End Zone

by Tiki Barber

  Everyone nodded, and there was more murmuring, but this time, it was in a tone of agreement.

  “If we win this game,” Ronde said, “there’ll be plenty of time for celebrating.”

  • • •

  The second half started with a bang, and quickly turned into an all-out war.

  Sure enough, the Renegades had revamped their entire game plan. Now they were running—but not just up the middle. There were rollouts, and reverses, and double reverses.

  Soon they had Ronde and the rest of the Eagle defense totally out of breath. By the time they finally threw a pass, their receivers had an easy step on the cornerbacks—including Ronde. For the first time in months, a man Ronde was covering beat him for a touchdown!

  Ronde couldn’t believe it. He grabbed his head with both his hands and screamed in frustration.

  The Renegades tried for two, and made it, plowing over the defensive line. Rob Fiorilla and his linemates were back on their heels now, and looked just as off-balance as Richmond Prep had in the first half.

  Ronde took the kickoff, determined to make up for his mistake. He fought his way through careening rushers to almost midfield.

  The Eagles ran behind Tiki, and got as far as the eight yard line before the drive petered out. Without Adam, though, they were forced to throw on fourth down, and tight end Jonah James dropped the ball in the end zone.

  Back in possession of the ball, Richmond Prep stayed on the ground. They ate up almost the whole third quarter with their next drive.

  Every time the Eagles had the Renegades stopped, they found a way to keep the drive going. It took sixteen plays and twelve minutes, but in the end, they crossed the goal line for the score.

  The Eagles lined up for the two-point conversion, and the Renegades executed a direct snap—a trick play where the center snapped it right to the running back, who threw a completion in the end zone to a wide open receiver!

  Ronde threw his hands up in the air and groaned. “Whose man was that?”

  “Yours, dude,” Justin told him.

  “Mine? But—” Dang! Justin was right, Ronde realized. The receivers had crossed paths, and Ronde had gotten himself mixed up.

  The Renegades were right back in the game, trailing by only a field goal, 22–19, with a whole quarter of football left to play. And the Eagle defense had suddenly lost its mojo.

  Why? What had happened to suddenly sap their momentum? Was it the early celebrating at halftime? Or was it Coach coming into the locker room and bringing the Eagles down off their cloud?

  Either way, it had to stop, Ronde realized as he lined up to take the kickoff. Somebody had to make a big play for the Eagles, or the Renegade wave would break right over them, and wash the Eagles’ whole season out to sea!

  Ronde took the kick and ran for all he was worth. Sheer speed and force carried him past the initial rushers. Two quick shuffle-steps in succession got him past two more, and then he was running again, right down the sideline, before being crashed into at the Renegade thirty-five.

  The Eagle offense was set up beautifully. Ronde had given them the break they needed. But without Paco at center, snapping the ball like clockwork, blocking the pass rush, and blasting holes for Tiki to run through, the team was having a tough time gaining ground.

  Manny kept scrambling. Once, he even lateraled to Tiki to avoid being tackled for a loss. That play turned into a big gainer—but still, the Eagles came away without a score. With no field-goal kicker, and a rookie center, they lacked their usual offensive punch.

  The Renegades took over at their own three yard line. Ronde was determined to keep them bottled up in their own end of the field. After all, the Eagles still had the lead. If they stopped Richmond Prep cold, victory would be theirs!

  The Renegades stayed with the run, blasting holes in the exhausted Eagle line. Rob Fiorilla was blowing out breaths and holding his hands on his hips, and Coach Wheeler waved him off the field, sending in a seventh-grader as a replacement.

  Richmond Prep ran right at him, and gained another twenty-five yards before Ronde brought the running back down.

  Now the Renegades were at midfield. So much for keeping them in their own end!

  Rob Fiorilla came trotting onto the field again. He’d had only a minute to catch his breath, but the team needed him—just like it needed all its big guns when it came to crunch time.

  Ronde could only hope the Renegades would try to get cute and throw a pass. If they kept running the ball, they were going to get at least into field-goal range. The only good thing was that time was running down. The Renegades had only one time-out left, and with all those running plays, the clock had never stopped.

  If the Renegades scored, and went on to win this game, Ronde knew he would never forgive himself. It was his lapse that had led to Richmond Prep’s last touchdown, and the following two-point conversion, too. If the Eagles lost, it was on him, and no one else!

  This is no time for regrets, he told himself. It’s time for redemption!

  He knew the whole Eagle defense was playing on tired legs. He himself was exhausted, panting and sweating bullets as he lined up opposite his man.

  The quarterback handed off to the halfback—but instead of running with it, he threw up a pass—to Ronde’s man!

  Ronde could hardly believe his luck—those high-powered coaches at Richmond Prep had just outsmarted themselves! Pushing his burning legs to the limit, he raced after the pass, leaped into the air . . .

  . . . and brought it down for the interception!

  It was the play of the game, no doubt about it. Ronde clutched the ball like it was his newborn baby, only giving it up when the official pried it from his hands.

  He staggered off the field as the offense trotted back on. He couldn’t even manage to lift his hand to be high-fived!

  Manny, Tiki, and the rest of the offense ran down the clock, keeping possession as long as they could—but it wasn’t long enough. They had to kick the ball away with thirty seconds left—and Tiki, pressured by the rush, muffed the kick!

  The Renegades took possession on the Eagle forty, with twenty-four seconds still to play, and one time-out still in their pocket.

  Ronde couldn’t believe it! He’d thought they’d already won!

  He’d been so sure the offense could run out the clock on Richmond Prep. But now he had to get back out there, and stop the desperate Renegades one more time.

  “Barber!” Coach Wheeler barked at him. “You stay here for one play, and catch your breath.”

  “No, Coach, I—” Ronde began, but Coach held out the palm of his hand to stop any further complaints.

  By the time Ronde got back into the game, the Renegades were at the Eagle thirty—almost close enough for a field goal that would tie the game. If that happened, and it went to overtime, there was no way the Eagles could win.

  Their offense was going nowhere against the bigger, stronger Renegades. And the Eagle defense was done. Exhausted. Finished for the day.

  Overtime would mean a sure loss.

  They had to hold here, Ronde knew. On third down from the twenty, with ten seconds left, he blitzed the quarterback, thinking it might be a pass.

  He missed, but he managed to turn the QB the other way, where he ran smack into Rob Fiorilla. The sack, the Eagles’ fifth of the day, sent the Renegades back to the twenty-eight. Close enough for a field goal, but only just. Richmond Prep called their last time-out with only one second left on the clock.

  Ronde knew from reading the Roanoke Reporter that the Renegades’ kicker was the best in the state. If anybody could make this kick, under this kind of pressure, it was him.

  But if anybody could stop him, it was Ronde!

  Taking a running start as the ball was snapped to the holder, he ran straight at Rob Fiorilla, who was bent forward and low. Ronde climbed right up Rob’s back and jumped up from there, his arms stretched out as far as he could manage.

  THWACK!

  The kick hit him square i
n the left palm, and shot straight into the air! It came down into the hands of the kicker, who was buried by Eagles as the final gun sounded!

  “VICTORY!!” Ronde screamed, thrusting both fists in the air. Then he let himself drop backward onto the ground, gasping for breath, but smiling wider than he ever had in his life!

  He lay there, watching his exhausted teammates hug one another, fall to their knees, cry, laugh, shout, and dance.

  Ronde felt so much love, for so many people—his mom, his brother, his coaches, his teammates, every kid and teacher at Hidden Valley Junior High—the list went on and on.

  At that moment, Ronde Barber loved the whole wide world!

  • • •

  The team returned home to Roanoke at seven in the evening. The buses were greeted by over two thousand cheering Eagles fans—students, teachers, local residents, and of course, Mrs. Barber, who was right up front, holding a big sign that said, WELCOME HOME CHAMPS!!

  There were hugs all around, and finally, the boys all went off in their separate directions.

  As Ronde settled into the backseat of their old station wagon, Tiki talked nonstop to their mom about everything she’d missed—from the dorms, to the meals in the cafeteria, to the play-by-play of the big game.

  Ronde already knew the story. He sat silently, watching the streets go by as they rode to the restaurant where Mrs. Barber was taking them out for a big dinner to celebrate. Restaurants were expensive, but this was a rare occasion.

  Ronde thought back to the moment of victory, and the celebrations that followed as soon as everyone recovered from their exhaustion.

  It had been a grueling game—a hard, long, grueling season, in fact. Ronde felt bone-tired. He had no idea where Tiki was finding the energy to work his mouth so fast and for so long. It made Ronde smile.

  Then he thought of what tomorrow would be like. It would be hard to go back to normal life, without a big game to prepare for.

  There would be the long Christmas break, and that would be fun. Then there would be a whole term of school. Tiki would go back to writing his advice column in the school paper, and Ronde had promised to help him with it.

  Why had he done that, anyway? Ronde frowned, but he knew there was no way out of it. Besides, he was good at giving advice—maybe even better than Tiki. But nothing would be as good as the two of them doing it together.

  That was the main thing. To stay together as a family, and as brothers, all through life, no matter where it took them. Ronde stared at Tiki yammering to their mother, and he thought, I have the best brother and mother on the planet.

  • • •

  After dinner, after they’d gone home and their mom had settled on the couch to watch the late night news, Tiki turned to Ronde and said, “I’m not tired. You?”

  “Nuh-uh.”

  “Want to go for a walk?”

  “Now? It’s past ten o’clock.”

  “So what? Tomorrow’s Saturday. And we’re on vacation, yo.”

  “Where are we gonna go?”

  “You’ll see,” said Tiki with a grin. “Come on. Mom, we’ll be back in an hour, okay?”

  Ronde followed his twin outside, down Amherst Street, and then up the dirt path that led into the open field behind the houses. Suddenly, he knew where Tiki was leading him.

  “Our old fort!” Ronde said, grinning.

  “How long has it been since we came here?” Tiki asked as they came to the mound of dirt and rocks that had always been their secret place.

  “More than a year,” Ronde guessed.

  “At least.”

  The stars were out, and it was still warm for December. “Nice out here,” Ronde said.

  “Yeah. Today was incredible, huh?”

  “Outstanding.”

  “Super-excellent!”

  “Supremo!”

  They both laughed, and exchanged the handshake.

  “We’ve done it, man,” Tiki said. “Everything we dreamed about before the season started.”

  “Can you believe we actually went undefeated?” Ronde pointed out. “I mean, that might never happen to either of us ever again.”

  “Tell you the truth, I thought when we broke that mirror, it was all over.”

  “I told you it was just a superstition,” Ronde said.

  “What? I was the one who told you that!”

  “Aw, now, come on—don’t change the story.”

  “Facts are facts, son.”

  Again they laughed. Who cared which of them was right? It was ancient history, and it just went to show that superstitions were dumb.

  “We played our game, didn’t we?” Ronde said.

  “We did, we did,” Tiki agreed. Then he sighed.

  “What?”

  “Huh?”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Oh, about the future,” Tiki said. “The far future, I mean.”

  “Oh.”

  “I mean, do you think we’ll really go all the way to the NFL?”

  Ronde looked his brother in the eye. “No doubt.”

  “Yeah? It’s tough, Ronde. Not many people get there, no matter how hard they dream.”

  “You know what?” Ronde said. “Even if they don’t get where they planned, they get somewhere. It’s not wasted time, you know? You get a lot out of it when you try that hard at anything.”

  “You know what? You’re right,” Tiki said, patting Ronde on the shoulder. “I sure am glad you’re going to be writing my advice column for me next term.”

  “What?”

  Tiki was laughing. “Just kidding, bro.”

  “Better be!”

  “But you are going to help me, right?”

  “Dude, you need help. I can’t leave you there to fall on your face.”

  “What?”

  “Just kidding.”

  It was like old times, the two of them horsing around together. Ronde felt lighter than he had since the season first began.

  Looking up, he saw the neon star on top of Mill Mountain. “Our lucky star,” he said, pointing.

  “You know,” Tiki said, “we’re not always going to come out champions, Ronde. Nobody wins all the time.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Ronde said. “I mean, even if we’d lost today, it still would have been worth everything we put into it.”

  “We gave it one hundred percent,” Tiki said, nodding.

  “And that’s never a mistake.”

  Ronde put an arm around his twin’s shoulder. “You know what? Whatever the future holds for us, we’re gonna be ready. Because you’ve got my back, and I’ve got yours.”

  “And Mom’s got both our backs,” Tiki said. “Man, are we lucky, or what?”

  They headed back home, not wanting her to worry about them.

  Ronde was totally on top of the world, even if it was only for this one night. Whatever the future held, at least he and Tiki now knew what it took to be winners, on the field and in life:

  Whatever you did, you had to give it one hundred percent of your effort, all the time—heart, mind, body, and spirit.

  Whatever you did, you had to play proud.

  WHERE DID THE NFL TEAM NAMES COME FROM?

  ARIZONA CARDINALS:

  In 1994 this team was renamed the Arizona Cardinals, with a red cardinal on the uniforms, although the name does not relate directly to the city like some other teams. The team became the Cardinals when Chris O’Brien bought jerseys from the University of Chicago and declared the color “Cardinal Red.”

  ATLANTA FALCONS:

  In 1965 Julia Elliott was picked to give the team name for Atlanta. She said, “The Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. It never drops its prey. It is deadly and has a great sporting tradition.” Now, the Falcons are represented by an aggressive looking Falcon, which is oddly shaped as an F.

  BALTIMORE RAVENS:

  The Ravens’ team name and logo were chosen in fan contests. They were to pay tribute to the raven in the famous poem “The
Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in Baltimore.

  BUFFALO BILLS:

  The public was left in charge of picking a name for this team, so they went with a name that was used before by a team in the All-American Football Conference, the Bills.

  CAROLINA PANTHERS:

  The Carolina Panthers represent both North and South Carolina. So, when the Panther was chosen, the Panther’s head was shaped to look like the borders of both states.

  CHICAGO BEARS:

  Because of the popularity of their baseball team the Chicago Cubs, owner George Halas decided on the Chicago Bears, with a “C” for Chicago on the helmet. But, he liked his own school’s uniform colors, orange and blue, so much that he used those colors for the Chicago Bears.

  CINCINNATI BENGALS:

  Owner Paul Brown wanted a way to connect to the past. He used the name Bengals because of the many past football teams who had the same name. Instead of taking the color of a Bengal, which is white, he used the colors of his former team in the logo.

  CLEVELAND BROWNS:

  In 1945 there was a fan contest to decide what the name of this Cleveland team would be, and the fans chose Browns after Ohio star and Bengals owner, Paul Brown.

  DALLAS COWBOYS:

  Representing the “Lone Star State,” Texas, the Dallas Cowboys made sure to include the now-famous blue and white star on their uniforms.

  DENVER BRONCOS:

  During a contest in 1960, fans chose the name Broncos, which are known as wild and rough horses and pictured as such in the team’s uniform.

  DETROIT LIONS:

  After failing to make money, a radio station bought the Detroit Spartans and made them the Detriot Lions, named after the baseball team Detroit Tigers. More than anything, the owner wanted the team to be the ruler of the NFL, like the lion is the ruler of the jungle.

  GREEN BAY PACKERS:

  Taking the name Packers from the Indian Packing Company, which helped buy the team’s first uniforms, the Green Bay Packers used a football-shaped G to represent Green Bay.

  HOUSTON TEXANS:

  The Houston NFL searched long for a name and came up with the Bobcats, Stallions, Texans, Toros, and Apollos. So, after putting out an online survey, the public chose the Texans. To represent the state, owner Bob McNair chose a bull’s head split open, to look like the Texas flag.