The next kickoff went through the end zone, so we got the ball on the 20 yard line. It was as if the football gods had conspired against us. As we took the field, it started to rain. Magic came out and showed all the confidence that none of us had at that moment. I recognized a true leader and prayed that one day I would have the strength to show his resolve.
“Okay, settle down. I know we’ve only been down this much once this year, and we lost. That is not going to happen today.” He looked each one of in the eye until he was confident that we agreed. You could feel the whole huddle relax. “Veer left on two.”
“Down. Set. Hut, HUT!”
Eastside overplayed the dive, so Magic pulled the ball out of my gut and continued down the line. I saw a flash as a linebacker slipped through our line and crushed Magic. The ball came loose and the same linebacker was on the ball. They had recovered on our 15 yard line.
The crowd was in shock when after four plays we were down 35–13 with a little over 13 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Coach Engels grabbed Bill and me and had us warm up. The training staff was all around Magic, and it looked like he had a concussion. Kevin, Luke and the other assistant coaches had a heated discussion with Coach Lambert. I could tell he was pissed when he threw his clipboard on the ground and his headset went flying. A decision was made and Coach Lambert yelled.
“Offense, gather around! We’re down three touchdowns. I have been convinced to run the scout-team offense for the rest of the game. Coach Engels is most familiar with this offense, so he’ll be calling the plays. I am proud of you boys for working so hard this week. Now let’s go out there and get back into this game.”
The kick-return team had done a good job and gotten the ball to the 31 yard line. We huddled up and I called the play.
“Base four cross right long on two.”
We lined up with four wideouts and I dropped back into the shotgun. The Eastside defense went wild trying to figure out what we were doing so they could get in the proper defense. Our crowd who was wet and cold at this point and had been headed to the exits stopped and turned to watch something they’d never seen before.
“Down. Set. Hut, HUT!”
“PASS, PASS, PASS!”
As I set up to throw, Bill was in the slot and one of the defensive backs who’d practiced with the offense was on the outside. On the snap of the ball, they both sprinted 10 yards straight down the field and then crossed. The outside linebacker that tried to cover Bill ran over their cornerback when we executed the cross. Luckily, we didn’t touch either player, or it would have been an illegal pick play. Bill ran up the sidelines and I hit him in stride. Their safety had a chance, but our wide receiver gave him a brush block and Bill walked into the end zone. After the extra point we were down 35–20.
We rushed off the field to get with Coach Engels. I was happy to see Magic was waiting on us with his helmet in hand. The training staff would steal your helmet if you weren’t cleared to play. Coach got all of us in front of a marker board.
“Good job. Now what they’ll do is go into their dime package. This’ll pull their outside linebackers and replace them with defensive backs. This is where Luke will shine. We’re going to run their version of the option until they pull at least one of the defensive backs and respect our ability to run the ball,” Coach Engels said, explaining his strategy.
“From now on treat this like a two-minute drill. We need every second on the clock to win this thing. If you hear ‘Blue’ instead of ‘Down’ we’ll run the pass version of the play. If you hear ‘Green’ it’ll be one of our special plays.”
Coach Engels diagramed the two plays. It wouldn’t be easy to have only three offensive plays, but they were set up to be free-flowing, and it was up to me to make the right reads. I had no idea what happened on the field until Coach Lambert called, ‘Offense!’
We found ourselves pinned back at our 8 yard line. We lined up in Eastside’s base four-wideout offense. Magic came in as the slot on my left with Bill in the slot to my right. The ball was snapped back to me, and Luke and I moved as one to the left. One of their defensive backs slashed into the backfield and tried to tackle me high. I hit him with a straight-arm that knocked him off his feet. Luke and I turned up the field. Three of their players had me in their sights, and just before I was hit I pitched the ball to Luke.
Luke almost broke it. He was pushed out of bounds just short of the 50 yard line. This gave us a chance to huddle up. The entire crowd, which had been heading for the exits, was back in their seats and cheering.
We got into the huddle.
“Okay Luke, it’s time you learn what I do. We’re going to run the option to the right. Luke, you find a gap between the tackles. If it isn’t there, I’ll step outside. Magic, you trail the play, and if I need to pitch, you’re the man. On two!”
“Down. Set. Hut, HUT!”
I rode Luke into the hole and saw both linebackers zeroed in on him, so I pulled the ball and turned up the line. Their defensive tackle shed his block. I went to step inside of him when a cornerback hit me, taking me down for a one-yard loss.
I jumped up and tossed the ball to the head linesman.
“Line Up, Line Up!”
“Down. Set. Hut, HUT!”
We ran the same play but this time when I pulled the ball from Luke I followed him and used him as a lead blocker. I picked up 16 yards and we were now on their 35 yard line.
“Down. Set. Hut, HUT!”
They were ready for the inside play. I pulled the ball out of Luke’s stomach and ran down the line. Two players converged on me and I turned and tossed the ball to a streaking Magic. He turned the corner to find one man to beat. I swear the poor kid lost his jock when Magic put his move on him. Magic scored and the extra point made it 35–27.
I started to get tired. I went over to grab a drink and looked at the clock: six minutes to go. We had a chance at this. On the kickoff, disaster struck. One of their speedy backs ran it all the way back and we soon found ourselves down 42–27 with just under six minutes to go.
We got the ball on the 20 yard line to start the next series. We came out and lined up. They had changed from their nickel to their base package. Back to the passing game.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
I set my feet and one of their defensive backs had played back, so I threw the ball on a rope to the outside. I hit our wide receiver in stride right in the hands. He dropped it. I noticed Eastside’s coaching staff pull that cornerback. I moved Magic over to the outside on the right along with Bill.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
This time Bill went down ten yards and did a buttonhook; I hit him just as he turned. Bill was ready and caught the ball. We hurried to the line of scrimmage. The head linesman held up the clock until the yard markers could be reset.
“Blue. Set. Hut, HUT!”
I watched as Magic’s defender went to jam him. Magic was strong enough to fend him off and break into the open. I hit him in stride and Magic was in the end zone. I looked over and saw the flag.
“LINE UP! LINE UP!” I yelled.
I looked at the clock and we had just over four minutes to play. The call was offensive pass interference. Everyone was in position when we were given the ‘start clock’ signal by the referee.
“Green. Set. Hut, HUT!”
It was time for our special play. We needed to score soon. I dropped back and Bill ran the buttonhook to perfection. Luke had snuck out of the backfield, and as soon as Bill was tackled he pitched the ball to Luke who went untouched for the score. After the extra point, we were now within striking distance at 42–34 with three minutes and 40 seconds left in the game. The crowd went wild and I could see the Eastside players get nervous.