Junior Year Box Set

Ty had been selected to be my other team captain this week. After the hazing incident, Coach Hope had decided to have me be a captain all year and then rotate in teammates for each game. Right before the kickoff, we walked out to the middle of the field for the coin toss. A cameraman from Fox came out to catch the action because we were on their Sports Network as the regional game of the week.

I was impressed when they had the official mic’d up so the crowd could hear him. Some improvements had been made that I wasn’t aware of.

“Washington, you’re the visitor and will call the toss. This is heads, and this is tails,” the referee said, as he showed us each side of the coin. “Call it in the air.”

“Heads!”

“It is tails,” the ref called.

“You’re going down!” the Washington player shouted, pointing at me.

Ever do something that you would regret later?

“This is OUR HOUSE!” I shouted, and it boomed all over the stadium. “You will learn what that means! Give us the ball.”

I had been instructed to defer to the second half, but I wanted to start the beatdown as soon as possible. Our fans went nuts, and between the cowbells and the cheers, you couldn’t hear yourself think. I would be willing to bet that we were louder than it had been at the Northwestern game because the stands were closer to the field. I glanced over at Coach Crouch, and he didn’t look entirely well. I had just announced to the world that we knew about his little talk on Monday.

On the kickoff, they were smart enough to kick away from Ty, but Ed caught it and pitched the ball to him. Ty waited for the wedge to form, but he was too eager and tried to force a hole, and Washington contained him. On our first play from scrimmage, we came out in our new formation with me under center. Mike was my fullback, lined up directly behind me. Ty and Jake were lined up slightly behind and next to him as my tailbacks. Roc and Wolf were playing wide receiver.

From that formation, I could either pass or run without a problem. The first play from scrimmage was an option that was set up so that Ty would end up getting the football. On the snap, Washington jumped eight guys into the box. That was where they brought one of the safeties up for run support. I smiled when I saw that left Wolf one-on-one with a cornerback. This was unfair on so many levels. Wolf was nearly six-five and weighed close to 240 pounds. He was being defended by a kid who was maybe five-nine and weighed 165 pounds. For a big guy, Wolf was surprisingly fast.

I faked the dive to Mike to hold the safety and allow Wolf to make a move on his guy. I stood tall and threw a pass to Wolf as he got free of his defender. The safety that had snuck up to help against the run had no chance. Wolf would have scored, but I put the ball too close to the sideline, and he stepped out of bounds after a gain of fifteen yards.

Luckily for me, I’d seen the defensive end coming for me after I threw the football. I was in no mood to play games, so I lowered my shoulder and laid him out by getting low and helping him fly over me. The crack of our pads could be heard over the roar of the crowd as Wolf made the catch. I walked over to their downed lineman and leaned down so he could hear me.

“I can do this all game long. Do you think you can handle me kicking your butt on every play? If so, keep up the cheap shots,” I warned him.

The next few plays seemed to go all wrong. Jim jumped offsides, Johan held, and Ed went in motion and started towards the line of scrimmage before the snap. We found ourselves first and thirty. I finally had had enough.

“Huddle up! Get your heads out of your asses and focus. I don’t care if we get the first down. I care that you do your jobs. Understand?” I asked.

“Yes, sir!” they barked back at me.

We picked up twenty of the thirty yards and then sent the punt team out. Everyone was shocked when our new punter—Derek Hofmann, one of our new farm kids—boomed a fifty-yarder that looked like a pro had done it. The Washington return man could only make a fair catch.

Our defense rose to the challenge and forced a three-and-out. Ty pedaled back to return the punt, and this time followed his blocking and put us on their 22 yard line. We ran the option again, and I tossed the ball to Ty who cut upfield. Something that Coach Diamond had added to our blocking scheme was that the backside tackle was to release his man and block the safety downfield. If we broke through their first line of defense, this block could mean the difference between a nice gain and a score. Jim was on the back side, and Ty saw him zero in on the safety that was tracking him. Ty cut back, which turned the safety so Jim had the angle and then lowered the boom. The safety crumpled like a rag doll, and the trainers for Washington were running out onto the field before Ty had even scored.