by Beth Hoyer
who the others that wanted you off the team were and wanted to lose.”
Jinks frowned forming it on his lips as Bulk paused to look like he was gulping then continued to whisper “The coach assured me that he’ll handle the matter without indicating how he’ll do it. I think he’s going to have the ones that wanted to lose not play in the game at all. That’s what I think.”
Jinks nodded his head as Bulk abruptly looked away to look out the window. He let his thoughts wander as the bus drove to Hamden High School stopping in a parking lot to sit as he heard chatter become silent. Jinks looked at the front of the bus to spot the coach standing up with arms folded a glare on his face with some look in his eyes that made him grimace.
He frowned as the coach spoke in loud tone “We’re here at Hamden High School to play the Green Dragons. I expect a better performance than that Glastonbury game this time.”
He listened as the coach paused and then continued to speak “I heard a rumor that several players here are willing to lose the game just to get a hated player kicked out.”
He heard several gasps sounds from the players in the bus as the coach kept talking “The rumor is very clear detailed on who those players willing to lose the game are. I must regret to inform you but those players will not be playing in this game but will spent the remainder of game time on the bus thinking about their actions which is not tolerable.”
He stiffened hearing growling noises from the players and heard Bulk besides him whimper some pained sound.
Jinks heard the coach add “I’m disappointed with your attitude towards a player who I picked for the team instead of another player. I feel like you should have come forwards with your preferences to who you wanted instead of bullying this player to leave the team. This behavior is not acceptable.”
He heard silence from the bus as the coach spoke “I’ll speak your name and you are required to leave the bus. Those whose names aren’t spoken will spend the remainder of the game on the bus. I expect those left behind to think about their actions. This is a team game. I expect the team to play together to win together and I want victories. I don’t tolerate loses especially on purpose.”
Jinks again heard silence on the bus as the coach began reciting last names of the players who got up from their seats leaving the bus. He heard his name called along with Bulk’s got up followed by the sophomore and left the bus to stand on the parking lot. He looked among the players seeing that the quarterback wasn’t among them along with the quarterback’s sitting companion. Jinks frowned as the coach left the bus walking out which he stood with the players seeing the coach look seriously angry who pointed a finger in a direction and made a come gesture. Jinks wordlessly followed the coach with the players to the field to spot a crowd in the stands that were for Hamden along with the cheerleaders cheering for the Green Dragons. Jinks gave the crowd a glare as the coach got him and the players into warm up exercises and stretches before standing near the benches waiting as the Hamden team arrived to the crowds’ cheering noises. Jinks heard the whistle blow its noises from the referees signaling the start of the game.
He heard the coach speak putting a hand on him “You’re the quarterback this time. It’s your responsibility to help the team win this game alright?”
Jinks nodded his head and put on his helmet going onto the playing field followed by his teammates.
He spoke to his teammates in the huddle “Stay alert for I’m throwing the ball to who ever is free enough to run and score a touchdown. Also keep an eye on who I get the ball to help the player get to the end zone get it?”
He heard agreements from the other players as he added “I’ll do what it takes to score and I don’t care what we do we’re scoring period.”
He again heard agreements from the players as they broke huddle and went to line up for game.
Jinks remembered that Wethersfield crushed Hamden by playing a near Glastonbury like game by scoring a large number of touchdowns with Hamden only scored one touchdown.
His Mom he recalled the next day showed him the local newspaper focused in sports with the headline blare “Montreal Avenges Loss.”
He read the article detailing him playing quarterback for the team for the whole game and helping them win the game.
Jinks grimaced recalling that practice for days were bad for him because of the players that weren’t in the game targeted him with their bullying attitude towards him by making it appear that they were just playing with him.
Jinks recalled the next game featuring New Haven on their territory and that the team was fourth in the rankings. He remembered the whistle blowing ending the game when he missed a kick a field goal and saw the New Haven players act like it was a championship game by their behavior.
On the bus Bulk told him “The players were going to target you during practice for the loss for awhile.” which his words proved true.
Jinks sighed remembering the team playing Glastonbury for their first home game. He remembered the game clearly. He was sitting on the bench getting a little annoyed on not being in the game and watched with a groan as the team’s quarterback went down and got up staggering acting like he was hurt.
Jinks kept his eyes on the quarterback as the coach spoke “Montreal, come up.”
He obeyed to stand next to the coach as two players arrived hauling the quarterback who was groaning loudly.
He heard the coach spoke “You’re in the game Montreal so get in.”
Jinks obeyed putting on his helmet and walked into the game to huddle with the players.
He heard one of them speak recognizing him as a senior named Nijon “Montreal, throw the ball to me period. Get it?”
He nodded his head as they separated lining up and he got the ball only to spot two Glastonbury players near Nijon. He looked around to spot another senior named Rawson far away without any players on him. Jinks without hesitation threw the ball towards Rawson who he saw looked shocked to see the ball heading towards him.
Jinks yelled “Don’t stand there! Catch the ball and run!”
He saw Rawson grab the ball as if hearing him and take off running towards the end zone with Glastonbury players struggling to catch up with him by them repeatedly blocked by Wethersfield players. He watched as Rawson reached the end zone and saw the referee there signal a touchdown.
He threw his fist and yelled “yes!”
He heard the crowd cheer their approval and banging sounds from the bleachers. He manages during the huddles during the game to keep the team motivated to keep Glastonbury from scoring any touchdowns despite Glastonbury keeping them from scoring any more touchdowns.
Wethersfield wins the game and Jinks finds himself ordered by the coach “You to pose with me for the newspaper reporters.”
Jinks do and find his picture taken by one of the camera people while listening to them interview the coach about the victory who points the responsibility for that to Jinks himself.
Next day his Mom shows him several newspapers with titles involving his last name in them as in “Montreal throws record!” along with a picture of himself saying “Jinks Montreal athlete of the week!”
Jinks discovers to his shock what the newspaper titles meant is that his ball throwing to Rawson broke a historic throwing record in high school football along with reading that his team handed Glastonbury their first loss and avenged a very bad loss to Glastonbury.
During practice Jinks gets warned by Bulk “The players will target you during practices if we lose a game.”
Jinks put Wethersfield in the newspapers by having his team win games against top ten ranked opponents a win streak till they start playing for playoffs. They play for a playoff position against New Haven that once defeated them which is historic for Wethersfield for they never reached a playoff position and is always eliminated on the verge of a playoff position.
Jinks get put in the game from the quarterback saying “Coach I’m insisting to put Montreal in!”
&nb
sp; It’s due to Wethersfield not scoring any touchdowns due to New Haven shutting them down and scoring touchdowns so far with a double digit lead. Jinks get an opportunity to hand Wethersfield a touchdown by scoring it himself seeing that none of the players are free to receive the ball which puts them closer to New Haven’s score by nearly cutting the lead in half.
He is ordered during the huddle “Your to throw the ball to Nijon.’ which the players aren’t listening to him tell them “I’ll do anything to score a touchdown even doing it myself.”
Jinks again does scores a touchdown seeing that Nijon and the others aren’t free to receive the ball which puts his team closer to New Haven’s score by a nearly narrow margin.
He yells at the players during huddle “I’m willing to score touchdowns! The other players not free to receive the ball with opponents on them that could intercept the ball and score touchdowns! This happened before I went into the game!”
He sees his words get through the players which he hears Nijon tell the others “You guys are to distract the opponent team for Jinks to score if we can’t receive the ball.”
Jinks again scores a touchdown which puts his team tied with New Haven and then gets tackled from behind while on the route for a touchdown setting up for a field goal.
The players during huddle discuss “Who’s to take the field goal?” which none of them