Junior Year Box Set

When I got into the locker room, there was a message on my cell phone from Brandon, who called me a bad name. It seems he, being the keeper of the recruiting phone, was buried in calls. I sent him a text to just shut the damned thing off since that was what I would do.

I’d just come out of the shower when Moose found me.

“You’ve been summoned,” Moose said with a smile.

“Okay?” I said to make it a question.

“The press wants to talk to you.”

This was a college football stadium, after all, and it had a press room. I walked out in time to see Bloomington’s coach finish up his session. It could have been that or that the reporters all clamored to ask me questions when they saw me come into the room. He just smiled at me and shook my hand.

“Good game, son, and good luck,” their coach said as he walked off stage.

I smiled when Tracy came on stage with Coach Hope and me. We sat down behind several microphones and recorders. I guess she was still my press secretary. Brandon was in the back of the room, surrounded by recruiters. Better him than me. Tracy took charge.

“Okay, settle down. We’ll be answering one question at a time. If you get out of hand, you’ll be asked to leave,” she announced. “Before we start, I want to give you some stats.”

I zoned out as she did that part. Once Tracy was done with the stats, there was a clamor among the reporters as to who got to go first, but to her credit, she picked Jeff Delahey, the local sports reporter that covered Lincoln High.

“Do we have a deal?” he asked me.

Jeff was telling me he didn’t want to hear my ‘aw shucks’ routine. I nodded, but if he asked something that irritated me, I would give him my ‘thanks to God’ answer.

“Did you have any idea you were close to the record?” he asked.

“At halftime, Alan Douglas, our student assistant coach, told me I had a shot. I honestly wasn’t trying to break the record. All I wanted to do was beat Bloomington. I have to say, they never gave up and gave us a heck of a game. I wouldn’t want to play them again.”

He gave me the evil eye because he thought I always gave the other team too much credit. I just shrugged, because anyone that could put 70 points on you would beat you every single time. We’d been fortunate to win this one.

“What do you have to do to get better?” Jeff asked.

The whole room laughed, but I took his question seriously.

“We need to take this game and throw it out. This was a fluke, and if we think we’re really this good, we’ll soon be shown that we aren’t. I’m sure when the coaches review the film they’ll see we blew assignments, didn’t get off the ball, and other stuff that doesn’t come to me right now. I’m confident that Coaches Hope and Zoon will figure out what we need to do defensively also. The offense didn’t do them any favors. We need to give them longer drives so they can catch their breath and be more effective.”

“Are you saying the defense’s poor performance was the offense’s fault?” Jeff asked.

“First of all, I think our defense played a heck of a game. They ran into a Bloomington team that was bigger, stronger, and faster than we were. They did enough for us to win. If it weren’t for my pick-six at the start of the second half, this game would have been much different. If I had taken us down for the score, we would have been up three scores, and we could have run the football more. Instead, I opened the door for them to get back into the game, and they showed me why I think they’ll win State in their division this year.

“I also want to point out that the heart and soul of our defense was hurt in the first series. Does anyone know how Tim Foresee is doing?” I asked.

“Early indications are that he’ll need surgery,” Jeff told me.

“That’s the second key player we’ve lost this season. My best friend Jeff Rigger was lost to an accident before we even got started. We dedicated the season to him. If Tim Foresee is also out, we’ll add him to the dedication. Both were key members of this team, and it saddens me that they won’t join me on the football field again this year. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tim and his family.”

Then the floodgates opened, and I got questions like ‘How do you feel?’ Jeff rolled his eyes as I did what I was supposed to and gave them the tried and true lines like, ‘We play them one game at a time.’ Thankfully Coach Zoon stuck his head in the room and told us the bus was ready to leave. Coach Hope never even got a question sent his way. I think he was okay with that.

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