Page 83 of Saving the Halfback

“Yeesssss,” Nolan said as he held his fist out for me. I bumped it with mine and laughed. Yesterday was a kiss on the cheek, today, during football, it’s a fist bump. “We got this. Red right thirty pull trap.” He looked around as everyone nodded.

“Three, two, one!” Ethan had sweat dripping down his face, and he looked downright exhausted, but his voice was strong and sturdy. He had stamina, that was for sure.

“Panthers!” This time, I yelled it out with everyone else.

This was it; I was being thrown right in. Nolan was going to toss the ball to me on the left, then I had to catch it and run directly to the right of the center. Hopefully, they would have cleared a hole for me. If not…damn, this was going to hurt. But the excitement of trying to outrun these giants? I was bouncing around just thinking about it.

Nolan made the call, the ball was moving, and so was I. I was a bit too early, and the sound of shoulder pads clashing happened so fast. Nolan saw me just as he took his side step, and instead of a toss, he handed the ball off to me. I tucked it in tight and ran. The gap was almost textbook perfect—I had a clear run straight through—but that damn safety came out of nowhere.

Next thing I knew, I was being hit from the side, and I went sprawling. My grip on the ball was tight. I refused to let it go, it was my precious. A whistle blew, and the giant who took me down stood up and walked away before Ethan was there, filling my vision.

“You good?” he asked, his voice its usual deep calm, but I could tell he was concerned.

“That was amazing,” I shouted. “Did I get far?” Without thinking, I grabbed Ethan’s outstretched arm, and he hoisted me up. I left the ball where it lay, and the ref came to retrieve it, moving it along the line, to the center of the field. I knew I had to have run at least ten yards, and we had four tries to get there. But in the craziness of everything, I hadn’t seen how many I actually ran.

“Bails, that was fifteen yards!” Lachlan said, smacking my shoulder pads. “I nearly thought you were about to make it all the way.”

We quickly got back into a huddle. Nolan looked up toward the coach briefly before nodding and ducking his head back to us. He made the call; this time, it was going to be a fake to me and a throw to Lachlan. I was a little bummed I wasn’t running the ball again, since my earlier anxiety had transformed into pure energy. I didn’t even notice the crowd around us while we were playing.

Nolan and Lachlan together were stunning to watch. They somehow spoke telepathically to one another, because no matter where they were, they always found each other, and the ballwould soar through the air and make it into Lachlan’s hands every time.

We had gained quite a bit of yardage with the throws, but now the other team was catching on and always had Lachlan and Sam covered.

“Ready to bring us home?” Nolan asked as we got into our huddle.

“Hell, yeah!” I bumped his fist when he put it up, getting used to this. He gave us the play, this time not looking at the coach, so I assumed he’d made the decision himself.

I was going to take the handoff and run down the right side. It made sense, since all the throws Nolan had been doing were going down center and to the left. When he made the call, I decided to add a little something extra and faked running to the left. It was amusing watching their defense shift to the left, but I was too focused to laugh. I ran hard to the right, taking the handoff perfectly, then kicked it into high gear. Chase was right there when I needed him, running with me as the rest of our linemen blocked the path along the way.

Chase tackled the last safety that nearly got me, and then I was on my own. The crowd erupted with screams and horns and cheers as I ran hard, not daring to look back, right into the end zone.

I raised my hands up in victory, as if I had just run through a ribbon during a marathon. As I turned around, the whole offense was running at me. Nolan and Lachlan both grabbed a leg and hoisted me up onto their shoulders. I was a bit top heavy from my helmet but managed to hang on as I squealed. I looked up to the stands, brought two fingers to my lips, as if kissing them through the helmet mask, and raised them up to my parents. They were screaming and hollering, but the sound was drowned out by all the noisemakers. The state of pure euphoria was something I had never experienced before.

As the guys put me down, teammates were smacking my helmet, and even Ethan and Chase did it. I was riding on cloud nine.

We lined up so Wes could kick for the extra point, silence descending on the crowd before the stand erupted with untamed enthusiasm as he made the goal. We were now up, seven to zero.

“What do you think?” Coach asked me as I ran off the field.

“This is definitely where I want to be.” I laughed. He gave me a pat on the shoulder pads, smiling as he turned back to the game.

The rest of the game was rough. Ethan seemed appreciative that he didn’t have to play both sides, and the defense was doing well holding their own, but it was like we were at a stalemate. Coach kept yelling at defense to hold the line. As long as they didn’t gain any more yards, we could still win this, but at the last second, they slipped through our defense and scored a touchdown.

We were up still, seven to six, but if they stuck their kick, it would be a tie, seven-seven.

I turned to Nolan. “I guess a tie isn’t as bad as a loss.”

His eyes briefly moved to his father, who was standing as close to us as a nonplayer was allowed. Then he looked back to me and gave me a half smile. I could see the disappointment in his eyes.

Coach spun around, looking over the players not on the field. “Lachlan, Chase,” he called. They went running up to him and listened as Coach leaned in close. Then Coach yelled across the field. As Chase and Lachlan ran out into the field, pulling their helmets on, Kell and Greg came running off, smacking hands with them as they passed them. The team went into a quick huddle and then broke apart.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“I’m not sure, but Lachlan is a runner and Chase is a blocker,” Nolan said.

The other team finished celebrating their touchdown quickly and lined up.

“Aren’t they kicking?” I asked.

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