Gladiators of the Gridiron

‘Keep your heads up,’ Coach Otsen said. ‘Push the first half out of your mind and enjoy the break, build up as much of your energy as you can going into the second half, you’ll need it.’

The Titans filed into the locker rooms, most wore strained expressions as they recovered from the high stress their bodies had been under during the first half.

As the players found their seats and chugged their drinks, Coach Otsen and Coach Carson stepped aside, talking quickly and quietly as they planned their next defensive plan.

Coach Vasquez and Coach Knight slowly moved past the seated players. ‘Great work,’ Coach Knight muttered.

‘Mm! Keep it up in the second half, we have to keep attacking with MAXIMUM strength if we want to break through for a touchdown in the second half. Ken! You’ll be the key, our super secret, MAXIMUM weapon.’

‘You can do it,’ Coach Knight said.

‘But! Everyone else must give their MAXIMUM support if we want to win.

Kenny listened intently, nodding along. He could do this. With a little help from his teammates who could open the way for him, he’d win this game.

Lonnie patted him on the back lightly, offering a supportive smile.

‘Listen up!’ Coach Otsen’s voice called the attention of the whole room. ‘On defence, I know it’s a tough ask, and you’re already giving your all out there just to keep up, but I need MORE from you. We need to be a lot more aggressive in the second half if we want to make an impact on that end. But, think of it like this, the harder you work to stop them, the sooner we can move back to offence and you can catch your breath.’

All around the room the players took deep breaths, their expressions hardening as they prepared themselves for the arduous struggle they’d undertake in the second half.

‘Vincent.’ Coach Otsen looked around and then made his way over to stand directly in front of the solid, chunky boy. Vincent looked away from that harsh gaze.

Kenny looked over. Vincent was one of the larger boys, the key to their D-Line. When he was on the field, he was like a solid wall—hard to move. Kenny wasn’t sure if that was because of Vincent’s size, his stubbornness, or simply, his laziness. Whilst Vincent couldn’t get pushed back easily, he didn’t really push forward and apply his own pressure either. Even in practice, Vincent—despite being one of the sophomores—was always at the back of the pack during team drills and exercises.

‘I need a lot more effort out of you as well,’ Coach Otsen said. ‘The plan relies on you defensively. I need you to keep being that wall, that foundation of our D-Line, the stick in the mud that holds the line and stands strong no matter what. But I need more than that also. I need you to PUSH BACK, to drive them back and close the cage around those little birds.’

A bit of sweat ran down the back of Vincent’s neck.

Coach Otsen leaned down close to him. ‘And if I think you’re phoning it in and not giving it your all; if you don’t end up on all fours, puking your guts out by the end of this game, I’ll personally see to it that you’re running laps all practice long for the rest of the season.’

Even Kenny, on the other side of the room, could hear Vincent’s gulp. ‘Y-Yes Coach,’ Vincent said.

‘That’s a good lad.’ Coach Otsen smacked Vincent on the shoulder and then moved away.

Coach Carson was nearby, running through the new defensive game plan with the rest of the Linemen. ‘They’re taking real wide stances when it comes to pass protection. They want to send you deep outside, to make you spend more energy trying to get around them, and they’re fast enough to make it work. But look how small they are, look how skinny they are, and look how massive, how STRONG you are.’ She firmly smacked the chest pad of one boy. ‘If they want to send you outside, that’s fine, we can play their game, send their QB scurrying forward, give him nowhere to retreat, so he runs straight into Vincent’s waiting arms. OR, you can bulldoze straight through those tiny Linemen. Aren’t you pissed off that Desert Sunrise thinks they can hold you back with such a small wall? What have we been training for? Why have we been building up your bodies and turning you into wrecking balls if you’re going to let such weak, little boys push you around!? Come on!’

The Linemen were fired up, another surge of energy rapidly filling them.

Coach Otsen looked across at Petey. ‘Pete. If it's a run, I need you and Isaac to crash down hard. Understood?’

‘Yes Coach!’

Isaac reached a fist out to Petey.

Petey knocked his fist against Isaac’s outstretched hand.

As things were heating up in the Titans’ locker room, over in the Golden Hawks’ room, things were much quieter, though they had their own sort of calm, still intensity. Coach Fowler stalked around the room like a predator looking for prey.

‘Offence. Do not worry. They might’ve been able to slow us down in the first half, but they will break in the second. Keep doing what you are doing for the most part, however, now we will implement more fakes. Keep them guessing, it will wear them down faster.’ His head snapped towards Junior as he paused for a moment. ‘Remember, it is THEY who should doubt themselves, not us.’

Junior looked away, taking another sip of his Gatorade.

‘Defence, we cannot allow them any easy yards at all. They are trying to catch their breath on offence, they are taking things easy. You must not give them any room to breathe. Continue to wear them down, make them work, make them FEEL you. They are a passionate bunch, use that against them. Get them riled up, get them fired up, make them burn themselves out even more.’

A boy wearing Number 4 sat with his arms resting on his spread knees, his head lowered, blond hair falling in front of the left side of his face. He threw his head back, flicking his hair back as he stared, with eyes hardened beyond his years, at Coach Fowler. ‘Understood, sir.’

‘Good. Now go out there and win this game. Prove why you are the best.’

Whilst the Titans had stormed out of the locker room, the Golden Hawks marched out with impassive confidence on their faces as Junior led them.

The Titans would receive the ball to start the second half. And they’d need to capitalise quickly if they wanted to take control of this game for the first time.

In the stands, Jackson raised a hand to shield himself from the glaring sun; a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. ‘I should’ve brought a hat, he groaned. I didn’t think it’d be this hot.’

‘A bit of sun won’t kill us … at least not up here, it’s a different story down there.’ Tommy glanced skyward, the sun was approaching the horizon, but it was still a long time away from sunset. ‘This’ll be the most important quarter. If the Titans can’t close the gap by the end of it, they won’t be able to hold out.’

‘They can do it,’ Jackson said. ‘They’ve gone through hell and back, this is nothing.’

The kickoff was blasted high into the sky, Kenny almost lost the ball in the sun for a moment before he scrambled over and caught it with a slight bobble, then he took off, bringing it out to the 28-yard line to get things started for the Titans first drive.

‘Remember the plan!’ Coach Otsen shouted.

As Kenny took his position in the formation, he was surprised to see the development of the defence. Their formation had changed, which wasn’t all that surprising, he was sure they’d have their own adjustments to make after the first half, but what was surprising about it, was that things appeared more loose and open around him. There was only one defender within his vicinity now, a boy wearing the number 4.

He was standing quite close, as close as he legally could without coming offside. His thin lips were curled upward ever so slightly, and his blond, straight hair fell over his left eye, even under his helmet. His right eye was uncovered—it was dark, and staring at Kenny as if it was trying to capture him. He wasn’t much bigger than Kenny, but he was more solidly built, it was hard to gauge how old he was, but Kenny guessed that he was a junior.

‘You guys are pretty dumb if you think you can win with only eleven players,’ Number 4 said.

Kenny laughed. ‘We’ve beaten teams before with only this many players. You won’t be any different.’

‘Oh, no, you’re very wrong there. We’re MUCH different compared to the trash you’ve played before. Don’t think you only lost to us because you didn’t have a full team last time. We weren’t even taking you seriously then.’

‘Yeah? Doesn’t sound like you’re taking us too seriously now either. What’s your name?’

Number 4 tilted his head. ‘What’s it matter to you?’

‘I just wanna know the name of the kid I’m gonna put on a highlight reel.’

Number 4’s smile grew. ‘Call me Dexter. And you are?’

‘I’m Kenny Murata, don’t forget it! That’s the name of the guy who’s gonna be the best player in the nation.’

Dexter laughed. ‘You’re a funny one, Kenny.’

Kenny narrowed his eyes. Then, the ball was snapped.

Dexter’s hands shot out, trying to shove Kenny back. Kenny burst forward, swatting Dexter’s hands aside as he pushed right into his chest and slipped aside to go around him. Dexter turned to keep up with Kenny, running side by side with him, and then suddenly Dexter was running alone.

Kenny had slammed on the brakes and turned back around with a curl route. He caught the ball and then whirled around to run forward. He was confronted by Dexter and made to dart by him, sticking out a hand to stiff-arm the defender and keep him at bay so he could get around. Dexter sunk his talons into Kenny’s arm and dragged him down forcefully, though not before Kenny secured a first down.

The Titans were off to a good start with their first play.

‘Ahh… I see how it is. You’re a slow one. You can’t get by me, so you’ll settle for scurrying around underneath, like a little mouse underfoot. Oh well, if I have nothing to fear over the top, then it’ll be easy to snuff you out underneath too.’

‘Yeah? We’ll see who the slow one is.’

The next play was another pass, and once again Dexter defended Kenny tightly, making him fight for every yard as he pushed through and then sped downfield. Though Dexter might’ve been half a step slower, he kept with Kenny all the way, and this time, the pass never came their way, instead, it was directed into the space beneath them, that was now wide open after Kenny’s departure.

Nick streaked across the field and caught the pass in that little pocket of open space, being shoved out of bounds after a 9-yard gain.

‘See? You’re slow, you can’t get away from me,’ Dexter said.

Kenny looked back, ignoring him for now. It certainly was tough, he could tell they were evenly matched, but he already felt like he could get the better of Dexter, it just wouldn’t be as easy as outpacing him.

Next was a draw play, building off the two previous plays, the Titans picked up the first down with Isaac on the ground, and continued their steady progress.

Again there was another run, this one more towards the outside, and with how closely guarded the Receivers were, it meant Isaac had a good chunk of space to work with before the LBs closed in on him. He pulled off another gain of 6 yards.

‘Have your little friends already lost faith in you beating me? Maybe they know that first one was just a fluke,’ Dexter said to Kenny.

‘Shut up birdbrain.’ Kenny looked Dexter over, watching how he was standing now.

‘He’s got good inside leverage,’ Jackson said, ‘and he keeps playing up so close, he’s begging Kenny to take him deep and outside,’

‘Good spot,’ Tommy said. ‘But maybe that’s exactly what he wants? He could know a Safety will drift over to help cover things over the top. If the defender’s hovering inside so much, maybe it’s because he knows he won’t have much help there, almost as if the LBs could be pushed forward in fear of the run. … So what do you do here?’

Jackson thought about it for a moment. ‘Well, it’d be real easy to just run towards the sideline and keep going straight down the field, but if there’s a second defender over the top then there’s no chance that can work, and even if it’s one-on-one, that’s still a really tough throw. It might be harder, but I think you need to fight back into the middle and get the pass in the centre of the field.’

‘Heh, right, easier said than done, of course. Now, let’s see what happens.’ Tommy turned his attention back to the game right as the ball was snapped again.

Kenny stuttered out of the gates and then shot out away from Dexter, streaking down the sideline as he pulled further away from Dexter who was right on his heels.

There was no help from a Safety over the top, and while Petey did look Kenny’s way, he pulled the ball back down and found a different target—this time it was Freddy who had moved into the open space Kenny left behind, and Petey found him for a 10 yard gain.

Kenny stopped, panting a little as he turned around and returned to the huddle, clapping and cheering on his teammates. ‘Good catch, Freddy. Yo, Petey, I’m open, man, Throw it deep and I’ll go get it.’

‘Uh, yeah, yeah, let’s see if they give us the same look,’ Petey said, the offence taking their time to set up again, still catching their breath between plays.

Once again, Dexter lined up more on Kenny’s inside shoulder, already shading him towards the outside with his hips opened up to the sideline.

Kenny shook his head; it was a challenge he couldn’t ignore. ‘I’ll show you who’s faster. Don’t worry.’

‘I’d like to see you try.’

Kenny narrowed his eyes. This time after the snap, he pushed straight into Dexter and shoved him to break away further outside. He drifted closer and closer to the sideline as he sprinted along it into the open grass ahead of him—there was still no extra defender over the top.

Petey looked Kenny’s way again on this play, and whilst the scenario was much the same as it had been on the play before, this time, he pulled the trigger and let loose with a long bomb of a pass.

Petey was conscious of Dexter, who was still so close to Kenny, and how he could potentially disrupt—or even worse—intercept the pass, so he threw it LONG. Too long, unfortunately.

Kenny drifted further out and then leapt into the air, and when he came crashing back down with the ball in his hands, he was a couple of yards out of bounds. The pass was incomplete.

Dexter laughed as he offered Kenny a helping hand to get him back on his feet. ‘Wow, great catch. You really showed me.’

Kenny smacked the hand aside, a foul look on his face as he pushed himself up and hurried back to the huddle. ‘Hey Petey, the hell was that?’

‘Sorry amigo, I just didn’t want it to get picked off. We’d be fucked if that happened.’

‘Just put the ball somewhere where I can catch it, and it’ll be okay. He won’t pick off shit.’

‘Alright alright, I’ll do better.’

Again the Titans lined up, and again Dexter had his stance favouring the inside of the field, still wanting to push Kenny to the sideline.

Jackson chewed his bottom lip before he pushed himself up. ‘INSIDE!’ he shouted. ‘Go through the middle! Don’t let this chump push you around!’

Kenny glanced over to the stands, spotting Jackson on his feet. The crowd had filled out a bit more, but it was still sparse and quiet for the most part, the Titans supporters standing out clearly.

He eyed Dexter again. ‘Come on, slowpoke,’ Dexter said.

Kenny knew he could put him in speed, but they’d have to realise that too, right? If they just let Petey throw bombs all day, they were sure to connect on one of them, and it’d be a free touchdown.

He looked at the Hawks’ sideline. Would that calculating, robotic-looking coach let him do that for a third time?

He shook his head and focused on the field in front of him.

‘You might as well give up now,’ Dexter said. ‘Save yourself the embarrassment.’

Kenny said nothing, still keeping his focus.

The ball was snapped. Kenny shot outside, sprinting forward. Dexter was right with him on his inside hip, drifting closer to the sideline with him. Kenny snapped towards the centre, leaving Dexter chasing after nothing as he stumbled forward a couple of paces more before scrambling to turn and keep after Kenny.

This time, a Safety HAD been creeping over to Kenny’s side of the field, and would’ve been there to fly in from the side and intercept any deep pass.

There was also a definite opening in the middle of the field between the LBs, and the Safeties who were spreading out wide.

Petey fired the pass in, Kenny had to jump and stretch up to catch it above the outstretched hands of the LBs between him and Petey, but he landed and kept running in stride.

A defender jumped out in front of his path to put a stop to him, but they were blindsided by Freddy who practically tackled them with a crunching block, pancaking them to the ground.

Kenny turned upfield, there was just one defender between him and the endzone. Then it’d be a footrace with all the rest.

He charged head-on towards the Safety in front of him, the two locked in a personal game of chicken.

Left or right? Left or right? Left or right? Left? Right? Left? Right? LEFT!

A slight twitch sent the Safety guessing left, while Kenny cut right instead.

He broke away as fast as he could, speeding down the field as he flew across the grass.

30 yards out. He cast a quick glance across the field. The opposite Safety was desperately closing on him.

20. He could hear Dexter’s feet pounding into the turf right behind him.

10. No one was catching him.

5. He was home free.

Touchdown.

And just like that, the game was soon to be tied again.