Gladiators of the Gridiron

‘Set … hut.’ Jay snapped the ball and spun back, handing it straight over to Chris who burst forward.

Mike charged ahead, pushing through the centre of the Dons’ Offensive Line as the blockers slid back, desperate to hold him off.

A small gap opened up to the left. Chris darted right for it, arms wrapped tightly around the ball.

Mike stuck a huge paw out in Chris’s path, and despite Chris’s best attempts to avoid it, his jersey was snagged in Mike’s iron grip.

Chris twisted and spun, his feet constantly pounding against the turf as he willed himself forward, dragging himself and Mike along for another yard before the massive DT got his arms fully around Chris’s waist and dragged him down.

The play ended in a gain of 2 yards. Chris came up angry, slapping the ball in his hands before he tossed it to the ref who came in to claim it.

Stephen and Isiah were shoving one another, helmet to helmet as they kept talking trash to one another until an official had to come over and separate them on the threat of penalising them both.

Chris turned to Jay during the huddle. ‘Again!’

Jay looked at him, orders from the coach bounced around in his helmet, calling for the next play to be a quick pass to Stephen on a slant.

Jay shrugged and smiled. ‘Sure. Maybe they won’t think we’re dumb enough to do the same thing twice.’

They lined up for the exact same play. Chris readied himself, one foot scraping up the grass like a bull preparing to charge.

The ball was snapped, and just like the previous play, Jay gave it right to Chris. Chris stepped forward, but this time, just before he met with Mike who had shoved aside his blockers, Chris saw an opening way outside to the right.

He planted himself firmly and jumped to the right, barely avoiding Mike’s outstretched arms. He skirted around the edge of the line and turned sharply upfield running free as Mike got caught up in the centre of the chaos and was unable to give chase.

Isiah was too caught up in his dick-measuring contest with Stephen as both boys tried to overpower the other and ride them into the dirt instead of doing anything to actually affect the play going on.

When Chris was finally tripped up by a LB he had gained 9 yards and earned a First Down for the Dons.

Coach Norman and Coach Long watched the improvised play closely and then conferred with each other on the sideline quickly. They were going to test if such a play was a fluke, or a weakness they could exploit.

The next play was another designed run, aimed to the outside again. The troublesome Mike would be double-teamed by one Guard, while the other left his man unmarked to instead run ahead of Chris and clear the way for him.

Following his lead blocker and running away from the unblocked defender, Chris was able to pick up even more yards this time, and thanks to a variety of different run calls throughout the drive, the Dons marched down the field.

The Dons only attempted one pass on their opening drive. It came in the Red Zone, and thanks to a little bit of play-action—and Isiah’s overeagerness to throw himself at Stephen—Stephen was able to break free over the middle for a catch that put the Dons right at the goal line.

After Stephen picked himself up, he grinned back at Isiah. ‘Sorry, I don’t think you’ll be able to guard me. You’re too fucking small.’

Isiah snarled but said nothing before stalking back to his team’s huddle.

Stephen laughed and jogged back to the Dons’ huddle, spotting JJ there as he had run out from the bench.

‘Sup.’ JJ grinned around at everyone. ‘Coach says to run it right up the gut and make a statement through that big boy up front.’

Chris smirked and nodded. ‘Sounds good to me.’

JJ lined up in the backfield, just in front of Chris. He kept his eyes on Mike, who smiled at waved at him from across the line of scrimmage. JJ chuckled to himself.

The ball was snapped, and once more, Jay handed it over to Chris. JJ bolted ahead to lead the way.

JJ smashed straight into Mike, though it was like running into a brick wall and he was stopped dead in his tracks.

However, Mike’s momentum was nullified too; neither boy was going anywhere. That was until Chris joined in.

He rushed ahead, lowering his head and shoulder, and rammed right into JJ’s back, adding his strength to the power struggle. Together, the two Dons began pushing Mike back.

With a fierce battlecry, more players from both sides joined in with the struggle, creating a huge scrum in the middle of the field. While Jay stood back, watching on with his hands behind his head. Stephen and Isiah were still caught up in their own struggle.

Even with the combined effort of both teams all fighting against one another. The Dons were winning, and the Vikings kept slipping back until Chris fell into the endzone. The officials ran forward quickly, whistling the play dead and signalling a touchdown as the crowd cheered loudly.

The pile of fallen players in the endzone were helped back onto their feet, and Chris was pulled into a tight huddle of his teammates, each of them smacking him on the helmet as they congratulated him on the herculean effort.

Chris and the rest of the offence were welcomed to the bench with cheers and applause from the other, the coaches giving them all a pat on the back.

‘Great work out there, boys. I’m glad you trusted yourselves out there and made the right call to keep running. Don’t be afraid to listen to your gut, sometimes you boys can see something we can’t when you’re out on the field. It’s up to you to make those judgement calls Jay.’ Coach Long gripped the boy’s shoulder as he looked into his eyes. ‘I trust you to do the right thing.’

Jay shrugged. ‘Chris was the one who said to do it. I just followed him.’

Coach Long shook his head. ‘No. You’re the leader out there, Jay. You’re the one who drives the offence. Ultimately it’s down to you, but yes, a good leader knows when to listen to his teammates.’

Jay looked away, scratching his head. ‘I guess so…’

The extra point was good, and the Dons jumped out to an early 7–0 lead. The following kickoff was fielded by Marshall and returned to the 37-yard line before he was run out of bounds.

He ended up right in front of the Dons’ bench. ‘Ahh, damn. I almost had that one,’ he chuckled to himself before rolling the ball towards the bench.

Ty stopped the ball with a foot before he stood up. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get another chance real soon, right after this pick-six I’m about to get.’

Marshall shook his head, his hand mimicking jaws opening and closing. ‘You talk too much. Get your ass out here and let’s see what you’re made off li’l bitch.’

Coach Hoang moved in front of Ty before he could retort any further, and Marshall backed away, heading out to take up his position in the offence.

Coach Hoang glared up at Ty. ‘Let your game do the trash-talking for you, Samuels. Just go out there and beat them, that’ll do more damage than any amount of words could.’

Ty scoffed but pulled his helmet on and took the field with the rest of the defence, though he made a beeline for Marshall.

‘Man. You guys are really in trouble if you’re losing to our offence. I mean, they’re not bad, but I’ve been the main scoring threat for our team this year.’

Marshall laughed. A wide grin spread across his face which accentuated the slightly alien look about him. ‘You should worry about yourself. I’m going to embarrass you, and I promise. For every TD that you guys get, I’m going to put up two more on YOUR head.’

Ty snarled. ‘You ain’t even going to catch the ball, fucker.’

On the opposite side of the field, Deshaun was matched up with Isiah, though neither player seemed happy about the matchup.

‘Hah, they really got an old, washed-up motherfucker like YOU tryin’ to guard ME?’

Deshaun looked across the field to where Ty and Marshall stood. ‘The fuck is with all you freshies nowadays? Don’t you ever shut the fuck up? Like I wanna be anywhere near a bitch ass motherfucker like you, who’s stuck playing Robin to someone else’s Batman.’

Isiah growled. ‘Look who’s talkin’. At least I ain’t a worthless Senior who’s number two compared to a damn freshman.’

Deshaun turned to Isiah with a murderous gaze but didn’t say anything more.

Isiah only smirked.

The ball was snapped, and the near impenetrable wall that was Mike was now the main contributor to the line that protected Nathan and gave the Vikings’ QB all the time in the world to find an open Receiver.

Marshall shot to the side, then darted upfield, fending off Ty’s shoving hands, but Ty was glued to his hip. No matter how many times Marshall stuttered or hesitated to try and open up space before he burst forward again, he couldn’t get any separation from the tight coverage—there was no outrunning Ty.

On the other side of the field, Deshaun lunged forward at the snap of the ball, but Isiah easily swatted aside the overly aggressive attempt at a press, and blew by Deshaun.

Deshaun scrambled after him, but a shimmy of Isiah’s hips, and a feint of turning back froze Deshaun for a moment as he thought the Receiver could’ve been running a type of curl route and coming back for the pass.

That was all the space Isiah and Nathan needed. As the Receiver raced down the sideline, Nathan let the ball loose in a long, high arch. The pass was right on the money, perfectly aimed at Isiah’s back shoulder.

Isiah turned at the last moment, catching the ball on his chest as it flew just over Deshaun’s outstretched hands. Isiah dragged his feet along the ground as he fell out of bounds, and just like that, the Vikings had gained over 20 yards in their first play.

Isiah pushed himself back up after the catch, grinning at Deshaun. ‘Outta the way, motherfucker. It’s time for the new generation to make some noise.’

Deshaun scrunched up his face but didn’t retaliate. He turned away and hurried back to the huddle.

‘Hey, don’t worry about it. It was a good throw. Just keep playing hard and stick to them, if they want to throw risky passes like that, we’ll make them pay,’ JJ said, not letting anyone focus on the previous play.

The Dons lined up in formation again, with one Safety deep over the middle, it was up to Ty and Deshaun to watch the sidelines and their respective Receivers, whilst JJ, his LBs, and the other Safety would watch for the run and any short pass in the middle of the field.

The next play was a run from the Vikings, and following Mike’s lead, the RB rushed ahead up the guts of the defence for a solid gain of 5 yards where JJ had to sprint down and make the tackle.

Ty sneered, lining up again in front of Marshall. ‘Maybe I’m covering the wrong guy. For all that shit-talking, you haven’t done much.’ He looked across the field at Isiah.

‘Hahaha. Trust me, if you try to have that scrub nigga over there guard me, I’m getting a touchdown.’

‘Work on getting a catch first before you worry about touchdowns.’

Marshall frowned.

The next play was another pass, and again, despite Marshall’s efforts to break free from Ty, he just couldn’t shake him.

Isiah on the other, had once again gotten away from Deshaun. This time, after a slow start 10 yards down the field, he shook to the inside and got Deshaun to bite before he turned sharply to the outside.

Nathan slung the ball right on time, and Isiah was able to catch it right on the edge of the field just before a recovered Deshaun shoved him out of bounds.

Isiah laughed and tossed the ball back to Deshaun when the play was over. ‘C’mon. At least TRY to keep up.’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ Deshaun said before turning away.

Coach Hoang watched closely from the sidelines, his hands clasped together just under his nose as his eyes scanned the field extensively.

Marshall made his way back to the Vikings’ huddle, his frustration apparant on his face. ‘Throw me the fucking ball, goddamn!’

Nathan looked over, frowning. ‘That dude’s draped all over you, and Isiah’s been getting open.’

‘Did I fucking ask for an explanation. I just said throw me the ball. So throw me the motherfucking ball! Do you think he’s better than me or something?’ He got right up in Nathan’s face.

Isiah watched on, not saying anything, wondering if Marshall was talking about HIM, or Ty.

‘Alright, alright. Shit. I’ll throw you the fucking ball, you happy?’

‘Hmph, just make sure you throw it right where I can catch it.’ Marshall turned away and stomped over to his spot.

Ty didn’t say anything before the snap, he was more focused on Deshaun, glaring at the older boy.

‘Keep focused, right here, li’l nigga,’ Marshall said. ‘You’re ‘bout to learn who the real danger is.’

‘Seeeet-hut!’ The ball was snapped, and after a quick glance towards Isiah, Nathan’s eyes drifted over to Marshall, and that’s where they stayed.

Marshall pushed through Ty’s stabbing hands, forcing past them as they ran shoulder to shoulder. Ty’s eyes were fixed on Nathan as he ran alongside Marshall.

Marshall cut towards the outside, and Nathan jerked the ball back slightly, preparing to throw. Ty pulled away from Marshall, jumping further out to try and undercut the pass he thought was coming his way, visions of an interception and a touchdown in his eyes.

But Nathan put both hands back on the ball, and Marshall stopped and launched himself in the other direction, heading towards the middle of the field instead.

Ty whirled and raced after the Receiver. Nathan fired the ball over the middle of the field with a high, but flat, bullet pass.

Ty was right behind Marshall, who dove for the ball. Below them, JJ raised up, stretching a hand out, but his fingertips JUST couldn’t graze the pass.

Marshall thrust a hand out, and Ty dove and stretched with him. However, even his long arm couldn’t make up the distance.

Marshall’s long fingers clasped the ball, and dragged it into his palm, then into his chest as he tumbled to the floor and Ty landed on top of his legs.

The catch was successful, and Marshall stood up, proudly towering over Ty. ‘There’s your catch. The touchdown is coming next. You can’t stop me.’

JJ hurried to Ty’s side and helped him up, shepherding him away from the antagonistic boy. ‘Ignore him, that was good defence, we’ll get them next time.’

Ty grumbled but walked away without trouble, looking back at the QB. “That pass was a fluke. Another inch outside and it would’ve been too far to reach. Another inch high, same thing. Another inch lower, or to the inside, and JJ or I could’ve stopped it. He can’t do that again. It was a fluke.”

A fluke or not, the Vikings couldn’t be stopped on this drive. The Dons had no answer yet. If they committed more players—more DBs—to try and cover more of the field and stop the passing attack, the Vikings would charge forward behind Mike with the run and pick up large chunks of yards, drawing ever closer to the endzone.

But, if they left Ty and Deshaun to handle their Receivers without any extra help, the Vikings would ease down the field through the air.

Even though the next time Marshall was targetted—this time on a comeback curl—Ty was able to swat the ball away.

Ty still came away frustrated with this result, mainly because he knew he could’ve had a touchdown the other way, but Marshall had thrown himself in the way at the last second and given up his chance to catch the ball just to stop Ty from intercepting the pass.

The Vikings were already in field goal range, and another completed pass to Isiah brought them just before the goal line. From there, scoring was simple.

Nathan kept the ball this time, and pushing behind Mike, he burrowed into the endzone with ease as the Vikings answered the Dons’ opening touchdown with one of their own.

Ty came off the field with a scowl which only deepened when he watched the extra point sail through the uprights. The game was tied again with a score of 7–7.