Junior Year Box Set

Springfield came out and lined up in the power ‘I’ with the tight end as an extra fullback. They were going to work at winning the time of possession and use their superior size to pound us into submission. They slowly worked their way down the field, gaining three to four yards on each play. When they reached the Red Zone, inside our 20, Coach Zoon switched up the defense. He put Johan in at nose tackle, lined up over the center, and now we were in a five-man front. As I had said in my interview, we were more experienced, and we were stronger than we had been last year. We stopped them at the 12 yard line, and they settled for a field goal to make it 7–3.

On the ensuing kickoff, Ed brought the football out to the 31 yard line. We lined up in a base formation, and I was in the shotgun.

“Down!” I called, and Wolf came in motion towards the center of the field.

“Set. Hut, HUT!”

I’d waited until Wolf had come across the face of the formation to a spot just outside Jim at tackle. What I had watched for was what the cornerback covering Wolf had done. If he stayed home, that meant they were playing a zone. Instead, he followed Wolf across the formation. This would give an extra blocker if we ran to the side of the field Wolf was now on. Their safety cheated up to help in case we ran to that side.

We ran a two-man option to the weak side. We had to hope Neil, at right tackle, could handle their defensive end. If he couldn’t, the defensive end would be in my face and cause me to have to pitch too soon. On the snap, Neil got off the ball well and held his block long enough. Little Ed did just enough to slow down the outside linebacker. I was impressed that Ed sacrificed himself. Ty and I turned the corner and headed upfield. Their cornerback was my first read, and he forced the football out of my hands. Ty took the ball as I flattened the smaller cornerback. The safety came forward, and Ty bamboozled him when he cut towards the center of the field instead of racing up the sideline. That was when Jim showed why he was considered one of the best linemen in the Midwest. He had sprinted upfield on the snap and was in position to block the backside safety. I was jealous when I heard the crack of the pads as Jim destroyed the poor kid. You don’t get many chances to hit someone that hard, and Jim took full advantage. He actually knocked the safety out of one of his shoes. Ty raced down the center of the field and scored to make it 14–3.

Springfield came out and tried to run the football down our throats. I give them credit for not panicking and sticking with their game plan. They were third and one, barely across midfield, when I spotted something I’d seen on tape. I had skimmed through their offense on the off chance I might play some defense. I sprinted to Coach Zoon.

“Pass, Pass, Pass!”

Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t hear me over the crowd noise. Coach Zoon spotted it once I pointed it out and tried to call time out. We watched as they executed their first pass play of the day to perfection. Their quarterback faked the handoff, stood up and hit their wide receiver on a slant. We had committed to stopping the short-yardage run. When our cornerback slipped, it was an easy score. They were now only down 14–10.

On the next series, their sneaky defensive coordinator got me. A voice in my head screamed that Wolf was too wide open. I hit a sprinting safety as if I intended to throw it to him. Shit! I hadn’t thrown an interception since the first game, and again this one was a pick-six. We were now down 17–14.

I came out the next series and showed why I was the top-rated quarterback. I was sure I made Ridge proud because I eviscerated the Springfield defense with my short game. I was seven for seven and threw to six different receivers as we marched down the field to make the score 21–17.

Springfield pounded the ball and scored with just over a minute remaining in the half to take a 24–21 lead.

I loved the pressure. Coach Hope wanted to take a knee and run out the half, but Coach Diamond and, to my surprise, Coach Zoon convinced him to let me loose. I would call the plays at the line. I had eighty yards to cover in a minute and five seconds. I had all three timeouts. I huddled up the troops to get everyone on the same page.

“We’re going to go back to the triple option. If you hear ‘Bulldog,’ that means to spread out into the slotback formation. Hustle to the line and don’t assume I’ll call time. I want to catch them napping if I can. All calls are on me, so pay attention. We’ve practiced this, you know what to do, so let’s get this score,” I said.

As I’d guessed, Springfield brought in two defensive backs to replace their outside linebackers. There was a big difference between a rough-and-tumble linebacker and a light-hitting cornerback. I glanced over at the sideline and saw a big smile on Coach Diamond’s face. He saw what I was up to, and seemed to approve.

“Down. Set. Hut, Hut!”