“As for our offensive attack, you’re ready for them. I think we can use our passing to spread them out, and then we can do some serious running.” He looked around at the players and asked, “Are we ready for this one?”
“YEAH!” the Bucks yelled. They took the field, with Heck as the deep man to receive the kickoff. He fielded the kick on the fifteen and, with a particularly solid block from Cody, ran it back to the Bucks’ forty.
Billy called for a first-down pass, sending Keith wide to the left. He faked a handoff to Heck and threw a bullet pass that reached Keith just as he made his cut. The play gained twelve yards. Another pass, this one to Heck in the flat, was set up by some good blocking. Keith drove a Mustang linebacker back several yards and Heck gained nine. The ball was on the Mustang thirty-nine, and the Buck fans were on their feet, yelling encouragement.
Another pass to Keith, running a sideline pattern, brought the ball down to the eighteen. The Mustang coach, sensing that his team was confused, called a time-out.
When play resumed, Billy sent Keith into the end zone but handed off to Heck. Heck darted through a nice hole formed by the blockers and made it to the four-yard line before being stopped. Billy then kept the ball on a bootleg, sprinting around right end for a touchdown.
But the coach had been right about the Mustang running game. Following the kickoff their star player, a tall halfback, began ripping off big chunks of yardage, and the Mustangs moved the ball into Buck territory. Keith came out, replaced by Larry.
As he passed Larry, Keith said, “That runner of theirs is tough — don’t try to tackle him high. Hit him low or he’ll just drag you or shake you off.” Larry nodded and raced on.
Keith stood next to Heck on the sideline. “That back is humongous,” he said, and Heck nodded.
“Maybe he’ll get tired,” he said.
“Maybe … and maybe we’ll get tired trying to stop him,” Keith replied, as the Mustang runner gained another eight yards up the middle, with three Bucks draped all over him.
Finally, the Mustang quarterback tried a pass. Cody almost tackled him in the backfield, so the pass was rushed and incomplete. The Mustang halfback then raced to his right, as if making an end run, but handed off to an end on a reverse, catching the Buck defense by surprise. Untouched, the Mustang receiver sped into the end zone. The extra point was good, and the score was tied at 7 apiece as the first quarter ended.
On their next offensive series, the Bucks made some good yardage, with Jason at quarterback. He found Larry for a nice gain, and then hit Heck for another ten yards. But the drive stalled on the Mustang eight, so the Bucks had to settle for a field goal, putting them ahead, 10–7.
The Mustangs were able to grind out more yardage when they got the ball. On one play, Keith met the Mustang halfback head-on as he moved in from his position in the secondary to plug a hole — he thought. The runner lowered his head and Keith bounced backward, grabbing desperately onto a leg as the back charged forward. With the help of three other Bucks, including Heck, the guy was finally brought down. The quarterback tried another pass, but Billy blitzed from his safety position, catching the opposing QB for a ten-yard loss.
The Mustangs, however, tried and converted a twelve-yard field goal and tied the score at 10.
Late in the half, Billy made a mistake and forced a pass to Heck in the flat. A Mustang defender picked it off. There was nobody between him and the end zone. He ran back the interception for a touchdown, giving the Mustangs a 17–10 lead. Billy was furious at himself for his error, but Keith and the other Bucks urged him not to be too hard on himself.
“We’ll get it back,” Keith promised.
There was less than a minute left in the first half when the Bucks went back on offense. Heck made a nice gain over tackle, with a strong downfield block from Larry, who was in as a receiver. On third down, with the ball at midfield and the clock showing only a few seconds left, Billy threw long for Larry, who raced past his defender. Larry reached for the ball, juggled it for one second, and lost the handle as the clock ran out. Shocked and unhappy, Larry slowly walked off the field, staring at the ground.
Keith ran up to the unhappy Buck. “Don’t let it get to you,” he said. “We have another half to win this game.”
But Larry was miserable. “I should’ve had it. I did have it. … And I lost it. I just got … I don’t know, panicky, like everything was on my shoulders, and I froze. I choked.”
“It’s no big deal. Don’t blame yourself,” Heck urged.
“Larry, I’ve been there,” Keith pointed out. “It was just a physical mistake. Remember what Coach Bodie says about those. Come on, don’t beat yourself up. We need you for the second half.”
Larry took a deep breath and managed a shaky smile. “Thanks. Now I know what it — Okay, I’m all right.”
Keith slapped him on the shoulder.
During the halftime break, Coach Bodie said, “We can win this. I can’t believe that runner of theirs can keep this up for another half. He’s got to wear down, and they don’t have too many other weapons. I want to use the halfback option in the second half. Heck, you decide whether to run or to throw to Keith or Larry, whoever’s in at the time. And we might use that spread formation, too. Don’t get down on yourselves, and we’ll do what we have to.”
The Mustangs received the second-half kickoff and couldn’t get a first down on their first possession. Larry was clearly determined to make up for his error, and tackled the Mustang halfback in the backfield just as he took the handoff. The Mustangs were forced to punt.
On the Bucks’ first offensive play, Billy threw a screen pass to Heck, who got loose for fifteen yards when Larry leveled a linebacker with a beautiful block. The coach sent Keith in for Larry, saying, “Tell Billy to use that option.”
So on the next play, Billy flipped the ball to Heck, who circled to his left and looked downfield. Keith had faked a block, and when the man covering him charged to stop a possible run, he raced into the defensive backfield. Heck’s pass was wobbly, but Keith caught it and rambled to the Mustang one before being tripped up. Billy kept the ball on the next play and bulled into the end zone behind Cody’s charge. Following the successful point after, the score was tied at 17 all.
The two teams traded punts. As the coach had predicted, the Mustang halfback seemed to tire. The Buck defense concentrated on him, since it didn’t look like they had much to worry about in the way of a passing attack.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, however, the Mustang quarterback finally found his touch. He hit his tight end, a powerfully built receiver, who took the ball down to the Buck five. At that point the Mustang runner found some reserve energy and dived over the goal line, putting his team ahead by six. However, Cody blocked the extra-point attempt.
Neither the Bucks nor the Mustangs did much with the ball on their next possessions. The Bucks got the ball back after a Mustang punt with a little less than two minutes left, and put it in play on their own thirty-two. Heck gained five yards, and the Buck fullback picked up three. With third and two, Coach Bodie signaled for a time-out and waved Billy over for instructions.
Billy returned, bringing Larry with him, and Keith started off the field. Billy stopped him and waved him back. He gathered the team together.
“Coach wants to go to the spread offense. Guys, make your moves fast, because I don’t have much blocking with this play. I’ll find someone clear. We’re going on a quick snap count, and maybe we’ll catch them totally by surprise. Okay? Let’s go!”
Keith, Larry, and Heck all came to the right side of the line. The Mustangs looked startled and confused but didn’t call a time-out. Billy barked out the signals. As he took the snap, Keith took five steps downfield and made a fake toward the sideline. His man hesitated. Keith raced downfield. Behind him, Larry ran a deep crossing pattern.
Seeing that Keith had outrun the defense, Billy threw a high, deep pass in his direction. For one frightening moment, Keith thought that th
e ball had been overthrown, but he managed to find an extra burst of speed, grabbed the ball, and pulled it in. He looked back to see Larry erase a possible tackler with a perfect block. He dashed the last ten yards into the end zone for the game-tying touchdown.
With the successful extra-point conversion, the Bucks led, 24–23.
There were still forty seconds remaining, so the Bucks went into a prevent defense, with eight men back to guard against long passes. The Mustang halfback was able to pick up some ground, but not enough to score, and the Mustangs’ last two plays were desperation passes. Keith picked off the final pass and the Bucks won the game by a single point!
Keith ran off the field hugging the ball while happy teammates surrounded him, yelling and exchanging high-fives. Keith looked for his family and gave them a big, happy smile.
Heck grabbed Keith by the shoulders and spun him around. “All right! How does it feel, bud?”
“Totally awesome!” Keith yelled back. And that pretty much summed it up.
The nightmare was definitely over.
Football Nightmare Page 7