Gladiators of the Gridiron

Jackson and Tommy were cruising in Tommy’s car, heads bobbing to the music blaring from the radio as they made their way to the Titans’ next games against Desert Sunrise.

Jackson’s mind drifted back to Eddie, Sachin, and Marcus’s track meet from the day prior. Whilst none of them won their respective events, they were getting better. They were all getting faster and stronger, and right now, they were happy competing against themselves rather than worrying about outperforming anyone else.

In the end, it was still a great day, and Jackson was glad that he could spend it with them, just like how things used to be, even if they didn’t go and spend the rest of the afternoon playing video games afterwards.

He was happy his relationship with his old friends was on the mend. He just wanted to put the last couple of months behind him completely and forget them altogether.

At least he’d met Jasmine since then—that was one positive.

But now it was time to focus on the Titans’ games.

They pulled into the car park and Tommy shut the engine off. ‘So how strong are these … Golden Hawks, was it?’

‘Yeah, Golden Hawks.’

‘A bit excessive, don’t you think? Could’ve just called themselves the Hawks.’

Jackson shrugged. ‘I guess, but uh, I don’t know what they’re like, we weren’t here for this game… they played us week one. … when I was in the hospital.’

‘Oh…’ Jackson and Tommy got out of the car, silence hanging over them until Tommy spoke again and said: ‘Well they can’t have been that good. If they played against a team of only ten and didn’t beat them by over one hundred, then they won’t be a match for you guys now that you’ve got a full squad again.’

‘Hmm, maybe.’

‘Aww c’mon, lighten up. I’m sure they’ll be fine. You guys are playing great right now, I doubt there’s anyone in the region who could stop you.’

Jackson nodded but didn’t say anything else.

As they took their seats, Jackson saw that none of the JV members for the Titans were smiling either. They were taking the warm-up very seriously, in near silence as they prepared for the game ahead.

Revenge was on Kenny’s mind, and the same went for the others—outside of Freddy. However, it wasn’t the only thing on their minds. They were nervous too.

Nervous because this would be the first real match against the Golden Hawks. Last time, they couldn’t even put up a fight because they were a man down. Even without that fact, it had been their first game of the season and a lot of the Titans were still growing accustomed to the intense training at that time.

But even though they’d tried their hardest in that first-week matchup, it never even felt like they’d pushed the Golden Hawks at all. They hadn’t even seen them get serious and the Titans were still completely helpless last time.

Coach Otsen looked across the team with the sternest expression of them all. ‘Hmmm. That’s enough! Back in the locker room.’ He ushered the boys inside.

Once in the room, he stalked through it, pacing back and forth in front of every boy. ‘What’s with all the dour expressions, huh? So what if they’ve beaten us! Didn’t we prove just last week that we can beat a team we’ve already lost to?’

‘…Yes, Coach.’ Was the muted reply.

‘And this team didn’t even beat us when we were a full team, did they?’

‘No, Coach.’ The volume grew louder.

‘And you’ve grown stronger than the first week of the season. Or do you think these past two months have been worthless?’

‘No, Coach!’

‘So go out there, and show them the difference! Show them how much stronger you are. Show them the difference one player can make,’ he stared down at Freddy, ‘and clip those bastard birds’ wings!’

‘YES, COACH!’

Inspired by Coach Otsen, the Titans burst out of the locker room, ready to take the Hawks by storm.

Over in the home team’s locker room, things were much quieter, much calmer. Their Head Coach—Coach Fowler—strutted around the room, arms behind his back. He was a tall, thin man, with sharp eyes, but a cheerful face, even now he wore a disarming smile. His hairline was receding with a large widow’s peak, and his large forehead would shine in the light.

‘Did you see them today?’ He kept moving as he spoke. Even though his tone was quiet, he attracted the entire team's attention. ‘How many did you see?’

‘Eleven, sir.’

Coach Fowler’s eyes locked onto the boy who spoke, he was a tall and thin lad himself, almost a spitting image of the coach. ‘Precisely. And do you know what that means?’

‘Uhh, they don’t have any subs?’ Another boy said.

‘Precisely. And not only that, but they’ll all have to play every part of the game. Offence, defence, even special teams. None of them will ever get to rest.’ He stopped and turned to face the majority of the team. ‘And we will never give them even a chance to catch their breath. We will play fast today, as fast as we can. There will be no huddles on offence. We will win this game, through a battle of attrition.’

‘It’s hot too, even better for us, they’ll tire quicker under the blazing sun,’ the coach’s son said.

Coach Fowler’s smile grew. ‘Precisely.’ He looked his son in the eye. ‘But that means a heavy burden will rest upon your shoulders, Junior. As the QB, you’ll have to think on the fly and make adjustments without any huddle. The success of our offence relies entirely on you, can you handle that?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Goood.’ Coach Fowler then turned to a pack of five boys who were the largest of the team. They were still quite lean, and had faces like those of wild, starving dogs. ‘And, of course, that means there will be minimal breaks for you Linemen either. I do hope you can handle that.’

They answered with grunts and snorts. The boy in the centre of the pack nodded. ‘Anything for the team, Coach.’

‘Excellent. Now. Go out there and show them how meaningless their struggle is. Eleven players or ten, it makes no difference on the outcome. Show them no mercy.’

The boys stood up and filed out of the room with a lack of passion. As they passed through the doorway they each muttered “no mercy” before they began their journey through the tunnel that’d lead back out onto the field.

When they burst through the sunshine and onto the golden field, they all had big, friendly smiles. They waved to the mostly empty stands, but their eyes were solely fixed on the Titans.

For the coin toss, Junior went to centre field, flanked by two of the Linemen. He met Kenny, Pete, and Lonnie there and everyone shook hands and cordially wished each other a good game.

‘I’m glad you’ve found your last player this time,’ Junior said. ‘Hopefully, we can have a much better game.’

‘And hopefully we come away with the win this time, no offence,’ Pete said.

‘Hahaha, none taken.’ Junior regarded Pete with a smile that didn’t touch his eyes.

‘Oh, we’ll have Tails, please,’ Lonnie said to the official. ‘Tails never fails … right?’

The coin was flipped into the air, and it did indeed come up as Tails. Lonnie looked at Pete. ‘We defer,’ Pete said. ‘Always defer.’

‘How considerate, we wanted the ball anyway,’ Junior said.

‘Uh-huh…’ Petey stared back at him for a while before he and the other Titans moved away, jogging back to their bench. As the two trios parted ways, Petey shuddered. ‘That guy gives me the creeps.’

‘At least they don’t seem as mad as last time … that’s nice, isn’t it?’ Lonnie said.

‘Yeah. I guess this means they won’t be holding back as much now that we’ve got a full team?’ Kenny said.

‘Bah, who cares. We’ll still crush those pendejos.’

When the coaches heard about the result of the coin toss, both sides were pleased.

Before the kickoff, Coach Fowler pulled aside their returner for a moment. ‘Whatever you do, don’t take a knee. Make them chase you, make them work.’

The boy nodded and then ran out to take his position.

The kick was thumped high into the air, and while the return wasn’t a long one—only reaching the 19-yard line—the returner had done his all to evade the Titans and make them work hard to bring him down.

‘Go! Offence, don’t give them long to recover.’

The Titans hurried into formation as Junior and the Golden Hawks’ offence soared onto the field.

Tommy sat forward in his seat. ‘Did you hear what kind of team Desert Sunrise is?’

Jackson shook his head. ‘No. I heard they didn’t really need to try to beat us before… because of me.’

‘Hey. We don’t need that kind of attitude. And besides, your team is about to win and make up for that loss right now, yeah? And when you’re back, you’ll never lose to these guys again.’ Tommy looked at Jackson sternly.

‘R-Right, sorry, bro.’

‘Anyways, looks like they’ll be showing their real hand this time at least. Hmm… that O-Line, looks weird, doesn’t it?’

Jackson looked across the field. They were tall, yes, but even at the high school level, he’d never seen such a slim and lean set of Linemen before. ‘They uh, don’t really look like Linemen, do they.’

‘No, no they don’t… this’ll be interesting.’

‘Hut!’ Junior cried and the game burst into motion with the start of the first play. Junior dropped back, looking to throw. The Receivers burst away from their marks and sprinted downfield, however, it was all a ruse. Junior handed the ball to the RB at the last moment.

The RB powered ahead as the Titans’ defence scrambled back to defend the run, and thankfully, Pete was able to crash down and stop the run for a minimal gain.

The Hawks picked themselves up quickly, helping their fallen comrades back to their feet, and then they hurried back into formation.

‘Uhh … guys?’ As the Titans had been heading back to their huddle, Lonnie turned their attention to the Hawks who were quickly getting into formation again.

‘¡Mierda! No huddle! Get back in position!’ Petey shouted, shoving others aside and urging them back into formation.

Coach Carson was screaming from the sidelines as well, urging the defence back to their spots. But before everyone could get set up again, the Hawks had snapped the ball again.

Caught out of position, and caught off guard, it was easy for the Hawks to move the ball downfield on this pass play. Junior quickly scanned the field, and targeted the weakest point in the defence, which happened to be the zone the inexperienced Freddy was supposed to be covering.

Freddy scrambled after his man, but it was Lonnie who made it over first, and although the catch had already been completed, Lonnie was able to shove the Receiver out of bounds before they could break away for a touchdown.

Giving up a 20-yard play this early into the game was bad, but it was infinitely better than giving up a touchdown.

‘Oh, crap. Sorry. But thanks Lonnie, you really saved my butt there,’ Freddy said, panting a bit.

‘No time. Get back.’ Lonnie turned Freddy around, showing him that the Hawks were once again rushing into formation, even the Receiver raced by them and returned to his spot. The two defenders scrambled back into place as the rest of the Titans hurried to catch up with their opponents.

Coach Otsen paced along the sideline, watching closely as his jaw was set tightly. ‘So this is the game you’re going to play. Hmph, we’ll see which team cracks first. I know who I’d put my money on.’