by Gregg Stutts
CHAPTER 21
Max looked at the clock. Siloam Springs was up 35-28 with just under two minutes left in the game. They were lined up to punt. Lakeside would get the ball back with enough time to score. With 1:48 showing on the clock, the Siloam Springs punter got off a high, wobbly kick. The Lakeside coaches were yelling at Joe Taylor to get away from the ball.
In the excitement of the moment, he didn’t hear them and tried to field the punt. It didn’t bounce off his helmet like the previous week; it just went right through his hands. At the very last second, he’d taken his eyes off the ball and saw two tacklers coming right at him. The ball ended up on the ground under a pile of players from both teams.
One by one, the officials pulled players off the pile to reach the bottom to find out who had recovered the ball. Both teams were pointing like they knew they had it. When it was down to just two guys, Joe jumped up with the ball in his hands. The referee signaled Lakeside had recovered and put the ball in play at their own 27-yard line with the clock showing 1:39 left.
There was plenty of time to score. Max listened as his offensive coordinator called the play and sent the offense out onto the field. The play was designed for the quarterback to roll to his right and throw a 15-yard pass to the receiver closest to the Lakeside sideline.
The center snapped the ball. The quarterback faked a run and then rolled to his right. The receiver ran a perfect route and the defender was playing a little too loose. When he made his break to the sideline, he was wide open and the pass was perfect. When the Siloam Springs defender tried to close and make the tackle, he took a bad angle. That allowed a 15-yard pass to become 29 yards as the receiver broke a couple more tackles.
The first down stopped the clock with 1:31 remaining. The official placed the ball at the Siloam Springs 44 yard line. Lakeside was at the line of scrimmage ready to run a play when the referee blew his whistle and motioned to the clock operator to start the game clock.
The ball was snapped with 1:26 left. The quarterback faked a screen pass to the left, then handed the ball to the tailback on a draw play. Siloam Springs had blitzed, so the ball carrier was hit in the backfield. It slowed his momentum so he only gained 2 yards.
That made it second down and 8 with the clock running. Lakeside had only one time out left and Max needed to save it. The offense lined up to run their next play and looked to the sideline for the call. 1:09 remaining.
The play was a quick pass to the tight end, Blake Collins, one of the two boys whose charges had suddenly been dropped. Blake caught the ball, broke a tackle and picked up nine yards, enough for a first down. The clock stopped while the chains were moved. There was 1:01 remaining with the ball at the 33-yard line. Still plenty of time to score.
Lakeside snapped the ball and the quarterback pitched it to the tailback who took the ball in stride on a sweep toward the Siloam Springs side of the field. The play gained seven yards. One more block and he would have gone all the way.
The play ended in-bounds, so the clock kept running. The Lakeside offense had practiced this type of situation hundreds of times, so they weren’t panicking. It was second and 5 with 0:47 on the clock. They went back to the quick pass to Blake, which gained four yards.
It was third and 1 with the clock running. The ball was on the 28-yard line. Still enough time. The Lakeside quarterback looked over the defense. He took the snap and dropped back to pass. The Siloam Springs outside linebacker blitzed hard and no one picked him up. He planted his helmet right between the quarterback’s shoulder blades. He went down hard, but held onto the ball. The play lost 8 yards, which brought up fourth down and 9.
The clock kept running. With 0:38 seconds remaining, Max was forced to call his last timeout and talk it over with his offensive coordinator. They decided to go back to the first play they’d called on the drive—have the quarterback roll right and look for his receiver breaking to the sideline at about ten yards. They made sure the receiver knew to get beyond the first down marker.
The referee signaled the end of the timeout and the Lakeside offense ran back onto the field. Everything was coming down to this play. A first down would keep the drive and the game alive. It could also turn their young season around. A 1-1 record was a whole lot better than 0-2.
The Siloam Springs defense was still playing loose. A good route by the receiver and a good throw would easily pick up the first down. The center snapped the ball. The quarterback rolled right toward the Lakeside sideline. The receiver slowed to make his break. This time, the defender closed harder and took a better angle.
As the receiver made his break, he got his feet tangled up and tripped. It was too late for the quarterback to adjust—he’d already released the ball. The defender broke hard for the ball, but it was thrown too low for him to get there and the Lakeside receiver was just barely able to get his arms underneath the ball and make the catch from his knees.
The play gained nine yards, not the ten they needed. With 0:32 seconds left, the referee called an official timeout to measure for a first down. If they were short, the game would be over. Siloam Springs would run out the clock and Lakeside would go home 0-2.
The chains were brought across the field to the Lakeside sideline. The officials pushed the players back and stretched the chain. The officials huddled over the ball. Max stood on the sideline just a few feet from the ball. It couldn’t have been any closer. If it was a first down, then it was by a hair.
It was so close, the referee had to get on his knees to get a better look. After a moment, he stood up and signaled first down for Lakeside. The Siloam Springs coach began arguing the call, but it wasn’t going to change anything. The officials spotted the ball just barely inside the 27-yard line.
The Lakeside offense quickly broke the huddle and ran to the ball with 0:28 seconds left. The center snapped the ball with 0:26 on the clock. The quarterback took a quick three-step drop and looked for Blake running straight up the seam in the middle of the field. It was the perfect play call. The safety had moved over to cover the receiver on the wide side of the field. Blake was wide open.
Siloam Springs had blitzed though and Lakeside’s left guard stepped the wrong way. That allowed the linebacker a direct line to the quarterback. He had to pull the ball down and took a hard hit right in the chest, but somehow held onto the ball. They lost seven yards on the play.
Even worse, the clock continued to run. With 0:19 left, the Lakeside quarterback got to his feet and looked to the sideline for the call. The play was one they’d been setting up the entire drive. The quarterback would roll right and make it look like the pass to the sideline again. Only this time he would stop and throw back to the other side of the field to Joe Taylor who would delay for two seconds to make it look like he was blocking before releasing for the pass.
The ball was snapped with :09 seconds on the clock. As the quarterback rolled right, the entire defense went with him. One thousand one, one thousand two. Joe released. No one was near him.
With 0:05 seconds on the clock, the pass left the quarterback’s hand and Joe caught it perfectly in stride at the five yard line and took it in for the touchdown. The Lakeside sideline went wild. With just 0:01 second on the clock, Lakeside was down 35-34. An extra point would tie the game and send it to over time.
But Max wasn’t going to take the game to overtime. Lakeside had the momentum. He called for a fake extra point. The play was designed for the kicker to step up as if he was going to kick, but for the holder to throw a pass to Blake in the end zone.
The Siloam Springs defense went all out for the block and completely ignored Blake. By the time they realized it was a fake, Blake was holding the ball in the end zone for two points. Lakeside was up 36-35. They had pulled off a 63-yard game winning drive in under two minutes.
The Lakeside players and fans went crazy. Max wondered if that was the drive they’d all look back on as the one that turned the season around. To put together a game winning drive like that in the closing minutes w
ould build the confidence his team needed to face the rest of their conference schedule.
Both teams took the field for the kick-off with just one second left on the clock. Max reminded the kicker to kick a line drive right at the Siloam Springs front line, so their best returners couldn’t touch it.
Max started to turn around to find Michelle in the stands and then stopped. She wasn’t there. He missed her more in that moment than he ever had.
The referee blew his whistle and the ball was kicked. It caromed off a Siloam Springs player’s shoulder pads and bounced to one of their kick returners at their 30-yard line. He started to his right toward the Siloam Springs sideline. The Lakeside kick-off team cornered him near the sideline at midfield.
That’s when he stopped and threw an overhand lateral to one of their players almost thirty yards away from the action. It was a perfect throw. Called at the perfect time.
He received it at the 47-yard line and put a move on a Lakeside player that literally caused him to fall over. He broke a tackle and then cut to the sideline. At the 20-yard line, a Lakeside tackler tried to shove him out of bounds, but never got a good shot. The Siloam Springs player walked a tightrope down the sideline the remaining twenty yards and scored.
This time, the home side of the field went wild. The coaches and players ran to the end zone to celebrate as the band started playing their fight song. The Lakeside sideline and fans looked on in stunned silence.
No penalty flags. No time left. Game over. Siloam Springs won 41-36.
For the second time in twenty-four hours, Max could hardly comprehend what was happening. First, he’d lost his wife. And now he’d just lost a game with one second left. It would likely mean he’d also lose his job.
A loss was bad enough, but to lose like this was devastating. It was a game they should have won and won easily. And they had won. But let it slip away.
Somehow, Max had to find the words to help his team. He knew they were as stunned as he was. This was not what anyone had expected. After two losing seasons, they had worked hard and were looking for a playoff run and maybe a championship. No one thought they’d lose this game.
The coaches pulled the team together at the other end of the field away from the Siloam Springs celebration. They all removed their helmets and took a knee. A couple of the assistant coaches pointed out some positives they’d seen, but it was hard to believe them.
And then everyone looked to Max. He looked at the players in front of him. They had played their hearts out. A few were injured and had icepacks wrapped to wrists or ankles.
“Boys, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. A whole lot,” Max said. He looked down at the ground, remembering some of them. “And I’ll make some more. So will you.”
The Siloam Springs band finished their last song. A final, loud cheer went up from the home fans.
“And there are times I’ve wanted to quit. Times I was tired. Times I felt defeated. Times I had nothing left to give,” he said as he looked each player in the eye. “But I didn’t quit. When I got knocked down, I got back up. When I got knocked down again, I got up again. I’ve always gotten back up. Always. And if there’s one thing I can promise you tonight is that we will get back up. Staying down is not an option.”
Some of the players who’d been slumped over were straightening up now.
“Tonight was a loss. And it hurts,” Max said as he pointed to the scoreboard. “But that scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story and it certainly can’t predict the future. That scoreboard says we lost, but it can’t look into your heart. It doesn’t know when a man has given his all on this field of battle. But I know what I saw tonight. And I know you’ll get back up and be ready to go again on Monday. Our season is not over. I promise you that. It’s not over.”
Max could see some life returning to their eyes.
“Yeah, tonight was a loss, but it was not a failure. It’s only a failure if you let it be. It’s only a failure if you stay down,” Max said. “Life will give you many opportunities to quit, to stay down, to fail.”
Max looked around at the young men kneeling around him and said one last thing.
“Don’t give up.”
CHAPTER 22
By the end of the third quarter, Brick Township had a three-touchdown lead over Toms River East. Chris whispered to Michelle, “Let’s go get some dessert.”
Thirty minutes later, they were each enjoying a glass of wine and sharing a slice of cheesecake in one of Chris’s favorite restaurants.
Michelle finished a bite of cheesecake. She wiped her mouth and then took a sip of wine. “I told him I wasn’t coming back,” she said watching Chris closely to gauge his reaction. He definitely looked surprised.
“How did he react?” Chris said.
“To be honest, I think he was shocked,” she said. “Which I can’t understand.” She thought for a moment. “He really didn’t say much.” She paused again. “Of course that’s no different than the last three years.”
“Now what?” Chris asked. “What did your parents say?”
“I haven’t told them yet. I’m not looking forward to that.”
Chris’s phone buzzed indicating a new text. He glanced at his phone, which was on the table. “Weather alert,” he said. “The tropical storm was upgraded to a hurricane.”
“Is it headed here?” she said.
“Doesn’t look like it,” he said. “There’s a watch out for the Florida, but not this far north. There’s another one forming out in the Atlantic though.”
They finished off their cheesecake and wine. The server asked if they wanted more, but they both declined. She left the check and went to check on another table.
“What about your job?” Chris said.
“They’ll find someone to replace me,” she said. “It’s a college town. There are always more teachers than jobs.”
“Will you try to teach here?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll look into what’s required to transfer my teaching license.” She looked around the room at nothing in particular. “I just didn’t see myself being in this situation.”
“I’m really sorry,” he said. “I’ll do anything I can.”
Chris looked at his phone to check the time. He dropped a couple twenty-dollar bills on the table and said, “Let’s go do something fun.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“You’ll see. Come on.”
They left Michelle’s car at the restaurant. Twenty minutes later, they were at Pt. Pleasant Beach. Chris parked the car, opened Michelle’s door and helped her out. They walked up to the boardwalk, then down onto the beach where they slipped their shoes off.
The sound of the waves washing onshore and the cool sand underneath her feet brought back memories of the long walks on the beach with Chris. As they walked, Chris shared more about the last fifteen years of his life.
After he and Michelle had broken up after high school, he’d gone to college and then moved to Brick and started teaching. He started dating, Cindy, a science teacher about a year later. They got married the next summer.
Chris talked about how much he loved her and loved being with her. They worked out together. They cooked together. And they were careful with their money, which allowed them to travel during the summers. They went to Europe, Costa Rica and Hawaii. They were making plans to go to Paris for their fifth anniversary.
The night before they were to leave for Paris, Cindy was on her way home from the store where she’d picked up a few last minute items. About a mile from their house, a drunk driver ran a red light and hit her right in the driver’s door.
A policeman who knew Chris and Cindy happened to be right behind her when she got hit. He called for an ambulance. When he got out and saw who’d been hit, he also called Chris.
“I got to the scene no more than five minutes after the accident,” he said. “The ambulance hadn’t even arrived yet.”
They walked in silence for a moment while Chris trie
d to continue. “The policeman who called me told Cindy I was on my way,” he said. “I think she tried to hold on until I got there. She was barely breathing,” he said. “There was no way to get her out of the car. I’ve never felt so helpless.”
They walked a little further.
“I could hear the siren of the ambulance coming, but I knew she wasn’t going to make it,” he said. “I told her I loved her and how happy she made me. I leaned down and kissed her lips. In barely a whisper, she said, ‘I love you so much.’ And then she stopped breathing.”
As they walked, Michelle reached over and took Chris’s hand in hers. At that moment, a thousand miles away, Siloam Springs was returning a kick-off to beat Lakeside.
CHAPTER 23
Normally, Max would have started breaking down game film on Saturday morning. Not today though. He needed some time away from the field house and football. He loaded up his fishing gear, got in his truck and headed to his favorite fishing spot. It wasn’t far from his house, but it was secluded and he’d never seen anyone else there.