Junior Year Box Set

From the safety position, I was able to see the whole field. When I played linebacker, I was closer to the ball and focused on the quarterback. When they lined up, something about their wide receiver seemed funny. On the snap, he simply stood there, and Washington’s quarterback faked a handoff to the fullback up the middle. On each play, the quarterback runs a fake as if he still has the football. The idea is it might distract one of our players and make him hesitate. I saw their quarterback peel off and head towards the receiver who had been standing around. That receiver was running full speed towards their quarterback. Our defense committed to stopping their quarterback and pursued hard. I could see they were going to run the reverse, so I sprinted to where their receiver planned to be. When the ball was pitched to the receiver, Tim tried to recover but ended up on his butt as his feet slipped out from under him. Their receiver put on an extra burst when he saw the green grass to the end zone. He began his cut upfield when I hit him. We landed at Coach Crouch’s feet, and I got up and stared at the coach.

“Our House!” I shouted as our fans cheered the turn of events.

Their punter came in and pinned us on the 3 yard line. Now their fans were getting into it. Conventional wisdom says that in this situation, you run the safest play you have in order to pick up a couple of yards to get some breathing room and prevent a safety. Washington had their linebackers line up in the gaps, and it looked like a full-out blitz. Their coaches began screaming from the sideline when I dropped back into the shotgun. I had Johan snap the football before Coach Crouch could get a timeout called. I’d seen Roc’s cornerback start to creep towards the line to blitz, so I just threw the ball in his general direction as I was buried. There was a deafening roar, and the celebration by the Washington players told me something bad had happened. As I jumped up, I saw their corner had picked it off and walked in for an easy score.

What I had thought would be an easy win for us turned into a street fight. Neither team would back down, and the hits were incredible. As we headed to the fourth quarter, we managed to score again but missed the extra point. We were down 28–27. Washington smartly decided to run the football and eat up as much time as they could. Eleven plays later, we finally stopped them, and they kicked a thirty-two-yard field goal to make it 31–27.

With less than five minutes left in the game, we finally got our offense rolling. I marched us right down the field. From their 27 yard line, I was flushed from the pocket. Washington was so focused on covering our receivers I was able to sprint ten yards down the field before anyone saw me. Both their linebackers tried to cut me off, but I was too fast for them and evaded them. Their defensive backs came to their senses, so I still had a gauntlet of defenders to get through. They were smart in that they forced me towards the sideline. The smart move would be for me to step out of bounds. Instead, I cut upfield and was met by three defenders at the 3 yard line. I crashed into them and forced the pile towards the end zone. When I got up, the line judge indicated a touchdown.

There were two and a half minutes left on the game clock, and we were up 34–31. I’ll give Washington credit, they never gave up. They drove down the field and kicked a field goal with twenty-eight seconds left on the clock. The game was tied 34–all.

Coach Crouch may be a jerk, but he was a smart coach. He kicked the ball out of bounds on the kickoff. Even though it gave us the football at the 35 yard line, there was no way they would give Ty a chance to run one back on them. Before we went out, Coach Hope and Coach Diamond gathered us around.

“The smart play would be to run out the clock and win it in overtime,” Coach Diamond said.

“No, we’re going to take a shot at winning this now,” Coach Hope said. “David, call the plays when you’re at the line. The clock stops when we go out of bounds, incomplete passes, or first downs. We have one timeout left. Try to save it so we can get the field-goal team out there.”

“If you get in trouble, throw the ball away. We can’t afford a sack. If that happens, we play for overtime,” Coach Diamond gave his final instruction, and then gave us the play to run.

I had the offense huddle up so I could talk to them.

“No holding! If someone gets past you, sing out so I know to get moving. Get out of bounds if you can. If you can’t get a first down, then everyone hustle to the line. We’ve practiced this. This is Our House! No one is going to win when they come to Lincoln. On two, break!”