Chapter 6 – First Game
Saturday September 7
Saturday morning I had my first football game. Mom loaded me up and took me to the game. She noticed I wasn’t in a very good mood.
“Are you nervous about today?”
I just shrugged.
“Not really, I’ll be riding the bench.”
We rode the rest of the way to the school in silence. When we got there, I just jumped out and went to the locker room. Coach told me to get into the training room and get my ankles taped. I changed into a t-shirt and shorts and found one of the trainers who’d just finished up with Mike.
“Dawson, you ready to put the hurt on some defenders today?”
During the first week of practice, it had become obvious I was bigger, stronger and faster than Bert was. The two weeks of two-a-days experience was the only reason he would start ahead of me. I was sure once I knew the offense better I would see some playing time. My only real concern was trying to get used to my new body. There were times when my coordination was off. Every so often, I found I would trip over my new big feet. I felt like a dork when I would break into the open then then go sprawling over a blade of grass.
“Dude, I have to get off the bench for that kind of action.”
Mike just shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it. Coach will get you some playing time after I run up the score.”
“Dick, if I know you, you’ll keep the game close so all us scrubs have to ride the bench.”
“You know it,” Mike said as he went to get dressed.
After I was taped, I went and suited up. Tim and Mike were captains and they led us out for warm-ups. After we’d stretched, I got a chance to see who was at the game. I was surprised to see my crew there. They really didn’t like sports, but it was nice to see them come out to support me. I waved and Lily pointed out that I had noticed them. They jumped up and shouted.
“Let’s go, Dawson!”
I suddenly recognized Tina was seated with Tami. I was sure I didn’t like that, but there was nothing I could do about it. Tina had two young girls with her that I assumed were her sisters. Tami amazed me when she talked to every girl I even thought about being friends with or dating. Tami and I had shared everything all my life. There was nothing I couldn’t tell her, but that was before I started dating. I needed to think about if I wanted some boundaries. Now was not the time. I needed to focus on the game.
After warm-ups, Tim and Mike took us back to the locker room. Coach Engels was waiting for us. We were sky high.
“Okay ladies, settle down.”
This was fun. We all went down to one knee in a semicircle around Coach.
“This is our first game and the Washington Eagles have a fine team this year. They’ll test us with their high-powered offense. Tim, I want you watching their halfback. He’s the key to their success.”
Tim looked fired up as he nodded. We’d seen the scouting report and their halfback wasn’t going to be on their freshman team for very long. He had some real talent.
“I want you to know the varsity and JV coaching staff will be evaluating the game. Last night’s loss was due to some key injuries. They’ll be looking at some JV players later today to see if they can be moved up to varsity. In turn, that will open up some spots on the JV team.”
I was the worst teammate right now. I had no idea we lost last night. I decided right then to get my head out of my rear end. If I was part of the team, I had to make it to the games. I actually really liked high school football, and I loved to go to the games. Most of the town turned out, and it was the only thing going on Friday nights.
“All right men, let’s go win our first game.”
Not the most inspired pregame speech, but we didn’t need much to get excited. We ran out onto the field to the cheers of a sparse crowd. We got settled on the sidelines and then both team captains met at midfield for the coin toss. We won and decided to defer to the second half. Washington elected to receive.
Our kicker shanked the kickoff out of bounds. Washington would start their first series on their 35 yard line. On the first play, we saw why coach was worried about the Washington halfback. They ran a basic trap to the left and Mike read it beautifully. He scraped off the nose guard and filled the hole when the halfback danced in the hole. Normally that was the kiss of death, but somehow he juked Mike and sprinted to open field. Luckily our secondary caught him before he scored, but he had ripped off a huge chunk of yardage. He was taken down on our 12 yard line.
On the next play, they ran a toss to their star and he outran everyone to the end zone. We were down 6–0 with only 52 seconds played. They shortly thereafter kicked the extra point and we were now down 7–0. If we couldn’t shut him down, it would be a long day.
I went up to Mike and he glared at me.
“Mike, just put him down. Ignore his dancing and focus on his waist. His waist will tell you where he’s going.”
Mike gave me a smile.
“I forgot that. Thanks, David.”
On the next kickoff, we were only able to get it out to the 9 yard line. On the first play we ran veer right and Mike handed off to Bert up the middle. Bert got about a yard when he was hit hard by their strong safety. The safety had cheated up to cover the run. Bert fumbled the ball and their middle linebacker fell on it. Less than 30 seconds later and Washington was in our Red Zone again.
Their first play was a repeat of the power toss. This time Mike was able to fight his way through and drop their halfback before he could move up field. Our defense stiffened and held them the next two plays. Their kicker came out and kicked a field goal to make it 10–0.
On the kickoff, we were able to bring it out to the 19 yard line.
“Dawson, you’re in for Nelson!” Coach Engels yelled.
I trotted out to the huddle and Mike greeted me with a shit-eating grin.
“You ready to put some of them down?”
“You just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
“Veer left on two, and you score.”
“Yes, sir.”
I was afraid Washington would have something to say about that. I could see the free safety cheat up to defend the run. I knew if I could get past him, they had no one back there to stop me.
“Down! Set! Hut, HUT!”
I exploded to the hole. Mike slapped the ball into my stomach and I could feel him start to pull it out, because the free safety had me. I clutched the ball and Mike had no choice but to release it into my care. I caught a flash of the middle linebacker as he zeroed in on me at the same time. A split-second later there was a tremendous crack of pads as I exploded into both players. I felt myself rise up from the impact, but I kept churning my legs and I broke free. When the crowd heard the crack, they groaned and went silent as they anticipated the worst. In a freshman game, it normally meant an injury, but when they saw me break free, the place erupted. The only guy who had a shot was a speedy corner, but he had too much ground to cover to catch me. 81 yards later we were now back in this game with a score of 10–7. I must have really hit the two players hard, because they needed help off the field. I was swarmed on the sidelines by the whole team. Mike and I found Bert seated on the bench, and he looked dejected. Mike went up to him.
“What’re you pouting about?”
“I just lost my starting spot,” Bert complained.
“No, you didn’t,” Mike said with a laugh.
Now it was my turn to look dejected.
“David’s never going to play another down of freshman ball after this game,” Mike predicted.
Bert and I were both cheered by that.