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David led his team out, had them huddle up to make sure they knew their assignments, and led them to the line.
He had three minutes and ninety-eight yards to go to lead his team to victory.
On the snap, David turned to hand the ball off to Chuy.
He was their big power back who’d been pounding the Irish’s run defense all game. Everyone was confident he could pick up three to five yards and make the next play manageable.
Chuy had his arms backward to take the handoff, and the ball bounced off his bicep and fell to the ground. David made the smart move and fell on the ball as an avalanche of Irish players buried him and tried to dig the ball free.
David crawled out from under the pile and saw that the referee had called it a safety. That meant that not only were
they now trailing 47–45, but they would have to kick off to the Irish from their twenty-yard line.
With the lead, all the Irish had to do was handle the kickoff return and gain a couple of first downs to run the clock out.
David was sick to his stomach as he went to the sideline.
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“USC lines up for the kick, and … IT’S AN ONSIDE
KICK! USC recovers the ball at their thirty-one-yard line,”
Tom said to make the call.
“That was an unbelievably gutsy play by Coach Thomas.
If it hadn’t worked, Notre Dame would have won the game,” Brett said.
“But wasn’t it brilliant because now they have a chance?” Tom asked.
“Hindsight being what it is, I have to agree. It just isn’t a gamble most coaches would make,” Brett explained.
“What happens now?” Tom asked.
“USC needs to get the ball to Notre Dame’s thirty-five-yard line. Their kicker, Alex Sandoval, was making them from fifty-two yards in pregame warm-ups.”
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David noted that Coach Thomas had inserted Marcus in place of Chuy for the two-minute drill. Marcus was much better at picking up defenders to protect David in the pocket. Logically, you think that would be Chuy’s strong point because of his size, but Marcus had more experience and knew what to look for.
David got his troops lined up to begin the series.
During the fourth quarter, he’d shredded the Irish’s vaunted secondary with his runs and passing. The problem was, USC’s defense had been just as inept.
This was it. This was the season-ending drive that meant so much to both teams.
When David lined up, he saw that the Irish had pulled their linebackers in favor of two additional defensive backs.
They had lined up twenty yards down the field, with five defensive backs creating an umbrella to prevent any long gains. Two of the defenders were lined up on USC’s outside receivers in what looked like man-to-man coverage.
David knew they had all three time-outs, so the run was still a viable option.
On the snap, he tucked the ball and ran up the middle of the field for a twelve-yard gain. The referee blew the whistle to stop the clock because it was a first down. That was when David saw the flag. His run was negated because their tight end had lined up wrong, creating an illegal formation. The penalty made it first and fifteen.
David again ran the ball and picked up ten yards.
Because it wasn’t a first down, the clock ran. He hurried his guys, got them lined up, and snapped the ball. Notre Dame had been dragging their feet to line up, so one of the linemen was offsides, giving USC the first down.
USC continued to drive the ball as the clock ran down.
With forty seconds left, they crossed midfield. David took a shot at the end zone from there with a pass to Bill, but he caught it out of bounds, making it incomplete.
Seeing that David had the arm to throw to the end zone, the Irish moved two players to the middle of it to prevent him from being able to easily do that again.
They only needed a couple of yards, so David kept it once again to pick up the first down.
On the next play, Coach Thomas called for David to run the ball again. One of Notre Dame’s linemen made a heck of a play and brought him down on the Irish’s forty-five. On second and eight, David threw a quick slant to Craig for a short gain. With third down coming and the clock running down, Coach Thomas called a time-out.
When David reached the sideline, Alex was with the coach.
“Can you make it from here?” Coach Thomas said.
“Absolutely,” Alex assured him.
David looked at his roommate and nodded. If Alex said he could make a sixty-two-yard field goal, David believed him.
“Where do you want the ball?” Coach Thomas asked.
“Left hashmark,” Alex said.
Coach Thomas turned to David.
“I want you to keep the ball and run it to the left. At a minimum, get it to the line of scrimmage. Do not go out of bounds. If you can get a first down, I’ll call another time-out, and we can decide what to do.”
David did as his coach asked. The defensive back who was up tight on Bill read the play and almost caused David to lose yardage, but he managed to get to the line of scrimmage. Coach Thomas let the clock tick down to two seconds before calling time-out.
Alex and the field goal team took the field.
Notre Dame called three straight time-outs to disrupt Alex. It was a good thing they did because Alex pushed the ball right three straight times.
“Can you make the pass?” Coach Thomas asked.
“I can, but give Alex a shot,” David said.
The entire stadium was on its feet as Alex stepped off his paces to line up for the kick. When he was ready, he nodded to the holder, who raised his hand to receive the snap. Alex ran forward and boomed the kick.
David held his breath, unsure it was long enough. Then the ball began to drift right. The stadium groaned as the ball hit the far upright.
That was when pandemonium struck as the ball somehow found its way between the goalposts. USC had just defeated Notre Dame 48–47 as the clock ran out.
USC’s fans rushed the field as the stunned Irish looked on in disbelief.
Bear grabbed David and hoisted him onto his shoulder like he weighed nothing as seventy thousand fans joined them on the field to celebrate.
One giant piece of the puzzle for next year had just fallen into place.
◊◊◊
David took his time taking his shower and getting dressed. He was told he had a number of interview requests, but he wanted to take it all in.
His phone rang, and he saw it was his coaching friend, Bo Harrington.
“Congratulations on your win,” Bo said. “And I have some more good news for you.”
“What’s that?”
“I just accepted the coaching job at USC.”
Another puzzle piece fell into place. USC was on its way to a huge season next year.
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The End
Notes from the Author
The Stupid Boy and A Better Man series has hit a major milestone. Combined, these multi-award-winning series have surpassed 7 million downloads. Thank you for reading A Better Man Book 3 and being part of that. I hope you enjoyed this book.
Want to know when I release new books? If you’d like to
stay updated, visit my website at: www.GYounger.com
Thank you again and I hope we meet again between the pages of another book.
–Greg
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