Gladiators of the Gridiron

The Coyotes had no trouble with their extra point, and with that, the game was 20–7.

Coach Otsen called the team over for a quick huddle before they received the kickoff.

‘Alright, boys, that’s my mistake; I shouldn’t have let you get complacent and expect them to do the same thing over and over. But don’t lose heart. They caught us off balance out there, but it’s fine, we’ve still got the lead, and it’s our ball now, let’s get those points right back!’

The players nodded, looking around at each other for reassurance. “It was just a fluke,” they thought. “We’re still in control. We’re still the better team.”

They headed back out onto the field to set up for their kick return. Kenny was once again the lone returner standing just on the cusp of his own endzone.

The kick trailed to the left side of the field, but Kenny tracked it down and caught it comfortably before rushing ahead.

His gait was cautious, not going full speed as he was weary of having his facemask torn down, or being tripped up … but no such foul play occurred and due to his fearful running, he was rounded up by multiple Coyotes and brought down at the 21-yard line.

Kenny was shaking his head while he got helped up, confused and trying to understand what the Coyotes were up to.

‘My bad, guys. I’ll do better next time,’ Kenny said.

But his teammates told him not to worry about it as they brushed off any grass that clung to his uniform.

The Titans took up their positions and prepared their offence. Again, Kenny was staring down his Ghost and Villain duo. He didn’t like the confident, sneering looks they both had on their faces.

‘Hike!’ Kenny pushed forward, ready to fend off all kinds of bumps, jersey tugging, and hands pushing at his face and helmet … but again, none of that came. The two Coyotes’ defenders were guarding him closely and roughly, but there was nothing illegal about what they were doing.

Pete faked a handoff to Isaac at the beginning of the play, but as his eyes scanned the field, he found no target that was open.

In the end, he tossed the ball well over Kenny’s head, so that no defender would be able to intercept it, but to also avoid a sack from the incoming Scar-Face.

The Titans returned to their huddle, annoyed murmurs spreading around the circle.

‘What are these fuckers playing at all of a sudden?’ Kenny said.

Coach Otsen ordered the next play, and the boys moved on before the discussion could develop much further than that, though they were all left with questions that they had to try to answer themselves as they once again lined up opposite the Coyotes.

The ball was snapped again, and this time Pete gave the ball over to Isaac who charged ahead, right past the left flank of the Center. He barreled through the Defensive Line for a short gain of 4 yards.

Again, there hadn’t been any foul play from the Coyotes.

‘Hike!’ The next play, Kenny was once again tightly covered and couldn’t break away from the double team. Pete fired the ball towards Lonnie, using Lonnie’s extra height to their advantage, he made the catch and outstretched his arms, just getting the ball past the first down marker before he hit the ground.

The drive continued, but it was slow going for the Titans. The Coyotes continued to play tight, hard defence, but not once did they commit a foul, and no yellow flag touched the grass.

The Titans quickly floundered under this new form of defence, and without the aid of penalties, they couldn’t even make it past the halfway mark before being forced to punt the ball away.

Under orders from Coach Otsen, they punted the ball directly out of bounds around the Coyotes’ 30-yard line, with the Line Judge marking it out at the 32-yard line specifically.

But in doing so, the Titans bought themselves a little bit of reprieve, not having to chase down the kick or fight through blocks or lay a tackle.

Just after the Coyotes’ offence marched out onto the field and got into formation, a timeout was called by none other than Coach Otsen, who waved his players over.

‘Listen up!’ Coach Otsen said. ‘Don’t let them get into your head. I know you’ve noticed it, but they’re not playing dirty anymore are they? Well, they’re at least not making it so obvious that even those blind zebras out there could see it.’

‘We’re switching up our defence,’ a chilling, feminine voice said. Coach Carson, the Titans’ DC, stepped forward in the huddle. Her angular face was held up by a short stocky neck. She had a thin, small mouth that rarely smiled. Kenny and the other boys knew her narrow, blue eyes were staring daggers from behind her thick shades. And though she was a petite woman—smaller than most of the players even—she still held a very commanding presence.

‘Don’t get caught up by any mind games or tricks. The reason they scored so easily last time, was because you were already expecting them to do what you wanted. That’s when you lose!’ She tightly clenched a fist in front of her face as she slowly spun around the circle, eying down each boy individually.

‘Focus on yourselves, not what you THINK they’ll do. Stick to the game plan, remember what we practiced, and play your hardest. That’s the only way you’ll win.’

Coach Otsen had a long rectangular whiteboard in hand, scribbling down the diagram of the scheme and formation they would use when the game resumed.

They’d be switching from their combo coverage to a full zone.

Lonnie would cover the deep middle of the field like usual, and Pete would be underneath that, covering everything across the middle up to around 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. Working alongside him would be one of the heavier players on the team who was usually a part of the Offensive and Defensive Lines, Vincent. Isaac would cover everything underneath to the right side, with Nick watching deep down the right sideline. The 4 other big boys up front would focus on blitzing the QB, while Freddy was deep on the left side as a safety valve.

As the huddle broke apart and everyone went to make their way back onto the field, Kenny was pulled aside by Coach Carson.

‘Ken, my boy,’ she said, ‘I’ve got a special assignment for you. If the Receiver lined up in front of you goes deep, you follow him, if he cuts inside, you follow him, if he curls or goes short to the outside, you follow him. BUT!’ She tightened her grip on his arm. ‘And this is very important, no matter what that man does, if someone else sneaks in behind him to the flat out on the left, you have to leave him and move down to cover the flat.’

Kenny knew that by “flat” she meant the area directly to the left of the line of scrimmage, all the way towards the sideline. But if he dropped down to cover that area and someone else went deep down the sideline…

Coach Carson could see the worry on his face, she tugged on his arm to focus his attention on her again. ‘Trust in Freddy. If anything does go deep, he can cover it.’

Kenny swallowed his doubts and nodded silently. She let him go and he turned away, hurrying out onto the field and into position.

‘Remind those bastards why they had to cheat in the first place!’ Coach Otsen yelled out.

The Titans settled into their positions, shaking with anticipation, they couldn’t let the Coyotes score again.

‘Snap!’ Spider had the ball. He faked a handoff. His eyes jumped about the field rapidly before he flung the ball to his favourite target; Tank was streaking down the right sideline, but Nick was in perfect position.

Tank and Nick had to swap roles for a moment. Nick went for the interception so it was Tank who had to play defence and disrupt the pass in the end, hitting Nick hard and jarring the ball out of his grasp before he could complete the catch.

At least it was an incompletion. The Titans players rallied around Nick, helping him back up, and shoving a laughing Tank out of the way. Nick was alright, only a little sore.

Spider takes the next snap, and AGAIN he fakes a handoff to their bullish RB. This time the pass was directed towards the left side of the field, a short route underneath, though Kenny flew away from his original assignment and managed to make the tackle, though the Coyotes gained 7 yards.

They set up again, and this time two Receivers were lined up on the left side, so Pete had moved over to at least give the illusion that he would try manning one before he would sprint back to his actual zone once the ball was snapped.

‘SNAP!’ Kenny jumped back, and Pete burst towards the middle of the field. Tank charged directly ahead, heading straight for the goalposts within the endzone.

As Kenny’s man led him towards the middle, he saw from the corner of his eye the second Receiver coming to blindside him again. He spun away from the collision as best he could, still getting tangled up a bit.

‘REF! That’s a pick play! They’re cheating!’ Jackson screamed from the stands, though to no avail—no flag was thrown.

Kenny was still on his feet, but he was a step behind the Coyotes’ Receiver that was sprinting down his sideline, and, there was still the one underneath to worry about.

He hesitated, and that only widened the gap between him and the Receiver ahead of him.

Spider launched his catapult again, the ball arching high through the sky towards the left side of the field, going DEEP.

Kenny wouldn’t be able to make it in time, but he hoped the Receiver wouldn’t either.

The Receiver outstretched his arms, legs pumping furiously, he was almost there, he could catch it if he just stretched a bit more…

Freddy flew in from the side and punched the ball out of the air, sending it flying safely into the crowd as he and the Receiver crashed into one another.

The spectators roared, even without the bleachers being full it sounded like a whole stadium cheering Freddy on. The rest of the Titans gathered around him, helping him up and smacking him on the back proudly. He’d definitely saved their asses just then.

The Coyotes were forced to punt, and this time when Kenny called for the fair catch, he was actually allowed to catch it without getting speared illegally.

The Titans took over once again, and they were resolved to continue putting pressure on the scoreboard. “We’re still the better team,” they reminded themselves.

Isaac had the honour of being the workhorse for this drive. He was fearless as he dove forward and powered through the opposing lines, chugging ahead for small but consistent gains; he would keep the chains moving whenever the Receivers were failing to get past the Coyotes’ tight coverage.

Though Kenny and Lonnie couldn’t be held back forever, and both would get small catches here and there to help out where they could.

But once the field got smaller, and the defence had to defend less area as the distance to the endzone shrunk and shrunk, the Titans found it harder to keep the ball moving, and despite their best efforts, they ran out of steam and couldn’t punch through the last line of defence.

They had to settle for a field goal.

Points were points though, so it wasn’t a total loss. And if this was successful, and the score was pushed out to 23–7, that would mean the Coyotes would need 2 touchdowns both with 2-point conversions after them JUST to tie. A much tougher ask than the simple 1-point kick attempt that was usually made after a touchdown.

They lined up for the kick, Nick was ready, he was reliable from this close of a range, and he was confident he could send it through the uprights.

The ball was snapped, Pete caught it securely and set it down perfectly for Nick, but the line of blockers crumbled. A quick, unseen tug on a jersey had opened up a gap wide enough for one Coyote to slip through.

Nick swung his boot and it connected solidly against the ball, but before it could fly further than even a yard, it was smothered by the flying Coyote who blocked it into the ground and took Nick out in the process.

Pete scrambled after the loose ball, and it was all he could do to dive on it and cover it up to make sure no Coyotes’ player could run it all the way back for a touchdown.

The Titans’ coaches could see the morale draining out of their players in real-time, and though they tried their best to keep their spirits up, not being able to sit down for a break wasn’t helping.

The players had to stay out there as they transitioned back to defence and would have to instantly put their failure to score behind them if they were to have any hope of stopping the charge of the Coyotes.

Coach Otsen thought about calling another timeout, but decided against it—he’d already used 1 of his 3 for this half, and he felt like he’d need the last 2 later.

From the very first play of this new Coyotes’ drive, things weren’t looking good for the Titans. They’d lost a step. No one knew if it was because they’d lost hope, had been worn down by the harsh conditions of the game, or a mixture of both.

The Coyotes were walking all over them. Tank could only be brought down by 2 or 3 tacklers taking him on at once. The zone defenders couldn’t keep up with Receivers and could barely hold them to short gains, and each time the Coyotes ran the ball they picked up at least 5 yards.

They were already past half field when time thankfully ran out in the 3rd quarter and the Titans could finally catch their breath again.

The Titans piled onto their bench, panting hard and guzzling down sports drinks as they rested their aching muscles.

‘Keep your heads up,’ Coach Knight said as he walked along the bench.

Each boy who had been hanging his head, reluctantly lifted it up, their pain and tiredness clear on their sweat-coated faces.

Coach Otsen looked them all over and his mouth set into a deep frown. ‘What’s with those looks? Is this not what I’ve prepared for you? Are my training sessions not good enough for you?!’

‘No, sir!’ was the tired response.

Kenny shook his head, gritting his teeth. ‘This is nothing, Coach! I could do this all day.’

‘That’s more like it!’ Coach Otsen said. ‘I know you can do it, so don’t give me any lame excuses. You’ve still got a lot more left to give, and I won’t be satisfied unless you leave it ALL out there on the field today. There’s only one more quarter to go, just ONE. It’s the last fucking stretch. I know you can hold out. Just 15 more minutes, that’s all I’m asking for, and then you can go home and sleep for an entire day for all I care. You’ve come this far, just hold on for 15 minutes.’

The whistle blew for the final quarter to start, and every Titans player turned their eyes to the scoreboard.

20–7.

They were up by 2 scores still, and they only had to hold out for 15 minutes. That’s all, just 15 minutes.