Junior Year Box Set

When we pulled up to the front of the stadium, we all saw it was the biggest one we had played at during the regular season. When we won State, that stadium held nearly sixty thousand, but there were fans from six different teams in attendance since they played three games that day. We played in the 5A classification, the next-to-largest, while Bloomington was in 6A. Coach Hope got up to talk before we got off the bus.

“You are about to play before twenty thousand people tonight,” he said and then paused to let it sink in. “Jeff Delahey called this ‘the game of the year’ in his article this morning. It will also be the second game in which we’ll have been televised. I’m sure that all sounds a little daunting, especially after what Bloomington did to Springfield last week.

“I want you to know that I’m not worried. While I expect that Bloomington is probably the best team you’ll play this year, I think you’re better. They may be bigger, faster, and have more division one prospects. What they don’t have is our heart. They haven’t put in the effort and aren’t as well-conditioned as we are. They may get up on us, even by a couple of scores, but we will win.

“So just treat this like any other game, and do your normal routines,” Coach Hope said, and then let us off the bus.

I had to laugh when Coach built the game up and then said it was like any other game we would play. He was funny and didn’t even realize it.

◊◊◊

In the locker room, everyone seemed to be okay. We had been here before. We were all a year older, and the experience of playing a team like Springfield came through. I was happy to see the juniors and seniors walking around to make sure the freshmen and sophomores saw how we should prepare. I had my headphones on, playing heavy metal. It always got me in the mood to cause mayhem. When it was time to go out, Alan came over and tapped me on the shoulder. I took out my earbuds and put everything in my locker.

Tim and Wolf were named my co-captains for this game. We led everyone out, and the two of them got the team lined up and stretching. I took a moment to soak up the scene. I couldn’t believe how many people had come to the game. Our half of the stadium was a nearly unbroken sea of orange. I must have missed the memo that was sent out to get our fans coordinated. The Bloomington side was emblazoned in purple and gold, their school colors.

Brandon, my assistant, had informed me that thirty-eight colleges had told him they were sending recruiters to watch the game. He said they wanted to see firsthand how I handled the pressure of a big game. They also thought that this would be a chance to watch me against superior talent. I disagreed with their assessment because I thought our guys were as good as if not better than anyone else. That said, we were supposed to be the underdogs. That gave us a huge advantage, as far as I was concerned. We wouldn’t have to worry about losing the game; all the pressure was on them.

I focused on getting ready as we ran our pregame drills. I felt good throwing the ball. So far this year I had avoided getting dinged up. I made a point of not showing Bloomington all my passes. In the first two games, I hadn’t really uncorked a long one. In practice, Roc and I had goofed around, and I threw one that traveled over sixty yards in the air. Roc seemed to have a knack for catching long passes. He would get better as he became stronger, but his long, loping glide made him sneaky-fast, and he had enough aggression to fight and win against most defensive backs.

We went back into the locker room, and I began to visualize success. Shiggy had helped me with that in baseball. He was a big believer that it helped with batting. I agreed with Shiggy and had made it a part of my pregame routine for football. Coach Hope gave us a rousing speech, and Tim, Wolf, and I led the team out on the field to a chorus of cowbells. I think every one of our fans had one of those blasted things. Once we were on the sideline, Coach Diamond came to find me.

“One second, Coach,” I said, and threw up behind our bench.

My teammates thought my nervous stomach was hilarious. They knew if I puked before a game, we would win, so it fired them up. Of course, doing it on grass was vastly different than artificial turf. The cheerleaders all gave me dirty looks and moved down some. I grabbed a water bottle and cleaned out my mouth. It was now time to do the coin toss.

When we walked out to do the coin flip, Bloomington had sent out five guys who all looked like they were college linemen. It turned out they were their offensive line. I liked that they would honor them and make them team captains for the game. I would need to talk to Coach Hope about that. Something else that impressed me was Bloomington wasn’t a bunch of posers. Usually, some ass-hat would make stupid remarks that would piss me off. I had become accustomed to that and used it to fuel my play on the field.