by Jo Grafford
The number of students present both surprised and thrilled him. They were filling the center section of bleachers on the home team side of the field. Far less exciting, however, was the number of students sporting outdated spirit gear. There were students in both Pioneer shirts and Range Rider shirts. Though Hope had refused to ban such items, the students’ lack of support for the new direction she was trying to lead them was too bad. Then again, maybe Josh was worrying about nothing. It’s not as if their high school had been given the opportunity to purchase new spirit gear yet. Their new mascot had only been unveiled yesterday.
Over the next several minutes, he noted more parents pouring into the stands. Not only were they wearing their old spirit shirts and hats, they were clustered in fairly sizable groups of Pioneers versus Range Riders. He supposed it made sense for them to sit by people they knew, but it still irritated him to see the clear lines they were drawing amongst themselves.
We’re one team now, folks. Returning his attention to the field, he watched his business partner and co-coach, Deck Kingston, run the Heart Lake football players through their paces. They had a few volunteer parents helping them — a pair of construction workers from the south side of town, both of whom had sons on the team, and a young guy in his late teens from the reservation who had a younger brother out there. So far, none of the parents living on the north side of town had lifted a finger to help out.
It was unfortunate, because the players deserved the support of all the parents. They’d worked hard all summer, as usual, conditioning for football season. Sure, there’d been some tension between the north and south players at first — okay, a lot — but Josh and Deck had stayed on top of it. At the slightest sign of unsportsmanlike behavior, they’d mercilessly assigned sprint exercises. In fact, it was the quickest way for any player to earn a few extra laps around the football field in the full blast of the sun. The team had quickly learned to leave their personal beefs behind when they stepped onto the Heart Lake High campus.
“Welcome, everyone!” an announcer in the press box boomed over the loudspeaker. “Tonight’s season opening game will be played between our beloved Heart Lake High home team and our neighbors in Fairfax. Let’s hear it for the Heart Lake Heroes!”
The loudest response was from the student section. The parents’ cheering, on the other hand, was lackluster at best. The other side of the stadium held a few visitors, but no students so far. No marching band, either. Josh glanced at his watch, wondering where the Fairfax players were.
After a pause, the announcer returned to the microphone. “Looks like the Fairfax Red Devils have run into some unexpected traffic. They’ll be arriving shortly.”
The minutes continued to tick past, however, without any new school buses arriving. It soon became apparent to everyone present that the Red Devils were running late.
Deck jogged over to Josh in a white polo shirt drenched with sweat. It was a hot and dry evening. He generally stretched out and ran through the warm-up exercises with the team, and tonight was no exception.
He wiped his forehead with a towel. “Traffic?” he blustered, “In Heart Lake on a Saturday evening? Are you kidding me?”
Josh shook his head. He’d been thinking the same thing. Their town boasted a population of less than 20,000. Something felt off about the claim.
“We’re done with warm-ups. What do you want me to do next?” Deck continued rubbing his towel over his blonde buzz cut as they surveyed the players.
“Keep ‘em hydrated, and keep ‘em moving.” There wasn’t much else they could do. “I’ll check with the refs about the other team’s forfeit options, if it comes to that.”
“And if it does? Deck swiped a cup of water from the tray of a passing water boy and downed it.
“Given the choice, I’d like to play.”
“Same. Let me know what you find out from the refs.” Deck headed back onto the field. “Alright, Heroes. Water break!”
Josh strode down the sideline to the blue canopy where the refs were congregated. It was a younger group than he was accustomed to seeing. Three out of four looked like they were barely older than teenagers, and they were so busy laughing and joking that it took several minutes to get their attention.
The reedy redheaded one finally spun in his direction. “Oh, hey! Didn’t see you standing there,” he cried.
The way his companions burst into inane laughter told Josh that they had, indeed, noticed his presence and had purposefully kept him waiting.
“And here are the Red Devils,” the guy noted in satisfaction before Josh had a chance to speak. He glanced past Josh’s shoulder. “I knew they’d make it.
Josh spun around to watch the buses rumble into the parking lot. The moment the Fairfax players started belching from their doors, he realized they had another problem to deal with. Although he and the visiting head coach had coordinated their team uniforms ahead of time to avoid such confusion, the Red Devils had opted to wear their white jerseys and red pants. They looked almost identical to the Heart Lake High players.
Their coach ambled across the parking lot and swaggered up to the ref tent. He was a darkly tanned fellow in a red polo and khaki shorts. He boasted a wide girth and an even bigger attitude.
“Hey, there, Hawling.” George Kirk thrust out a meaty hand. “I’m sorry to have to break the news to you, but our new black jerseys didn’t arrive as expected. Any chance you’ll be a good sport and have your kiddos change into something else?” He grinned affably as if it was no big deal to ask such a big favor after running late and showing up in the wrong uniform. “Since we’re playing on your turf tonight, seems to me it would be easier for you to fix this than me.”
Josh hesitated before shaking the guy’s hand, half-tempted to make him forfeit the game for being so inconsiderate. There were so many better ways the visiting coach could’ve handled the situation, starting with contacting Josh earlier in the day about the uniform issue.
“Aw, now,” Coach Kirk sneered, “I understand if you’re not inclined to show us any grace. Between working with my ex-wife and the fact that your players probably aren’t looking forward to facing off against my devils…”
Josh reached for the guy’s hand and gave it a solid squeeze, just shy of a bone crush. “I’ll have my players change jerseys.”
“Excellent.” Coach Kirk tried to hide his wince as he shoved his hand back in his pocket. “That’ll give us time to warm up.”
Nice. You show up late, and we’re the ones jumping to accommodate. Too irritated to say more, Josh returned to his team to break the unwelcome news about the necessity for a last minute change of uniform.
“No way!” one of the players grumbled. “We should make ‘em forfeit.”
“We could.” Josh nodded. “But iron sharpens iron, meaning the only way we’re going to get better is if we play ball.”
Their team captain, Ty Remington, gave an exaggerated sigh. “Y’all, in case you’re wondering, he’s about to give us one of his good sportsmanship speeches. Best way to avoid it is to go change.” He waved both hands toward the locker room like an airline employee guiding a jet to its gate.
With a mixture of chuckles and groans, the team complied. Josh nodded his appreciation to Ty for exerting a bit of positive peer pressure on them.
Huck Standing Deer gave Ty a playful punch on the shoulder as he jogged past. “You coming, or do you want me to grab your other jersey on my way back?”
Though Josh turned away to confer with Deck, he liked the friendly tone of the exchange between the former north side player and a kid from the reservation. Boy, if that wasn’t progress, he didn’t know what was!
“Well, we warned our kids about this team,” Deck growled in low tones. “Just didn’t expect their antics to begin before the game. I’m telling you—”
An unholy blast of tubas and trumpets made him break off whatever else he was planning to say.
He and Josh spun around to gawk at the Fairfax Red Devils m
arching band, which was at least twice the size of the Heart Lake High one. They were making no effort to be courteous. Even though the Heart Lake High band had been in the middle of playing a spirit song, the Fairfax band played right over them. It was clear they were purposefully drowning out the music of the home team band.
“Oh, yeah!” Josh had to lean close and yell at Deck to be heard. “It’s going to be a fun night!”
The situation went from bad to worse. The Red Devils roared across the field after the kickoff to Heart Lake High and racked up three fouls on the first few plays. The problem was that the refs only caught one of them. The two face mask grabs they totally ignored. Or so it seemed. They were such blatant fouls, Josh had no idea how anyone with eyeballs could miss them. The Heart Lake students sure didn’t. After the second face mask grab, one student ran down the steps of the bleachers to throw a water bottle in the direction of the refs.
Teachers quickly converged on the rebel, but it was too late. The kids’ actions earned their own team a foul.
Josh hastily called a time out.
His players were fit to be tied as they huddled up.
“The Red Devils are totally in bed with the refs,” Huck hissed to Josh. “They have to be. My great-grandmother could make better calls than that, and she’s legally blind.”
“Called us heroes to zeroes,” one of their wide receivers muttered. “Guess they heard about our mascot change.”
Josh tasted fury. Guess I should have made them forfeit, after all. From the sound of things, the game had the potential to deteriorate into a gloves-off brawl if he didn’t rein in his players. “Okay. Listen closely.” He clenched his jaw. “I want a clean game out there from us, no matter what they do, you hear? The stuff we’re seeing from our opponents tonight would never past scrutiny in the major leagues. We all know that. So let’s set ourselves up for success and play the game right.”
“Five seconds!” a ref bawled so loudly in Josh’s ear that he would’ve loved to turn around and slug the moron in the nose. However, he resisted the urge. Since he was asking his team to turn the other cheek, he was going to have to do the same.
Although the boys nodded and dispersed, Josh overheard one of them snarl, “I’d rather play to win.”
The second quarter didn’t go any better than the first. The Red Devils continued with one foul play after another. More Heart Lake High helmets were grabbed, jerseys untucked, and Josh witnessed at least two incidents of unnecessary roughness. Unfortunately, only about every third or fourth foul was called. As a result, the Red Devils moved the ball down the field, virtually unchecked by standard rules and regulations, scoring twice. The score on the Heart Lake High side of the board remained a solid goose egg.
At the beginning of half-time, Josh finally had enough and tried to confer with the refs about the gross number of discrepancies in their calls. They pretty much mocked him for being a poor sport about losing.
“We’re not losing,” he retorted. “There’s still plenty of game left.” But since the refs didn’t seem interested in doing their jobs, he opted not to waste any more breath on them.
Hope waylaid him on his way to the locker room. “The game is a joke, isn’t it?”
“Pretty much.” There was no point in lying. Their odds of winning at this point weren’t looking good. “I’m sorry. I know how much this game meant to you.” Though it wasn’t his fault or his players’ fault, he hated knowing that he and his team were letting her down.
“This isn’t on you and you know it,” she protested. “I hate it for the kids, though.” She sighed. “It’s not like they can’t handle a loss, but it’s not even a fair fight out there, and they know it.”
He nodded, but he was only half listening to what she was saying. The rest of his brain was already racing ahead to what in the heck he was going to say to his team when he stepped through the locker room doors.
“What can I do to help, Josh?” Hope pressed.
“Pray.” He caught her gaze and mentally kissed her.
“I’ll do more than that,” she shot back. “I have one of our mass communications students filming the entire game. I’ll be sending a copy of it to a few key people for an after-game review. Be assured the refs will be answering to their higher-ups for calling such a shoddy game.”
“You’re the best.” He paused at the entrance to the locker room, wishing he could follow up his imaginary kiss with a real kiss. “Guess I better get inside and do my darnedest to keep our guys motivated.”
Hope’s expression softened. “They look up to you, Josh. I’m sure you’ll find a way to turn this garbage game into a teachable moment.”
“Thanks.” He pushed open the door and strode inside to face his team.
Pandemonium met him. Several players had their jerseys off and feet propped up. “No point in going back out there, coach. It’s rigged against us,” one kid hollered.
“Yeah, maybe we should just order pizza and call it a night,” another kid chortled.
In response, several players raised their fists and chanted an approving, “Oo! Oo! Oo!”
“Alright, alright! Put a lid on it.” Josh waved his hands to hush their griping. “Let’s talk strategy. What do we know about their key players?”
Huck snorted. “Other than the fact that they’re complete dirtbags?” His arms were folded, and he was leaning back against one of the lockers. His swarthy face was flushed with thinly suppressed anger.
Josh tried again. “Come on, fellas! I taught you better than this. Do you even know who their key players are at this point?”
“Yeah,” Ty sighed. He was lounged next to Huck, arms folded in the same manner. “Their quarterback keeps throwing the ball to their wide receiver, number twenty-seven.”
“Correct.” Josh pointed at Ty. “So we know who we need to stop, right?”
Huck shrugged. “How? The rest of their game plan seems to be rough housing us. We’re so busy being yanked around by our face guards…”
“I am aware. However, that game plan isn’t going to get them nearly as far down the field if you stop number twenty-seven.” Josh met their gazes squarely. “Are you picking up what I’m putting down, y’all?”
“Yeah, coach,” several boys muttered. There was a reluctant round of head nods.
“Still not fair,” one boy muttered.
“I am aware of that, too.” Josh waved his hands to beckon them closer. “How about we say a quick prayer?”
One guy snorted. “Shoot, man! If I’d have known we were going to hold hands and sing Kumbaya at half-time, I woulda brought my choir robe.”
Although his comment generated a few snickers, they were short-lived. “Come on. Huddle up,” Josh coaxed. “If you’re not a religious person, that’s okay. A moment of silent reflection will do.” He bowed his head and started speaking. “Lord, your Word says we can do all things through You. No matter what. No matter how badly the odds are stacked against us. All. Things. Help us continue to play a clean game, and let it lead us to victory tonight. Amen.”
He was gratified to hear several echoing Amens.
Deck quickly stepped forward. “Put your hands in, team.” He led them in their simple but powerful team chant. “Heroes!” The boys’ voices crescendoed to a shout as their hands flew in the air.
Slapping each other on the back and trading high-fives, the players finished their break in a relatively more cheerful mood than how it had begun.
Josh was still inwardly seething as he led his team back out to the sideline, though he tried not to let it show. He clapped his hands and ran the boys through a few warm-up exercises to keep them moving.
During the third quarter, his team focused on stopping the quarterback and number twenty-seven, as agreed. It worked. Not only did they keep the Red Devils from scoring again, the Heroes ran the ball down the field for their first touchdown.
The Heart Lake High students went wild in the stands. Josh glanced back at the bleachers in search of H
ope. He found her standing next to Principal Lighthorse beneath the press box, which incidentally placed them directly behind the most populated student section. She blew him a kiss, not that anyone standing around her had any way of knowing who it was for.
He gave the home team side of the stadium two thumbs up, and their cheering grew louder. The Heart Lake High marching band swung their way through a victory song, which the opposing marching band rudely interrupted after a few seconds. This time, they didn’t even play a song. They just tooted their loudest instruments in an attempt to drown out the Heart Lake High band.
“Got an idea.” Deck stomped over to their special team where the kicker was warming up.
Josh wasn’t sure what he said to the boys, only that it earned his co-coach some wide grins.
Deck returned to Josh’s side. “Watch this.”
The fourth quarter began with the Heroes kicking off to the Red Devils. However, their kicker gave the ball a super shallow kick to one side. In the mad scuffle that followed, Huck came up with the ball and started running.
He shot down the field and managed to get a good thirty or so yards before he was tackled and brought down. The next thing Josh saw were fists flying.
“Whoa!” he shouted, jogging out on the field.
The refs quickly pulled the players apart. However, they only threw one player out of the game.
Josh was shocked. By his count, three of the Red Devils should’ve been gone for the night over the incident. He glanced up at the stands. I sure hope you caught it on film, folks.
To his credit, Huck was still clutching the ball with both arms. However, his helmet was missing, and one eyelid was swelling.
Their physical trainer quickly escorted him off the field. Before Josh could call a timeout, the refs went ahead and charged him one for the injury, even though no extra time had been expended for Huck’s walk-off.
Because of his missing helmet, Huck would be required to sit out the next play, but Josh was tempted to pull him from the game altogether. He’d rather rule out a head injury before putting him back in, and that could take time.