New Girl in Town Pt. 04

He has a step on his defender and hauls the ball in at the fifty-yard line. When he turns on the afterburners I put my arms are up in the air as I head towards the sidelines knowing that there's no one that's going to catch the kid.

Coach Pennington high fives me as I pass him. "Another audible huh, nice call," he comments.

"I got lucky," I tell him.

"Let's see if we can keep that luck going huh?"

****

The game turns into a defensive struggle with neither side being able to get much of anything going offensively after that. Right before halftime Patrick's side returns a punt for a touchdown just as time expires.

"That's not it is it," Sarah asks as both teams head towards the locker rooms with the score ten to seven in favor of Patrick's side.

"It's just halftime Sarah," Mr. Golden tells her.

"Good," She answers causing everyone to laugh.

"I thought football was boring Sar-bear. You've been cheering and kicking me the whole first half." Jessica teases.

"You're one to talk Jess," Dr. Golden laughs.

"What," Jessica asks causing Shelly and Jody to laugh so she looks at them. "What?"

"Every time Jake takes a hit, you scrunch up like it was you." Jody points out.

"I have not," Jessica states.

"You really have," Mr. Golden points out. "Sarah isn't the only one that's been kicking. I'm likely to have more bruises than Jake will by tomorrow."

"Don't worry Jessica, I kick too," Jake's mom shares as she gets to her feet. "I'm heading to the concession stand for drinks. Anyone need anything?"

"I'll go with you Aunt Pammy," Shelly announces.

"I'll come too," Jessica says. "Apparently I need to walk off some nervous energy. Do you want to come with me Sarah?"

"Sure," Sarah nods getting to her feet. The group takes orders and enlists Bobby to help them carry everything back.

"Why do I get volunteered to be the pack mule?" Bobby asks Shelly as the group walks away.

"Don't pout Bobby. I hear that Marybeth Larsen is working the stands tonight." Shelly tells him.

"She is," Bobby asks perking up immediately.

"Who's Marybeth and does our Bobby here have a thing for her," Jessica asks joining the conversation.

"No," Bobby quickly answers but his reddening cheeks betray him.

"Ooo, you do," Jessica laughs then turns to Shelly. "Who is she?"

"This girl that Bobby's been crushing on since freshmen year," Shelly informs her.

"Point her out to me when we get there. I've got to meet this girl." Jessica tells them.

"Jessica, please don't say anything." Bobby pleads.

"I promise not to embarrass you Bobby but I'm doing pretty great with matchmaking this year." Jessica tells him.

"What's matchmaking," Sarah asks overhearing them.

"Well Sar-bear, when someone sees two people who should be together but they aren't for whatever reason, that person tries to give them a push to get them together." Jessica explains.

"Oh," Sarah answers then asks, "So who's the matchmaker trying to get you and Jake together?"

Shelly and Bobby both begin to laugh as its Jessica's turn to blush. "Sarah, Jake's my friend but we're not getting together like that."

"You should be," Sarah states matter of factly. "I'll be your matchmaker."

"Okay Sar-bear, you do that." Jessica says shaking her head. She turns to Shelly and gives her a "can you believe her" look.

"Out of the mouths of babes," Shelly quotes creating an even greater blush on Jessica's face.

"I'll get you a cold drink at the stand Jess," Bobby tells her with a grin. "You look like you could use it."

****

As the teams are lining up for the second half kickoff Coach Pennington waves me over.

"If you have anymore tips for my defense like you did in the first half you just let me know." He tells me.

"Are you trying to make an assistant coach, Coach?" I ask with a chuckle.

"Maybe I am funny guy," He tells me.

"All right Coach, anything I can do to help. I really want this win." I tell him.

"With that cheering section of yours, I can't say that I blame you."

****

Patrick takes over at the twenty-yard line after the second half kickoff, leads them right down the field, and scores a touchdown after a pass interference penalty gives them first and goal. The score is seventeen to seven as I take the field.

"They'll be ready for us now that they know we're all on the same page," I tell the team.

"They don't know about me yet," Kendall shares.

"Good point," I nod. "All right let's show them that you're in this game too. Sweep left on one."

Kendall takes the handoff, breaks a tackle at the line of scrimmage and then barrels ahead for fifteen yards before Jamie tackles him.

"What the fuck is going on," Jamie shouts as the two get to their feet.

"We're playing a whole new game now," Kendall shares with a laugh. "You boys better be ready to play because we're playing to win."

In the huddle, Ray taps my helmet. "We've got them confused now Jake. My cover guy is cheating over towards our speedy receiver," He informs me.

"All right, then line up on my left and give me an out route towards Staci," I tell him with a wink.

"Looking to make me a hero," He asks with a laugh.

"If it helps sure but watch your back. Now that they know it's game on, I'm betting they'll start looking to take one of us out." I warn him.

"Catch and get out of bounds, got it," He nods.

"Shotgun formation on two," I tell them and break the huddle.

Before the snap I spy Tank sneaking close to the line and know that he'll be coming on a blitz.

"Orange seven two, orange seven two," I call out.

Ray glances up and gives me a nod letting me know that he got my audible that he's to run a corner route.

I take the snap and Ray takes off downfield. Kendall tries to block Tank but he only slows him for a second. I see Ray break for the corner and lob the pass just as Tank slams into me.

****

"I can't watch," Jessica says putting her head in her hands.

"Me neither," Sarah mimics her big sis.

"Oh ouch," Bobby says seeing the hit.

"That one's gonna hurt," Roxie comments.

"Ray caught it!" Shelly shouts jumping to her feet.

"Go Ray, go," Jody shouts and they cheer until he's forced out of bounds after a gain of thirty-yards.

"Is Jake up yet?" Jessica asks still not looking up.

"I'm wondering the same," Jake's mom shares. Jessica glances over and see that she, much like Jessica and Sarah, is hiding her eyes.

"He's up," Mr. Golden tells them. "That was one heck of hit though."

"I'm glad that he hung in there and made the throw," Jake's dad states.

They watch as Coach Pennington calls Jake to the sidelines and sends in his backup.

"Is he all right?" Jessica asks no one in particular.

"It's concussion protocol," Jake's mom answers. "The school athletic commission put it in place last year. If someone takes a big hit, they have to pull him for a play and check him over."

"Oh good," Jessica sighs and feels a pat on her shoulder. She looks over and her mother gives her a reassuring smile then goes back to watching the trainer who is checking over Jake. On the field, they hand off to Kendall who breaks into the open field and with a stiff arm to the safety reaches the end zone just as the third quarter ends.

"Touchdown," Shelly shouts throwing her arms up.

"Yay," Sarah shouts then turns to Jessica. "What's the score now?"

Jessica points to the scoreboard. "Seventeen to thirteen until they kick the extra point, then it'll be fourteen." She explains.

"With another quarter to go, do you think they can tie it up Mr. Gibson?" Jessica asks noting that other than their cursory hello's she hasn't really spoken to him.

"The defense is going to have to step up to keep them in this," He tells her.

"I guess we'll have to cheer extra loud for them right Sarah," She asks.

"Right," Sarah agrees then shouts. "Come on Defense!"

****

"Sounds like you've got your very own cheering section coach," I joke as I join Coach Pennington to watch the kickoff.

"The trainer said you're good to go," he says then locks eyes with me. "Now I'm asking you if you think you are."

"I'm good Coach," I assure him. "I think Tank pulled up at the last second. Hey, I'm making friends, who would have thought?"

"You're joking your way right back to the trainer if you thought that was funny," He answers.

"I'm good Coach, honest," I answer.

He nods as Ray comes over to check on me.

"Man, when I saw coach pull you, I got worried." He states.

"I'm fine. Great catch by the way," I tell him.

"I had the easy part; I just had to run under it." He states.

"I thought I overthrew it a bit." I share.

"Good thing I'm fast then." He jokes.

"Save some of that speed, we may need it before this thing's over," I tell him as he heads towards the bench.

Patrick takes his offense down the field, using up the clock with running plays until they end up in a third and long situation.

"Jail break blitz and remember to watch for the dump off to the half back," Coach Pennington tells the defense then nods to me. "If we hold them here, you need to be ready."

"I'm ready coach," I assure him.

The jailbreak blitz surprises Patrick and when he tries to toss to his halfback our linebacker is there when he catches the hurried throw. He tackles him for a four-yard loss bringing up a fourth down.

"Punt team" Coach Pennington calls out.

We receive the ball and drive down to their nine-yard line but fail to put it in the end zone on three tries.

"Damn it," I curse as we're coming off the field. "I can't believe I missed that throw."

"You had Tank in your face Jake," Kendall says clapping me on my shoulder. "At least you didn't take a sack."

I nod and as we stand on the sideline, our kicker ties the game but I blow out an annoyed breath.

"I left him too much time," I tell no one in particular after looking up at the clock.

Ray glances up as well and sees that it reads two minutes and ten seconds to go in the game. "If our defense holds, you might have given us enough time to win this."

Patrick leads his offense down the field steadily eating up clock as they move the ball. The drive stalls out at ten-yard line again and Coach Pennington uses his second timeout to stop the clock with fifty-two seconds left.

"Okay guys, you'll end up with about forty some seconds to make history out there. Jake, I saved you a timeout so do whatever you can with it. I'm proud as hell of what you kids did out here tonight no matter what happens." He tells us while Patrick's offense kicks the field goal making the score twenty to seventeen.

"Are you ready for this Jake," Ray asks as we watch the kickoff. Our kick returner is tackled at the twenty five-yard line.

I glance up at the clock. "Forty seven seconds and seventy five-yards," I state then smile. "Yeah, we've got this."

"That's what I wanted to hear." He laughs as we take the field.

In the huddle I look around at the team. "We've got seventy five yards to go and I know we can do it."

A chorus of "yeahs" rings out from the group.

"We're going to see if we can catch them napping on this play. Halfback dive to the left on one." I tell them.

Kendall looks nervous as we break the huddle. "I don't know about this Jake." He states.

"I'm expecting you to score but if you go down, we burn the time out right?" I ask him.

"Right," he answers and smiles.

"All right then, go get us the win."

We do catch the defense napping but they tackle Kendall at the fifty-yard line and Coach Pennington quickly takes our last time out. I jog over to the sideline to get the play and a splash of water.

"Thirty five seconds to go Jake," He tells me.

"What have you got for us coach," I ask him.

"We can probably go to the middle of the field once and spike it." He tells me. "See if you can get us twenty more yards. Our kicker could tie it from there."

"I want the win coach," I tell him with a grin.

He looks at me for a moment then grins as well. "Then go out there and get it son."

****

On the other sideline Patrick has pulled Jamie aside.

"Take him the fuck out," Patrick orders.

"It's not like I ain't trying," Jamie responds. "They're playing to win this thing."

"Don't you think I can see that," Patrick snaps.

"I don't know what you can see other than the start of your perfect season going up in smoke because of Jake." Jamie grumbles.

"He's not going to beat me. Pennington will go for the tie and that will be that." Patrick states.

"If you're so sure about that then what does matter if I take out Jake or not," Jamie asks.

"He's forgotten his place again and he has to pay." Patrick tells him. "When you get a shot, take him out. I don't care if it's his knee, ankle or his goddamn head. I want him gone."

Jamie pulls his helmet in place and with a quick nod, heads back to the field. "You want him gone, then he's gone."

****

"All right, we're looking for fifteen yards so slant routes for the receivers on one." I tell the team in the huddle.

"They'll tackle us inbounds," Ray points out.

"Once you get grabbed, go down then we'll hurry up to the line and spike it," I answer. "Everybody got that?"

All the heads around me nod and I break the huddle. I take the snap and it's my turn to be surprised by a jailbreak blitz. I roll out of the pocket but before I can spot an open receiver, I see Jamie bearing down on me. I heave the ball towards the sidelines instead of taking the sack.

"Nice throw, pussy," Jamie calls out to me as he passes.

"Glad you appreciated it," I joke.

"You're going to appreciate it when I light your ass up on the next play. Last play Jake, time for you to choke," He taunts me.

"What the hell was that all about," Ray asks as we huddle up.

"He's coming for me on this play," I answer.

"Want me to stay in and block his ass again." He asks but I shake my head.

"He's going to leave you a hole so I want you to catch this pass and score." I tell him. "Streak routes except for Ray, you're running a corner route."

"You put it and I'll run under it," He answers with a grin.

"All right, let's win on two."

I line up in the shotgun formation and on the snap drop back a couple of steps. A glance at the clock shows the time ticking down so I lob the ball as far as I can. I watch it spiral for a second when I feel someone crash into my back. I'm lifted off my feet then I'm slammed hard into the ground. Something pops in my left shoulder sending a shooting pain through my whole body. I'm almost able to scream but then the person lands on my driving all the air from my lungs.