Page 67 of Rushing Into Love

Rams six, Lions zero.

“It’s okay, guys, there’s still a lot of time left,” I said as the defense trotted back to the sidelines, defeated. “We’re going to put up some points now.”

I patted Charlie’s shoulder, then leaned down and whispered the formation in his ear. He locked eyes with me and nodded.

“Alright, go Lions!” I hustled my team out to the field and tried to look more confident than I felt. The Rams were really good; if we didn’t win this game, our season was over.

Charlie executed the play perfectly, throwing a pretty good-looking spiral down the field, but a Ram jumped up and tipped the ball, knocking it right out of JD’s hands. Luckily, the kid didn’t manage to catch the ball, so at least they didn’t intercept it. But three plays later, the Rams had possession again and we still had zero points on the board.

I stooped down to eye level with Benny and Skip. “We have to stop them, understand?” They nodded in agreement. “Grab all the flags, guys.”

Hustling them out to the field, I clasped my hands together, blowing all my hot air and nerves into them. This game wasn’t going our way, that was for sure.

I paced the sideline, urging Benny, Skip, and the rest of the defense to focus. They came through and the score stayed put, six to nothing. It was the fourth quarter now and we had possession of the ball. It was go-time.

I called a time-out, with three minutes left in the quarter. We had possession of the ball.

“Okay, guys, we’re running a screen. Charlie, pretend to pass to Rex, then reverse and hand the ball off to Alex. Alex, you’re going to run right up the sidelines. Got it?”

Three heads nodded ‘yes,’ and we broke the huddle, the kids trotting back out to the field. The ref blew the whistle and we were on the clock.

“Down, set, hike!” Charlie had the ball and faked a handoff to Rex, who peeled off to the left, and then Alex had the ball.

“Run!”

Our entire team cheered from the sidelines as she took off, a blue streak down the far right side of the field. She cut through two people, closing in on the twenty-yard line. Dodged another kid, rolled off, and—

“Yes!”

I fist pumped the air as the ref shouted, “Touchdown! Lions score!”

Bree and Brooklyn were going crazy in the stands, screaming Alex’s name, and she was jumping up and down in the end zone. All the kids were cheering for her.

“We’re going for two, right, Coach?” Benny asked.

“No other option. Go big or go home,” I grinned.

I lined the kids up and went for the two points, Benny successfully breaking through the line and scoring.

“Yes!” I whooped.

The kids jumped up and down on the sidelines as the score flipped from zero to eight on the scoreboard. We were leading for the first time all night with only one minute left in the game.

“Benny, Skip, JD, Rex—you’re all back in. We’re playing man-on-man. Stay close and cover your guy!”

I patted Rex’s shoulder as he ran past me, out to the field. There were only fifty-five seconds left on the clock. All we had to do was hold them off for less than a minute and we’d be going to the championship game.

“First down!” the ref called out as the Rams’ tallest player whizzed by Benny. JD managed to grab his flag, but not soon enough.

“Look alive, guys!” I yelled, in what I hoped sounded like an encouraging voice.

“Down, set, hike!” The quarterback had the ball. Benny rushed him and grabbed his flag before he could get a play.Nice work, Benny.

“Second down!”

The QB wasn’t making that mistake again. He didn’t even let two seconds elapse before he threw a long, perfect spiral down the center of the field. I paced the sideline, silently urging my players to get there and block the play.

They did one better than that. JD ran in front of the kid he was covering, jumped into the air, and grabbed the ball.

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