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Arizona Stadium had a capacity of just over 50,000, and David was told their fans could get loud when their team was playing well. The Wildcats’ home was 2,430 feet above sea level in the beautiful Santa Catalina Mountains. The three-tiered stadium had a long-standing reputation for bizarre late-season upsets and crazy endings. When USC
came onto the field, they were faced with a sea of white with a small section of red where their supporters were.
The marching band and cheerleaders had set up a corridor for the home team to run through that stretched half the field. A smile broke out on David’s face when the familiar opening refrain of AC/DC’s iconic Thunderstruck began. The fans all stood and began to sing along.
‘Ahahahahaha!’
‘Ahahahahaha!’
‘Ahahahahaha!’
‘THUNDER!’
‘Ahahahahaha!’
‘THUNDER!’
A cheerleader with a giant flag with the letter ‘A’ raised began to run between the lines formed by the band. The band started playing their school song as a line of cheerleaders rose with flags spelling out WILDCATS. As the lead cheerleader reached the end of the band, fireworks shot up with a deafening boom. The Arizona football team poured out of the tunnel to the cheers of their fans. As far as entrances went, David liked this one.
The only drawback was that after they made it to the sideline, the entire stadium was filled with smoke from the rockets exploding.
Arizona and USC traded punts as both teams settled into the game. With half of the first quarter gone, USC got the ball back on their own ten-yard line. David huddled his team up while there was a TV time-out.
“We’ve been letting them hang around, so they’ve gained confidence. But in their hearts, they know that we’ve won the last four meetings. Let’s drive the ball ninety yards to let them know that today will not be any different.”
The referee indicated that the TV audience was back, so David lined his team up and called out his reads before having Willy snap the ball. On consecutive plays, he handed the ball off to Marcus Eshete, and they lost three yards.
It was now third and thirteen, and the Arizona defense had blood in their eyes. A freshman quarterback would have to drop back and pass out of his own end zone. They would be pinning their ears back and coming after him on the snap.
David dropped back into the shotgun to read the defense. One of the outside linebackers was creeping up as if he were going to blitz, and David pointed him out to his line.
“Hike!” David called out as he also clapped his hands.
He dropped back two yards into the end zone. Marcus ran out of the backfield and split two linebackers. They bracketed him as he turned toward the sideline, pulling
them with him. Bill Callaway had run a slant behind Marcus, and David released the ball before Bill had cleared Marcus and his two linebackers. If it had been any of his other receivers, they would never have caught the ball because they wouldn’t have seen it coming. Since high school, he and Bill had been playing together, so Bill was ready.
Bill snatched the pass out of the air and ran for the first down to give USC some breathing room.
Five plays later, they’d moved the ball to their forty-three-yard line. Arizona’s defensive linemen had their hands on their hips, showing they were gassed. David received the signal from the sideline and quickly lined his team up to prevent the defense from subbing for their tired players.
USC had been feeding them a steady diet of Marcus running the ball. It was reasonable that they would do more of the same, with it being second and four. Coach Thomas had other ideas and called a play-action pass.
David faked the handoff to Marcus and dropped back.
His first read was to Amari Weeks at wide receiver, but he was covered, so he went to his second read. Before he did, he saw his tight end, Nolan Hammer, was running free. The linebacker covering him had fallen down.
David hit him in stride, and Nolan gathered it in and raced up the sideline. He was brought down at the Arizona twenty.
With the first down, Arizona was able to bring in fresh defensive linemen.
The following two plays resulted in no gain, making it third and ten. The crowd got to their feet. They were next to the ZonaZoo, and David found out that what he’d been told was true. They were going crazy, making it almost impossible for his team to hear him.
He got his team lined up as he did his checks. Bill beat his man on the snap as he raced on a slant to the end zone.
David hit him in stride at the five, where Bill was met by the safety, who made a hell of a play to stop Bill at the one.
Both teams made goal-line substitutions.
David handed the ball off to Marcus, who didn’t like where the play had been called. He was supposed to run between the guard and center, but Arizona had a wall of defenders waiting for him. Marcus juked toward the end but saw an opening inside the tackle. He cut upfield and walked into the end zone for the first score.
At the start of the second quarter, Arizona was driving.
They thought they would give USC some of their own medicine by calling a play-action pass. The only difference was USC had Percy Wilkes at defensive end. Percy mauled their offensive tackle and was suddenly in their quarterback’s face. David would have either dumped the ball off or taken the sack, but the Arizona quarterback went into hero mode as he scrambled out of the pocket.
As he was scrambling, he was surprised when he discovered that Percy was much faster than the ordinary defensive lineman. Their quarterback had to focus on a giant defensive end trying to kill him while he was trying to read the defense. He panicked and threw the pass up for grabs. Mario Robinson, USC’s All-Conference safety, fought the ball away from Arizona’s receiver.
David’s enthusiasm was dampened when a yellow flag went flying. He held his breath because there was a lot of contact going for the ball. Three referees huddled together before the penalty was announced. One of the offensive linemen had been caught too far downfield. USC declined the penalty so they could keep the ball.
This was a sudden change play, so Coach Thomas went for it on first down. David dropped back and found Tyrell Mulford, their slot receiver, had a step on his man. David threw his first deep ball of the game. As Tyrell reached for it, Arizona’s cornerback caught up and distracted Tyrell enough that he dropped it.
Once everyone got back, David told them, “We’re in their heads.”
Arizona now had to account for the deep ball because, by all rights, Tyrell should have caught that one.
The drive petered out, and Alex had to come in and kick a forty-two-yard field goal to make it 10–0.
Arizona had another three-and-out, giving USC the ball on their own forty. On the first play, David found Bill open, and he made his man miss and was able to reach the Arizona thirty-five.
On the next play, Marcus took the handoff and ran off tackle. He found a seam, and Nolan made a beautiful block to spring him for the score, putting them up 17–0 with five minutes left in the half.
Arizona threw three straight incomplete passes and had to punt.
“Let’s get one more score before the half,” David urged his teammates.
He dropped back and threw a nice ball to Amari, who was tackled inside the Arizona forty.
There were less than three minutes left when David handed the ball off to Tyrell, who’d come in motion from his slot receiver position. Marcus and Nolan made nice blocks to spring him for a twenty-yard run.