Senior Year Box Set

Trent lined up under center with Ty at tailback and Bert in front of him at fullback. On the snap, Johan, our center, somehow stepped on Trent’s foot. I’d taken thousands of snaps and had never even come close to getting my foot stepped on by the center. As a quarterback, your first move was to step back and either hand the ball off or pass. Trent just turned to hand the ball off.

Instead of just falling down and taking the loss, Trent reached out and tried to get the ball to Ty. What ended up happening was the ball hit Bert’s hip and bounced back towards Trent. All he had to do was fall on top of the ball, and disaster would have been averted.

Instead, Trent tried to pick the ball up and accidentally kicked it. Ty dove for the ball at the same time, and it bounced off his helmet right into the hands of the linebacker who’d blitzed to stop Ty’s run. Trent stood straight up and smacked himself on the helmet instead of tackling the linebacker.

Our fans sat in stunned silence as Washington scored on the first play.

As the offense came off the field, Coach Hope encouraged them.

“Shake it off. We’re fine. We’ll score on the next drive to get it back.”

After the quick score, they kicked off again, and this time kicked a short line drive. Ty caught it on the 15 yard line. The problem with a short line drive is the kicking team doesn’t have time to contain the runner. Their players are too spread out to bring everyone together to gang-tackle the return man.

What made Ty dangerous was that he was almost impossible to take down if he got into the open field. Jake Holcombe led Ty forward and blocked the first man that had a chance at Ty. I started jumping up and down as Ty flew by the block and hit a crease. There wasn’t anyone on Washington’s team that was going to catch him. Just like that, the score was tied 7–7.

On the next series, Washington took the ball and ran it down our throats. Tim, Yuri, and I sat on the sidelines in agony as Washington ran our option game from last year to perfection. If it hadn’t been for back-to-back bonehead penalties on Washington’s part, they would have scored another touchdown. They had to settle for a field goal to take a 10–7 lead.

As they were lining up to kick off, Coach Mason gathered us around. Before he could give me the play, Coach Hope stepped into our circle.

“We’re going with the starters.”

Coach Mason looked at him in disbelief but gave Trent the play. Washington saw I wasn’t on the field and packed the box to prevent the run. Without my arm to make them respect the pass, they would focus on our All-State running back, Ty Wilson. Ty gave a tremendous effort, but Washington held us to four yards on the next three carries, forcing us to punt.

I wasn’t surprised when Coach Rector called for the first-team defense, leaving us on the sideline. By the end of the first quarter, we were down 16–7 on two more Washington field goals. At the beginning of the second quarter, our fans booed when Trent trotted out to take the ball.

The fan reaction seemed to rattle him, and he promptly threw a pick-six. Luckily, Washington missed the extra point to make the score 22–7. Our fans went ballistic when Trent was sent out on the next series. Towards the end of the first half, Tim ran up to me.

“David, you have to come hear this,” he said, literally pulling me towards the bench.

I found Jill, one of our trainers, looking nervous.

“Tell him what you told me,” Tim prompted.

“I’m not sure …” she stumbled.

“Just tell me,” I said kindly.

Jill and I had a long history. She looked at me and then nodded.

“The reason you’re not playing is that Tim and Wolf didn’t let Coach Hope know they were going to Mexico. Coach Hope felt he had a deal with all of you, and you took advantage of it. He decided not to play any of you for the entire first game.”

“I thought you called in?” I asked Tim and Wolf, who’d joined us.

“We did. We talked to Alan,” Wolf said.

“Why didn’t you call Coach Hope’s cell?” I asked.

“Dumbass, the school has rules about coaches and teachers giving out their personal numbers. Think about what would happen if we lose the game. He would get flooded with calls.”

“But I have it,” I admitted.

“Let’s not even start at what you have access to that the rest of us don’t,” Wolf said.

I think we all came to the same realization at the same time. I don’t know about Wolf or Tim, but I went from calm to a cold rage in an instant.

“That little shit. I’ll strangle him,” I said, looking up at the press box.

I heard the crowd roar and saw that Washington had just scored another touchdown to go up 29–7.

As I looked for Coach Hope, the gun for halftime fired, and the team ran to the locker room. I was so mad I took my time getting back. I waited until I saw Alan and the other coaches come trotting to join us from their seats in the press box. His eyes got big when he saw me, and he tried to run. I tackled him, then grabbed him by the arm and marched him into the locker room.