He also unbalanced the defensive line. He put three linemen on the weak side of their offense, and only one on their strong side. Putting Wolf and Jim on the center and guard was a mismatch. Their job was to collapse the pocket. Moose and Coach Hope wanted us in their backfield, causing havoc.
I was surprised at the changes in Coach Hope this week. His normal strategy was bend, don’t break, and keep the score low. This week he was being much more aggressive on both offense and defense. This was a more high-risk/high-reward defensive strategy.
Eastside came out in the shotgun with no backs in the backfield. Tim called an audible.
“BINGO, BINGO!”
This was our call for sending eight of us to rush the passer. If the quarterback got the ball off, he had the advantage of five guys running routes against three defenders. On the other hand, we had eight on five. That meant that three of us would have no one to block us.
“Down, Set ... Hut!”
On the snap, Jim and Wolf pushed their guys back into the pocket and then stood up with their arms high. With them both at six-five, the Eastside quarterback would have to adjust to get his throw off. His moment of hesitation was all our blitz needed. We sacked him for a six yard loss. It was now second and sixteen.
On second down Wolf and Jim ran a stunt where Jim pushed the guard into the center and Wolf looped around them and had a clear shot. Their quarterback dumped the ball into the dirt to avoid the sack, which left them third and long. On third down, they completed a pass for an eight yard gain, but they were forced to punt.
We got the ball on our 38 yard line. I found when I played defense first it got me over my early-game jitters. Coach Diamond called a trap to the right for the first play. We needed to show them what they expected before we switched gears. When we came to the line of scrimmage, they seemed confused by our wider splits on our line.
“Down, Set ... Hut, HUT!”
Our left guard led the play into the hole. Eastside did a good job of fighting through their blocks and only allowing a two yard gain. Coach Diamond had called our new pass play for second down and told us to line up and go on first sound. The guys ran to get set. Eastside was better prepared than anyone else we had played to this point, and they were ready for the snap. I did my pre-snap read and saw that they were in their Tampa 2 defense.
“Down!”
On the snap, I started to drift right. I read the middle linebacker and saw he wasn’t going to get to Wolf in time. Wolf cut upfield and did a skinny post from his tight end position. I hit him for a fifteen yard gain. Coach Diamond told us to keep running this play until they stopped it. So, we hurried to the line.
“Down!”
On the snap, I saw that the middle linebacker was in better position to cover Wolf. I went to my second read and found Bill had just passed the cornerback on the outside. I hit him and he went down to keep from getting killed by the strong safety. We picked up another first down and were now on Eastside’s 34 yard line.
“Down!”
This time Eastside had Wolf and Bill covered. I looked over and Jeff was covered on the other side. I’d taken too long and had to dodge one of their big tackles. Bert slipped into the hole left by the middle linebacker when he went to cover Wolf. I dumped it off to him and he made a nifty move on the strong safety, only to have the middle linebacker catch him. We were on their 12 yard line.
“Down!”
On the snap, Wolf got a good start, and I put the ball high for him to catch it. He pulled it in and immediately fell to the ground so they couldn’t separate it from him. We were up 7–0.
The next series Eastside was able to complete a few passes and got two first downs. Jim crushed their quarterback on a third-and-long blitz. I could tell by the way the quarterback was walking off the field that the last tackle had hurt. I recognized it because I had walked the same way many times before.
We got the ball back on our 18 yard line. Coach Diamond had kept his word and called the same play. When we lined up, they had changed defenses. They were in a cover 4, which was much better against the deep pass. This time last year, I would never have noticed the change. I called an audible.
“Orange, Oh-raange!”
I had just called the option to the weak side. Jake moved from the slot to next to me in the shotgun, with Bert on my other side.
“Down, Set ... Hut, HUT!”
The inside run was open, so I handed the ball to Bert and he promptly ran into their tackle ... the biggest guy on the field. It was as if he had his eyes closed. I called for a huddle.
“What was that?” I asked Bert.
“My fault,” Bert offered.
“Did you close your eyes or something?” I persisted.
“Yeah. It won’t happen again.”
Ed came in with the play, replacing Jake.
“Option left,” he told me.
“On three, and I’ll do a hard count on two. Stay onside.”
“Down, Set ... Hut, HUT ... Hut!”
Eastside’s whole front line jumped. They were on their heels when the ball was snapped because they were trying to get back. Flags were flying from everywhere. I didn’t see their cornerback blitzing, so when I pulled the ball from Bert he was in my face. Coach had taught us to try to get positive yards when hit. I cut hard upfield and the corner missed me. Bert was met in the hole by their inside linebacker, creating a pile where I wanted to run. I did my jab step and cut back against the grain and around Tim at center. The backside linebacker had pursued the play and was past me when I cut upfield.
I exploded past the first line of defense and saw a flash to my left. It was Bill. I slowed to let him lead me. The two safeties were there and Bill blocked one. I stepped around him and the other safety tried to do the same, but he got tangled up. The backside cornerback was closing fast, but I accelerated like my speed coach had taught me, and he wasn’t going to catch up. We were up 14–0 at the end of the first quarter.
We weren’t going to contain Eastside all game; they were too good for that. The next series they made some changes in their blocking and pulled two backs in to help block. We made them work for it, but they finally scored when I tripped over one of their receivers. It should have been called a pick play, but you don’t always get that call.
By the time halftime got there, we had scored two more times and were up 28–7. Right before half, I had been sacked by a brutal hit from behind. Their outside linebacker had blitzed and Bert had missed picking him up. He had a clean ten yard run at me. It was lucky that it was a clean hit. If he had led with his helmet, I might not have gotten up. The only thing that let me walk off the field was the flak vest Bo Harrington had given me last year.
The training staff had me out of my pads and checking my side as soon as I reached the locker room. I looked over at Bert and thought he was going to cry. I sent Jill over to tell him I was going to live. They wanted to tape an extra pad to my side, but I told them that it would restrict my movement.
That was when the officials came into the locker room to talk to Coach Hope. Coach had a grim expression on his face, talked to Moose, and then left. Moose had us all gather around.
“There was a fight in the parking lot and there are several injuries. Brad and Cassidy Hope were both injured. They have asked to hold us in the locker room until they can get everything sorted out and assure everyone’s safety,” Moose announced.
Jim was immediately up.
“How bad is Cassidy hurt?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Her dad has gone to find out. I know you two are dating, but I need you to stay with the team.”
“Jim, call your mom and have her go check for you,” I suggested.
Jim went to his locker to get his phone and talked to his mom. He came back and wasn’t happy.
“Sorry, Coach, but I have to go. Mom said that it looked bad. She’s going to drive me to the hospital.”