Gladiators of the Gridiron

The day of Tyrese and the Dons’ redemption was upon them. As Ty pulled up to the Dons’ home field, he dumped his bike down, stalking towards the stands.

Mentally, he was locked in. It was the complete opposite from before last week’s game. His heart was perfectly calm, he wasn’t shaking, his vision was sharper than a hawk’s, and he could feel the still air against his skin.

He was as focused as he had ever been in his life.

After finding a seat in the stands and finally turning his attention towards the field, he was surprised to see that the Dons’ JV team held a comfortable lead in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter.

Coach Long looked pleased on the sidelines, an arm draped around his daughter’s shoulders as she still looked tense and nervous while watching the game closely.

The Vikings had the ball with just over two minutes to go, and they were rapidly marching down the field to try and make up the two touchdown deficit they were facing.

The Dons’ defence held strong, able to match the intensity and burning desire for victory that was driving the Vikings. Their lines bent but never broke.

As the Vikings forced their way down the field behind the sheer power of their will, they found themselves at the goal line, with over a minute and a half to go, but without any timeouts left.

This was where the Dons made their stand.

They didn’t let the Vikings get a single yard further. Four passes later, the Dons had kept the Vikings out of the endzone, and now the ball would go to the Dons on a turnover on downs after the Vikings had used up all their chances at a touchdown.

Without any timeouts remaining for the Vikings, there was nothing stopping the Dons from running out the rest of the clock—their victory was secured.

Coach Short was ecstatic, her dad hugged her tighter as he congratulated her and the players before sending the offence out in “Victory Formation” to kneel down the rest of the game until the time was up.

Cheers came from the crowd that was still filling up the stands in preparation of the varsity game right after, but from a small section right near Ty, a loud cry of boos could be heard.

Looking over, Ty saw three boys his own age standing up and yelling insults down at the defeated Vikings team.

‘Boooo! You suck! How could you lose to those bums?’

‘Way to make us look bad, retards!’

‘You’re SOOOO shit!’

Ty stood up, tilting his head as he watched the trio. He’d never seen them before, but they each carried a sportsbag with them or had one resting by their feet, and they all had the clear look of an athlete. Obviously, they were vikings, and on the varsity team by the sound of things.

He couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Hey!’ he called out to them. ‘Shut the fuck up, would ya? No one wants to hear you whining. Besides, your loss is going to be way more embarrassing.’

Their attention quickly turned to Ty. They were all taller than him. One was white, the other two were black.

The white guy was shorter than the other two, though with the biggest forehead. His jacked arms looked too small for the rest of his body, and apart from his forehead, the other defining feature of his face was the brown stain over his mouth that he called a moustache. ‘The fuck did you say?’

The tallest of them looked like he had a mop growing out of his head. His thin locs had been bleached blond, and looked perpetually wet. His lips seemed stuck in a snarl as he looked ready to jump over the seats and charge right at Ty. ‘You better watch your mouth, bitch.’

The last boy was the most calm, and even through his outrage, his eyes looked more calculating. Despite not being the tallest, he looked the longest, like his limbs and even his neck had been slightly stretched out more than normal. His short, black hair was styled in a high fade, with waves running through it.

He pointed at Ty and looked at his friends. ‘Who’s this li’l nigga supposed to be?’

‘I’m the best player in the nation, and the motherfucker who’s gonna lock your whole team up.’

The vikings laughed. ‘Yo, ain’t you the ones who just lost? How can you be the best in the nation, you dumbass bitch?’ Mophead said.

‘Hah. Yeah, ain’t he the one who got ran over last week? That shit was awesome.’

‘Man shut the FUCK up!’ Deshaun stepped up beside Ty, glaring across at the other boys. ‘Can’t hear myself think over you little bitches cryin’.’

The boy with the fade rolled his eyes. ‘And who the fuck is THIS nigga?’

‘I ain’t your nigga. Don’t you fucking say that shit again, ‘fore I come over there and punch your teeth down your throat.’

‘Go on then. We’re right here! We’ll beat your ass on and off the field.’

‘Okay, that’s enough. Keep this for the field. Ignore those pendejos.’ JJ swooped in, getting between Ty, Deshaun, and the vikings. He started pushing his teammates back and down the steps.

Before the vikings could give chase and continue the trash talk, one of their other teammates stepped in and wrangled them together. He was so big he was able to wrap a single arm around two of their necks together and pull them back.

‘You’ve done enough, already. You can keep flirting during the game.’ This giant was like a huge slab of stone, with a thick, neanderthal-like brow, and a buzz cut so short he might as well have been bald.

As Ty was being ushered away from the encounter, he bumped into another, well-built teen. Their purple eyes had a dopey look, but their smile was eerie and off-putting. His bald, 8-ball head shined under the field lights. ‘Damn. Looks like I missed all the fun.’

Ty pushed past him without a response. Deshaun shoved by and said, ‘Have fun gettin’ your ass kicked.’

The bald boy laughed and kept smiling as he watched JJ, Ty, and Deshaun head down to their bench.

Ty ignored the dirty looks he and Deshaun got from the coaches as they made their way towards the locker room.

As he did so, Ricky ran over and jogged along beside him and the others, making sure to have JJ between him and Ty. ‘Hahah, that was great! Looks like you’ve met your date for the night.’

Ty glared down at the kid. ‘I’m not in the mood for your shit right now.’

Deshaun grunted. ‘I ain’t seen any of those punks before. They all freshmen?’

Ricky nodded. ‘Yeah. The Vikings had a lot of seniors retire after last season, and got a huge influx of freshmen this year. Some of them are pretty damn good.’

He looked back. ‘The white guy is Nathan Porter, he’s their new QB.’

‘A freshman QB? Don’t see that often,’ JJ said.

Ty kept quiet, acting like he wasn’t listening.

‘The one who looked like a dog with rabies, is Isiah Jet. A pretty good two-way player. WR for offence, and CB for defence.’

‘He ain’t shit,’ Deshaun muttered before spitting on the ground.

‘Then you had Marshall Ward. Their new rising star, and the favourite to claim the crown of best WR in the state.’

Ty fixed his eyes on Ricky but kept silent. He looked back at the stands, but couldn’t see the trio anymore.

‘And uh, the big guy was their DT and Center, “Polar Bear” Mike Ironbark. The key to their run defence.’

‘What about that big bald motherfucker we ran into on the steps?’ Deshaun asked.

‘Huh? Oh uh…’ Ricky looked back, frowning. ‘I don’t know… I haven’t heard anything about him or really seen much footage.’

‘How do you know all this shit anyway,’ Ty said.

‘Hah, connections. A scout needs to have good connections.’

Ty glared at him but Ricky just grinned back, feeling confident behind JJ.

Though as they neared the locker room, Ricky stepped away from them, wishing them luck before he hurried back to his seat in the stands.

In the locker room, after the usual pregame pep talk—with the emphasis on forgetting the past and focusing only on what was in front of them today—Coach Long called Ty and Deshaun together.

‘Look boys,’ he put a hand on their shoulders, leaning down to look them in the eye, ‘I like your energy and passion today, but that doesn’t mean we need to drag down the other team or attack them personally. Keep that aggression for out on the field, but still keep it clean alright? Let’s get a win today.’

Deshaun nodded. ‘Yes Coach, sorry Coach.’

Ty looked away as Coach Long looked at him sternly. ‘Yeah, I’ll keep it on the field.’

‘Good.’ He squeezed their shoulders with a smile before he stepped away and brought the whole team together in a huddle in the middle of the room.

With their fists raised together, they roared out their battlecry of “WIN!” and then stormed out onto the field.

The crowd gave them a big, warm welcome as the players took their lap around the field, all the while the Vikings were staring them down, the animosity having spread from the three freshmen and infected the rest of the team as well.

Deshaun, JJ, and Stephen took the centre of the field for the coin toss, meeting with Mike, Marshall, and a bulky, friendly-looking senior.

The senior offered a charming smile and a cordial handshake to all of the Dons, and Mike grinned at them with Rosy cheeks, but Marshall stared them down.

‘That little freak boyfriend of yours too scared to come?’ Marshall said to Deshaun.

‘Shut your mouth, little boy. Let the men handle business,’ Deshaun said.

‘Ohh, I didn’t know you were all sucking each other’s dicks. I see how it is.’

‘Let’s keep the taunting to a minimum, gentlemen. Consider this your first and only warning. I don’t want to have to start the game off with unsportsmanlike penalties,’ the official warned them sternly before urging the Vikings’ captains to make a call regarding the toss.

‘We’ll take, heads, thank you,’ the senior captain said, still smiling.

The coin was tossed, and it landed on heads. The Vikings deferred the opening kickoff, electing to start on defence so that they could receive the kick to start the second half.

The Dons’ captains returned to their bench, Deshaun restless and in a foul mood. He pulled Chris aside. ‘Hey, run that return right down their throats.’

Chris looked up into Deshaun’s intense gaze and nodded before pulling on his helmet and jogging out to take his position ready to return the opening kick.

The kick was hammered deep into the endzone, but when Chris caught it, he still decided to bring it back out into the field of play instead of taking a knee for a touchback.

Determined to make up for his poor performance against the Bears and their impenetrable run defence last week, Chris ran with intensity and anger. His heart was racing as his focus sharpened, and the field seemed to widen before him, all the gaps in the blocking seemed bigger, almost calling out to him.

He broke through the first line of defence and raced away, avoiding any swiping hand or slow, lumbering tackle attempt until he was in the open field, streaking down the sideline.

He just had the kicker to get past, and then he’d be free for a touchdown.

He knew all the Kicker had to do was push him out of bounds, so Chris tried to cut back inside. But the Kicker had expected that, and Chris only juked right into his waiting arms, running straight into the Kicker’s chest. Despite bowling the stickly thin viking over, Chris fell down on top of him, and his run was brought to an end, just at half field.

Chris punched the grass, but picked himself up quickly, staying out on the field as the Dons’ offence made their way out.

As Stephen got off the bench, he looked down at Deshaun, grinning. ‘Don’t worry, D. We’ll show those dumbass freshies they aren’t ready to be playing with the big boys.’

Deshaun smirked. ‘Show them little boys that they can’t stop you. They can’t touch you, big dawg.’

Stephen jogged out to take his place in formation, some extra pep in his step.

‘I gotta deal with your big, ugly ass all game? Fucking ay, man. Can’t they give me some kind of challenge here?’ Isiah stood before Stephen, a couple of his dreads falling down over his face.

‘Shut your punk ass up, little boy.’

Isiah grinned, shaking his head. ‘This shit is too easy,’ he muttered to himself.

Jay lined up under Center, sighing as he looked back at Chris and gave him a nod.

Chris’s heart was still thumping powerfully, his gaze locked ahead. His whole body was taut, still riding the adrenaline of his kick return, and mulling over the disappointment that he was tripped up at the final hurdle.

“Not this time. I’ll run this ball through their throats, no matter what.’ His eyes fell upon the massive wall ahead of him.

Mike stood directly in front of Jay and Chris, like an immovable tower.

Chris wouldn’t back down. He dug his cleats into the ground harder, ready to push off with all his might and run straight through whatever was in front of him.