Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Texas

by Nick Eatman

  Once the police cleared Collins of any involvement or wrongdoing, he was free to sign with the team of his choosing, and so the rich got richer as the Cowboys added him to their already talented stable of linemen.

  By July, the only major concern the Cowboys still had was re-signing Bryant, who was given the franchise tag. He had threatened to sit out the season opener against the New York Giants if a new contract wasn’t in place—a move that would’ve cost him $750,000 per game and didn’t seem all that practical for the wide receiver. Still, the Cowboys didn’t let it get that far, signing their superstar to a five-year, $70 million contract that paid him $32 million guaranteed.

  For the most part, things were shaping into form for these Cowboys, a trendy Super Bowl pick by the oddsmakers, who figured even the loss of Murray would be offset by dynamic defenders like Hardy and Gregory, as well as the talented group of core offensive players surrounding Romo.

  Could this finally be the year the Cowboys got back to the glory days? Their success-starved fan base could only hope so, as they had now waited over twenty years since the last Super Bowl title. And last year, many of them felt robbed by the “catch that wasn’t” in Green Bay.

  But that controversial play had only fueled the burning fire inside of these fans heading into 2015. With a nickname like America’s Team, the Cowboys were used to the hype. Expectations to win a sixth Super Bowl always existed, no matter the level of talent Jones had assembled.

  But this 2015 team seemed to be as can’t-miss as they could get, even in the parody-stricken NFL that sees teams go from worst to first and vice versa quicker than any other sport. These Cowboys were ready to roll.

  Now all they needed was the “breaks” to go their way.

  Chapter 1

  PREP WORK

  Friday

  A state as big as Texas makes for some pretty long bus rides, and in 2014, Plano went on one of the farthest treks head coach, Jaydon McCullough, could ever recall, especially for a regular-season game. After traveling 111 miles to John Tyler High School in Tyler, Texas, the Wildcats dropped a hard-fought battle that looked a lot worse on the final scoreboard—Tyler 30, Plano 12. And if you think the ride there was long, try the ride home after a loss like that.

  Needless to say, with John Tyler traveling to Plano this year for the 2015 opener, the Wildcats were out to avenge that loss, but more importantly get the season off on the right foot.

  With a 7:30 p.m. start, the standard time for all high school games on Friday nights across the state, it was a long afternoon for the players. At Plano, the team members wore game-day polos with their jersey numbers sewn on the sleeves at school during the day, giving students and faculty a chance to not only put faces and numbers together, but perhaps increase the excitement of game day even more in an effort to fill as many seats as possible. Every time you saw those polos in the hall, you remembered what was starting at 7:30.

  On this day, Matt Keys couldn’t stop looking at the time. Whether it was his watch, his cell phone, or the clocks on the wall in the classroom, the senior was having the hardest time paying any attention in his World Ideas philosophy class. It was the longest day ever because, to him, it was a prelude to what might be the most important night of his life. At least that was how it felt as the seconds and minutes dragged by while he anxiously awaited his first start as the quarterback of Plano Senior High.

  Keys didn’t really need to wear the game-day polo or even a football uniform to look the part. He stood out, even on a football team, at 6–5 and 225 pounds. But more than just his broad shoulders and towering height, Keys always carried a confident look about him, keeping a steady grin that matched his generally easygoing nature.

  But during sixth-period English, the last class before he would join his teammates, Keys wasn’t feeling so easy on the inside and was absolutely tuning out what was occurring in the classroom. His mind continued to race. Then he looked at his phone and saw a group text from one of his friends, also on the team, showing an old picture of a packed John Clark Stadium, giving them all a taste of what they would see tonight.

  The text read, “Look at all these people we have to disappoint.” It was supposed to be a joke, and Keys laughed it off. But inside, it started to hit home.

  “That’s when it really got real. This was really happening.”

  The buses pulled right up to the gate, just about twenty yards from the locker room doors. It was not a long walk at all for the players, who had arrived with half of their uniforms on. From the waist down, the players looked ready, donning their football pants—complete with thigh-, hip-, and kneepads—along with taped ankles and game cleats.

  But even the short walk to the locker room didn’t escape a few early-bird parents and tailgating fans who had lined up on two sides to cheer on their beloved Wildcats.

  “Let’s go Plano. It’s our year!” shouted a mother wearing a button with her son’s picture on it.

  “Here we go. Let’s go, boys. Let’s get after ’em tonight,” another proud father said, waving a Plano T-shirt he just purchased from the souvenir stand.

  Inside the locker room, the mood was a little more subdued than for other games. Make no mistake, the quietness was related more to nerves than to a laid-back approach. Even a senior such as Brandon Stephens, who played in the 2012 season opener as a freshman, had butterflies swarming inside his stomach just minutes before his final year was set to begin.

  On every level, Stephens was a high school senior and then some. Throughout his time at Plano, Stephens hadn’t just acted more mature for his age but looked older as well. When his ear-to-ear smile wasn’t lighting up the room, Stephens had a determined look that could be mistaken for a scowl. Stephens sported one of the more popular hairstyles, going with a tapered-fro, which was nice and neat but showed some length at the top and back of his head.

  This really wasn’t the time for pep talks, at least not for the players. That was taken care of Thursday before the first game when the team had held its annual preseason squad meeting at the school. There were no set rules or an agenda for who stood up and addressed the team. Usually it was the captains, but other seniors with something to add were more than welcome.

  Established seniors such as Keys and Stephens addressed the team, as did Kadarius Smith and T.J. Lee. But there might have been some players who were surprised to hear Darion Foster, wearing 35, speak. Here was a senior defensive lineman who was about to make his varsity debut. Typically, juniors who remained on junior varsity for that long had a hard time making contributions as seniors, but Darion was proving to be an exception to the rule—in more ways than one.

  Darion wasn’t like most of the other kids on the team. To go home from practice, he didn’t get picked up by his parents like some of the underclassmen. Before he finally got his own car, Darion would get a ride home with assistant coach Chris Fisher, the team’s longtime assistant defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. Chris also happened to be Darion’s live-in uncle, who had looked after him for the past seven years.

  Yes, technically, Darion was his nephew, but for the father of three daughters as well as for his wife, Janna, Darion was the son they never had; and he got treated at home in the same way as their biological kids. Considering that Darion was half African-American, a quarter Hispanic, and a quarter white, while Chris was half Hispanic, you could find families with less diversity, but you couldn’t find many with more love.

  Athletically, Darion was what you’d call a late bloomer, which is why it took so long for him to make the varsity squad. Truth be told, had he not suffered a broken hand in his first JV game as a junior, he might have been called up during the previous year.

  “But only if he’s good enough,” Chris said prior to the season, making sure that there would never be a hint of bias or favoritism displayed at his expense. “When he’s ready, he’ll play on vars
ity. But that doesn’t help anyone to put him up just because he’s my nephew.”

  By now, Darion was more than ready. Better yet, he was about to start for the Wildcats at defensive tackle. While it might have been his first game on Friday night, it certainly wasn’t his first time on the sidelines. For five years, beginning when he was about ten, Darion was a Plano ball boy, hustling after overthrown passes and fielding balls in the end zone after field goals and extra points. He showed some speed and quickness to dodge the big boys when the plays went out-of-bounds as well.

  Now, his job was to be right in the middle of the action. And the once-shy kid, who at first couldn’t even look McCullough in the eyes because he was so intimidated, stood up in front of his peers.

  “Like everyone else, I’m just excited to be able to start a season with them. I know we can have a great year if we just stick together. For the last seven years, Plano has been part of my family, starting when I was a ball boy on the sidelines. Now I’m about to start my senior year. I’ve seen a lot of great players and know how this thing is supposed to go. So let’s go get the job done.”

  Without a single varsity snap under his belt, Darion instantly became one of the leaders.

  Minutes before kickoff, Chris ran out of the locker room and uttered the first three words that came to his mind.

  “Man, it’s hot!” he said as he located about two-dozen family members who had made the drive from Amarillo, Texas. That was not only where Chris grew up and was a star defensive back for Palo Duro High School, but it was also where Darion’s mother, Heather, still resided. She wasn’t about to miss this game.

  Chris, or “Coach Fish” to the players and coaches, made a point to high-five all of his defensive backs as they ran onto the field. Seconds after the national anthem was played by Plano’s marching band, he turned to a few spectators fortunate enough to garner a sideline pass and said, “There’s no place I’d rather be than right here.”

  Despite the near triple-digit temperatures around kickoff, that sentiment was shared by thousands of Plano residents who packed John Clark Field, waving their glossy “Wildcat” paws in unison.

  With John Tyler getting the ball first, one of the biggest fears Plano’s coaching staff had coming into the game was just how they’d compete in the trenches against a team with so much size. It didn’t take long for the Wildcats to ease those concerns, though, as they forced the Lions into a three-and-out and a punt.

  Finally, the wait was over for Keys. His time was now as he took the field donning jersey 28. (Jerseys in the 20s for quarterbacks were a Plano tradition.) And all eyes in the stands were fixed on Stephens, the do-it-all tailback who was considered by many to be one of the best in Texas.

  So who got the first carry of this much-anticipated season? Well, that’d be Lopaka Yoro, of course. The five-foot, 160-pound runner was one of the smallest players Plano had ever put on the field, but he might have also been one of the toughest. Yoro had great quickness and power, and frankly, had a way of hiding behind blockers just long enough to break a big run.

  But Yoro’s first carry went for just four yards. Keys then ran the next play for no gain and took a big hit from John Tyler’s best defensive tackle, who stayed in the quarterback’s ear, telling him he would be hitting him like this all night.

  Keys shrugged it off, and even told him, “Dude, you’re not a big deal. We’re fine.”

  So with his first hit out of the way, now it was on to his first pass, which he completed for a first down to Tarence Raymond.

  This is where the public address announcer, Matt Cone, went to work, allowing the fans to participate.

  “Catch by Raymond for seven yards is enough for a Plano …”

  “FIRST DOWN!” the fans scream with a little more juice, considering it’s the first of the season.

  But what most were probably thinking was: When is Stephens going to get the ball?

  The star running back finally got his chance on Plano’s fourth play from scrimmage. The fifth play was an extra point.

  That’s right, Stephens showed everyone why there was so much hype around him, as he took a pitch to the right and darted around the corner untouched, cruising into the end zone thanks to a pancake block down the field by receiver Carson Williams.

  One carry, one touchdown for Stephens. His senior year was already off to a great start.

  Stephens was about as cool as they come for high school players, especially ones with so much talent. He smiled on his way off the field despite all of the attention his teammates were giving him. But the offensive linemen, they weren’t as cool. All five of the starters were jumping around like kids on Christmas morning. They had been challenged all week by their coaches, having been told just how big and tough these Lions were up front. They had reason to celebrate.

  Coach McCullough never lost his intensity, and he was not afraid to get after any kid at any moment. But he’d offer just as much praise as well, especially to the O-line, which he also oversaw along with his head-coaching duties.

  “That’s how you do it, guys!” he screamed at all of them with a snarl on his face that wouldn’t be perceived as a compliment from any onlooker in the stands. “Great job! But get ready to do it again.”

  And that’s what they did. On the next drive, Keys got himself out of a blitz and then found Stephens on a dump-off pass at the last minute. Stephens did the rest, running for thirty-nine yards to set up his second touchdown of the game just a few plays later.

  But John Tyler had too many athletes, especially at quarterback, to go quietly. Quarterback Bryson Smith made about six Wildcats miss on a 67-yard touchdown run on the Lions’ next possession to cut into the lead. Smith even led his team to a game-tying touchdown in the second quarter, but the visitor’s momentum was stopped thanks to an interception by Aaron Ragas, who after nearly winning the quarterback job a few weeks ago, had shown why the coaches kept him at his more natural safety position.

  That pick allowed Keys to find the end zone soon thereafter. With all of the defense’s attention on Stephens, Keys kept a read option and cut it back up the field for a touchdown run and a 21–14 lead, where it remained heading into halftime.

  Coming off the field, Keys was met by his quarterbacks coach, Carson Meger, who couldn’t help but have his own flashbacks.

  “Man, you look like me out there,” said Meger, who not only quarterbacked Plano to success in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, but also wore Keys’ 28 jersey as well.

  Meger’s journey from Plano quarterback to quarterback coach went full circle rather quickly. After spending four seasons at University of Texas El Paso, where he played seventeen games, including three starts, Meger decided not to play a fifth season in El Paso so he could get a jumpstart on his coaching career. Naturally, he went back to Plano, where he was hired as a middle school coach for one season before a spot opened up on the varsity staff. Just two years removed from playing college ball and six years after he was a star quarterback for the Wildcats, now Meger was back on the headsets, coaching his successors. A former player returning to his alma mater to coach isn’t unique in Texas. Doing that in a six-year span is a quicker transition than most, but it just worked out that way—both for Meger and the Wildcats.

  Following the thirty-minute break, which in high school allows both marching bands to perform, the Wildcats padded their lead in the third quarter with Stephens’ third rushing touchdown of the night.

  Shortly after, junior safety Nic Melson was forced into duty because of an injury. Nic always had his biggest fan rather close to him on the field. His father, Marty Melson, was a standout for the Wildcats back in the late 1970s and currently was serving as a freshman coach at one of Plano’s feeder high schools. Marty’s game-day duties weren’t quite as intense as the varsity coaches’, but he would keep an eye on the opposing offensive and defensive formations and m
ight offer up a different perspective if needed. But when his son was in, even though the soft-spoken Marty had no problems staying in coach mode, he always kept the closest eye on his son, perhaps thinking every now and then about the fact that two generations of Melsons had donned Wildcat jerseys.

  Immediately after hustling out onto the field, Nic made a tackle for a loss on second down. Then on fourth down, he didn’t know where to be on the punt return unit. He was in the middle of the field, then went back toward the punt returners, who then pointed him to the left defensive end spot, where senior Byron Tate told him where to line up. Somewhat unsure of his duties, Melson just rushed up the field at the punter. Only the punter didn’t get the snap; the ball sailed over his head and into the end zone, where the quick-footed junior pounced on the prize for a touchdown.

  If that wasn’t enough, he also was the backup holder and needed to be in the game for the extra point.

  “Atta boy, Niiic!” Coach Fisher screamed into the earhole of Melson’s helmet on his way off the field. “Look at you, son!”

  Melson received a helmet slap or fifty in a matter of minutes. The bench was erupting, and not just because a guy who looks more like an athletic trainer had just scored a touchdown. It was also becoming very clear that Plano would win the game and avenge last year’s 18-point loss to the Lions.

  This time it was Plano turning the tables, pulling away by the same margin for a 35–17 win.

  And now, McCullough could finally crack a smile. After hours of a permanent scowl, the head coach sought out his wife, Kathy, for a big hug and kiss. The other assistant coaches did the same with their wives and families, a Plano tradition after every game, no matter the outcome.