Gladiators of the Gridiron

Ty had his head leaned back against the headrest of the backseat, his eyes were closed, and his focus was on the upcoming game as the car rolled smoothly along the road.

Another away game, another road trip with Coach Long, Bella, and Coach Hoang. ‘I hope you’re not taking the game lightly,’ Bella said.

Ty didn’t open his eyes. ‘Why would I?’

‘Because they’re—’

‘Don’t distract him while he’s focusing, Bella. Samuels wouldn’t take any team lightly, he’d always give it his best, isn’t that right, Samuels?’ Coach Hoang looked back at them.

‘Yeah, that’s right. My brother always plays as if it's the most important game of his life,’ Megan—who sat between Bella and Ty like usual—said.

Bella scoffed. ‘Uh-huh.’

Ty opened his eyes and looked at her. ‘It’s true. Even when facing a team I’ve already crushed, I won’t take it easy on them. They don’t deserve my mercy.’

‘Why do you have to say it like that?’ Bella groaned.

‘Because that’s the way it is. When I’m out there, the goal is to destroy my enemies, and I won’t stop until I’ve accomplished that goal.’

‘That’s great. Now let’s leave the talk of destroying for when you’re actually out on the field. We’re almost there, right, Coach?’ Coach Hoang said.

‘Any minute now, boys and girls.’

And soon enough, the men were proven right as the car pulled into the parking lot just outside the home field for the St. Anthony Saints.

They spilt out of the car, and Ty let out a sigh. They were here, but now the real struggle of waiting began, and the “joy” of sitting through the JV game awaited him.

He wasn’t looking forward to it.

He kept himself busy as best he could before the JV players arrived. With the Saints’ arrival, there was already a decent turnout, especially for the beginning of a JV game.

The crowd made themselves heard as their home team took to the field, showing early on that their support would be loud and plentiful.

But, as the game got underway, Ty kept his attention on those still arriving, looking for any who might’ve been members of the Saints’ varsity squad to scout out the competition before his own game later.

There weren’t many at the field, to begin with, and from the few Ty saw, none of them elicited any interest from him.

The Dons started the game off strong, starting on offence first, they opened the scoring on their first drive, though it was only a field goal. It was still points, and it set the tone early on, giving them a strong momentum boost.

They capitalised off such momentum with a good defensive stand in the next drive, forcing the Saints to punt, and on their second drive, the Dons did even better than a field goal when they managed to run the ball in for the game’s opening touchdown.

Still, the crowd’s spirit wasn’t dampened, and while the Dons’ sideline cheered and celebrated the early victory, such jubilation was drowned out by the home crowd’s cheers as they did their best to uplift their team.

‘It’s so loud! They’re not usually this noisy for the opening game!’ Megan had to yell even though Ty was sitting right next to her. With all the noise, there was no way she could concentrate on her book.

‘They’ll get even louder for the next game… at least in the beginning. I’ll suck the life out of them soon enough, don’t worry.’

Megan clung to Ty as they watched the game, though Ty didn’t put an arm around her.

After the Dons’ touchdown, they began to lose steam as they couldn’t keep up their hot start, and to end the first quarter, the Saints were able to kick a field goal of their own, keeping the Dons only a touchdown away as the score going into the second half read 3–10.

The Dons struggled out of the gates of the second quarter as well, trying and failing to get back to their form from their first couple of drives as the defensive adjustments from the Saints shut them down at every avenue.

Watching the Saints kick another field goal seemed to spark some life back into the Dons as they came out the very next drive and got those three points back, but the resurgent flame was short-lived.

The Saints scored another field goal, and then, just before halftime, they managed to score a touchdown of their own after a screen pass to their HB.

The Dons went to the locker room for the long break trailing by three, with a score of 16–13.

As they were leaving the sidelines and heading across to the locker room, Ty called out to Bella. ‘Maybe you should worry about your own game before you give a shit about my attitude!’

She glared back at him and flipped him off as she stormed across the field. ‘I hope you eat dirt today, asshole!’

Coach Long moved in to console his daughter and chastise her for her language whilst acting as the coach for the team.

Coach Hoang looked back at Ty and shouted at him to start running if he had time to run his jaw.

Ty sat back, snickering, and Megan whacked his arm. He frowned at her.

‘You shouldn’t be so mean. They’re trying their best … and before… they’re just worried about you… I’m sure she doesn’t want to see you get mad again if you lose… I know I don’t.’

‘Well I won’t lose, so it’s stupid to worry about something that can’t happen.’

‘But what if you do?’

Ty scowled at his little sister. ‘I WON’T.’ He stood and stomped off, deciding to take Coach Hoang’s advice and do some sprints up the stands after all.

During the break between halves, more varsity players from both sides started to arrive, and as the game got back underway, JJ came to join Ty at his seat as he returned from his running.

‘Yo, what’s up, hermano?’ JJ settled in beside Ty but looked across him at Megan. ‘Hm, have we met?’

Ty was focused on the new arrivals from the Saints’ side, so he didn’t respond to JJ immediately. He was still disappointed by what he saw, however. “Is there something wrong with me? Or can’t I tell unless someone feels like THEY did?”

Megan leaned over and smiled at JJ, offering him a handshake. ‘I don’t think we have. I’m Ty’s little sister, Megan.’

‘Nice to meet you, chica. I’m Julian, but everyone just calls me JJ.’ They shook hands.

‘Likewise, Julian.’

JJ looked at Ty and nudged him. ‘Hey, you alright?’

‘Huh? Oh, hey, yeah. Fine, just this shit is putting me to sleep having to wait.’

‘Ahh come on, it’s not that bad, it’s nostalgic… well I guess maybe not for someone who never was in JV but still.’

Ty frowned but turned his attention back to the field as the second half got underway.

Starting on defence this time, the Dons were at least able to hold the Saints back and force them to punt to open the third quarter. They were even able to equal the scores as they kicked a field goal on their first offensive drive.

But it was only a few minutes later when the Saints ran in another touchdown and pushed the score out to 23-16, where it would stay for the remainder of the third quarter.

Megan found her voice to cheer and support the Dons, following JJ’s lead as they did their best to combat the energetic home crowd.

The place came alive in the fourth quarter when the Saints opened with yet another touchdown, the stands feeling as if they might fall apart under the jumping and stamping.

The Dons were downtrodden, but not defeated yet, and they swiftly responded with a touchdown of their own to cut the lead back to only seven.

Yet the Saints were the ones to score next with a final touchdown, and the Dons never recovered from that last blow.

The game ended with a Dons defeat and a final score of 37–23.

From the way the crowd reacted when the final whistle blew, you’d think they’d just witnessed a championship victory. The crowd seemed to be in full force now, and Ty couldn’t recall if he’d ever heard a louder stadium.

“How can they always lose… it’s fucking shameful. Listen to these people. Ugh, it makes me sick.” Ty shook his head. “I’ll make them shut up. Their silence will make the most beautiful music after this fucking racket.”

Ty stood. The team had all arrived, and it was time to prepare for the REAL game. He started to make his way to the locker room.

JJ came with him, and while Ty focused on mentally preparing for the game, JJ did his best to go around to all the JV boys and console them after their loss.

Rabbit was still upbeat and followed JJ around, helping raise everyone’s spirits back up and reminding them there was always next week.

Ty looked over for a brief moment. He shook his head and muttered to himself. ‘Sickening.’

As the JV team cleared out, Coach Long stepped forward to address the varsity players ahead of their game. In the moment between the chatter of the players dying down, and Coach Long starting his speech, they could all hear the crowd’s chanting outside as they awaited their team’s emergence.

‘Remember this is just a game like any other, alright? That means we still need to give it our all, but there’s nothing to worry about, and nothing to overthink, okay? I know that crowd sounds loud and intimidating, but that’s nothing. No matter how noisy they get, they can’t be on the field, they can’t affect the game. Just block them out, and act like you’re playing in front of nobody. It’s just you and the other team out there on the field, remember that.’

He smiled and raised his fist, the team soon crowding around him. ‘Let’s go out there and make some noise of our own. Dons on three. One, two, three—’

‘DONS!’

The Dons took to the field, and when the Saints emerged from their locker room, it was like a wall of noise slammed into the field. It was almost deafening.

Ty sighed and smiled, imagining the sweet silence that would echo around the field soon enough.

All the usual captains for the Dons were able to participate in the coin toss this week, and the Dons won, electing to defer and send out their defence first.

Before they could run out, Coach Hoang had some final words for his defence. ‘You all know the drill by now. Hit them hard—hit them fast. Don’t give them any time or space to breathe. It’s your job to take the initiative and seize control of the game right here and now.’

He then turned to Ty. ‘Samuels? You’re on number thirteen.’

Ty looked across to the other bench. Number thirteen was an unassuming white kid. He had a buzzcut like some military wannabe, but other than that, he wasn’t much taller than Ty, and he was about as skinny. However, Ty had the clear advantage when it came to wingspan.

‘He won’t touch the ball,’ Ty said.

‘That’s what I like to hear. Now go out there and prove you’re not a liar.’

The Dons' defence marched onto the turf and took their positions.

When number thirteen lined up in front of Ty they were excited, grinning widely. ‘Oh, man. I’ve been waiting for this! Heh, I hear that people are already calling you the best CB in the state,’ he said.

‘Those people are wrong.’

‘Oh?’

Ty grinned. ‘I’m the best in the nation.’

The boy smirked. ‘That’s why you’ve been beaten before, right? Heh. If you’ve been beaten once, you can be beaten again. And I’ll be damned if I don’t beat you today.’ He stuffed his mouthguard in, grinning around it.