Page 70 of Zone Protection

“Let’s go, baby! Linson, I got you, man. I won’t let anyone get by me today.” I smack Beck’s helmet, then look at Casey. “King, you get the ball, and you run like your life depends on it!”

“You know it, baby. Let’s GO!”

Casey and I clasp hands, and I pull him in for a chest bump.

Our fight song starts playing, which signals that it’s about time to charge the field.

“Please welcome the Walker University Stallions!”

As I run out, I look around at the fans and can’t help but bounce my way to the bench, raising my arms up and down, trying to get the fans to cheer louder.

Once I reach the bench, I lift my helmet up enough to get a better look around the stadium. These are moments you never forget. Playing football at this level is a privilege, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not grateful that I get to play and that I’ve stayed healthy in the three years I’ve played at Walker.

After the national anthem and the rest of the ceremonies, it’s showtime. I go out to center field with Liam for the coin toss. We call heads and select to defer, which means we’ll get first pick in the second half.

We jog back over to the sideline together and watch as the defense takes the field. After the first snap of the ball, we can tell this game is going to be a battle. They’re good, but we’re better. Now it’s time to prove it.

After a fourth down by Southeast, it’s time for me and my squad to get on the field. We are one of the best, if not the best, offense in college football. We utilize a spread offense, which relies on a tight end, three receivers, and a running back. This type of offense helps to give us the ability to make variations and a quick strike approach.

In the huddle, Bo calls an inside zone play. Which means he’ll pass it to Beck, and then he’ll run it around the right side of the line and try to get the first down. I need to make sure he gets through the hole and down the field.

Once we’re on the line of scrimmage, I eye up the defensive player across from me.

“Hey, fifty-six! We gonna be here all day, baby. I like this kind of party. You ready for me, baby?”

Taunting the other team is one of my favorite things to do. It gets in their head, and they make mistakes, or it pisses them off, and we can really put on a show.

“Fuck you, Griff. You can’t hurt this! I’m a machine, yo! I’ll put you in the dirt,” he answers.

“Okay, son. Okay. Let me see you try.” I raise both of my hands and wave them toward me.

Bo snaps the ball, and the play is in motion. I leap across the line and grab fifty-six—who I know is David Wilson from watching film and seeing him on TV this season. It doesn’t take much for me to knock the shit out of him and lay him on his ass.

“Welcome home, son!” I jump off him and look back over my shoulder at him as he gets up. I smirk, then blow him a kiss. “That’s cute, you trying to hit. You hit me here”—I pat my chest—“and I didn’t go nowhere.”

Chris Schuster, one of my linemen, bumps me with his shoulder, and he’s laughing. “You razzing him already, or did he start in first?”

“Who, me?” I point at myself and smile.

Bo calls another play—for him to make a long pass to Casey and get him in for the touchdown. But once the ball is snapped, their defense reads the play, and Casey is covered so there’s no way he can get the ball. With no other options, Bo runs through an opening in the line and takes off down the field, giving us our first touchdown of the game.

We go on and off the field with little progress in the game the rest of the first quarter.

But in the second quarter, Casey catches a rocket from Bo and runs it in for another touchdown, giving us the lead by one touchdown.

During that play, Wilson tried and failed to lay me out.

“Fifty-six, you gonna take me out? You’ve been giving me more hugs than my girlfriend gives me. Hey, I know it’s hard, but you signed up for this.”

He shakes his head at me and turns to walk off the field. But I point at him and look at his teammates.

“Hey, you guys might want to try somebody else at left tackle. Son, you gotta do better than this.” And then I jog off the field, laughing. I fucking love this game.

After halftime, the game moves fast. We’re now in the final seconds of the game and losing—twenty-eight to twenty-four. We need one more touchdown to win.

We’re bloody, tired, and ready to take this game. We won’t give up. We came to win.

Bo calls a swing pass that will give Beck the ball, which means it’s my job to seal the outside of the D end in order for it to work.

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