Gladiators of the Gridiron

Kenny ran over and helped Pete up, hugging him tightly. ‘Haha! You did it! Fuck those cheating bastards, we won!’ Kenny said.

‘Hahaha. I spit on those cheating shitstains. No way we were gonna lose to them,’ Pete said.

Vincent squashed the both of them against his massive gut in a double bear hug. ‘Aww yeah! Winning feels way too good.’

The reaction from the coaches on the sideline was a lot more muted for the most part, aside from Coach Vasquez who was screaming madly and jumping around like they’d just won a championship.

The other coaches simply shook each other's hands and gave each other hugs as they shared praises back and forth.

Freddy was still lying on the ground, clutching onto the ball, eyes staring at it as he held it not even an inch away from the endzone.

Jackson was so elated that he almost hurt himself again bursting out of his seat as the Titans’ victory was announced.

Lonnie eventually helped Freddy back up onto his feet, the smaller boy still holding onto the ball, hugging it to his chest now.

‘Heyy… you did pretty good… for an imposter… you’re not that bad… Freddy.’ Lonnie slapped him on the back.

Freddy stared ahead blankly, not yet coming to grips with their win and the major part he had played in it.

Eventually, the Titans made their way off the field, their euphoria slowly wearing off as they glanced over to their defeated opponents. The Coyotes were fuming.

Coach Kelly made his way over to the Titans’ bench and cleared his throat as he stood in front of the coaching team.

Coach Knight stepped up to him first, staring down at him silently.

‘I just wanted to congratulate you all on your win today. Your boys played with all their heart and left it all out there on the field. They were the better team today, they deserved it,’ Coach Kelly said before offering his hand.

Coach Knight took it and shook it firmly.

Coach Vasquez stepped up. ‘That game was maximum amazing, thank you so much!’ He shook Coach Kelly’s hand rapidly.

Coach Carson shook his hand without saying anything, like Coach Knight before her. Then when Coach Otsen stepped forward to shake hands, the two men held onto each other for a little while longer than any handshake before them.

Coach Otsen grinned. ‘Yes, it was a dramatic and interesting game. I can’t wait until our teams meet again later in the season … but as for the next game tonight.’ He looked behind him to the varsity players who stared back with dark glares.

Coach Otsen smiled and squeezed Coach Kelly’s hand firmly. ‘It won’t be close.’

A cold bead of sweat ran down Coach Kelly’s temple and with great effort, he yanked his hand away from Coach Otsen’s grip. ‘Hah… r-right, well, we’ll just have to wait and see.’

He retreated back to his own bench, rubbing his hand gingerly. No other coach from the Coyotes came over to offer their hand.

The teams didn’t line up to shake hands either, with the tensions between each side still high. The Titans players jeered any of the Coyotes that left and went home.

‘Yeah, keep walking ¡puta!’ Pete flipped them off as they walked by.

‘Hey! Jerk-offs.’ Kenny peeled his jersey off and tossed it at Ghost and Villain. ‘Thought you might want that, you were pulling on it so much!’

They snarled but didn’t say anything back, only stomping on his jersey and kicking it away.

‘Hey! Knock it off!’ A stern glare from both Coach Otsen and Knight silenced the taunting Titans and got them to sit back down.

The snarling Coyotes glared angrily but mostly held their tongues as they stalked off to the parking lot.

Spider was the only one to speak up. ‘Just wait. When you come to our backyard, you WON’T be lucky enough to leave in one piece. He stared down the Titans coldly, not even baulking when Coach Knight got between him and sternly frowned down at him.

Spider eventually wandered away, though his threat lingered long after he was gone.

‘Go get in the locker room,’ Coach Otsen barked, shoving the JV players off towards the room.

They went without complaint, though the coaches stayed between them and any Coyotes that were in the way.

Once in the locker room, Freddy sat down next to Kenny, he was still absentmindedly holding the game ball.

Kenny looked Freddy over, and then stared down at the ground, slowly taking his cleats off. “I guess I was wrong about him… or maybe this was just a fluke. I wonder if he still wants to play after a beating like that.”

Coach Otsen looked around the room, letting the boys revel in their victory as they celebrated together. His gaze came upon Freddy with the game ball, and he moved over to the boy.

Freddy eventually glanced up at the coach once Coach Otsen had been standing in front of him for a while. He held out the ball, offering it up to him.

Coach Otsen chuckled and shook his head. ‘Listen up, boys.’ He looked around the room. ‘I don’t think anyone here is more fitting to hold onto the game ball than young Frederick. Without him stepping up today and playing with the heart and courage of a true footballer, we wouldn’t have won.’

The other boys clapped gently. Kenny ruffled Freddy’s hair and said, ‘Not bad for a nerd.’

Freddy blushed but smiled from ear to ear, hugging the ball again.

‘Welcome to the team, Freddy,’ Coach Otsen said.

Not too long after, the JV boys had changed and made their way back out of the locker as the coaches shifted their attention to the varsity team and getting prepared for their upcoming game.

When Kenny reemerged and took his front-row seat just behind the bench, Jackson perked up higher in the stands.

‘Mom, I’m just, I’m gonna go say hi and sit with Kenny,’ Jackson said, getting up out of his seat.

His mom smiled and nodded. ‘Alright, Jackie.’

He carefully made his way down to the row of seats just behind the Titans’ bench, sitting behind Kenny and leaning over to tap him on the shoulder. ‘Hey.’

Kenny looked back and grinned. ‘Yo, where you been?’

‘I was watching up there with my mom and sister.’ Jackson gestured with a thumb over his shoulder.

Kenny climbed over the chair and joined Jackson’s row, sitting next to him. ‘What did you think of the game?’

‘Oh, those umpires were the blindest I’ve ever seen! Those fuckers were cheating on like, every play.’

‘Hah, tell me about it, and we still fucking beat them. Man, if you were playing, we would’ve smashed them, no contest.’

Jackson chuckled nervously and looked away, shrugging his shoulders.

‘S-Sorry,’ Freddy’s voice startled the boys and they looked ahead to the row of seats in front of them, Freddy was sitting backwards on his knees, facing them.

He looked away, avoiding their gazes. ‘Just, if it was you playing instead of me, I’m sure it would’ve been a lot easier for you guys to win. I bet… you guys wouldn’t have even lost one game yet if it was you playing instead of me.’

Jackson frowned. ‘You’re um, Freddy, yeah? Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. Like, if it weren’t for you, the team couldn’t have PLAYED any games.’

Kenny looked away, keeping quiet, it wasn’t like he disagreed with Freddy.

‘But I—’

‘But nothing!’ Jackson cut Freddy off. ‘It’s not like you took my spot. I CAN’T play.’ He tapped his cast loudly. ‘If it weren’t for you filling in for me, the others couldn’t play at all, and hey, I was watching… we would’ve lost without you today.’

‘You… th-thank you.’ Freddy smiled. ‘Y-You’re um, Jackson… right?’

‘Yeah, and hey, keep your head up. What you did out there today, taking those hits and putting your body on the line for the win? You’re more of a footballer than me… hah, braver than me at least.’

Kenny frowned, his brow furrowing as he stared at Jackson, his confusion written over his face.

‘What do you mean? Are you sitting out on purpose?’ Kenny accused.

‘What?!’ Jackson jumped back a little. ‘Uhh… Oh! C-Coach Otsen, hey! Um, I mean, hello sir.’ Jackson breathed a sigh of relief, Coach Otsen’s arrival giving him a perfect excuse to avoid the question.

Kenny was still frowning as Coach Otsen spoke to Jackson. ‘Good to see you, Jackson. How’s the leg?’

‘Err, it’s getting better…’

‘You sticking around for the varsity game?’ Coach Otsen asked each boy.

‘Yep, yep.’ Jackson nodded. Kenny was staying for it as well.

‘Uhh, I-I should get going, actually…’ Freddy muttered, getting up. ‘Th-Thank you for the ball.’ He bowed his head before squeezing past Coach Otsen and heading away.

‘See you at practice, Frederick! And you two, try to study this game and take in some lessons for how the varsity teams play.’

‘W-Will do, Coach.’ Jackson nodded.

‘Yeah… will do.’ Kenny spoke quietly.

Coach Otsen moved away again, leaving Jackson and Kenny alone with an awkward silence hanging over the two.

‘So are you even hur—’

‘Hi! You must be Kenny, right?’ Jackson’s mom interrupted, standing over the boys. ‘I’m Jackson’s mom.’ She smiled down at him.

Kenny looked up at her. ‘Oh! Y-Yeah uh, that’s me. N-Nice to meet you, ma’am.’

‘Are your parents here, Kenny?’

‘Oh uh, yeah just over…’ He looked around before pointing them out in the stands. ‘There.’

‘Ah, thank you. Heh, I’m so glad Jackson has made a good friend, you did great today, congratulations on winning.’ Jackson’s mom said. ‘It was nice meeting you.’

‘Oh yeah, no worries. Uh, s-see ya.’

Jackson’s mom leaned down and told him she would just be sitting with Kenny’s parents now before she left the boys alone.

Again a silence lingered between the boys. When Kenny went to eventually speak, Jackson cut him off.

‘Look, let's focus on the game and try to learn something, okay?’

‘Hmmm…’ Kenny’s jaw clenched firmly, but he slowly turned his attention away from Jackson and focused ahead on the field. ‘Alright.’

If the JV Coyotes team was intimidating, then their varsity squad was downright monstrous. They were huge, even the smallest player was a jacked mountain of muscle that would’ve stood at least 6 feet tall.

They were led out by a bald man with wild, white eyes, and a stocky, thick neck. He looked like he should’ve been a senior in COLLEGE instead of high school.

Veins were bulging out along his arms, and as he made his way out to the centre of the field of the coin toss before the game, he headbutted his two other teammates—his teammates were wearing helmets, while he wasn’t.

He laughed boisterously and stood over both Wesley Walker—the Titans’ varsity QB—who looked away with a disgusted face, like this rapid animal’s breath stank nasty.

When the rabid super senior tried the same intimidation tactic with Micky Redd—the RB—Micky snarled up at him, not backing down.

The Coyotes’ captain laughed and grinned, showing that he was missing quite a few teeth. He stuck out a massive hand towards Micky. ‘Let’s have a good game. Yeah, boy?’ he said.

Before Micky could take the hand, Shane stepped forward and grabbed it instead. ‘Yes. Let’s.’ Shane coldly stared down at the rival captain, a feat not many could do.

The Coyotes’ captain’s eyes bulged out of his skull as his hand was crushed in Shane’s grasp. His knees buckled and he shrunk before Shane until he was finally released, clutching at his hand and wincing.

The Titans won the toss, and Shane spoke on behalf of the others that the Coyotes could receive the ball first.

Shane silently strode off the field, and his teammates followed his back. The Coyotes glared at him as they slunk back to their bench, glowering with rage.

The game was over not long after it began. From the opening kickoff, the Titans had thrown down the gauntlet and let their dominance and superiority be known when the Coyotes’ returner fumbled after getting almost split in half from a tackle.

Though the Coyotes did recover the fumble, it didn’t help them one bit.

On their first drive, they were stuffed three plays in a row on their opening drive and had to quickly punt the ball away.

When the Titans were on offence, Baldy was the one who tried to cover Shane, and even while committing just about every foul in the book, there was nothing he could do to stop that determined Titan.

Within minutes the first touchdown had been scored for the Titans, and the onslaught didn’t stop until the final whistle blew.

The final score was 52–0 in favour of the Titans. Shane had four receiving touchdowns, one fumble recovery for a touchdown, and over 200 receiving yards, fourteen tackles, and two sacks.

Micky ran in the last two touchdowns, having close to 150 rushing yards on the day. Wesley was untouched in the pocket, with the Offensive Line putting up a dominant performance as well.

The refs also cracked down on the fouling and were penalising the Coyotes much more harshly after the previous game had almost gotten out of hand.

Both Kenny and Jackson were in awe of the performance, especially the display of receiving excellence that Shane put on. However, they weren’t sure just how beneficial it would be for them to have seen such a game, seeing as his dominance was in large part due to his physical prowess and his size and strength advantage over the competition.

‘Holy shit… th-that was incredible. I’ve never seen a game like that,’ Jackson said.

Kenny picked his jaw up off the floor. ‘N-Not in person at least… he’s amazing.’

Jackson nodded along. ‘B-But that’s, I mean, you had to put up with a double team for most of the game, you still played awesome too.’

‘No way. Didn’t you see him? Even when they doubled him it was like they weren’t even on the same field as him. They could’ve tripled him and he still would’ve caught it.’

‘Yeah, well, next time I’m sure you’ll handle a double team even better than today, so you’ll be catching touchdowns left and right.’

Kenny laughed and stood up. It was late, and people were already spilling out of the stands and heading back home. He looked over to where his parents were sitting, though for once they didn’t seem eager to head home, too caught up in their conversation with Jackson’s mom.

‘I don’t know. That double team today… it wasn’t even that tough. I’ve faced worse in middle school.’

Jackson blinked, standing up as well. ‘Really? Did they triple-team you back then?’

Kenny shook his head, looking down. ‘N-No that… that was just one guy.’ He took a deep, steady breath, though it felt all too shallow. He shuddered and closed his eyes.

‘One guy was tougher than a double team… e-even when those cheaters were pulling on your jersey and arms like crazy?’

‘I-I don’t want to talk about it.’ Kenny was panting harder, already feeling that it was hard to breathe. He pushed past Jackson. ‘S-Sorry. I gotta get home, my parents don’t like waiting… I-I’ll see you at school or practice.’

‘Y-Yeah… see you later.’ Jackson watched Kenny quickly hurry off. “Who the hell did he face in middle school to make him act like that?”