Chapter 59
Cole stepped outside to get some fresh air. The other coaches were making some adjustments. The fact this season was so close to over and that there was no tomorrow for these boys hit him hard. He couldn’t believe this year almost did not happened. Cole was so glad now he had not resigned during the summer.
He had a new belief in himself and a group of teenaged boys that had been lagging over the last few years. It was hard for him, realizing this was the last time he would have the opportunity to coach many of these boys who meant so much to him.
Cole did not want them to go out this way, for sure. His players deserved better and he was determined to make it happen, somehow and someway.
He heard the whooping, hollering and pounding going on inside the locker room and knew his guys were ready. They had not played like they were capable during the first half and wanted to turn things around.
Now it would be different, Cole decided. His guys might not win this game, but Anson would know it was in a game.
The Panthers came tearing down the ramp, not looking anything like the shaken team from the first half.
Petros’ players jogged and stretched to get loosened up in the cold, then took the field. The Panthers would receive the ball to start the second half. It felt ten degrees cooler than it did at the end of the first half.
Clouds crowded the sky and the wind was getting stronger. Cole thought he wouldn’t be surprised if the weather got a little nasty and was rewarded with a snow flake, only a small one at first, soon followed by many others.
Everybody looked up at the sky, watching the snow flakes slowly drift to the ground. None of the Panthers had ever played in the snow before and decided this would be kind of neat. It might hurt their chances of coming back, but hopefully it would also slow down Hayes.
The whistle blew and Anson’s kicker slowly approached the ball and booted it. For some reason, it was the best kick of the night, carrying down to the 11 where Kenneth fielded it cleanly. He took his time, slowly going up the field, looking for holes to run through.
Nothing really opened up so he followed his blockers, reaching the 31 before getting brought down. The offense took the field. Lucky waited for his father to tell him to go out there, then strapped on his helmet and sprinted out on the field.
His ribs might be hurt, but that was the farthest thing from his mind right now.
He got the team lined up and quickly barked signals. The Panthers came out in the split back with two tight ends and one flanker. Lucky took the snap and faked the dive to D.J. The end went for Skip so Lucky followed in behind D.J., finding a small crease to slip through.
Lucky then cut back against the grain. During the first half, he noticed how hard the Rams pursued the ball and felt like there would be running room by cutting back against the gain. He decided to test his theory.
Anson’s players did not expect this and were caught out of position. Lucky ran past the linebackers and was in the secondary. The Rams recovered quickly, but not until Lucky gained 12 yards and picked up a first down.
Lucky called the same play to the right. The defensive end on that side crashed quickly and Lucky knew he needed to get rid of the ball.
It went just as planned. Lucky faked the ball to Skip and quickly pitched back to D.J., getting rid of the ball just before the end crashed into him. D.J. ran as fast as his legs would carry him, but only picked up five yards before Anson’s great speed caught him.
Lucky had noticed Anson’s defense was creeping closer, wanting to shut down the run. He decided to challenge them and called a play-action pass. The Panthers were going into a stiff wind and Lucky knew the pass would have to be hard and straight.
He faked a handoff to Skip and then rolled out. He waited as long as possible before throwing a pass to where Andy should be running. Lucky was hit just after throwing the ball and could not see the outcome. Hearing the crowd and seeing the people wearing black and white were excited, he knew the outcome was good. Andy caught the pass, for another good gain.
Lucky brought his team out in the shotgun, keeping Seth in the backfield. He took the snap and rolled out, trying to get away from the end on his blind side. He saw several players dressed in white trying to get open, but were closely followed by players wearing maroon jerseys.
Nobody was open so Lucky tucked the ball and took off, finding some room. He sprinted to pick up as many yards as possible, then stepped out of bounds when the Rams got close.
The Panthers came out in the shotgun again. Lucky looked across at the defense, saw the Rams were going to come hard and changed the play. Seth was sent in motion to the narrow side of the field, forcing one of the linebackers to follow him, lessening the number of players who could blitz.
It also opened a hole in the defense, one Lucky took advantage of as he took the snap, paused for a second and then took off up the middle on a quarterback draw. Anson was blitzing hard, but the Panthers opened a path up the middle by pushing the defenders to the side.
Lucky got a good block by Todd Benton, the left tackle, and thanks to the defensive backs running with the receivers and not looking back, had plenty of room. He reached Anson’s 23 before one of the safeties brought him down.
The Rams’ defense stiffened again at that point, stuffing running plays on first and second down for little yardage. Lucky’s pass on third down was broken up, leaving the Panthers facing fourth-and-eight. It looked like Petros would come up empty again, but Lucky would not settle for that.
Knowing Anson expected a pass, he brought his team up to the line in the usual offense. He got the snap quickly, not wanting the defense to have time to adjust. Lucky rolled out to the right, behind two pulling guards and both running backs.
Price House and Freddy Farmer, the two guards, both got good blocks, clearing a path for Lucky to cruise through behind D.J. and Skip.
D.J. wiped out the cornerback and Skip took care of a linebacker. Lucky broke free and headed for the first-down marker and more. Only one defender had a chance to stop him, the free safety. Lucky tried to juke him, but saw that would not work and lowered his head and ran over him.
He was tripped in the process, but already picked up the first down and fell to the ground at Anson’s 7.
Skip picked up four on a dive, almost squirting free and scoring. A handoff to Happy netted two more yards, moving the ball down to the one. D.J. was stood up on third down and brought down before reaching the previous line.
Now the Panthers were facing fourth-and-goal from just outside the one. Anson came out in a goal-line defense again, all eleven players crowding the line. This was a defense not used to giving up points and determined not to allow a score here.
But Petros was equally determined to get on the scoreboard. Lucky faked a dive to Skip, was forced farther out than he wanted, cut back inside, crashed into one of the linebackers and forced the Anson player back just enough to allow him to cross the goal line.
When the officials raised their hands, it was like the score gave Petros the championship, instead of cutting the lead to 35-6. Petros’ side went crazy, knowing there was still a long way to go but enjoying this touchdown like it was the biggest of the year.
Jeremy nailed the extra point then got to kick off for only the second time in the game. He boomed another kick that sailed down to the six. The returner reached the seventeen before getting smashed by Seth and Kenneth.
As the defense took the field, another roar went up from the Petros side, one that was not just for support of the defense. The players on both sides looked to the sidelines to see what was causing all the excitement.
Coming down the sideline from the locker room, dressed in full pads was Derwin. He had his helmet on and was jogging toward the coaches.
“I’m ready to go,” he told Cole.
“What about your nose?” his coach asked.
“I still got one.”
“But can you play?”
He turned around and looked at Doc Hardy for support.
“The doctor says it’s not smart but I can’t really hurt it much worse,” he responded.
Cole looked at the doctor, who held up his arms in a sign of disbelief.
“Do you have any idea how much it will hurt just to tackle somebody?” Cole asked.
“Not nearly as much as it does for me to watch them out there without me,” Derwin answered.
Cole looked at his senior, the nose heavily taped and the eyes swollen so much it would be hard to recognize him without the jersey.
“Okay, but if you have any problem we’re going to pull you,” Cole advised.
“Cool,” Derwin added, snapping the snaps on his helmet.
Anson was running its first play of the second half, another blast up the middle from Hayes. It was obvious something was different on this play. The Rams’ stud did not resemble the player who had a field day in the first half.
Hayes was running about half as hard as earlier, almost like an injury was slowing him down.
He only picked up three yards before getting brought down, not fighting for extra yardage.
Ichabod was the first to say it.
“He’s running scared now,” he mentioned.
“Lucky’s hit took something outta him,” Stub added.
“Good,” Cole commented, then sent in Derwin, causing a wild roar from the Petros side.
His teammates watched the senior sprint out on the field, never expecting to see this after the way Derwin looked earlier in the game.
“It’s time to knock some heads boys,” he told his teammates in the huddle.
Murray was sent on a blitz on second down as Ichabod nailed the call. Murray was in the backfield and hit Hayes almost before he got the pitch on a sweep play.
Hayes tried to pull away, but went down quickly just as some other Panthers arrived.
“He doesn’t want the ball anymore,” Stub stated loudly. “After he got popped that one time, it took all the steam out of his engine.”
The Rams tried to burn Petros long on third down as all the receivers took off on a fly pattern. The quarterback faked a handoff to Hayes, who got rewarded with another big hit from Tim Treadway. As the quarterback retreated, he never saw what was coming.
His split end broke free and the quarterback started to unleash the pass. But just as his arm started forward, Derwin hit him going full speed, forcing the ball to flutter to the ground and the quarterback to fly backwards, his feet going over his head.
Petros had actually stopped this potent offense and would get the ball back. Anson’s punting team was not that great since they rarely got to practice this year.
Cole sent the boys after the kick, expecting to either block it or force a shank. The Panthers were bringing ten guys after the punt, only leaving Kenneth back deep. The snap was a little low but was fielded cleanly.
The punter then started through his routine, taking two steps then dropping the ball. Before his foot and the ball collided, Harry burst through the right side and was practically on top of the punter.
He didn’t even have to dive to block the kick, but did so anyway, just to be safe. The ball collided with his midsection and bounced off the side.
After blocking the kick, Harry’s momentum carried him in to the kicker, hitting him so hard it forced the punter to flip backwards.
Stewart Andrews chased the ball down and fell on it at the nine, giving Petros great field position and completely turning the momentum around.
The Panthers celebrated the turn of events, never expecting this to happen after the way the first half had gone.
The offense came back out on the field with renewed energy. On the first play, Lucky faked a handoff to D.J. and went around the end on a bootleg. The fake fooled the defense, especially the end on that side, and Lucky was able to reach the two before getting escorted to the ground.
A handoff to Happy moved the ball just inches from the score. As the Anson defense tried to encourage each other to stop this threat, the Panthers came to the line, the backs loading up the wishbone.
Lucky faked a handoff to Happy, then turned and gave the ball to Skip, who followed in behind D.J., found a small opening and slipped into the end zone.
Still trailing by 21 points, it was hard to say the Panthers were back in the game, but the turn of events had certainly encouraged the Petros contingent.
The players also celebrated, getting a little out of control until the coaches reminded them there was still a lot of time left. Cole was also tempted to remind them of the score and how they didn’t really have a lot to celebrate yet, but changed his mind, wanting the boys to enjoy the moment.
Lucky was stretching on the sidelines, wanting to keep loose. All the pain had either gone away or he just wasn’t thinking about it with the game going on. He still did not feel a hundred percent, but even with some pain, it was not going to keep him from this.
Jeremy’s leg must have started to tire a little, his kick only reaching the 12 this time. Kenneth caught the returner at the 21, grabbed him by the jersey and threw him to the ground.
The rest of the defense sprinted out on the field, getting a new burst of energy after the two touchdowns and the stop on the last series.
Wayman Hayes was the last player to take the field for Anson, not really looking like he wanted to return.
The Rams got out of the huddle quickly. The quarterback took the snap and handed off to Hayes again. There was a small hole but just as he turned on the speed, Lucky came flying in and delivered a blow that made the earlier one look like a gentle hit.
Lucky put everything he had into the hit. Hayes did not see it coming until right before the collision, only getting to cringe and close his eyes before getting drilled.
Hayes was not used to getting hit like this and decided it was not something he liked. He was lying on his back before realizing anybody had hit him. He slowly rose to a knee, wondering why his head felt so funny.
His teammates tried helping him but Hayes was not ready. Just before the referee called an injury timeout, Hayes rose to his feet and slowly started walking back to the huddle, his legs all wobbly.
The Panthers did not want a member of the opposing team hurt, of course, but celebrated the hit. After the two hits by Lucky, Hayes looked like he thought the bench was pretty inviting. He slowly jogged off the field, wondering why stars were in his eyes.
A trap play to the fullback only picked up two yards. It was third and six for the first down. Anson would have to go without Hayes, who had pulled off his helmet and sat on the bench, drinking cups of Gatorade as fast as possible, the steam rising off his head.
For the Rams, it was one of the few times in the game they faced a difficult situation on third down. With Hayes out, there was no question on what was coming. Anson’s quarterback faked a handoff as he dropped back, fooling nobody.
The Panthers were blitzing, finding gaps in the blocks and putting pressure on the quarterback. Tim Treadway was the first to arrive, grabbing hold of the quarterback’s jersey and refusing to let go.
Derwin soon followed, disregarding his broken nose and the pain, to lay a smack on the quarterback, knocking both Treadway and the Anson player to the ground.
The Rams were forced to punt again. Cole decided to gamble again and went after the punt. The Panthers missed the block, allowing the punter to get off a long spiral that went way over Kenneth’s head and eventually rolled out of bounds on Petros’ 24.
Petros’ offense rushed out on the field, hoping to cut the gap even further.
This time, the Rams rose to the occasion, stopping two running plays then forcing Lucky to throw the ball away on third down. Cole hated to do it, but knew a punt was in order. There was still plenty of time as three minutes were left in the quarter, but the Panthers could not afford to get stopped again.
Jeremy’s punt was a poor one, going off the side of his foot and sailing out of bounds on the Petros 47.
Hayes was the first one to run back on the field, apparently healthy after the earlier hit. He did not break any long runs on this drive, but did run like he had earlier, not showing any signs of tiptoeing with the ball.
The Rams just shoved the ball down Petros’ throat, a slow drive that ate up a lot of precious time. The Panthers tried everything but could not stop Anson. Hayes capped off the drive on the last play of the third quarter, scoring from the three on a blast up the middle.
Skip broke through on the conversion, blocking the extra point. The score now was 41-14 and things looked bleak for the Panthers.
Petros’ players were down, realizing the game was probably out of reach now. Lucky walked the sidelines, trying to keep everybody pumped up and assuring them they could overcome this. He knew it would be hard, but felt like the game was not over.
The kickoff was a low line drive this time, bouncing between Skip and Kenneth and rolling into the end zone for a touchback.
Petros’ fans stood and cheered loudly as the Panthers took the field. The offense lined up on the ball in a spread formation, only using Lucky and Seth in the backfield.
Lucky took the snap and rolled to his right, looking for an open receiver. The Rams had good coverage again, not letting any receiver break free. Since nobody was open, Lucky took off, hoping to get close to a first down before running out of bounds to stop the clock.
One of the Rams dove at him and grabbed his leg but Lucky shook free and continued down the field. None of the defensive backs realized what was happening and were still covering the receivers. Lucky saw he was going to be able to pick up more than just a first down and turned on the speed, heading for the sidelines and the open area.
The defensive backs finally saw him running free and started pursuing him. The receivers turned to blockers and did their best to keep Lucky’s run going. Anson’s players were going after him hard, trying to get away from the pesky receivers trying to interfere.
As Lucky crossed midfield, one of the Anson defensive backs closed in on him. At the last second, Lucky cut back, leaving the Anson player with nothing to tackle but air. The Rams had help coming, though. Despite his good speed, Lucky felt like a turtle racing rabbits.
They were coming fast, four defenders closing in. All the other Panthers were left behind, so Lucky was by himself. He felt and heard the Rams behind him. Lucky knew one of the defenders was fixing to dive at him, so he again shifted, going to the outside as the Anson player dove at where Lucky would have been.
There were forty yards left and three defenders trying to pin him in. Lucky was getting out of breath because of the long run and the cold air, chugging along with everything he had but knowing the gas tank was going dry.
Two Anson players reached out for him, trying to grab his jersey. Lucky cut back across the field, shaking free of the Rams’ grasp. He gained a little more time, but the other Anson player was running along beside him, looking for the chance to bring him down.
Lucky knew his chances to outrun the opponent was slim so he did what his best friend would do in the situation. Instead of avoiding the player, Lucky went right after him, delivering a stiff-arm blow and followed by lowering his head and flattening the Anson player.
He was surprised to see it work. That left the two players who had grasped his jersey. They were on him again as Lucky tried to run away from them. The Rams had recovered and were fixing to grab him when they suddenly disappeared.
Lucky had no idea what happened and was scared to turn around, expecting to see them ready to pounce on him. He did not turn around until crossing the goal line. Lucky saw what had happened and was not surprised.
Skip had caught up and as the two Rams started to tackle Lucky, he wiped them out with one block. The three players were tangled up on the ground, Skip raising both arms to celebrate the touchdown.
Lucky smiled as he kneeled, trying to get some air back. The run wore him out and he waited for some help to get back to his feet. His teammates arrived and picked him up, helping him to get to the bench.
As he sat down, Lucky heard the Petros fans cheer again as Jeremy’s kick split the uprights.
It was now 41-21, still a long road to go but one that was not out of reach.
Cole met with his coaches as soon as the kick sailed through the uprights.
“We’re gonna have to try an onside kick,” he told them. “But you know they’re gonna be expecting it.”
“They might not line up for it if we show our regular formation,” Stub suggested. “I know it’s reaching, but you never know.”
“We can’t let them have the ball again if we expect to get back in this game,” Lloyd stated.
Ichabod gave Lloyd a dirty look, but could not say anything, knowing it was true, even while it was painful.
“Okay, that’s what we’ll do,” Cole decided.
He gathered the kickoff team around him and made sure everybody was paying attention.
“Line up like it is a regular kickoff,” he ordered. “But I want Jeremy to kick an onside kick out of our regular formation, just like we’ve done before. Jeremy, just kick the ball straight ahead. Derwin and Happy will be on both sides of you and will wipe out whoever Anson has lined up there. Then we should be able to get the ball. Any questions?”
Nobody volunteered so the kicking team went back out on the field, the snow increasing in intensity and starting to cover the field. Anson’s return team watched how Petros lined up and since the Panthers were aligned for a regular kick, the Rams went with their usual formation.
Cole was almost giddy on the sideline, knowing this would work even before Jeremy kicked the ball. He did see Anson had mostly receivers and backs on the front line, but Cole doubted that would matter if Jeremy did what he was supposed to do.
The official blew his whistle. Jeremy raised his right arm for a brief second while looking around to make sure everybody was ready, then lowered it and started toward the ball, his teammates moving forward with him.
Jeremy looked like he was going to knock the crud out of the ball until he got on top of it. He slowed just a little bit and basically nudged the ball forward, sending it rolling end-over-end toward the center man on the front wall of Anson’s return team.
The Anson player’s eyes looked like he had the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look. He tried to watch the ball and move forward to recover it, but saw two Petros players bearing down on him at the same time. Before he reached the ball, Derwin and Happy hit him, both at the same time and going full speed. They plowed over him, leaving him flattened like a steamroller just went over.
The other Panthers were more concerned with taking out an Anson player, hitting them before they got near the ball. Jeremy followed along behind the bouncing ball, waiting for it to go ten yards. Finally, it crossed midfield and he fell on it. The ball squirted free for a brief instant, but he grabbed it and pulled it back before the Rams arrived.
He quickly got to his feet, holding the ball so everybody could see it. He ran to the sidelines, the ball held high in the air as his teammates congratulated him and the Petros fans went wild.
The Anson players looked at each other in confusion, wondering what happened to the expected rout. Everything looked so promising until the last minute or so. These opponents would not give up, like most of the other teams did when they got down.
Lucky and the Panthers came out in the shotgun with four receivers spread wide. During the break after the touchdown, Lloyd told his brother that Kenneth was getting open, and Lucky remembered to watch for him.
The snap was a little low but fielded cleanly. Lucky rolled out to the wide side, seeing Anson’s defense was not going to let him get outside, or run without somebody there to stop him.
Lucky’s first two choices were covered. He then looked for Kenneth cutting across the middle. It wasn’t much of a distance between the receiver and the defensive back, but was the best Lucky found. He fired a bullet while on the run, leading Kenneth enough the defensive back could not break up the pass.
Kenneth caught the ball in stride, but was quickly brought down. The play moved Petros to Anson’s 38. Lucky noticed Anson was dropping so many players into coverage that a draw play should work so he called the play at the line, seeing Seth look at him like it was not the best call of the game.
Lucky took the snap, rolled to his right and placed the ball in Seth’s belly. Seth looked for a gap and found it over the left side. The linebacker on that side recovered quickly and came after him, but Seth easily sidestepped the Anson defender and broke into the secondary.
The Rams quickly swarmed over him and brought him down, but not before he reached the 26, giving Petros another first down.
The clock stopped for the first down, but only until the chains got set. Lucky called the play at the line, seeing precious seconds go off the clock. His attention must have been on the clock because the snap caught him unprepared, the ball hitting him on the helmet and bouncing backwards.
Lucky quickly recovered the bouncing ball, but was pinned in and brought down back at the 36-yard line, a setback the Panthers could not afford. Anson’s defenders were in no hurry to get up and Lucky had to fight free. His teammates lined up quickly, but the clock seemed to be on fast forward.
That was a dumb move, Lucky realized, hoping it would not cost his team more than a few yards. He called the play, ready to let Andy try and burn the defense on the lob.
He took the snap and looked to his right, trying to keep the defense from overplaying Andy. Lucky waited several seconds before shifting shifted his attention to Andy, finding him running alongside one of the cornerbacks.
This was one of the few times two players had not covered him. Lucky gauged the distance and threw a high pass in that direction, letting Andy run under it. Both players were going for the ball, trying to use their body to prevent the other from getting an advantage. Andy had the best advantage, though, about six inches in height and long arms.
He waited for the right moment and leaped high in the air, going almost a full foot above the defender. Andy snatched the ball out of the air and brought it to his body, never giving the Anson player a chance to knock it free.
He was wrestled down quickly, falling to the snow-covered ground at the 11. The Panthers quickly rushed down the field and lined up, waiting for the officials to let them play. Lucky looked across the field and saw something that really surprised him.
The Rams were worn out. All the players were gasping for air, bent over and looking to the sideline for help. He quickly realized the reason for this. Anson’s players were used to being on the bench a long time prior to this and were not used to playing so much.
It was business as usual for the Panthers, however, and their players were not the least bit tired. This was the best-selling point Lucky could think about for conditioning. It was actually a little funny to see a team that dead tired with almost seven minutes left in the game.
Lucky called for the snap. It was perfect this time. Skip and Kenneth ran a crossing route to the right and Lucky waited to see if either broke free.
Skip did, cutting to the outside. Lucky fired a pass in that direction. At first, he thought it was going to sail over his receiver’s head. But Skip turned the speed up a little and caught the pass with his hands high in the air. He was brought down at the 2, setting up second and one.
The Panthers lined up in the split-back offense with Skip and D.J. at running back and Lucky under center. He took the snap and handed off to Skip going straight ahead. The Rams’ defense might be wore out, but they rose to the occasion on this play, shoving Skip back before he got back to the line.
Anson’s players again took their time, waiting for the officials to force them to get up. Cole took advantage of the long time between plays to rush Happy out on the field to take Andy’s spot. He lined up at fullback with Skip and D.J. at his side.
Lucky called the play, took the snap and handed off to Happy following behind Skip. There wasn’t really any room and no visible hole, but Happy made his own, pushing the line back until he almost reached the goal line.
It gave Petros a first down, just inches from the score. But too much time was going by, the clock already inside five minutes and counting.
Everybody finally unpiled and the Panthers lined up again. Both the other backs had tried and came up short so Lucky decided to give D.J. a try, running behind the two other backs. It worked as D.J. took advantage of good blocking and dove in for the score.
The Panthers celebrated as the officials raised their arms. The extra point was good again, leaving the score 41-28.
This time, there wasn’t any doubt as to what the Panthers had to do. It would be an onside kick, everybody in the stadium knew it. Petros came out with most of the players bunched on the left side of the field. Jeremy lined up at the far hash mark with three other players on the far side of him.
Everybody in the stadium was standing, not believing the turn of events. Some people had already left and would get a shock when they heard what they missed.
Jeremy slowly approached the ball and kicked it near the top, forcing the ball to hit the ground once then bounce high. A mass of players moved toward the ball, still high in the air. There was a mad scramble, a huge pile of bodies fighting for the ball.
Originally, one of the Anson players fielded the ball, but was hit and the ball squirted free. In the bottom of the pile, players were fighting to get control of the ball.
The officials slowly untangled the bodies, working their way to the bottom of the mass of humanity. Two officials were on their knees on the snowy ground, looking into the pile. One official found what he was looking for and turned to the other to confirm his findings.
The first official stood and pointed at the Petros side, letting everybody know Anson had recovered the ball and had possession.
Cole felt like somebody had just punched him in the gut. He knew his players felt that way, also, but could not let them get down. The Panthers still had all three time outs and if they stopped the Rams, there was still plenty of time.
Petros huddled close to the ball. Derwin looked around at the faces of his teammates and did not like what he saw.
“Hey, get it up!” he shouted. “We’ve still got plenty of time. We can’t be pouting or feeling sorry for ourselves. It’s time to rise to the occasion. We’ll stop them here and get the ball back. Okay?”
The other members of the defense felt their spirits rising.
But now it was time for him to rise up and stop the Rams. The Panthers could not give up a first down or the game was over. Derwin blitzed on first down, knowing the Rams would hand off to Hayes right up the middle. It went just as expected and Derwin fought through the center and the fullback to capture the Anson running back in the backfield for a loss of two.
This time, Derwin made sure to hold on, not just plaster him. His teammates arrived quickly but were not needed. Anson now faced second and twelve. The Panthers quickly called a timeout, not wanting any more time to go by.
Ichabod called his defense to the sideline. He expected the Rams to run a sweep to the far side and passed on the information to the black shirts.
Looking at the faces, he saw his players were going strictly on adrenaline. They looked so tired, but Ichabod knew they were not ready to call it a day.
It was the right call again. Anson ran a sweep to the far side. Stewart Andrews read it correctly and played it perfectly. He sprinted up the field at an angle, cutting Hayes off and forcing the running back to cut back.
Derwin was waiting for him again, hitting the Anson back hard, standing Hayes up then wrestling him to the ground for a loss of three.
The Panthers called another quick timeout. Anson faced third and fifteen now, but nobody expected a pass, knowing that would stop the clock if incomplete and the Rams had not shown the ability to pass.
Ichabod instructed the defense to watch out for the pass, not wanting to give up a big play. But he was a lot more worried about a draw to either the quarterback or Hayes.
As the ball was about to be snapped, Derwin realized this might be the last play he ever played for Petros’ defense. He decided it better be one to remember.
As the quarterback took the ball, Derwin watched the backfield’s motion, trying to read the play. He saw the quarterback drop back and knew it was going to be a draw, just didn’t know if it would be Hayes or the quarterback.
Derwin saw Hayes slide to one side and try to block, making it clear the quarterback would carry the ball if it was a draw. He threw all caution away and went full speed into the backfield, finding a small crease between the center and the guard, both too busy blocking a lineman to see him coming.
The quarterback had just stopped and started forward when a big blur appeared before him, hitting him so hard he collapsed to the ground, barely holding on to the ball.
He had never been hit like that before and did not want to experience it again. The quarterback knew how close he came to fumbling, and just hoped nobody else knew. As he staggered up, the defensive players looked to the bench to see if the coaches wanted a time out, but they told him no.
His teammates were mobbing Derwin on the field, knowing he had just stopped one of the best offenses in the state, practically by himself. Cole had always been proud of his linebacker, but his appreciation reached a new level. Not many players would come back after breaking a nose. Cole doubted any other player would play as well as Derwin had with that injury, either.
Cole also knew there was a good chance that was the last play Derwin would play on defense and of all the seniors, his linebacker would be missed the most.
Cole hugged Derwin as he came off the field and the fans gave him a loud ovation.
Derwin paid no attention to the crowd, didn’t even realize the noise was for him. He took a knee on the sideline and took off his helmet.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. The steam was rising off his head in the cold night, making it look like he was on fire.
“You’re a stud,” Ichabod said. “I just wanted to let you know that.”
Derwin smiled as his defensive coordinator walked away. He had been called a lot of things over the years, “stud” not one of them.
Back on the field, the Panthers lined ten players up to go after the punt. This would be one time when Petros cared less about setting up a return. The only player not coming after the punter was Kenneth, who was stationed thirty yards down the field, hoping the ball never made it to him.
Anson adjusted the formation, bringing all the players in close to try and keep the Panthers from blocking the punt. The snap was perfect and the punter got the kick away quickly, not wanting to take any chance the Panthers blocked it.
It wasn’t the best punt of the night, but also wasn’t blocked so the Rams were happy. Kenneth watched the ball go to the far side of the field and watched it roll away from him while pursuing it.
He failed to get there in time and the ball rolled out of bounds on the Petros 37.
There was just under three minutes left as Petros’ offense took the field, trailing by thirteen points. Without any timeouts, the Panthers could not waste any time. Petros lined up in the shotgun with four wideouts.
Lucky barked the signals and received the snap. He looked one way and then turned back to the other. It was his plan to go with Andy until the defense stopped him and that was what he did, firing a pass in his direction.
Andy ran a fade pattern and got a step on the defender. The pass was a little to his side and he barely caught up to it before the ball sailed out of bounds. He snagged the pass, got a few more yards then went out of bounds to stop the clock.
It was a gain of fifteen, putting the Panthers in Anson territory at the 48. The offense huddled and Lucky called the play. The offense broke the huddle and hurried to the line. He took the snap and looked to his left, then back to his right. Andy was running a slant pattern and was open again.
Lucky fired a pass in that direction, hitting Andy in the stomach with the pass. It was good for nine yards, not enough to get a first down and stop the clock. Lucky was angry for the mistake, knowing that it would cost his team time.
Anson’s players were slow to get up, as expected, taking as much time as possible as the clock again seemed to be in fast-forward mode. The officials tried to hurry things along but did not get much help. Finally, Andy escaped and made his way to his position, lining up as his teammates had already done.
Lucky had already called the play and got the snap off quickly. He rolled to his left, found some running room and took off. He gained enough for the first down easily and was tackled at the 34, not getting out of bounds before the Rams brought him down.
The clock stopped for the chains, but would start again quickly. Lucky switched the receivers, putting the three wideouts on the wide side, keeping Andy on this side.
After everybody was set and he relayed the play, Lucky called for the snap and caught the ball, never seeing what was coming. He was so intent on making sure everybody had lined up right that Lucky never saw the Rams coming with a blitz.
He was caught flat footed, didn’t even have time to scramble or throw the ball away before two Rams were on top of him, grabbing him and throwing Lucky to the ground.
The impact of the ground caused his body to remind him of the injury to his ribs. He had not hurt since taking the field, but that had changed. Lucky slowly got to his feet, his ribs screaming out in protest from the hit.
He got the team lined up and looked at the clock, not liking what it showed. There were less than two minutes left and the Panthers faced second and fourteen. Lucky called for the ball, trying to ignore the pain.
The snap was a little low and he had to reach down to retrieve it. He was in a lot of pain now, grimacing with every move. Lucky took the snap and rolled to his right, the pain almost more than he could take.
Nobody was open and the only thing he could do was tuck the ball and run. Lucky knew this was not the best thing to do in his condition, but could not do anything about it. He ran to the 35, then cut back across the field. Anson’s players were on him and finally caught him at the 29, putting a little more effort into the hit than usual.
He did not take a direct hit to his ribs, but just the impact of the hit rattled his body and impacted his sore ribs, making them hurt even worse. It was all he could do to get to his feet and walk back to the backfield, bent over on one side and holding his side.
“You okay?” Seth asked.
“I’ll live,” Lucky responded.
“Gimme the ball,” the running back pleaded.
“What?”
“Hand me the ball. They aren’t paying any attention to me.”
Lucky knew this was not the perfect call in this situation, but hoped Seth knew what he was talking about. He did. The play was wide open from the start as Seth found a huge hole as the Rams blitzed from the outside.
The Rams’ defensive backs could not respond until Seth was inside the 15, bringing him down at the 13.
Lucky looked at the clock, seeing there was now just a minute and some change. The Panthers needed to score fast. They had wasted too much time already. He called the play at the line and looked over at Andy, getting a nod in reply.
The snap was perfect. Lucky looked to the far side, even faked a throw to keep the defense confused. Then, he looked back to the other side and saw Andy running alongside the defensive back. Lucky threw the ball in that direction, an ugly duck that wobbled as it cut through the sky.
The pass was badly under thrown, forcing Andy to stop and come back. It caught the defensive back off guard and he could not recover so Andy was all by himself as the ball came down on the 1. He hugged the ball to his chest and fell back into the end zone.
Petros’ players and fans again went nuts, jumping up and down, hugging each other and making a huge racket. The Anson side was silent, like it was at a funeral.
The kicking team quickly came out on the field for the PAT. The snap was low, bouncing before it got to Kenneth. He had trouble getting the ball down, barely putting the nose of the ball on the ground before Jeremy planted his foot.
With the timing all off, Jeremy missed his spot, hitting the ball way too high and never getting it above the line. The kick was blocked, not that it would have been good anyway. It was now 41-34 with under a minute left.
There was a loud groan, but Cole did not worry about it. The Panthers still had to recover an onside kick, score another touchdown and then try the extra point, all in less than a minute. He had little faith in onside kicks, knowing the percentage to recover them when an opponent expected them were small.
Cole racked his brain, trying to come up with some idea of what to do. The kickoff team was gathered in front of him, waiting for his direction, when the thought hit him. Yes, the Panthers would line up as they were kicking an onside kick, but that was where the similarity would end.
He relayed his instructions to his team, a look of confusion forming on the faces of many of his players. Lucky was not on the kickoff team, but was listening. This would be a strange way to try and recover the ball, he knew, but it pretty much beat anything else they could think of.
The kickoff team ran out on the field, the Petros fans standing and applauding. Anson’s return team took the field from the opposing side, quickly lining up in a formation designed to recover onside kicks. The Panthers lined up in their onside kick formation with most of the players on Jeremy’s left.
The umpire made sure to instruct Jeremy to wait for his whistle and that the ball had to go ten yards before the Panthers could recover.
It will go ten yards, Jeremy thought, knowing that was not anything anybody had to worry about. Hopefully, it would not wind up that far, though.
The crowd was on its feet and the players on the sidelines all edged forward, knowing this play would go a long way toward determining the state champion. The referee blew his whistle and the umpire told Jeremy to proceed.
He paused for just a second, then advanced on the ball. This was the first time he tried a kick like this, but did not feel like it should be too hard. His eyes were focused on the middle of the ball, hoping to hit it there, as hard as possible.
None of the Rams realized anything was different until Jeremy kicked the ball. Only when the ball did not take a big bounce and come toward them did they figure out something was wrong. By that time, they did not have time to react.
Jeremy’s kick was low and hard, designed to blast into one of the players before he could react and hopefully bounce back toward the Panthers, who were advancing slowly.
That was exactly what happened. The football flew into one of the player’s facemask before he reacted. The ball bounced back at a slight angle toward the Panthers. Harry was able to grab the ball and fall on it.
There was quiet for a few seconds, everybody in a state of shock. This was definitely not what they expected. Even Cole could not have hoped it worked this way. As the Petros side realized what happened and the Panthers had the ball, a loud roar erupted, everybody grabbing each other, jumping up and down and screaming.
Suddenly, it was just not that cold anymore, even though the temperatures had dropped into the mid-teens.
Lucky tried to keep his calm, but his emotions going crazy. He wanted to jump up and down and scream like everybody else, but knew this was not the time. The Panthers recovered the ball and had a chance, but he would not celebrate until they scored and won the game.
Cole grabbed his son before he took the field.
“We’ve got plenty of time,” Cole advised, looking up at the huge scoreboard. “We have a timeout but try not to use it unless it’s an emergency. The receivers have got to catch the ball and get out of bounds. Don’t throw anything less than enough yards for a first down unless your receiver is wide open and has plenty of room to run.
“This is our time,” he added, putting his arm around Lucky and squeezing. “Take advantage of it.”
Lucky nodded and jogged out on the field, followed by his teammates. Everybody in the bleachers stood, the nerves on end. This was beyond anything they could imagine.
The offense lined up in the shotgun again. Lucky had three receivers to his right, two to his left this time. He called the signals and took the snap. Four of the receivers went deep, carrying the secondary with them.
Harry was lined up just outside the left tackle. He slipped across the field, none of the secondary bothering to cover him. Lucky waited for Harry to clear the linebackers then lobbed a pass in his direction.
The pass was a little high so Harry had to leap and grab it. He had plenty of running room, heading toward the sidelines so he could get out of bounds and stop the clock. None of the Rams could stop him until he reached the Anson 39, giving Petros a first down.
Lucky looked at the clock, seeing there were only 39 seconds remaining, which was appropriate. He decided the Panthers needed to gain at least one yard for every second left, which would move them into the end zone.
Petros lined up quickly again, four receivers on the left side of the field. Anson’s secondary was playing deep, giving the Petros receivers almost ten yards of cushion.
Lucky got the snap and fired a quick pass to Andy, who caught the pass and quickly went out of bounds. It was good for a gain of eight yards, taking only four seconds.
The Panthers came out in the same formation. Anson’s secondary realized there was too much cushion and moved forward, cutting it down to five yards. As Lucky looked over the secondary and the lone linebacker, he saw one of the defensive backs cheating forward, as was the linebacker.
Lucky knew a blitz was coming. This would leave Skip open, if there was enough time to get the pass off. The snap was a little low, forcing Lucky to hurry. He did not see the players coming, but felt the pressure.
With everybody converging on him, Lucky could not see Skip, only knew where he should be. The Petros quarterback threw the ball in that direction, barely getting it away before two Rams made a sandwich out of him.
All the air was knocked out of him and he slumped to the ground, the pain returning in full force. The two Anson players made sure to put a little extra into in and escorted Lucky to the ground, falling on top of him.
As Lucky lay on the ground, gasping for air, he heard the Petros side roar. The two Rams slowly got off him and Lucky raised his head, looking down the field. He saw had Skip had caught the pass and made it far down the field before getting tackled.
Danny Wall helped Lucky up and escorted him down the field.
“You okay?” Danny asked.
“I’m great,” Lucky answered, but knew that did not sound very convincing.
The pain was almost too much to stand. He was still having trouble breathing and felt like somebody was hitting his side with a baseball bat. But Lucky refused to give in to the pain, would not hold his ribs or show anything was wrong.
Petros was already lined up when Lucky and Danny arrived. The officials had blown the whistle and the clock started even before Lucky called the play. The seconds were ticking away, much too fast for the Panthers.
Danny’s snap was perfect this time. Lucky looked for Andy on the fade but saw he was covered by two Anson players. Skip was covered also, so Lucky looked for Kenneth or Harry. Neither player was open so Lucky rolled out to his right, to the wide side.
The line was doing a good job holding off the Anson players, giving Lucky time to scan the field. He knew his time was limited, however, and hoped somebody got open quick. Finally, Lucky saw Harry angling toward the side, having gained a couple of steps with a good fake.
Lucky fired the pass, getting it to Harry right on the sideline, two yards short of the end zone. A defensive back quickly knocked him out of bounds, preventing the touchdown. The clock was stopped with only eleven seconds remaining.
The Panthers huddled. Lucky wasn’t sure what formation his team should be in and looked to the sideline. His father was talking to Happy, giving him a play to bring in. This meant the Panthers would abandon the shotgun and go with the wishbone, which was fine with Lucky.
Happy rushed to the huddle and relayed the call. Lucky then gave the rest of the offense the call and formation.
The Panthers came to the line with two tight ends and three running backs. Anson quickly changed its defense, moving players closer to the line. Lucky did not wait for the defense to get settled, of course, taking advantage of the confusion by getting a quick snap.
He faked a handoff to Happy up the middle, spun around and placed the ball in Skip’s belly, waited for just a second, then rolled out in that direction. Anson’s defensive end did not take the fake, staying at home with his eyes fixed on Lucky.
Lucky tried to get outside the defensive end, but quickly discovered that wasn’t going to happen. The end continued pushing him farther outside. Lucky had planned to run the ball, but did have the option of running or passing. With the defensive end about to tackle him, Lucky looked into the end zone and saw what he hoped to see.
Anthony Hart had faked a block, waited two counts before drifting back toward the corner of the end zone. One of the linebackers was in front of him, going after Lucky while the cornerback on that side tried to recover in time to cover Anthony.
Lucky lobbed the pass over the cornerback sprinting toward Anthony. The pass was actually a little high, forcing Anthony to vault. Lucky was sure the pass was going to sail out of the end zone when he saw Anthony jump high in the air, grab the ball with his hands and bring it down, just short of the back line and before the cornerback crashed into him.
The back judge rushed over to where the two players were tangled together. He leaned down, moved around a second then saw what he was looking for. He stood straight and threw his arms high above his head.
Lucky was sitting down, but when he saw the official’s reaction, the celebration started. Lucky fell back down and threw his arms up, making his hands into fists and pumping them. This was more than he hoped for, undoubtedly the best comeback Lucky had ever been part of or seen.
He celebrated for just a second, then got to his feet and rushed into the end zone to join his teammates congratulating Anthony.
Lucky looked to the sideline and saw his father motioning for a timeout. He turned to the nearest official and asked for time. After the official granted his wish, Lucky rounded up his teammates and ran to the sideline.
The other players and coaches were waiting for them, offering congratulations. The score was 41-40 in favor of Anson.
He watched the coaches break off and discuss the situation. Lucky expected his father to have them kick the extra point and go into overtime. But he also knew his father did not like overtime and would rather have the game decided now, if possible.
“What’re we gonna do?” Stub asked.
“We’re gonna get the two points here and take the gold ball home,” Cole advised. “This is our time. All the momentum is going our way.”
“You sure we shouldn’t kick the extra point?” Stub questioned.
“I’m positive,” Cole answered, and the other coaches knew better than to second-guess him. They knew his mind was made up and it wouldn’t do any good to try and talk him out of it. “This is what we’re gonna do…”
Cole relayed his plans to his coaches, then came over to tell the players.
“You boys wanna win the game now or go into overtime?” he asked.
“Let’s win it,” Skip answered, his opinion echoed by his teammates.
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Cole told the team what play to run and asked if there were any questions. There were no questions so he sent the offense back out on the field, as the Petros contingent made all the noise they could.
Anson’s defense was already lined up, expecting an extra point. Lucky brought his team to the line and had them line up with D.J. at running back and Skip at slotback, two tight ends and Andy at the flanker, split wide to the right.
The Rams called time to set the defense, just before Lucky got the play started. Both teams went back to the sidelines to talk with the coaches.
“You still want us to run the same play?” Lucky asked.
“I believe it’ll work,” Cole stated. “And you?”
“Yes sir.”
The teams stayed with their coaches as long as possible, not dispersing until the officials forced them. The ball was in the middle of the field, Gallagher-Iba Arena serving as the backdrop. Lucky waited for the officials to let them play, and slowly started barking the signals.
Anson’s defense was crowding the line, just as Cole hoped. Lucky got to the second “hit” and the ball was snapped. He dropped back five steps and set up with his passing arm high, looking like he was fixing to throw the ball. Just before the defense got to him, Skip circled back and grabbed the ball out of Lucky's hand and sprinted to the left.
The play worked perfectly. Only one defender was between Skip and the end zone. The cornerback on that side dove at Skip's legs, right before he cleanly hurdled the defender. Skip took one step and fell to the ground. He looked around, saw the official rushing up toward him with both arms raised.
The old Statue of Liberty play had worked, the first time many fans had ever seen the play run.
The Petros side swarmed onto the field, seeing there wasn’t any time left. The scorekeeper quickly added the two points, showing a score of Petros 42, Anson 41.
Cole was the first one to suspect something wasn’t right. He saw the officials huddled together, discussing something. Then, he saw it, a yellow flag littering the ground in the center of the field.
The referee started waving his arms, trying to get everybody’s attention. The other officials made sure the two teams did not leave the field and all the extra Petros players returned to the sideline.
Cole watched in disbelief as the official signaled a penalty for illegal procedure and pointed in Petros’ direction. Cole had not seen anybody move, nor had any of the other coaches or players. He took his hat off and slammed it to the ground, a display of emotion seldom seen out of him.
With boos cascading down from that side of the stadium and cheers coming from the far side, the referee tried to avoid the wrath of the Petros side. Cole finally got the line judge’s attention and requested a meeting with the referee.
The line judge went out to the middle of the field and relayed the request to the referee. Cole saw the referee shake his head and knew he was out of luck. The line judge got the duty of informing Cole of the referee’s decision, one that was not easy.
“He said there isn’t anything to talk about,” the line judge said.
“I think it would be good if we talked about that call,” Cole advised, his voice loud enough the band could hear him.
“I’m sorry, Coach.”
“You’re not the one who should be sorry,” Cole shouted. “It’s the ref. I want to know who moved?”
“He said it was somebody on the right side,” the line judge replied.
“That’s it? No number or position?”
“I didn’t hear anything like that.”
Cole stepped back from the official, so upset he was quivering.
“Did you see anybody jump?” Cole asked.
“That’s not my call, Coach.”
“But did you see anybody jump?”
“That is not my call,” the official repeated.
“But would you tell me if you saw anybody jump?”
The official looked him in the eye, then nodded.
Cole shook his head as the official jogged away. He realized his fans were not displaying good sportsmanship, not that his behavior had been all that good either, then turned and waved at the crowd to stop booing and hollering at the officials.
The referee was moving the ball back to the eight. There really wasn’t anything else to do so Cole grabbed Jeremy and sent him and the kicking team in to kick the extra point and send the game into overtime.
“That was a bad call,” Lucky told his father. “Nobody jumped and the ref wouldn’t talk about it.”
Cole nodded and patted his son on his shoulder pads.
“We’ll just have to win it in overtime now,” he responded.
The clock had started and there wasn’t much time left for Petros to get the play off without getting another penalty.
The Panthers rushed to get set. Cole noticed this and tried to get his players to calm down. Now would not be that bad of a time to get a penalty, if it happened, but it was a terrible time for the boys to be rushing. It would only be five yards back, still an easy kick for Jeremy.
Petros finally lined up with only five seconds left on the play clock. Cole noticed Jeremy had not lined up far enough back, appearing to be only five yards back instead of the usual seven. He tried to holler at his players to get their attention, but it was too loud and they were too worried about getting the kick off.
“He’s too close,” Lucky mentioned, seeing the same thing his father saw.
The snap was a little high, but Harry handled it easily and got the ball down, turning the laces just before Jeremy kicked the ball. Anson loaded up the middle and came hard, breaking through a small gap. Wayman Hayes had caused plenty of troubles for Petros the whole game.
He wasn’t through.
Cole saw the hole breaking open and knew this wasn’t good. Jeremy kept his head down and met the ball perfect. But there were two thuds, the sound a kicker and holder hated to hear. The first was Jeremy kicking the ball, of course, the second was the sound of the ball hitting another body, probably an opponent trying to block the kick.
It was Hayes, of course. He had broke through the line and jumped high, his hand coming into contact with the football. It was more of a deflection than a block, though, sending the ball in a different direction instead of knocking it back toward the other end zone.
Cole watched as the ball deflected off Hayes, but still appeared to be going through the two goalposts. He thought it would be good, until the ball hit the far goalpost.
He felt everything leave him, seeing the ball bounce to the ground as the two officials waved their arms.
Cole could only stand and stare, watching the ball bounce on the ground, knowing his team had just came up short. His players fell to the ground, heads buried. Anson’s players began celebrating, jumping in their teammates’ arms and running around the field.
Lucky took off his helmet and dropped it to the ground. This was too hard to believe. Just a minute earlier, it looked like the Panthers had won the state championship. Now, Petros would not even get to go into overtime. The game was over. He looked at the scoreboard and saw the final score read: Anson 41 and Petros 40.
Jeremy was walking toward the sideline, tears already streaming down his cheeks. Two of his teammates were already trying to console him, but having no luck. Cole wanted to go after the official, holler at him and tell him how bad his players were hurting.
That’s what he wanted to do, but didn’t, of course. Instead, he slowly put the hat back on and jogged down to where Jeremy was now down on his knees, his helmet and head resting on the fake grass.
He now had several teammates trying to console him. Cole moved in close to his kicker and started patting him on the back.
“I lost us the game,” Jeremy kept saying.
“You didn’t lose nothing,” Cole stated. “They blocked the kick. They made a great play. Nobody here blames you, Jeremy. You don’t have anything to feel bad about. Their guy just made a great play. I can guarantee you, son, you did us a lot more good than bad. Shake it off and go shake their hands, Jeremy.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jeremy added.
Cole pulled his kicker to his feet and put his arms around him. He knew this one would hurt for a long time and wished something could be done to console him.
He saw Jeremy’s parents had arrived and Cole let them try to make their son feel better. There were a bunch of other players who needed their coach now, too. Cole walked around the field, saying a few words to his players, who were still prone on the ground, crying their eyes out.
The Anson coaches came and shook his hand. Cole appreciated the effort, of course, but still wanted to be with his players. He and the other coaches got the players together for the award’s ceremony.
The Panthers would get a trophy as runner up, of course, but not the one they wanted. There was only one player who wasn’t crying, and that was Lucky. He was too angry right now to be crying, knowing the officials had kept his team from winning the state championship.
Lucky stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the gold ball. Cole noticed his son’s reactions and had never seen him look this way. Lucky always wanted to win and hated to lose, but now looked like he wanted to bite somebody’s head off and chew it up.
Cole sent Derwin and the other seniors to the platform to accept the runner-up trophy. They all looked at it like an unwanted Christmas gift, not caring for it one bit.
The state officials then introduced Anson as the state champions for Class 2A, trying hard not to let the boos from Petros’ side distract him. Cole quieted his crowd, not wanting to ruin this moment for Anson. Sure, the referee had made a questionable call and Petros probably deserved this trophy, but it wasn’t the Rams’ fault.
Cole watched as the trophy was handed to the Anson players and clapped lightly, along with his players. They slowly started walking off the field, trying hard to maintain their composure.
Gabby was waiting near the end zone for Lucky. She knew he was hurting and wished there was some way to take away this pain.
Lucky looked like he was mad at the world while walking toward her. She walked toward him and put her arms around him.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.
Lucky nodded and held her closer.
“We should’ve won this game,” he responded.
“I know. You’ll have other chances.”
Lucky started to sniffle a bit, the emotions finally starting to overtake him.
“Yeah, I will,” he answered, pointing to a group of seniors standing around each other, “but they won’t.”
“That was the best game I’ve ever seen.”
“It should have been better,” he added.
They walked toward the locker room, stopping just short of the ramp leading into the locker room.
The Anson players and fans were still in the middle of the field, celebrating another state championship. The Petros fans were slowly filing out of the stadium, ready to make the long drive home.
“I don’t like this feeling,” Lucky stated.
“What feeling?” she asked.
“Losing.”
“Well,” she replied, kissing him lightly. “Don’t let it happen again.”
He paused for one last look around the field, the hurt growing worse by the second. Lucky wanted to remember this moment, to recall how bad it felt to see another team celebrate while his team came up short. He knew that would keep him motivated when times were tough.
“I don’t plan on it,” he answered, turned around and started walking up the ramp, vowing to never let this happen again.
THE END.
He had a new belief in himself and a group of teenaged boys that had been lagging over the last few years. It was hard for him, realizing this was the last time he would have the opportunity to coach many of these boys who meant so much to him.
Cole did not want them to go out this way, for sure. His players deserved better and he was determined to make it happen, somehow and someway.
He heard the whooping, hollering and pounding going on inside the locker room and knew his guys were ready. They had not played like they were capable during the first half and wanted to turn things around.
Now it would be different, Cole decided. His guys might not win this game, but Anson would know it was in a game.
The Panthers came tearing down the ramp, not looking anything like the shaken team from the first half.
Petros’ players jogged and stretched to get loosened up in the cold, then took the field. The Panthers would receive the ball to start the second half. It felt ten degrees cooler than it did at the end of the first half.
Clouds crowded the sky and the wind was getting stronger. Cole thought he wouldn’t be surprised if the weather got a little nasty and was rewarded with a snow flake, only a small one at first, soon followed by many others.
Everybody looked up at the sky, watching the snow flakes slowly drift to the ground. None of the Panthers had ever played in the snow before and decided this would be kind of neat. It might hurt their chances of coming back, but hopefully it would also slow down Hayes.
The whistle blew and Anson’s kicker slowly approached the ball and booted it. For some reason, it was the best kick of the night, carrying down to the 11 where Kenneth fielded it cleanly. He took his time, slowly going up the field, looking for holes to run through.
Nothing really opened up so he followed his blockers, reaching the 31 before getting brought down. The offense took the field. Lucky waited for his father to tell him to go out there, then strapped on his helmet and sprinted out on the field.
His ribs might be hurt, but that was the farthest thing from his mind right now.
He got the team lined up and quickly barked signals. The Panthers came out in the split back with two tight ends and one flanker. Lucky took the snap and faked the dive to D.J. The end went for Skip so Lucky followed in behind D.J., finding a small crease to slip through.
Lucky then cut back against the grain. During the first half, he noticed how hard the Rams pursued the ball and felt like there would be running room by cutting back against the gain. He decided to test his theory.
Anson’s players did not expect this and were caught out of position. Lucky ran past the linebackers and was in the secondary. The Rams recovered quickly, but not until Lucky gained 12 yards and picked up a first down.
Lucky called the same play to the right. The defensive end on that side crashed quickly and Lucky knew he needed to get rid of the ball.
It went just as planned. Lucky faked the ball to Skip and quickly pitched back to D.J., getting rid of the ball just before the end crashed into him. D.J. ran as fast as his legs would carry him, but only picked up five yards before Anson’s great speed caught him.
Lucky had noticed Anson’s defense was creeping closer, wanting to shut down the run. He decided to challenge them and called a play-action pass. The Panthers were going into a stiff wind and Lucky knew the pass would have to be hard and straight.
He faked a handoff to Skip and then rolled out. He waited as long as possible before throwing a pass to where Andy should be running. Lucky was hit just after throwing the ball and could not see the outcome. Hearing the crowd and seeing the people wearing black and white were excited, he knew the outcome was good. Andy caught the pass, for another good gain.
Lucky brought his team out in the shotgun, keeping Seth in the backfield. He took the snap and rolled out, trying to get away from the end on his blind side. He saw several players dressed in white trying to get open, but were closely followed by players wearing maroon jerseys.
Nobody was open so Lucky tucked the ball and took off, finding some room. He sprinted to pick up as many yards as possible, then stepped out of bounds when the Rams got close.
The Panthers came out in the shotgun again. Lucky looked across at the defense, saw the Rams were going to come hard and changed the play. Seth was sent in motion to the narrow side of the field, forcing one of the linebackers to follow him, lessening the number of players who could blitz.
It also opened a hole in the defense, one Lucky took advantage of as he took the snap, paused for a second and then took off up the middle on a quarterback draw. Anson was blitzing hard, but the Panthers opened a path up the middle by pushing the defenders to the side.
Lucky got a good block by Todd Benton, the left tackle, and thanks to the defensive backs running with the receivers and not looking back, had plenty of room. He reached Anson’s 23 before one of the safeties brought him down.
The Rams’ defense stiffened again at that point, stuffing running plays on first and second down for little yardage. Lucky’s pass on third down was broken up, leaving the Panthers facing fourth-and-eight. It looked like Petros would come up empty again, but Lucky would not settle for that.
Knowing Anson expected a pass, he brought his team up to the line in the usual offense. He got the snap quickly, not wanting the defense to have time to adjust. Lucky rolled out to the right, behind two pulling guards and both running backs.
Price House and Freddy Farmer, the two guards, both got good blocks, clearing a path for Lucky to cruise through behind D.J. and Skip.
D.J. wiped out the cornerback and Skip took care of a linebacker. Lucky broke free and headed for the first-down marker and more. Only one defender had a chance to stop him, the free safety. Lucky tried to juke him, but saw that would not work and lowered his head and ran over him.
He was tripped in the process, but already picked up the first down and fell to the ground at Anson’s 7.
Skip picked up four on a dive, almost squirting free and scoring. A handoff to Happy netted two more yards, moving the ball down to the one. D.J. was stood up on third down and brought down before reaching the previous line.
Now the Panthers were facing fourth-and-goal from just outside the one. Anson came out in a goal-line defense again, all eleven players crowding the line. This was a defense not used to giving up points and determined not to allow a score here.
But Petros was equally determined to get on the scoreboard. Lucky faked a dive to Skip, was forced farther out than he wanted, cut back inside, crashed into one of the linebackers and forced the Anson player back just enough to allow him to cross the goal line.
When the officials raised their hands, it was like the score gave Petros the championship, instead of cutting the lead to 35-6. Petros’ side went crazy, knowing there was still a long way to go but enjoying this touchdown like it was the biggest of the year.
Jeremy nailed the extra point then got to kick off for only the second time in the game. He boomed another kick that sailed down to the six. The returner reached the seventeen before getting smashed by Seth and Kenneth.
As the defense took the field, another roar went up from the Petros side, one that was not just for support of the defense. The players on both sides looked to the sidelines to see what was causing all the excitement.
Coming down the sideline from the locker room, dressed in full pads was Derwin. He had his helmet on and was jogging toward the coaches.
“I’m ready to go,” he told Cole.
“What about your nose?” his coach asked.
“I still got one.”
“But can you play?”
He turned around and looked at Doc Hardy for support.
“The doctor says it’s not smart but I can’t really hurt it much worse,” he responded.
Cole looked at the doctor, who held up his arms in a sign of disbelief.
“Do you have any idea how much it will hurt just to tackle somebody?” Cole asked.
“Not nearly as much as it does for me to watch them out there without me,” Derwin answered.
Cole looked at his senior, the nose heavily taped and the eyes swollen so much it would be hard to recognize him without the jersey.
“Okay, but if you have any problem we’re going to pull you,” Cole advised.
“Cool,” Derwin added, snapping the snaps on his helmet.
Anson was running its first play of the second half, another blast up the middle from Hayes. It was obvious something was different on this play. The Rams’ stud did not resemble the player who had a field day in the first half.
Hayes was running about half as hard as earlier, almost like an injury was slowing him down.
He only picked up three yards before getting brought down, not fighting for extra yardage.
Ichabod was the first to say it.
“He’s running scared now,” he mentioned.
“Lucky’s hit took something outta him,” Stub added.
“Good,” Cole commented, then sent in Derwin, causing a wild roar from the Petros side.
His teammates watched the senior sprint out on the field, never expecting to see this after the way Derwin looked earlier in the game.
“It’s time to knock some heads boys,” he told his teammates in the huddle.
Murray was sent on a blitz on second down as Ichabod nailed the call. Murray was in the backfield and hit Hayes almost before he got the pitch on a sweep play.
Hayes tried to pull away, but went down quickly just as some other Panthers arrived.
“He doesn’t want the ball anymore,” Stub stated loudly. “After he got popped that one time, it took all the steam out of his engine.”
The Rams tried to burn Petros long on third down as all the receivers took off on a fly pattern. The quarterback faked a handoff to Hayes, who got rewarded with another big hit from Tim Treadway. As the quarterback retreated, he never saw what was coming.
His split end broke free and the quarterback started to unleash the pass. But just as his arm started forward, Derwin hit him going full speed, forcing the ball to flutter to the ground and the quarterback to fly backwards, his feet going over his head.
Petros had actually stopped this potent offense and would get the ball back. Anson’s punting team was not that great since they rarely got to practice this year.
Cole sent the boys after the kick, expecting to either block it or force a shank. The Panthers were bringing ten guys after the punt, only leaving Kenneth back deep. The snap was a little low but was fielded cleanly.
The punter then started through his routine, taking two steps then dropping the ball. Before his foot and the ball collided, Harry burst through the right side and was practically on top of the punter.
He didn’t even have to dive to block the kick, but did so anyway, just to be safe. The ball collided with his midsection and bounced off the side.
After blocking the kick, Harry’s momentum carried him in to the kicker, hitting him so hard it forced the punter to flip backwards.
Stewart Andrews chased the ball down and fell on it at the nine, giving Petros great field position and completely turning the momentum around.
The Panthers celebrated the turn of events, never expecting this to happen after the way the first half had gone.
The offense came back out on the field with renewed energy. On the first play, Lucky faked a handoff to D.J. and went around the end on a bootleg. The fake fooled the defense, especially the end on that side, and Lucky was able to reach the two before getting escorted to the ground.
A handoff to Happy moved the ball just inches from the score. As the Anson defense tried to encourage each other to stop this threat, the Panthers came to the line, the backs loading up the wishbone.
Lucky faked a handoff to Happy, then turned and gave the ball to Skip, who followed in behind D.J., found a small opening and slipped into the end zone.
Still trailing by 21 points, it was hard to say the Panthers were back in the game, but the turn of events had certainly encouraged the Petros contingent.
The players also celebrated, getting a little out of control until the coaches reminded them there was still a lot of time left. Cole was also tempted to remind them of the score and how they didn’t really have a lot to celebrate yet, but changed his mind, wanting the boys to enjoy the moment.
Lucky was stretching on the sidelines, wanting to keep loose. All the pain had either gone away or he just wasn’t thinking about it with the game going on. He still did not feel a hundred percent, but even with some pain, it was not going to keep him from this.
Jeremy’s leg must have started to tire a little, his kick only reaching the 12 this time. Kenneth caught the returner at the 21, grabbed him by the jersey and threw him to the ground.
The rest of the defense sprinted out on the field, getting a new burst of energy after the two touchdowns and the stop on the last series.
Wayman Hayes was the last player to take the field for Anson, not really looking like he wanted to return.
The Rams got out of the huddle quickly. The quarterback took the snap and handed off to Hayes again. There was a small hole but just as he turned on the speed, Lucky came flying in and delivered a blow that made the earlier one look like a gentle hit.
Lucky put everything he had into the hit. Hayes did not see it coming until right before the collision, only getting to cringe and close his eyes before getting drilled.
Hayes was not used to getting hit like this and decided it was not something he liked. He was lying on his back before realizing anybody had hit him. He slowly rose to a knee, wondering why his head felt so funny.
His teammates tried helping him but Hayes was not ready. Just before the referee called an injury timeout, Hayes rose to his feet and slowly started walking back to the huddle, his legs all wobbly.
The Panthers did not want a member of the opposing team hurt, of course, but celebrated the hit. After the two hits by Lucky, Hayes looked like he thought the bench was pretty inviting. He slowly jogged off the field, wondering why stars were in his eyes.
A trap play to the fullback only picked up two yards. It was third and six for the first down. Anson would have to go without Hayes, who had pulled off his helmet and sat on the bench, drinking cups of Gatorade as fast as possible, the steam rising off his head.
For the Rams, it was one of the few times in the game they faced a difficult situation on third down. With Hayes out, there was no question on what was coming. Anson’s quarterback faked a handoff as he dropped back, fooling nobody.
The Panthers were blitzing, finding gaps in the blocks and putting pressure on the quarterback. Tim Treadway was the first to arrive, grabbing hold of the quarterback’s jersey and refusing to let go.
Derwin soon followed, disregarding his broken nose and the pain, to lay a smack on the quarterback, knocking both Treadway and the Anson player to the ground.
The Rams were forced to punt again. Cole decided to gamble again and went after the punt. The Panthers missed the block, allowing the punter to get off a long spiral that went way over Kenneth’s head and eventually rolled out of bounds on Petros’ 24.
Petros’ offense rushed out on the field, hoping to cut the gap even further.
This time, the Rams rose to the occasion, stopping two running plays then forcing Lucky to throw the ball away on third down. Cole hated to do it, but knew a punt was in order. There was still plenty of time as three minutes were left in the quarter, but the Panthers could not afford to get stopped again.
Jeremy’s punt was a poor one, going off the side of his foot and sailing out of bounds on the Petros 47.
Hayes was the first one to run back on the field, apparently healthy after the earlier hit. He did not break any long runs on this drive, but did run like he had earlier, not showing any signs of tiptoeing with the ball.
The Rams just shoved the ball down Petros’ throat, a slow drive that ate up a lot of precious time. The Panthers tried everything but could not stop Anson. Hayes capped off the drive on the last play of the third quarter, scoring from the three on a blast up the middle.
Skip broke through on the conversion, blocking the extra point. The score now was 41-14 and things looked bleak for the Panthers.
Petros’ players were down, realizing the game was probably out of reach now. Lucky walked the sidelines, trying to keep everybody pumped up and assuring them they could overcome this. He knew it would be hard, but felt like the game was not over.
The kickoff was a low line drive this time, bouncing between Skip and Kenneth and rolling into the end zone for a touchback.
Petros’ fans stood and cheered loudly as the Panthers took the field. The offense lined up on the ball in a spread formation, only using Lucky and Seth in the backfield.
Lucky took the snap and rolled to his right, looking for an open receiver. The Rams had good coverage again, not letting any receiver break free. Since nobody was open, Lucky took off, hoping to get close to a first down before running out of bounds to stop the clock.
One of the Rams dove at him and grabbed his leg but Lucky shook free and continued down the field. None of the defensive backs realized what was happening and were still covering the receivers. Lucky saw he was going to be able to pick up more than just a first down and turned on the speed, heading for the sidelines and the open area.
The defensive backs finally saw him running free and started pursuing him. The receivers turned to blockers and did their best to keep Lucky’s run going. Anson’s players were going after him hard, trying to get away from the pesky receivers trying to interfere.
As Lucky crossed midfield, one of the Anson defensive backs closed in on him. At the last second, Lucky cut back, leaving the Anson player with nothing to tackle but air. The Rams had help coming, though. Despite his good speed, Lucky felt like a turtle racing rabbits.
They were coming fast, four defenders closing in. All the other Panthers were left behind, so Lucky was by himself. He felt and heard the Rams behind him. Lucky knew one of the defenders was fixing to dive at him, so he again shifted, going to the outside as the Anson player dove at where Lucky would have been.
There were forty yards left and three defenders trying to pin him in. Lucky was getting out of breath because of the long run and the cold air, chugging along with everything he had but knowing the gas tank was going dry.
Two Anson players reached out for him, trying to grab his jersey. Lucky cut back across the field, shaking free of the Rams’ grasp. He gained a little more time, but the other Anson player was running along beside him, looking for the chance to bring him down.
Lucky knew his chances to outrun the opponent was slim so he did what his best friend would do in the situation. Instead of avoiding the player, Lucky went right after him, delivering a stiff-arm blow and followed by lowering his head and flattening the Anson player.
He was surprised to see it work. That left the two players who had grasped his jersey. They were on him again as Lucky tried to run away from them. The Rams had recovered and were fixing to grab him when they suddenly disappeared.
Lucky had no idea what happened and was scared to turn around, expecting to see them ready to pounce on him. He did not turn around until crossing the goal line. Lucky saw what had happened and was not surprised.
Skip had caught up and as the two Rams started to tackle Lucky, he wiped them out with one block. The three players were tangled up on the ground, Skip raising both arms to celebrate the touchdown.
Lucky smiled as he kneeled, trying to get some air back. The run wore him out and he waited for some help to get back to his feet. His teammates arrived and picked him up, helping him to get to the bench.
As he sat down, Lucky heard the Petros fans cheer again as Jeremy’s kick split the uprights.
It was now 41-21, still a long road to go but one that was not out of reach.
Cole met with his coaches as soon as the kick sailed through the uprights.
“We’re gonna have to try an onside kick,” he told them. “But you know they’re gonna be expecting it.”
“They might not line up for it if we show our regular formation,” Stub suggested. “I know it’s reaching, but you never know.”
“We can’t let them have the ball again if we expect to get back in this game,” Lloyd stated.
Ichabod gave Lloyd a dirty look, but could not say anything, knowing it was true, even while it was painful.
“Okay, that’s what we’ll do,” Cole decided.
He gathered the kickoff team around him and made sure everybody was paying attention.
“Line up like it is a regular kickoff,” he ordered. “But I want Jeremy to kick an onside kick out of our regular formation, just like we’ve done before. Jeremy, just kick the ball straight ahead. Derwin and Happy will be on both sides of you and will wipe out whoever Anson has lined up there. Then we should be able to get the ball. Any questions?”
Nobody volunteered so the kicking team went back out on the field, the snow increasing in intensity and starting to cover the field. Anson’s return team watched how Petros lined up and since the Panthers were aligned for a regular kick, the Rams went with their usual formation.
Cole was almost giddy on the sideline, knowing this would work even before Jeremy kicked the ball. He did see Anson had mostly receivers and backs on the front line, but Cole doubted that would matter if Jeremy did what he was supposed to do.
The official blew his whistle. Jeremy raised his right arm for a brief second while looking around to make sure everybody was ready, then lowered it and started toward the ball, his teammates moving forward with him.
Jeremy looked like he was going to knock the crud out of the ball until he got on top of it. He slowed just a little bit and basically nudged the ball forward, sending it rolling end-over-end toward the center man on the front wall of Anson’s return team.
The Anson player’s eyes looked like he had the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look. He tried to watch the ball and move forward to recover it, but saw two Petros players bearing down on him at the same time. Before he reached the ball, Derwin and Happy hit him, both at the same time and going full speed. They plowed over him, leaving him flattened like a steamroller just went over.
The other Panthers were more concerned with taking out an Anson player, hitting them before they got near the ball. Jeremy followed along behind the bouncing ball, waiting for it to go ten yards. Finally, it crossed midfield and he fell on it. The ball squirted free for a brief instant, but he grabbed it and pulled it back before the Rams arrived.
He quickly got to his feet, holding the ball so everybody could see it. He ran to the sidelines, the ball held high in the air as his teammates congratulated him and the Petros fans went wild.
The Anson players looked at each other in confusion, wondering what happened to the expected rout. Everything looked so promising until the last minute or so. These opponents would not give up, like most of the other teams did when they got down.
Lucky and the Panthers came out in the shotgun with four receivers spread wide. During the break after the touchdown, Lloyd told his brother that Kenneth was getting open, and Lucky remembered to watch for him.
The snap was a little low but fielded cleanly. Lucky rolled out to the wide side, seeing Anson’s defense was not going to let him get outside, or run without somebody there to stop him.
Lucky’s first two choices were covered. He then looked for Kenneth cutting across the middle. It wasn’t much of a distance between the receiver and the defensive back, but was the best Lucky found. He fired a bullet while on the run, leading Kenneth enough the defensive back could not break up the pass.
Kenneth caught the ball in stride, but was quickly brought down. The play moved Petros to Anson’s 38. Lucky noticed Anson was dropping so many players into coverage that a draw play should work so he called the play at the line, seeing Seth look at him like it was not the best call of the game.
Lucky took the snap, rolled to his right and placed the ball in Seth’s belly. Seth looked for a gap and found it over the left side. The linebacker on that side recovered quickly and came after him, but Seth easily sidestepped the Anson defender and broke into the secondary.
The Rams quickly swarmed over him and brought him down, but not before he reached the 26, giving Petros another first down.
The clock stopped for the first down, but only until the chains got set. Lucky called the play at the line, seeing precious seconds go off the clock. His attention must have been on the clock because the snap caught him unprepared, the ball hitting him on the helmet and bouncing backwards.
Lucky quickly recovered the bouncing ball, but was pinned in and brought down back at the 36-yard line, a setback the Panthers could not afford. Anson’s defenders were in no hurry to get up and Lucky had to fight free. His teammates lined up quickly, but the clock seemed to be on fast forward.
That was a dumb move, Lucky realized, hoping it would not cost his team more than a few yards. He called the play, ready to let Andy try and burn the defense on the lob.
He took the snap and looked to his right, trying to keep the defense from overplaying Andy. Lucky waited several seconds before shifting shifted his attention to Andy, finding him running alongside one of the cornerbacks.
This was one of the few times two players had not covered him. Lucky gauged the distance and threw a high pass in that direction, letting Andy run under it. Both players were going for the ball, trying to use their body to prevent the other from getting an advantage. Andy had the best advantage, though, about six inches in height and long arms.
He waited for the right moment and leaped high in the air, going almost a full foot above the defender. Andy snatched the ball out of the air and brought it to his body, never giving the Anson player a chance to knock it free.
He was wrestled down quickly, falling to the snow-covered ground at the 11. The Panthers quickly rushed down the field and lined up, waiting for the officials to let them play. Lucky looked across the field and saw something that really surprised him.
The Rams were worn out. All the players were gasping for air, bent over and looking to the sideline for help. He quickly realized the reason for this. Anson’s players were used to being on the bench a long time prior to this and were not used to playing so much.
It was business as usual for the Panthers, however, and their players were not the least bit tired. This was the best-selling point Lucky could think about for conditioning. It was actually a little funny to see a team that dead tired with almost seven minutes left in the game.
Lucky called for the snap. It was perfect this time. Skip and Kenneth ran a crossing route to the right and Lucky waited to see if either broke free.
Skip did, cutting to the outside. Lucky fired a pass in that direction. At first, he thought it was going to sail over his receiver’s head. But Skip turned the speed up a little and caught the pass with his hands high in the air. He was brought down at the 2, setting up second and one.
The Panthers lined up in the split-back offense with Skip and D.J. at running back and Lucky under center. He took the snap and handed off to Skip going straight ahead. The Rams’ defense might be wore out, but they rose to the occasion on this play, shoving Skip back before he got back to the line.
Anson’s players again took their time, waiting for the officials to force them to get up. Cole took advantage of the long time between plays to rush Happy out on the field to take Andy’s spot. He lined up at fullback with Skip and D.J. at his side.
Lucky called the play, took the snap and handed off to Happy following behind Skip. There wasn’t really any room and no visible hole, but Happy made his own, pushing the line back until he almost reached the goal line.
It gave Petros a first down, just inches from the score. But too much time was going by, the clock already inside five minutes and counting.
Everybody finally unpiled and the Panthers lined up again. Both the other backs had tried and came up short so Lucky decided to give D.J. a try, running behind the two other backs. It worked as D.J. took advantage of good blocking and dove in for the score.
The Panthers celebrated as the officials raised their arms. The extra point was good again, leaving the score 41-28.
This time, there wasn’t any doubt as to what the Panthers had to do. It would be an onside kick, everybody in the stadium knew it. Petros came out with most of the players bunched on the left side of the field. Jeremy lined up at the far hash mark with three other players on the far side of him.
Everybody in the stadium was standing, not believing the turn of events. Some people had already left and would get a shock when they heard what they missed.
Jeremy slowly approached the ball and kicked it near the top, forcing the ball to hit the ground once then bounce high. A mass of players moved toward the ball, still high in the air. There was a mad scramble, a huge pile of bodies fighting for the ball.
Originally, one of the Anson players fielded the ball, but was hit and the ball squirted free. In the bottom of the pile, players were fighting to get control of the ball.
The officials slowly untangled the bodies, working their way to the bottom of the mass of humanity. Two officials were on their knees on the snowy ground, looking into the pile. One official found what he was looking for and turned to the other to confirm his findings.
The first official stood and pointed at the Petros side, letting everybody know Anson had recovered the ball and had possession.
Cole felt like somebody had just punched him in the gut. He knew his players felt that way, also, but could not let them get down. The Panthers still had all three time outs and if they stopped the Rams, there was still plenty of time.
Petros huddled close to the ball. Derwin looked around at the faces of his teammates and did not like what he saw.
“Hey, get it up!” he shouted. “We’ve still got plenty of time. We can’t be pouting or feeling sorry for ourselves. It’s time to rise to the occasion. We’ll stop them here and get the ball back. Okay?”
The other members of the defense felt their spirits rising.
But now it was time for him to rise up and stop the Rams. The Panthers could not give up a first down or the game was over. Derwin blitzed on first down, knowing the Rams would hand off to Hayes right up the middle. It went just as expected and Derwin fought through the center and the fullback to capture the Anson running back in the backfield for a loss of two.
This time, Derwin made sure to hold on, not just plaster him. His teammates arrived quickly but were not needed. Anson now faced second and twelve. The Panthers quickly called a timeout, not wanting any more time to go by.
Ichabod called his defense to the sideline. He expected the Rams to run a sweep to the far side and passed on the information to the black shirts.
Looking at the faces, he saw his players were going strictly on adrenaline. They looked so tired, but Ichabod knew they were not ready to call it a day.
It was the right call again. Anson ran a sweep to the far side. Stewart Andrews read it correctly and played it perfectly. He sprinted up the field at an angle, cutting Hayes off and forcing the running back to cut back.
Derwin was waiting for him again, hitting the Anson back hard, standing Hayes up then wrestling him to the ground for a loss of three.
The Panthers called another quick timeout. Anson faced third and fifteen now, but nobody expected a pass, knowing that would stop the clock if incomplete and the Rams had not shown the ability to pass.
Ichabod instructed the defense to watch out for the pass, not wanting to give up a big play. But he was a lot more worried about a draw to either the quarterback or Hayes.
As the ball was about to be snapped, Derwin realized this might be the last play he ever played for Petros’ defense. He decided it better be one to remember.
As the quarterback took the ball, Derwin watched the backfield’s motion, trying to read the play. He saw the quarterback drop back and knew it was going to be a draw, just didn’t know if it would be Hayes or the quarterback.
Derwin saw Hayes slide to one side and try to block, making it clear the quarterback would carry the ball if it was a draw. He threw all caution away and went full speed into the backfield, finding a small crease between the center and the guard, both too busy blocking a lineman to see him coming.
The quarterback had just stopped and started forward when a big blur appeared before him, hitting him so hard he collapsed to the ground, barely holding on to the ball.
He had never been hit like that before and did not want to experience it again. The quarterback knew how close he came to fumbling, and just hoped nobody else knew. As he staggered up, the defensive players looked to the bench to see if the coaches wanted a time out, but they told him no.
His teammates were mobbing Derwin on the field, knowing he had just stopped one of the best offenses in the state, practically by himself. Cole had always been proud of his linebacker, but his appreciation reached a new level. Not many players would come back after breaking a nose. Cole doubted any other player would play as well as Derwin had with that injury, either.
Cole also knew there was a good chance that was the last play Derwin would play on defense and of all the seniors, his linebacker would be missed the most.
Cole hugged Derwin as he came off the field and the fans gave him a loud ovation.
Derwin paid no attention to the crowd, didn’t even realize the noise was for him. He took a knee on the sideline and took off his helmet.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. The steam was rising off his head in the cold night, making it look like he was on fire.
“You’re a stud,” Ichabod said. “I just wanted to let you know that.”
Derwin smiled as his defensive coordinator walked away. He had been called a lot of things over the years, “stud” not one of them.
Back on the field, the Panthers lined ten players up to go after the punt. This would be one time when Petros cared less about setting up a return. The only player not coming after the punter was Kenneth, who was stationed thirty yards down the field, hoping the ball never made it to him.
Anson adjusted the formation, bringing all the players in close to try and keep the Panthers from blocking the punt. The snap was perfect and the punter got the kick away quickly, not wanting to take any chance the Panthers blocked it.
It wasn’t the best punt of the night, but also wasn’t blocked so the Rams were happy. Kenneth watched the ball go to the far side of the field and watched it roll away from him while pursuing it.
He failed to get there in time and the ball rolled out of bounds on the Petros 37.
There was just under three minutes left as Petros’ offense took the field, trailing by thirteen points. Without any timeouts, the Panthers could not waste any time. Petros lined up in the shotgun with four wideouts.
Lucky barked the signals and received the snap. He looked one way and then turned back to the other. It was his plan to go with Andy until the defense stopped him and that was what he did, firing a pass in his direction.
Andy ran a fade pattern and got a step on the defender. The pass was a little to his side and he barely caught up to it before the ball sailed out of bounds. He snagged the pass, got a few more yards then went out of bounds to stop the clock.
It was a gain of fifteen, putting the Panthers in Anson territory at the 48. The offense huddled and Lucky called the play. The offense broke the huddle and hurried to the line. He took the snap and looked to his left, then back to his right. Andy was running a slant pattern and was open again.
Lucky fired a pass in that direction, hitting Andy in the stomach with the pass. It was good for nine yards, not enough to get a first down and stop the clock. Lucky was angry for the mistake, knowing that it would cost his team time.
Anson’s players were slow to get up, as expected, taking as much time as possible as the clock again seemed to be in fast-forward mode. The officials tried to hurry things along but did not get much help. Finally, Andy escaped and made his way to his position, lining up as his teammates had already done.
Lucky had already called the play and got the snap off quickly. He rolled to his left, found some running room and took off. He gained enough for the first down easily and was tackled at the 34, not getting out of bounds before the Rams brought him down.
The clock stopped for the chains, but would start again quickly. Lucky switched the receivers, putting the three wideouts on the wide side, keeping Andy on this side.
After everybody was set and he relayed the play, Lucky called for the snap and caught the ball, never seeing what was coming. He was so intent on making sure everybody had lined up right that Lucky never saw the Rams coming with a blitz.
He was caught flat footed, didn’t even have time to scramble or throw the ball away before two Rams were on top of him, grabbing him and throwing Lucky to the ground.
The impact of the ground caused his body to remind him of the injury to his ribs. He had not hurt since taking the field, but that had changed. Lucky slowly got to his feet, his ribs screaming out in protest from the hit.
He got the team lined up and looked at the clock, not liking what it showed. There were less than two minutes left and the Panthers faced second and fourteen. Lucky called for the ball, trying to ignore the pain.
The snap was a little low and he had to reach down to retrieve it. He was in a lot of pain now, grimacing with every move. Lucky took the snap and rolled to his right, the pain almost more than he could take.
Nobody was open and the only thing he could do was tuck the ball and run. Lucky knew this was not the best thing to do in his condition, but could not do anything about it. He ran to the 35, then cut back across the field. Anson’s players were on him and finally caught him at the 29, putting a little more effort into the hit than usual.
He did not take a direct hit to his ribs, but just the impact of the hit rattled his body and impacted his sore ribs, making them hurt even worse. It was all he could do to get to his feet and walk back to the backfield, bent over on one side and holding his side.
“You okay?” Seth asked.
“I’ll live,” Lucky responded.
“Gimme the ball,” the running back pleaded.
“What?”
“Hand me the ball. They aren’t paying any attention to me.”
Lucky knew this was not the perfect call in this situation, but hoped Seth knew what he was talking about. He did. The play was wide open from the start as Seth found a huge hole as the Rams blitzed from the outside.
The Rams’ defensive backs could not respond until Seth was inside the 15, bringing him down at the 13.
Lucky looked at the clock, seeing there was now just a minute and some change. The Panthers needed to score fast. They had wasted too much time already. He called the play at the line and looked over at Andy, getting a nod in reply.
The snap was perfect. Lucky looked to the far side, even faked a throw to keep the defense confused. Then, he looked back to the other side and saw Andy running alongside the defensive back. Lucky threw the ball in that direction, an ugly duck that wobbled as it cut through the sky.
The pass was badly under thrown, forcing Andy to stop and come back. It caught the defensive back off guard and he could not recover so Andy was all by himself as the ball came down on the 1. He hugged the ball to his chest and fell back into the end zone.
Petros’ players and fans again went nuts, jumping up and down, hugging each other and making a huge racket. The Anson side was silent, like it was at a funeral.
The kicking team quickly came out on the field for the PAT. The snap was low, bouncing before it got to Kenneth. He had trouble getting the ball down, barely putting the nose of the ball on the ground before Jeremy planted his foot.
With the timing all off, Jeremy missed his spot, hitting the ball way too high and never getting it above the line. The kick was blocked, not that it would have been good anyway. It was now 41-34 with under a minute left.
There was a loud groan, but Cole did not worry about it. The Panthers still had to recover an onside kick, score another touchdown and then try the extra point, all in less than a minute. He had little faith in onside kicks, knowing the percentage to recover them when an opponent expected them were small.
Cole racked his brain, trying to come up with some idea of what to do. The kickoff team was gathered in front of him, waiting for his direction, when the thought hit him. Yes, the Panthers would line up as they were kicking an onside kick, but that was where the similarity would end.
He relayed his instructions to his team, a look of confusion forming on the faces of many of his players. Lucky was not on the kickoff team, but was listening. This would be a strange way to try and recover the ball, he knew, but it pretty much beat anything else they could think of.
The kickoff team ran out on the field, the Petros fans standing and applauding. Anson’s return team took the field from the opposing side, quickly lining up in a formation designed to recover onside kicks. The Panthers lined up in their onside kick formation with most of the players on Jeremy’s left.
The umpire made sure to instruct Jeremy to wait for his whistle and that the ball had to go ten yards before the Panthers could recover.
It will go ten yards, Jeremy thought, knowing that was not anything anybody had to worry about. Hopefully, it would not wind up that far, though.
The crowd was on its feet and the players on the sidelines all edged forward, knowing this play would go a long way toward determining the state champion. The referee blew his whistle and the umpire told Jeremy to proceed.
He paused for just a second, then advanced on the ball. This was the first time he tried a kick like this, but did not feel like it should be too hard. His eyes were focused on the middle of the ball, hoping to hit it there, as hard as possible.
None of the Rams realized anything was different until Jeremy kicked the ball. Only when the ball did not take a big bounce and come toward them did they figure out something was wrong. By that time, they did not have time to react.
Jeremy’s kick was low and hard, designed to blast into one of the players before he could react and hopefully bounce back toward the Panthers, who were advancing slowly.
That was exactly what happened. The football flew into one of the player’s facemask before he reacted. The ball bounced back at a slight angle toward the Panthers. Harry was able to grab the ball and fall on it.
There was quiet for a few seconds, everybody in a state of shock. This was definitely not what they expected. Even Cole could not have hoped it worked this way. As the Petros side realized what happened and the Panthers had the ball, a loud roar erupted, everybody grabbing each other, jumping up and down and screaming.
Suddenly, it was just not that cold anymore, even though the temperatures had dropped into the mid-teens.
Lucky tried to keep his calm, but his emotions going crazy. He wanted to jump up and down and scream like everybody else, but knew this was not the time. The Panthers recovered the ball and had a chance, but he would not celebrate until they scored and won the game.
Cole grabbed his son before he took the field.
“We’ve got plenty of time,” Cole advised, looking up at the huge scoreboard. “We have a timeout but try not to use it unless it’s an emergency. The receivers have got to catch the ball and get out of bounds. Don’t throw anything less than enough yards for a first down unless your receiver is wide open and has plenty of room to run.
“This is our time,” he added, putting his arm around Lucky and squeezing. “Take advantage of it.”
Lucky nodded and jogged out on the field, followed by his teammates. Everybody in the bleachers stood, the nerves on end. This was beyond anything they could imagine.
The offense lined up in the shotgun again. Lucky had three receivers to his right, two to his left this time. He called the signals and took the snap. Four of the receivers went deep, carrying the secondary with them.
Harry was lined up just outside the left tackle. He slipped across the field, none of the secondary bothering to cover him. Lucky waited for Harry to clear the linebackers then lobbed a pass in his direction.
The pass was a little high so Harry had to leap and grab it. He had plenty of running room, heading toward the sidelines so he could get out of bounds and stop the clock. None of the Rams could stop him until he reached the Anson 39, giving Petros a first down.
Lucky looked at the clock, seeing there were only 39 seconds remaining, which was appropriate. He decided the Panthers needed to gain at least one yard for every second left, which would move them into the end zone.
Petros lined up quickly again, four receivers on the left side of the field. Anson’s secondary was playing deep, giving the Petros receivers almost ten yards of cushion.
Lucky got the snap and fired a quick pass to Andy, who caught the pass and quickly went out of bounds. It was good for a gain of eight yards, taking only four seconds.
The Panthers came out in the same formation. Anson’s secondary realized there was too much cushion and moved forward, cutting it down to five yards. As Lucky looked over the secondary and the lone linebacker, he saw one of the defensive backs cheating forward, as was the linebacker.
Lucky knew a blitz was coming. This would leave Skip open, if there was enough time to get the pass off. The snap was a little low, forcing Lucky to hurry. He did not see the players coming, but felt the pressure.
With everybody converging on him, Lucky could not see Skip, only knew where he should be. The Petros quarterback threw the ball in that direction, barely getting it away before two Rams made a sandwich out of him.
All the air was knocked out of him and he slumped to the ground, the pain returning in full force. The two Anson players made sure to put a little extra into in and escorted Lucky to the ground, falling on top of him.
As Lucky lay on the ground, gasping for air, he heard the Petros side roar. The two Rams slowly got off him and Lucky raised his head, looking down the field. He saw had Skip had caught the pass and made it far down the field before getting tackled.
Danny Wall helped Lucky up and escorted him down the field.
“You okay?” Danny asked.
“I’m great,” Lucky answered, but knew that did not sound very convincing.
The pain was almost too much to stand. He was still having trouble breathing and felt like somebody was hitting his side with a baseball bat. But Lucky refused to give in to the pain, would not hold his ribs or show anything was wrong.
Petros was already lined up when Lucky and Danny arrived. The officials had blown the whistle and the clock started even before Lucky called the play. The seconds were ticking away, much too fast for the Panthers.
Danny’s snap was perfect this time. Lucky looked for Andy on the fade but saw he was covered by two Anson players. Skip was covered also, so Lucky looked for Kenneth or Harry. Neither player was open so Lucky rolled out to his right, to the wide side.
The line was doing a good job holding off the Anson players, giving Lucky time to scan the field. He knew his time was limited, however, and hoped somebody got open quick. Finally, Lucky saw Harry angling toward the side, having gained a couple of steps with a good fake.
Lucky fired the pass, getting it to Harry right on the sideline, two yards short of the end zone. A defensive back quickly knocked him out of bounds, preventing the touchdown. The clock was stopped with only eleven seconds remaining.
The Panthers huddled. Lucky wasn’t sure what formation his team should be in and looked to the sideline. His father was talking to Happy, giving him a play to bring in. This meant the Panthers would abandon the shotgun and go with the wishbone, which was fine with Lucky.
Happy rushed to the huddle and relayed the call. Lucky then gave the rest of the offense the call and formation.
The Panthers came to the line with two tight ends and three running backs. Anson quickly changed its defense, moving players closer to the line. Lucky did not wait for the defense to get settled, of course, taking advantage of the confusion by getting a quick snap.
He faked a handoff to Happy up the middle, spun around and placed the ball in Skip’s belly, waited for just a second, then rolled out in that direction. Anson’s defensive end did not take the fake, staying at home with his eyes fixed on Lucky.
Lucky tried to get outside the defensive end, but quickly discovered that wasn’t going to happen. The end continued pushing him farther outside. Lucky had planned to run the ball, but did have the option of running or passing. With the defensive end about to tackle him, Lucky looked into the end zone and saw what he hoped to see.
Anthony Hart had faked a block, waited two counts before drifting back toward the corner of the end zone. One of the linebackers was in front of him, going after Lucky while the cornerback on that side tried to recover in time to cover Anthony.
Lucky lobbed the pass over the cornerback sprinting toward Anthony. The pass was actually a little high, forcing Anthony to vault. Lucky was sure the pass was going to sail out of the end zone when he saw Anthony jump high in the air, grab the ball with his hands and bring it down, just short of the back line and before the cornerback crashed into him.
The back judge rushed over to where the two players were tangled together. He leaned down, moved around a second then saw what he was looking for. He stood straight and threw his arms high above his head.
Lucky was sitting down, but when he saw the official’s reaction, the celebration started. Lucky fell back down and threw his arms up, making his hands into fists and pumping them. This was more than he hoped for, undoubtedly the best comeback Lucky had ever been part of or seen.
He celebrated for just a second, then got to his feet and rushed into the end zone to join his teammates congratulating Anthony.
Lucky looked to the sideline and saw his father motioning for a timeout. He turned to the nearest official and asked for time. After the official granted his wish, Lucky rounded up his teammates and ran to the sideline.
The other players and coaches were waiting for them, offering congratulations. The score was 41-40 in favor of Anson.
He watched the coaches break off and discuss the situation. Lucky expected his father to have them kick the extra point and go into overtime. But he also knew his father did not like overtime and would rather have the game decided now, if possible.
“What’re we gonna do?” Stub asked.
“We’re gonna get the two points here and take the gold ball home,” Cole advised. “This is our time. All the momentum is going our way.”
“You sure we shouldn’t kick the extra point?” Stub questioned.
“I’m positive,” Cole answered, and the other coaches knew better than to second-guess him. They knew his mind was made up and it wouldn’t do any good to try and talk him out of it. “This is what we’re gonna do…”
Cole relayed his plans to his coaches, then came over to tell the players.
“You boys wanna win the game now or go into overtime?” he asked.
“Let’s win it,” Skip answered, his opinion echoed by his teammates.
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Cole told the team what play to run and asked if there were any questions. There were no questions so he sent the offense back out on the field, as the Petros contingent made all the noise they could.
Anson’s defense was already lined up, expecting an extra point. Lucky brought his team to the line and had them line up with D.J. at running back and Skip at slotback, two tight ends and Andy at the flanker, split wide to the right.
The Rams called time to set the defense, just before Lucky got the play started. Both teams went back to the sidelines to talk with the coaches.
“You still want us to run the same play?” Lucky asked.
“I believe it’ll work,” Cole stated. “And you?”
“Yes sir.”
The teams stayed with their coaches as long as possible, not dispersing until the officials forced them. The ball was in the middle of the field, Gallagher-Iba Arena serving as the backdrop. Lucky waited for the officials to let them play, and slowly started barking the signals.
Anson’s defense was crowding the line, just as Cole hoped. Lucky got to the second “hit” and the ball was snapped. He dropped back five steps and set up with his passing arm high, looking like he was fixing to throw the ball. Just before the defense got to him, Skip circled back and grabbed the ball out of Lucky's hand and sprinted to the left.
The play worked perfectly. Only one defender was between Skip and the end zone. The cornerback on that side dove at Skip's legs, right before he cleanly hurdled the defender. Skip took one step and fell to the ground. He looked around, saw the official rushing up toward him with both arms raised.
The old Statue of Liberty play had worked, the first time many fans had ever seen the play run.
The Petros side swarmed onto the field, seeing there wasn’t any time left. The scorekeeper quickly added the two points, showing a score of Petros 42, Anson 41.
Cole was the first one to suspect something wasn’t right. He saw the officials huddled together, discussing something. Then, he saw it, a yellow flag littering the ground in the center of the field.
The referee started waving his arms, trying to get everybody’s attention. The other officials made sure the two teams did not leave the field and all the extra Petros players returned to the sideline.
Cole watched in disbelief as the official signaled a penalty for illegal procedure and pointed in Petros’ direction. Cole had not seen anybody move, nor had any of the other coaches or players. He took his hat off and slammed it to the ground, a display of emotion seldom seen out of him.
With boos cascading down from that side of the stadium and cheers coming from the far side, the referee tried to avoid the wrath of the Petros side. Cole finally got the line judge’s attention and requested a meeting with the referee.
The line judge went out to the middle of the field and relayed the request to the referee. Cole saw the referee shake his head and knew he was out of luck. The line judge got the duty of informing Cole of the referee’s decision, one that was not easy.
“He said there isn’t anything to talk about,” the line judge said.
“I think it would be good if we talked about that call,” Cole advised, his voice loud enough the band could hear him.
“I’m sorry, Coach.”
“You’re not the one who should be sorry,” Cole shouted. “It’s the ref. I want to know who moved?”
“He said it was somebody on the right side,” the line judge replied.
“That’s it? No number or position?”
“I didn’t hear anything like that.”
Cole stepped back from the official, so upset he was quivering.
“Did you see anybody jump?” Cole asked.
“That’s not my call, Coach.”
“But did you see anybody jump?”
“That is not my call,” the official repeated.
“But would you tell me if you saw anybody jump?”
The official looked him in the eye, then nodded.
Cole shook his head as the official jogged away. He realized his fans were not displaying good sportsmanship, not that his behavior had been all that good either, then turned and waved at the crowd to stop booing and hollering at the officials.
The referee was moving the ball back to the eight. There really wasn’t anything else to do so Cole grabbed Jeremy and sent him and the kicking team in to kick the extra point and send the game into overtime.
“That was a bad call,” Lucky told his father. “Nobody jumped and the ref wouldn’t talk about it.”
Cole nodded and patted his son on his shoulder pads.
“We’ll just have to win it in overtime now,” he responded.
The clock had started and there wasn’t much time left for Petros to get the play off without getting another penalty.
The Panthers rushed to get set. Cole noticed this and tried to get his players to calm down. Now would not be that bad of a time to get a penalty, if it happened, but it was a terrible time for the boys to be rushing. It would only be five yards back, still an easy kick for Jeremy.
Petros finally lined up with only five seconds left on the play clock. Cole noticed Jeremy had not lined up far enough back, appearing to be only five yards back instead of the usual seven. He tried to holler at his players to get their attention, but it was too loud and they were too worried about getting the kick off.
“He’s too close,” Lucky mentioned, seeing the same thing his father saw.
The snap was a little high, but Harry handled it easily and got the ball down, turning the laces just before Jeremy kicked the ball. Anson loaded up the middle and came hard, breaking through a small gap. Wayman Hayes had caused plenty of troubles for Petros the whole game.
He wasn’t through.
Cole saw the hole breaking open and knew this wasn’t good. Jeremy kept his head down and met the ball perfect. But there were two thuds, the sound a kicker and holder hated to hear. The first was Jeremy kicking the ball, of course, the second was the sound of the ball hitting another body, probably an opponent trying to block the kick.
It was Hayes, of course. He had broke through the line and jumped high, his hand coming into contact with the football. It was more of a deflection than a block, though, sending the ball in a different direction instead of knocking it back toward the other end zone.
Cole watched as the ball deflected off Hayes, but still appeared to be going through the two goalposts. He thought it would be good, until the ball hit the far goalpost.
He felt everything leave him, seeing the ball bounce to the ground as the two officials waved their arms.
Cole could only stand and stare, watching the ball bounce on the ground, knowing his team had just came up short. His players fell to the ground, heads buried. Anson’s players began celebrating, jumping in their teammates’ arms and running around the field.
Lucky took off his helmet and dropped it to the ground. This was too hard to believe. Just a minute earlier, it looked like the Panthers had won the state championship. Now, Petros would not even get to go into overtime. The game was over. He looked at the scoreboard and saw the final score read: Anson 41 and Petros 40.
Jeremy was walking toward the sideline, tears already streaming down his cheeks. Two of his teammates were already trying to console him, but having no luck. Cole wanted to go after the official, holler at him and tell him how bad his players were hurting.
That’s what he wanted to do, but didn’t, of course. Instead, he slowly put the hat back on and jogged down to where Jeremy was now down on his knees, his helmet and head resting on the fake grass.
He now had several teammates trying to console him. Cole moved in close to his kicker and started patting him on the back.
“I lost us the game,” Jeremy kept saying.
“You didn’t lose nothing,” Cole stated. “They blocked the kick. They made a great play. Nobody here blames you, Jeremy. You don’t have anything to feel bad about. Their guy just made a great play. I can guarantee you, son, you did us a lot more good than bad. Shake it off and go shake their hands, Jeremy.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jeremy added.
Cole pulled his kicker to his feet and put his arms around him. He knew this one would hurt for a long time and wished something could be done to console him.
He saw Jeremy’s parents had arrived and Cole let them try to make their son feel better. There were a bunch of other players who needed their coach now, too. Cole walked around the field, saying a few words to his players, who were still prone on the ground, crying their eyes out.
The Anson coaches came and shook his hand. Cole appreciated the effort, of course, but still wanted to be with his players. He and the other coaches got the players together for the award’s ceremony.
The Panthers would get a trophy as runner up, of course, but not the one they wanted. There was only one player who wasn’t crying, and that was Lucky. He was too angry right now to be crying, knowing the officials had kept his team from winning the state championship.
Lucky stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the gold ball. Cole noticed his son’s reactions and had never seen him look this way. Lucky always wanted to win and hated to lose, but now looked like he wanted to bite somebody’s head off and chew it up.
Cole sent Derwin and the other seniors to the platform to accept the runner-up trophy. They all looked at it like an unwanted Christmas gift, not caring for it one bit.
The state officials then introduced Anson as the state champions for Class 2A, trying hard not to let the boos from Petros’ side distract him. Cole quieted his crowd, not wanting to ruin this moment for Anson. Sure, the referee had made a questionable call and Petros probably deserved this trophy, but it wasn’t the Rams’ fault.
Cole watched as the trophy was handed to the Anson players and clapped lightly, along with his players. They slowly started walking off the field, trying hard to maintain their composure.
Gabby was waiting near the end zone for Lucky. She knew he was hurting and wished there was some way to take away this pain.
Lucky looked like he was mad at the world while walking toward her. She walked toward him and put her arms around him.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.
Lucky nodded and held her closer.
“We should’ve won this game,” he responded.
“I know. You’ll have other chances.”
Lucky started to sniffle a bit, the emotions finally starting to overtake him.
“Yeah, I will,” he answered, pointing to a group of seniors standing around each other, “but they won’t.”
“That was the best game I’ve ever seen.”
“It should have been better,” he added.
They walked toward the locker room, stopping just short of the ramp leading into the locker room.
The Anson players and fans were still in the middle of the field, celebrating another state championship. The Petros fans were slowly filing out of the stadium, ready to make the long drive home.
“I don’t like this feeling,” Lucky stated.
“What feeling?” she asked.
“Losing.”
“Well,” she replied, kissing him lightly. “Don’t let it happen again.”
He paused for one last look around the field, the hurt growing worse by the second. Lucky wanted to remember this moment, to recall how bad it felt to see another team celebrate while his team came up short. He knew that would keep him motivated when times were tough.
“I don’t plan on it,” he answered, turned around and started walking up the ramp, vowing to never let this happen again.
THE END.
posted by Craig Hall at 4:49 AM
0 comments
