state championship and not getting to play was like his worst nightmare. Even though he was still young, Lucky knew how many players would give up practically anything to play in a game like this, that they played their whole lives to reach a state championship game, but never got the chance.

Now, he and his teammates had made it and Lucky was determined to play, sore ribs or none. Lucky knew he was only a sophomore and there might be another chance waiting for him, but also that there was no guarantee. He remembered Dan Marino reached the Super Bowl as a rookie with the Dolphins, but never made a return trip.

There was no sure thing when it came to athletics. Lucky had seen too many surprising things in sports ever to take it for granted, even if he did think Petros would be better next year.

So would a lot of the teams the Panthers played, in the district and also in the playoffs. All those teams would be gunning for Petros, wanting to knock the Panthers off their pedestal.

Lucky knew what was needed. A lot of ice the first day, followed by many trips to the old whirlpool tub in the gym. He expected to become good friends with the tub this week. Lucky did not like getting in scorching hot water, but it sure beat standing on the sidelines, watching his teammates playing for a state championship.

He wondered if Gabby was asleep yet, knowing she tended to be a night owl and could watch movies all night, get a couple of hours of sleep and look like she slept all night. If she had a private telephone and it wouldn’t hurt so bad to get out of bed, Lucky would call her. But he knew her mother would answer the phone, not really thrilled to be awakened in the middle of the night just so he could talk to Gabby.

Lucky knew her parents liked him, but doubted a call in the middle of the night would improve their relationship.

He looked out the window and watched the rain beat against the glass, seeing the water slowly descend down. Lucky knew it might be storming outside and his ribs hurt like the dickens on the inside, but his blessings had been overflowing lately.

How else could he explain all the good fortune which came his way? His football team had made it to the state championship game, something nobody expected. The Panthers had beaten two of the best teams in his class to make it, in a pair of upsets people would talk about for years.

Plus, school was going good, his grades were excellent, and his relationship with Gabby was getting better every day. He just enjoyed being around her, hearing her talk, watching her smile and feeling her next to him when they held hands.

It made life even better, Lucky was sure of that. It was sometimes scary how well they got along. They didn’t ever argue, both of them willing to compromise in a way many married couples never could.

Neither of them put pressure on the other to do something they were not comfortable doing, a decision they reached early.

He imagined Gabby lying on her bed with the covers of the bed pulled over her while she watched some chick flick, her eyes misting up like they always did at the end. Lucky wondered if she thought about him late at night when sleep would not come.

It was way too early to think about marriage, of course, Lucky was only concerned with taking it day-by-day, but knew if things continued to progress, he would not mind spending the rest of his life with her.

He just hoped she felt the same way.

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There had not been this much excitement in Petros in years. All everybody could think about, talk about or dream about, was Saturday’s game against Anson for the state championship.

As people gathered together at church, in stores, the library or at each other’s house, the conversations were dominated by talk about the Panthers. There was some concern about the trouble downtown Saturday night with the Hodgen people, but luckily nobody was seriously hurt and the people who started it would have a lot of time to think about their actions in the county jail.

Most people had travel plans completed by noon on Monday. The booster club had chartered buses for those wanting to go to the game and not wanting to drive. Most of the churches also planned to take their buses to the game and return after it was over.

It was a good three hour trip to Stillwater from Petros, so many people decided to make it a weekend, going up early to watch some of the other championship games, then getting hotel rooms.

They discovered quickly hotel rooms in Stillwater were not so easy to come by, however, and they had to resort to staying in Oklahoma City or Tulsa, an hour’s trip in both directions.

Nobody cared, though. The Panthers were going after the gold ball Saturday and life was good. There were, of course, some residents who would not go to the game, mostly the elderly residents who either did not care about football or their health prevented the trip.

Practically everybody else would go. The people around town joked all week about how Petros would seem like a ghost town Saturday. Even the Sonic and other restaurants would close so their workers could go to the game.

Several churches had already cancelled services for the following Sunday, knowing most of their members would be gone, and that allowed the preachers to make the game also. Of course, they planned to have most of those people on their bus so they would sort of have church a little early and in a different way than usual.

All around town, banners were hanging, along with Petros flags. All the windows were painted with signs supporting the Panthers and urging them to bring home the gold ball. The little neon portable signs along the highway were not advertising any specials, urging support for Petros instead.

The Petros Weekly Herald already had a special edition out by Monday to celebrate the win with another one scheduled for Friday, with the regular issue coming out on Wednesday. It would be a tough week for Scoop, of course, but he was going on adrenaline, like many others.

Hodgen’s radio station would broadcast the game for everybody not making the trip, and for the other county residents. The advertisements were sold out in less than an hour, the local businesses wanting to make sure this special occasion was made possible to everybody.

People tried to go about their business as usual, but found it difficult. At school, nobody could get into learning that week, acting almost like they did the last week of school before Christmas or summer vacation. The teachers did their best, of course, but knew it was a losing battle.

For the businesses, they really had a bad week, nobody wanting to spend money that needed to be saved for the road trip to the finals. That did not mean people would not come in the stores, of course, it just meant that when they did, it was usually to talk about the game and discuss the Panthers’ chances, instead of buying anything other than necessities.

The school’s website got more traffic than it had all year. Old alumni who lived away visited the site to get all the details about the win over Honobia and the Anson game. Petros had a lot of alumni in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and they planned to make the game, wanting to show their support and experience it.

Cole had so many phone calls it seemed like he spent most of his time talking to people, many he did not know and could not recall talking to later on. There were interviews with both major newspapers, along with the Anson paper, plus the Fort Smith television stations visited to do stores on the Panthers’ success.

Other coaches from around the state called, offering good luck. Knowing the Panthers needed it also, but neglecting to say so. There were cards of congratulations from all the universities and colleges, with handwritten messages from the head coaches.

Cole had been through this before, of course, but forgot how hectic it was. If it was this hectic playing in a high-school championship game, he had no idea how coaches in the colleges and pros got through national championship games and Super Bowls.

The Panthers would leave early Saturday morning in chartered buses. They had several planned stops for the players to use the restroom and stretch their legs. The bus would arrive early in the afternoon, allowing the Panthers to check into their hotel and rest until it was time for the game.

Cole had his team stay in a hotel the night before a game before, but it was a bad mistake. The players had not gotten enough rest from trying to sleep in a strange environment, so Cole had decided from then on if there was any chance to keep his players in their own bed that was the right thing to do.

His players seemed a little overwhelmed by all the attention, not used to seeing television cameras at practice and having to talk to people they had only seen before on television. It was cool for a while but the players also wished all the people would fade away and let them concentrate on getting ready to play Anson.

They needed something as practices were terrible, the worst Petros had looked all season. The players’ focus was scattered and assignments were missed on plays the players knew like the back of their hands.

It looked to Cole like the players had met a goal of getting to the state championship and that was good enough. He wondered how it could be this way. It was good to get to this point, of course, but he and the players should want to win state. Maybe he and the other coaches had put so much emphasis on getting to the title game and not enough about winning.

Cole knew the players were tired and beat up. They had been playing football for almost five months without a break and that was a lot to ask from a bunch of young men. Still, he expected a better attitude from the players, who had never been this overwhelmed before.

But there was a first for everything. The players were highly agitated, getting angry with each other over the missed assignments and other errors. So the coaches tried to get the players ready for Anson while also playing peacekeepers.

Lucky could not practice, per orders from the doctor. He was in such pain practice would be too much anyway so Gary got the snaps at quarterback.

Gary tried to get the players to straighten up on offense, along with Derwin on defense, but it did not seem to do any good. Everybody was just too tired.

Practices were terrible on Monday and Tuesday. When practice started the same way on Wednesday and did not show any signs of improvement, Cole called the team together.

They expected him to give them a good rear chewing, but their coach surprised them.

“We’re going to call off practice,” he announced. “There are a lot of things we need to work on but it’s not gonna do us a bit of good to practice until you guys are ready. I want everybody to go home, get some good rest and come back tomorrow ready to go. So don’t be out running any marathons, staying out late with your sweeties or getting into trouble. Rest up and tomorrow will be better.”

Several of the players just sat there, looking at each other with a look of disbelief. Here they were fixing to play the most important game of their life and their coach just sent them home.

They were also frustrated with how practices were going, but were certainly caught off guard by this. The players gathered up the equipment and started walking toward the locker room.

That was the first night Lucky got any good sleep since the game. His ribs still hurt, but the dull, persistent throb was not always present.

Whenever he moved, his ribs reminded him they were injured. But if he could be still, the pain went away. Lucky hated to see practices going so badly also, knowing the old saying of “how you will practice is how you will play” held a lot of truth to it.

He wondered if things would be different if the doctor allowed him to practice, but did not think it would change much. Lucky was worn out also, having gotten less sleep than most of his teammates. He was also tired of wearing ice packs and taking whirlpool baths.

His skin was either frozen or all wrinkled from the water. Lucky was glad nothing was broken, but did not feel like it could hurt worse.

He really did not feel like going to church that night, but would feel worse about missing the service. Lucky and Gabby went to the service and the calmness of the church sent away all the worry and the pain. Lucky relaxed for the first time, although the pew wasn’t exactly comfortable to sit on with his injury.

The service was great. Pastor Furman talked about the different ways God showed his love for his people and the great returns people got from Him. Pastor Furman said the more a person gave to God, the greater the reward would be.

It wasn’t just about finances, but about every way a person could give to God, through their time, effort, talent, witnessing and just helping out those who needed a helping hand.

Lucky was proud of Gabby, as she now brought a Bible to church and showed more interest every week. She used to act like the only reason to come was to be with him but Pastor Furman’s messages had reached her.

Several of his teammates were also at the service, along with Cole and Ichabod. They had worked on getting Stub to come to Wednesday services but he felt like going Sunday mornings met his quota for the week.

When they left the service and walked outside, they were met with the first snow of the year, a light misting forming on the autos but melting as it hit the ground. Lucky and Gabby stood under the cover of the driveway, watching the snowflakes drift down from above.

“That is so pretty,” she declared.

“Yep,” Lucky agreed.

She pulled away from him and gave a dirty glare.

“You’re supposed to say ‘Just like you’,” Gabby responded.

Lucky smiled, still watching the snow. Two young boys were trying to make snowballs off the snow from the hoods of a car, not having much luck.

“You’re much better looking than a bunch of snow,” Lucky added.

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Lucky had started it years earlier, keeping all the newspaper clippings on the Petros teams. He had quite a bit gathered up already, and was kept busy that week, cutting out every article about the Panthers. The coaches did not recommend the players read the articles, not wanting them to get a big head or get discouraged.

He read them all, of course, along with most of his teammates. Lucky was a little disappointed to see the lack of respect for his team as all the writers wrote about was how Saturday’s game with Anson should be a blowout.

Lucky thought this was a little strange as most of the people considering themselves experts never saw Petros play. Now if somebody had watched both the Panthers and Anson play and voiced that opinion, he would not have any problem with it.

But somebody who did not know where Petros was or even what color the uniforms were, but acted like an expert did not make Lucky happy.

The Panthers were always treated as an afterthought, most of the articles centered around how Anson might be the best Class 2A team ever. There were also stories about how Anson would be even stronger next year, a scary thought for Lucky, who after watching film wondered how any team could be that good or get better.

One of the writers from the Oklahoma City newspaper surprisingly wrote a good story about Petros. He did not predict an upset win, but wrote about how impressive the Panthers’ turnaround had been from starting with three straight losses and now winning eleven-straight games.

Lucky was bothered so much attention was devoted to him and whether he would play. He really wished the attention was directed to the seniors as they were the real leaders on the team and deserved most of the credit.

His father would not let any of the writers talk to the players so Lucky had not been able to get this message out, although it was one that needed to be voiced. He read the story in the local paper, enjoying Scoop’s rather wordy article.

It was homerism at its best, even predicting a shocking upset that would startle the state. Lucky doubted a Petros win would make little difference to ninety-nine percent of the people in the state, but Scoop’s story said the Panthers’ win would cause jaws to drop and amazement in the lives of all the residents of the great state of Oklahoma.

Scoop had obviously not seen any film of Anson, Lucky quickly determined after reading about how Petros would win the game in a huge upset and the writer would not be surprised if the game was a blowout.

Lucky knew that would look really good on Anson’s bulletin board, and his father would cringe when he read that story. But Lucky also knew some people would take it as the gospel, that whatever Scoop said was true.

If the prediction helped the confidence of his teammates, that was great. For Lucky, it did not matter because he knew Scoop wasn’t the most knowledgeable football expert.

Lucky did think Petros could win. It wasn’t a “should” win, because he knew what the Panthers would go against. But Lucky was also aware of how well Petros had played and rose to the occasion so many times.

Sure, all the Anson games had been blowouts this year, but Lucky doubted any of the Rams’ opponents put up the struggle Petros would.

Lucky just hoped he could play. Since he missed so much practice, Lucky knew starting was out of the question. There was a chance he could play, but only if the doctor said it was okay and the pain was not so bad.

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Thursday’s practice was much better as the players responded to Cole’s tactics, the extra rest giving them more spirit. The coaches put the players through another light practice, going over Anson’s tendencies.

Cole sent them home early again, not even running them at the end of practice. He decided if the players were not in shape now, having them run a few extra gassers would not make any difference.

Not making them run might give them fresher legs, however, which they needed. He sent the boys home, again telling them to be sure and get lots of rest.

Cole escaped quickly to his home, wanting to spend another night watching film of Anson. He had spent so much time with film that Anson was becoming very familiar to him. The biggest problem was the starters played so little as the games were blowouts that it was difficult to get a lot of information on of the starters.

He just knew they were big, fast, talented and used to winning. That was a dangerous combination. His players were not as big, fast or talented, but also were used to winning. Cole doubted Anson’s players had the heart his players did after all the Panthers overcame to get to this point.

Cole knew heart and character might not mean much to the average person, but it was huge to him. He had seen a lot of teams beat better and more talented teams by wanting to win more and by having better character, primarily refusing to lose.

That was how he felt about his boys. They were not the most talented team, of course, but they had great character and heart. He didn’t know any other reason for them to beat all these teams that had more talent.

He just hoped it carried over one more time.

Chapter 56