“RUN and SHOOT”

Book Four in the

ERIC LEWIS SPORTS SERIES

by the coach

Thomas Smythe

Art by Pete O’Brien

DEDICATION

First, to my two high school football coaches. Cliff Giffin, who also was an assistant at San Mateo JC when I played there in 1960, was my coach during my sophomore and junior seasons. Vince Dulcich was my senior year coach. Both of these men taught me how to act like a man, and as a first class athlete. They were my mentor’s, and both became good friends. Coach Dulcich is the model for Coach Vincetti in my stories, but there is a lot of coach Giffin in him as well.

Secondly, I would like to mention both John Robinson, and Jerry Frei. John was an assistant on the freshmen staff at the University of Oregon, and coached the offense. I was the quarterback. Jerry was the offensive line coach with the varsity team, but always found time for me.

Both of them treated a ‘walk on’ quarterback with respect, and taught me how to persevere with dignity through adversity.

FOREWARD

As a young boy growing up in Oregon I was an athlete and lived an athlete’s life. I played games year around and in my spare time read a number of books written by Clair Bee about a young athlete named Chip Hilton. The group of books was called the Chip Hilton Sports Series.

I’ve often thought about those Chip Hilton books and now that I’ve retired I have the time to recreate a series of sports books loosely based on my own coaching and playing life.

Mr. Bee and I actually have a lot in common. Clair Bee was a college basketball coach and I just retired after a 48 year coaching career. Most of my time was spent teaching physical education and coaching football at the high school level.

My hope is that the books I write have the same effect on the youth of today that Mr. Bee’s series had on me as a young boy. I truly believe that in our country we need a role model for our young to emulate. Quite possibly, Eric Lewis and his friends will fill that void.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

FEELS SO RIGHT, Alabama

2.

THE BOYS OF FALL… Kenny Chesney

3.

NOWHERE TO RUN, The Vandellas

4.

CHASIN’ THAT NEON RAINBOW, Alan Jackson

5.

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER, Simon & Garfunkel 6.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN, Willie Nelson

7.

ENDLESS HIGHWAY, Alison Krauss

8.

DOUBLE WIDE PARADISE, Toby Keith

9.

NOTHIN’ BUT THE TAIL LIGHTS, Clint Black

10.

DREAM WALKING, Toby Keith

11.

BIG BLUE NOTE, Toby Keith

12.

GIRL, YOU’LL BE A WOMAN SOON, Neil Diamond

13.

AIN’T NO GOOD GOODBYE, Billy Ray Cyrus

14.

ALL NIGHT TO GET THERE, Rascal Flats

15.

TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS, John Denver

16.

ONE LESS SET OF FOOTSTEPS, Jim Croce

17.

MR. BOJANGLES, Jerry Jeff Walker

18.

FIRE AND RAIN, James Taylor

19.

WE’RE ALL IN YOUR CORNER, The Highwaymen

20.

BIRD DOG, The Everly Brothers

21.

GOOD THINGS HAPPEN, Dierks Bentley

22.

CLOSE ENOUGH TO PERFECT. Alabama

23.

MAKE ME WANNA SCREEM, Blu Cantrell

24.

DOWN THE ROAD TONIGHT, Bruce Hornsby

EPILOGUE TIME IN A BOTTLE, Jim Croce

ONE

“FEELS SO RIGHT”

ALABAMA

I

Summer was coming to a close, and it has been a busy one. I played on the country club junior golf team, which was a blast as usual.

The legion baseball team took up most of the time, but I needed time off there now and then to play on a hoops travel team. I did attend the football camp at UI, which opened my eyes. It’s becoming harder and harder to be a three, make that four, sport athlete, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, it just feels so right.

My sophomore year had been an amazing one with a lot of fond memories, and two notable forgettable ones. We had lost in the semifinal football game on the last play of the game, and our hoops team lost an even bigger heart breaker in the state final by a point. The baseball team, however, swept through the league, and the state tournament to win our third state title in coach Mack’s tenure. That made the sting of the two heartbreaking losses a bit easier to handle.

Personally, I had made first team All-State in football at wide receiver, and second team All-State in hoops, and honorable mention in baseball was nice, but even better was playing as the fifth member of the golf team, during a pause in baseball, and helping them finally win a state title. Pretty good year for sure, and it might be hard to duplicate.

The jury is out.

Many of my friends and teammates worked on summer jobs, but mom and dad had told me a year ago that my athletic career was my summer job. They weren’t in the dark, and knew that a scholarship was certainly a strong possibility for their oldest son. Barring some kind of major injury I probably wouldn’t be needing summer earnings to help pay for college. I was very grateful.

My two brothers, Paul now twelve and Danny now nine, were still my best fans. Paul was nearly as active in sports as I was, and Danny played everything with the same kind of enthusiasm that I possessed. I

thought he would have a good chance to follow in my footsteps as a three-sport athlete. On the other hand Paul had fallen in love with golf, and made that his priority. During the summer I don’t think he missed a day at the club, and won every junior age group tournament he entered.

He would probably still play football and basketball, but certainly in the spring it would be full go on the golf course.

I had turned seventeen, and actually needed to shave once a week. My dirty blond hair had found my chin, but it was so soft I think a cat could have licked it off easily. I had grown to a shade under six-five, and was closing in on one hundred and eighty pounds. My hormones were on fast forward, and my teenage life was completely normal, and routine I think. No girl friend on my agenda, no time and no desire, I was too busy being an athlete.

Mom and dad were still doing their thing as good parents. Dad loved his job, and mom loved being a short order cook and a chauffeur for Paul and Danny. And my best friend and our family guest Cezar was still boarding in our guest room above the garage, while his parents were doing well after moving to Chicago. He was my chauffeur, and companion and we shared everything.

Summer for me is a combination of sports and socializing. Our group of ‘Yeti’s’ kept things loose, and we had a great time water skiing, boating, and enjoying our summertime freedom. Anytime I got too cocky Doug Rollins or Bill Fay or Joe Dale would hit me with a zinger.

Doug was best at that as he had a quick wit, and a sharp tongue.

“Hey superstar just slow down, you’re not in the NFL yet, buddy.”

We all showed up now and then on Saturday nights at Val David’s house, and more than a few times at Don Crick’s or Karen Liskey’s home on the lake. Some would say we were spoiled rich kids, but I didn’t see it that way. Having a hard working machinist for a father kept me motivated. I loved my dad, and admired his work ethic, but I wanted no part of that career. I had my sights set a bit higher.

One of the summer highlights was a visit by mom’s brother, my uncle Bill Towers, and his family. He had been a very good small-college athlete back in up state New York. Like me, he was a three-sport athlete, and that made it easy for us to talk shop.

His two sons had come along, both were still in junior high. He got his family started a bit later than his sister. But, we all got along great especially the two Towers boys with Paul and Danny. Between the four

of them there was enough energy used to keep the broiler in the basement running for weeks.

I had a chance to speak with Bill a lot about how to choose a college, and he had some very good insight. He had played football at Canisius College, and was a small college All-American.

He said, “Just keep your options open. Things can change very fast in the recruiting game.”

I shared with him that I wasn’t ready to worry about college as I had two years of high school left, and I wanted them to be worry free.

As if that was possible.

We had more than one discussion, and at the end he told me, “If you ever need any advice, just call.”

II

It was early August, and closing in on our first practice date in mid month. I knew we were going to have a good team again, and thought we might even be really, really good. We needed to replace some good players, that’s normal, but good program’s just reload. I didn’t see any weak spots that were obvious.

When I arrived at the field for another summer casual workout Luke was just getting out of his fathers car.

“Hey, where’s your beater? Did it finally die?”

Luke’s dad Mark rolled down the window and said, “It’s in for a tune up, but truthfully it’s on its last leg.”

Luke’s parents were awesome. They never missed a game and their support of Comet athletics didn’t stop with their son. Luke’s mom, M. G., was a typical athlete’s mom, loyal to the max.

Finally Luke asked, “Have you heard about the transfer?”

“Nope, tell me.”

“He’s a Hawaiian or something like that, and plays running back and linebacker.”

“Cool, will he be here tonight?”

“He says he’s going to try.”

About then Mark said, “Ok, you guys enjoy the workout, I’ve got a cold one waiting.”

We held informal workouts twice a week. Most of the ‘skill’ guys were there, and we did a lot of throwing and catching. At quarterback

Dan Winters, last year’s JV guy, had moved to safety, but Tommy Keck, up from the frosh team showed everyone he would be a capable backup.

Coach Vince pretty much took a ‘hands off’ policy during the summer, preferring to let the older player’s run the show. I’ve heard him say more than once, “Too many coaches want to make high school football a year around sport, and they want summer workouts to begin the day baseball is over. They’ve lost the concept of the “Law of Diminishing Returns.” He went on to say, “There comes a point when if you keep working your result declines. The extra work becomes counter productive. I learned that lesson a long time ago, and I’ll never forget it.

The body, even the young ones, need time off and rest.”

It’s coach Vince’s belief that athletes need down time, and summer should be no more than a refresher. Plus we’ve got so many multi-sport athletes it would put a lot of pressure on them to choose which sport to dominate the summer. Baseball is still king in the summer, and basketball has gotten bigger each year during June and July. Personally I believe August is early enough to bring out the footballs.

I felt like my throwing was becoming more consistent, and I was getting a good feel for the ‘touch’ pass when I needed to find a spot in the zone. Summer practice didn’t offer a chance to work on my

‘scramble’ ability, but I know that once I was chased out of the pocket I would be able to invent on the move. It’s part of the game I love, even though I’ve heard the experts go on and on about staying in the pocket.

I never understood the criticism of an athletic quarterback making things happen outside the pocket being wrong. I hope coach Vince shares my feelings, because I really love getting out in space and creating.

We had been on the field for about an hour when I noticed a big, good looking kid standing on the sideline watching. About the same time Luke said, “There’s the transfer,” as he jogged over to say hello.

We needed a short break about then, so I walked over and introduced myself.

“Hey, welcome to Crater football, I’m Eric Lewis.”

“Nice to meet you Eric, I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m J. D.

Graves.”

We chatted for a bit, and I learned he was from Oregon. His father had taken an administrative position at the big manufacturing plant just

outside town, and they had just arrived. He had four younger brothers, all in grade school, and he planned on running track as well and possibly wrestling.

“You look about six-two and maybe two hundred,” I asked?

“You’re pretty close. I weight two-ten and last time I was measured I was exactly six feet two.”

“Luke tells me you play linebacker and running back.”

“Yep, but I like linebacker more. I was a fullback last year in Oregon.”

“We haven’t done much two back stuff, but coach Vince always says he’ll put the best eleven players on the field.”

“I just want to contribute, heck I was an offensive lineman for most of my ‘Pop Warner’ days.”

I liked his attitude, and I can tell he’ll fit in quickly.

We finished the workout about thirty minutes later, and J.D. didn’t participate. But he asked when the next workout would be and said, “I’ll join next time for sure.”

On the way home I said to Luke, “J. D. sure looks the part. I hope he plays like he looks.”

Luke countered with, “We need a replacement for Marshall Romer, hopefully J.D. will be the guy.”

With a few transfers and a bunch of solid young guys coming up from the frosh and the JV teams I think we’ll have a lot more depth than we did a year ago. It’s been another fun summer but fall was closing in, and football was in the air. It couldn’t get here fast enough for me.

TWO

“THE BOYS OF FALL”

KENNY CHESNEY

I

I was really looking forward to my junior year. I thought we had a good chance to be contending playoff teams in all three of my sports.

Our offense in football hopefully will keep us afloat until our young defense catches up. In hoops, we had four starters returning and in baseball two of our top three pitchers will return. But first on the agenda was football, and our limited summer practices had gone well. I couldn’t wait until the boys of fall hit the field.

Stevie Curry had shown everyone in our light late summer, twice a week evening workouts, that he would fill in nicely for departed Jon Market at running back. The twins, Toby and Thomas had decided to play football again, having convinced their mom, and would be in the receiving corps along with Luke and Teddy Bose who played significant minutes last season as a junior. And, I guessed that Blake Denton, a sophomore with speed and talent would find some playing time.

Toby and Thomas were both six-five and competitive. They weren’t identical twins, but it was obvious they came from the same womb. They had been starters on the hoops team since their sophomore year, and both had run track last spring. They would give me two inside receivers that would be hard to miss, and very tough match ups for our opponents.

Giving us some depth there is one of my Yeti buddies, Bill Fay who is playing football again, after missing all of last year because of concussion issues.

“I’m playing no matter what the doctors tell me”, he said to me over the summer. That was very good news as I knew Bill would give us a quality player as either a starter or a backup.

I really like our wide receivers. Luke, well hell, was Luke. He just amazes with his quickness, his competitiveness, his elusiveness and his feel for the game, and his flair for the unusual. Teddy will make defenses pay if they decide to single cover him he has a knack to make

difficult plays look easy. Blake is just a sophomore but he could flat out fly and has soft hands. The other, and a bit of a surprise is J. J. Bird.

He placed in both hurdle races during the spring in the district track meet, as a freshmen. He and Blake had terrorized freshmen defenses last year. J. J. is really small but his potential is off the charts. I see a possible NFL career in his future.

Blake’s dad had played for coach Vince back when he was just beginning his career. Dan Denton was also a big booster of the program for all the sport teams.

I’ve heard coach Vince more than once talk about how boosters are needed in any successful program.

“Behind the scene supporters are not only necessary, they are critical to the success of our athletic program, and Dan Denton is the best of the best.”

I knew the twins would step right in and so would Stevie at running back. They had all run track for coach Kenny Hurd last spring, and I could tell the hard work had paid off. He was a great track coach, but always spent time with other sport athletes on running technique.

I was a little concerned at our depth at running back but Randy Taylor, a junior up from the JV team, had looked good in summer workouts. He’ll just need to get some experience, and I liked his speed.

He was another track athlete, and had placed second in the district in the one hundred meters last spring.

Our backup quarterback was probably going to be Tommy Keck, up from the frosh team, and J.P. Ligott, another transfer, has played some QB as well. He was from Chicago but actually preferred to play defensive back.

J. P. was very athletic, and also played baseball. He told me he loved playing defensive back, and that he hoped to play college football at Stanford, which had always been his dream. Obviously he was a good student, and had fit in nicely since arriving just after school finished last spring. His younger brother Tim has chosen to attend South Catholic. He’s a good-looking athlete as well, but wants to stay out of his older brothers shadow. I admire him for that.

The only question mark on offense I could see were the two line positions that we needed to fill, and we would need to develop some depth.

We lost Boom-Boom and Blinkey, two-year starters. But we returned our tackles Rob Wien and Beau Lander as well as our

oversized offensive line leader Mike Frich at center. It looked like Brandon Janes, a good-looking transfer from Texas, would fit in at left guard, and Jake Luce another junior was looking ok at right guard. Jon Barlow could play both tackle and guard, and would provide depth. At backup center we had, up from the JV team, Frank Stetson, a senior who was solid. I hoped all of these new guys would grow up fast.

The good news is, the new guys were bigger and probably better athletes. They simply lacked experience. Once they got their feet wet we had a chance to have a dominating offensive line, which always makes a quarterback smile.

II

On the defensive side of the ball we lost a number of very good players. Marshall Romer our All-State middle linebacker, Josh Work, outside linebacker, Trevor Port our best defensive back, and Adam Olsen a solid and dependable player in the secondary.

We needed to replace those quality defensive players, and it might just determine how good we would be this fall. Over the summer Mark Mack and Gage Nichols had show everyone they could play, and would probably start at corner. Blake could also swing over from receiver and help out there. He had looked good in short stints playing defensive back over the summer. Dan Winters had looked very good after the move from backup quarterback to safety, where he has a good chance to start. And we have Jared Vick at safety as well. Jared is a junior who had played on the JV team a year ago but had put a ton of work in the weight room, and looked like he’d gained twenty solid pounds.

Between those two guys we’ll be fine at free safety.

J.P. looks like a great athlete and will certainly fill one of the strong safety spots. The other one is up for grabs between junior’s Myke Vares and Tony Berg. Both have shown good potential during the summer seven on seven contests. There was also a chance Myke would move up to outside linebacker. And junior Rob Shiff, a good athlete, has looked great in summer workouts. He’s very smart and can add depth all over the defensive backfield.

I liked our defensive line guys a lot, although depth could be an issue. Josh Mann and Ryan Kish, two seniors would be very good at defense end. The nose guard would probably be either Rick Rogers, a block at five-ten and two hundred fifty pounds, or Nathan Hall who was

a quick off the ball aggressive playmaker. Both of them were seniors as well.

But linebacker was our biggest concern and I thought we might come up a bit short at the beginning. I also knew coach Nick would find the right guys, and get them up to speed quickly. None of the prospective starters had much experience, but if Myke moves to outside linebacker that will give us some as he played quit a bit last year. It does look like our transfer J. D. Graves might step right in to play in the middle. I haven’t seen him play one down, but he looks the part, and if he gets off the team bus first our opponents will certainly take notice.

And I really like the looks of a sophomore, Scott Kenston, who looks to me like he plays with his hair on fire. Thomas El, a senior, gives as a good backup linebacker, and he can play all three spots. He’s one of those players that doesn’t need the spotlight. He simply goes to work every day, and puts in a solid days effort. Every team needs players like Thomas.

Of course our ace in the hole is the coaching staff. Coach Vincetti has a great group, most all of whom were with us during last seasons run to the state semis. Jerry Gross at offensive line will mold that group into a strong bunch. Coach Edwards returns to coach the quarterbacks, and coach Wilson the running backs. New to the staff is coach Nook, who will work with the slots, so coach Mack can concentrate on the wide receivers. He will be in charge of ‘special teams’ as well.

On defense coach Nichols, the defensive coordinator, coaches the linebackers. He is ably assisted by Ted Angelos on the defensive line and Jeff Allenon in the secondary.

Last spring the defensive coaches spent a week with the staff at the University of Northern Iowa, and they’re installing a new look on that side of the football. We’ll move away from the standard three-four defense and utilize a three-three alignment. Three down lineman with three linebackers stacked behind them. Two strong-safety’s, two corners and a free safety.

I know the coaching staff is excited about the new look, and they think we have the kind of athletes that will raze havoc with offenses trying to find out where the heck the defenders are after the snap of the ball. In early sessions it looks to me like there are literally a mass of blitz possibilities.

We had one final seven-on-seven tournament scheduled for the first week in August. It would be at our field, and two local division

three teams and a top division team from Nebraska would join us. Red Oak and Creston were the teams from Iowa and Fremont was from Nebraska. I was looking forward to it for a lot of reasons, but it was also the last opportunity for some new guys to show they could play. I was anxious for the competition, as I knew most all of the players would be trying to impress the staff that they were ready to play at the varsity level.

The format for seven-on-seven competition changes, depending on who is running the show. There are no ‘set’ rules, and the way coach Vince likes it run is to be a ‘teaching’ game. We will stop to make a coaching point, just like in practice. Each team gets the ball for ten plays beginning at the forty-yard line. It’s basically touch football after the play begins. The emphasis of course is on passing, and our task was to get our three new players accustomed to our tempo, and to the sequence of routes to patterns. Luke and Teddy being the veterans would help the new guys adjust.

There would be two teams on one end of the field and the other two opposite. When the contest ended there would be a short break before beginning the second set of match ups, and again for the third and last.

THREE

“NOWHERE TO RUN”

THE VANDELLAS

I

We opened with Red Oak, and were on defense first. Seven-on-seven can really be seven-on-eight as most defenses use a three-man front with eight total counting linebackers and defensive backs. There is a time limit, usually four seconds, to throw the football. It’s not ‘real’

football, and it has its limitations for scrambling quarterbacks because there’s nowhere to run. But throwing a hundred passes Vs competition is better than nothing. Throwing and catching without pads or helmets is another drawback, in my opinion. But the competition playing against guys we won’t see come fall is fun, and eases the tension a bit.

The strength of our new defense wouldn’t show itself during seven-on-seven as linebackers couldn’t blitz, but they would get a ton of reps dropping into zones. And of course our defensive backs would get a major workout.

The first session went well on defense as our guys made a number of good plays on the ball. Red Oak had a quarterback that was pretty good, and their scheme called for four receivers, and sometimes five when they emptied the backfield. Their best player, Billy Bryan, played both receiver and quarterback, much as I did last season. For the first session he was the quarterback and looked very athletic.

Our turn on offense went very well. We had two quick scores on a throwback waggle, and a trips flag pattern, when I hit Toby running a nice route into the corner of the end zone. I like throwing to a six-five receiver. Luke did his usual thing, buzz sawing around, and Teddy caught the waggle touchdown. A waggle is a sort of fake post go route.

The receiver makes a slight inside move like he is going to run a post, and when the defender turns his hips to run with him, the receiver breaks back outside like on a simple fade route. It’s a great route Vs single coverage, which we sometimes get out of trips on the single receiver side. Teams are going to have to make a choice because all

three of our, make that four, J. J., Blake, Teddy, and Luke all can kill one-on-one coverage.

During the second session on offense for Red Oak their QB

moved to receiver. He has a smooth stride that is deceptive and he got behind our defense more than once.

Coach let J.P. and Tommy alternate in the second game Vs Creston, and both did well. J.P. is very athletic, and has a pretty good arm while Tommy on the other hand can really wing it, and he’s developed a good soft touch when needed. I also talked coach into letting me play a few plays at receiver, which brought back some great memories.

I played QB the entire time Vs Fremont. They were a good-looking bunch of athletes, and we had a spirited contest. It was competitive as they made a number of excellent plays. We did as well when it was our turn on offense. On defense both Dan and Jared had picks as they alternated at free safety.

After finishing the activity all the players had a chance to mix and chat about this and that. Some of the players I was familiar with through my sport activity but I hadn’t met the QB/Receiver from Red Oak.

As he headed for their bus he waved and obviously wanted to talk.

“Hi Eric, I’m Billy. I just wanted to met you and tell you how impressed I am with the way you play quarterback.”

“Thanks, it looks like you get to play both QB and receiver. I did that last year and it was a lot of fun.”

“I know and that’s why I was pumped when coach told us we would be in this seven on seven tournament. I hope someday people will be able to say good things about me as everyone does you.”

“Not everyone,” I said with a large grin.

I wished him good luck on his season and he returned the compliment. It’s always fun to meet new guys, especially those that play the game with flair and combine it with good behavior.

All in all it was a good day, and a good tune up for the beginning of practice set to begin in two weeks. We would have next week off, and begin the third Monday in August preparing for the upcoming season. I liked how we had seemed to mesh on offense, and I thought our defense looked pretty good. Of course we wouldn’t know for sure until the lights came on, the whistle shattered the still night air, and the

collisions began in earnest. I couldn’t wait to put on the pads and get this season started. Summer is over.

I’m not sure why the phrase “Dog Days” attached itself to the preseason practice sessions, but maybe it goes back to the time when coaches put their players through what amounted to a torture test of endurance in the hot August sun. It seems like an insult to dogs to me.

Thankfully, coach Vince didn’t believe in that method, and our early drills were overloaded with ‘walk and talk’ and ‘teaching’ time. We had ample water breaks, and sometimes practice in shorts with shoulder pads and helmets.

Our practices took place in the morning. The first beginning at eight o’clock, and lasted for one and a half hours. Then we took a forty-five minute break and did it again, finishing before noon. Sometimes we had an evening skill only practice but not every day. And most of the time Coach Vince’s wife, Donna Mary, would be there during the break dispensing gator aide or orange juice. I’ve heard coach Vince, many times, tell us how important it is to have a companion who get’s involved and Donna Mary certainly is a great example.

I’m not sure how other coaches in our league handle these early season practice sessions but I’m pretty sure they have a lot more contact than we do. All the coaches are constantly reminding us to

‘Stay off the ground,’ and Coach Vincetti has said more than a few times, “Boys, contact in practice is over-rated, it’s game time when football becomes a collision sport.”

II

After practice was over the very first day I had a chance to chat a bit with coach Vince. He wanted to talk about how to handle the expectations of the year, and also about how to handle the media coverage. I suppose because of our three-sport success last year, and my personal accomplishments he wanted to make sure I understood my role. I knew the spotlight might fall on my shoulders, and I didn’t plan on changing anything. I had always been a pretty humble athlete, and that wouldn’t change.

We had a nice chat, and I assured coach that humility was something my parents demanded, and I would never act in a manner that embarrassed either my mom or dad. I can hear dad telling me a

long time ago, “Son if you act like a fool you will not only embarrass our family, but bring shame on all Croats.” That’s a lesson that has been drilled into me, and I’ll never make that mistake.

We talked about how to handle the media, and his advice made a lot of sense.

“I always let them know that they are welcome, and try to accommodate their wishes whenever possible. Some coaches seem to think the media is the enemy, and I believe that philosophy is all wrong.

Positive attention by the media can only help.”

“Coach, can I ask how you came about your coaching philosophy.”

“Well Eric, it grew over time,” he said, and continued to tell me a story that happened a long time ago.

“I had coached in a summer All-Star game, and the day after the game I was sitting in a restaurant having lunch. I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation-taking place in the next booth. It opened my eyes for sure.”

He told me that two men were talking about the game, and about the coach of the North squad, that he was coaching.

“What a jerk that coach was,” said one of the men. “It was a summer All-Star game, and he questioned every officials call, and made a ass out of himself.”

“Obviously they were talking about me, and I got an ear full for sure.”

Then Coach went on to say that he did some pretty strong sole searching, and decided they were right.

“I sat in that restaurant for a long time thinking about what they had to say. After time I realized they were right, and I was pretty much a jerk. I didn’t leave that restaurant until I promised myself to correct my attitude as quickly as possible.”

I told him I couldn’t visualize him as a screamer, and he answered by saying, “I’m not proud of how I began my coaching career, but even though I still have my moments of temper, thankfully they are few and far between.”

That was certainly true. My football coach would definitely be in the state hall of fame after he retired, on the first ballot.

“One more question. What’s the story behind the ‘Jelly Beans?”

“Ha, ha, Simple really. My high school football coach was trying to quit smoking. Would you believe back then coaches actually smoked on the practice field, and on the game sideline? He decided to use

‘Jelly Beans’ in place of cigarettes, so he always had a hand full in his pocket.”

“But you don’t smoke.”

“I never have, but it’s my tribute to a great man.”

FOUR

“CHASIN’ THAT NEON RAINBOW”

ALAN JACKSON

I

The first week of practice had gone well, and everyone was excited. Most of the week was review as coach wasn’t about to change much from last season. It looked to me like we might feature Stevie a bit more than we did Jon last year, and we worked a lot from the shotgun formation.

Coach said, “I’d like to be about 50/50 under center and in the gun, and our practice followed that pattern. I actually like the gun best because it gives me more time to see the defensive alignment. It’s also a better position to scramble from which suits my talent.

We also spent a lot of time in our hurry up mode. Coach has three speeds for our offense. Green is the no huddle hurry up, where everyone needs to read the sideline signal. Yellow, is huddle with the offensive line and the running back, while the four receivers stay in position again reading the sideline signal. Red, is a total huddle, and we’ll use that when we are trying to run the clock, and finish the game with a lead.

During the second week our emphasis was on the fast tempo, and we spent most of the team time in our Green mode. I liked it best, and I think my teammates did as well. Coach felt like we were in better shape than most of the teams we played, and wanted to tire them out.

Conditioning was part of our practice as we never were allowed to walk to the next drill. Coach was always saying, “On the hop boys, on the hop.” Like most teams we spent some time at the end of practice running, but it was never long, and always without pads and helmets.

As the week came to an end we were all really excited for game week to arrive. I felt like we had come together, and I thought our lineup on both sides of the football was solid as a rock. To me the new look defense had great potential, and although we would be smaller than last season’s unit I thought we had more athletes who could run.

Coach always told us, “Defense is simple boys, line up correctly, never be outflanked, and then run like the devil to the football.”

The thing that had impressed me the most was how much quality depth we had been able to develop.

Some of our back up players could start for a lot of the teams on our schedule. Guys like Bill Fay, John Barlow, Blake Denton and Frank Stetson, J.J. Bird on offense gave us some big time relief players. On defense Rob Shiff, Jared Vick and Nathan Hall could all step in a preform like starters.

I’d love to go through a season without any major injuries but this was football, and the odd’s were we wouldn’t. But if any of these guys need to play as starters we won’t suffer very much.

Of course on offense the quarterback position is critical, especially in an offense like ours. I think a lot of questions were answered in a positive manner with the showing Tommy Keck had put on during our pre-season three weeks. He is a star in the making, and a great kid to boot.

We had a good blend of seniors and younger players, and our team attitude has been outstanding. The new guys, Brandon, J. P. and J. D. had stepped right in and taken over. All three are confidant football players, and haven’t for one second caused anyone to regret their arrival at Crater. It was obvious to everyone they had earned their starting spots by their play on the practice field. They were three huge additions to our team.

Wednesday’s practice featured a long team defense period, and it was close to full speed. Coach rarely allowed full contact during team time, and usually asked the players to form up on the ball carrier, and not take him to the ground.

Our guys had taken to the new three-three-stack alignment and seemed to be having as much fun as the offense. The starters at strong safeties, J. P. and Tony had shown themselves to be affective in coverage, but also dynamite in the blitz game off the edge. Gage and Mark were solid at the corners, and Dan Winters was relishing his move to safety, and shown us all it was a good decision. It was a close battle between Dan and Jared but it looked like Dan had a slight edge. And, he was a senior, and Coach always rewarded the senior if the battle was close. Everyone understood their time would come, and to be ready when called upon.

II

We finished the week with a Thursday night scrimmage under the lights on our game field. It was really a dress rehearsal for all the fall sport teams, and support groups. The soccer team did a short ‘workout’

mostly just a series of agility stuff that showed off how athletic they all were. Coach Logan was great, and always supported all the sport teams. Of course he let Cezar do double-duty, which we on the football team were all grateful.

The girl’s volleyball team didn’t play, but they all made an appearance, and had some fun ‘spiking’ some team-colored balloons into the rooting section. All this took place while the cross-country team, lead by my friend Hal Nagel, was doing laps around the track.

As for our part, coach liked to put on an offensive show. Our starters on defense only played sparingly, and never all eleven at the same time. We played a standard three-four not showing our new alignment on defense. There were always scouts in attendance, and coach told us on Wednesday, “I want to score about a hundred points, and scare the devil out of everyone of our opponents watching.”

Our JV guys would get most of the defensive playing time, and those starters that also played offense would spend a lot of time in their back up offensive role. For example J. P. would get some time at quarterback, and J. D. at running back. Coach had fiddled with a two back alignment, but I had the feeling it wasn’t going to be an every game thing, although J. D. had shown us all that he was a bruising force as a runner. I got the feeling that somewhere down the road that two back set might just show up at a very appropriate time.

As planned, we put up a lot of points in the controlled scrimmage, and our fans were in great spirits. We had come through the night and the entire three-week period without any injuries. There were typically some aches and some bruises, but nothing that couldn’t be cured by game time next Friday night. I’m not much of a believer in superstition, but I’ll knock on wood every time I get a chance.

Mr. Land’s band did a short ‘skit’ during a break in the scrimmage, and once again we could all tell they had put in some good summer effort as well, as they sounded in mid-season form. Not unusual, his

‘team’ was always ready on game night.

The rally squad had their ‘dress rehearsal,’ and looked to me to be very ready for the first game. I knew they had spent the summer in

more than one ‘camp’ and it showed. We had a new rally advisor and she was obviously an upgrade.

I had overheard her speaking to coach before the scrimmage, and was impressed with what she had to say.

“Coach, we don’t want to be the show, but we’re going to do everything we can to be a support group.”

The preseason practice time had come and gone, and now it was time for everyone to be in game shape. I had the feeling everyone was on track.

What’s the name of that song? “Chasing that neon rainbow”, I think. Well we’re chasing something; call it a rainbow or a trophy, either works. We’ll be living the ‘Honkey-Tonk’ dream.

Coach had lined up two non-league contests as usual. We would open on the road Vs Prairie View High, the same opener as last season, but this time on the road. And, for our home opener coach managed to schedule a powerhouse team from Nebraska as our second pre-season game.

FIVE

“BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER”

SIMON & GARFUNKEL

I

It was Monday of game week when word leaked out that we had another transfer. He was a big and physical looking guy, and played on the defensive line. I saw him with his parents in what looked like a serious discussion when I happened by the office of our athletic director Don Kling.

By the end of the school day there were all sorts of rumors flying around the locker room, and the school. I wasn’t sure how I felt about some of the things I had heard, as some of the talk wasn’t positive. If he was a good kid he certainly would be welcomed no matter how good a player he turned out to be. But, some of the gossip wasn’t very flattering.

Apparently he had been in two schools prior to arriving here at Crater. It turns out he was from Missouri, and word had it his parents were ‘shopping’ his talents around. Our success last year, and our high ranking might have influenced his arrival. This would be his third school in three years, and that, to me, was a very large red flag. We could certainly use another good defensive line player but, if he wasn’t a team first guy there would be more problems than he would be worth. Of course we all were anxious to see him in uniform, and to find out what kind of a teammate he might become.

On the way out to the practice field I noticed coach Vince in a discussion with coach Angelos, and didn’t need to ask what it was all about. The “transfer” had everyone’s attention. I know this, coach Angelos won’t allow a player to prostitute the program. His D-Line guys have always been hard nosed, and he will drill them in the fundamentals of the game for sure. The new guy will need to understand how to be coached.

Luke and I were walking together leaving the locker room, and he told me that during lunch he had a chance to speak with the new guy.

“All he could talk about was the awards he had won at various summer camps. He had a cocky and somewhat arrogant attitude, and I wasn’t impressed.”

I knew there are camps run by so called coaching experts that charged ridiculous fee’s, and then told everyone they would get them to the ‘Next Level’. I had to wonder who would believe all that phony propaganda.

“Did you have a chance to ask him about why he left his last school?”

“Yep, he told me the coach was an asshole. I didn’t ask about the first school. His answer would have obviously been the same.”

“So, you weren’t impressed?”

“Well, first impressions can be misleading, so I’ll just let this play out.”

“Good idea.”

It didn’t take long for that to happen. We were running what is called an ‘Inside” drill where the offensive and defensive lines worked together with the running backs on run plays, and pass protection.

I’m sure our new teammate was trying to impress everyone, but in my opinion he took it a bit too far, and stepped over the line. The drill was run with a controlled tempo that emphasized teaching technique over one-on-one match ups. But on the very first play he threw a forearm at Rob Wien on a pass rush in what was intended to be a three quarter ‘Form’ protection drill. Obviously Rob took offense, and coach Angelos had to quickly step in to keep it from getting out of hand. This wasn’t a good beginning. Rob was not a small guy, and he had shown he wasn’t about to back down from anyone, certainly not a new guy that was acting like a ‘Punk’.

I heard the new guy mumble something about you guys need to learn how to fight. I wanted to say this is football not a boxing ring, but thought better of it, and kept my mouth shut.

J. P. Ligott, Brandon Janes and J. D. Graves are transfers as well.

They all came to town and made it obvious from the beginning their first goal was to fit in with our team. This guy is different; his agenda doesn’t appear to include ‘team’, at least in my eyes.

By the time we got to team offense, at the end of practice I could tell our new teammate hadn’t made any friends. Coach Vince had to step in a time or two, and remind everyone this was service time for the

defense. Coach Nichols body language looked to me like he was about to lose it.

“Just line up where we want you to and remember ‘Offense’ wins.

Apparently the new guy didn’t hear very well because he was oblivious to those rules. The tension was as obvious as was his attitude, and both were thick. In my opinion, I thought this guy would be nothing but trouble, and we’d need to find a bridge over troubled water.

II

Another thing I wasn’t very impressed with was his parents were both sitting in the stands watching practice. Not that some parents weren’t at practice now and then, but they were never in the way, and never vocal. This was not the case with the new mom and dad. In fact, dad had somehow managed to slip across the track, and was standing near our team drill. After every play the new guy would look first at dad as if for instruction or for approval. This wasn’t looking very good.

Practice ended, and coach Vince called us together for a few comments.

“Guys, this game will be a great chance for us to make a statement. We’re coming off a great season, and we all have great expectations, as we should. But let’s keep it in perspective, and remember we need to take care of us, and not worry about them.”

All eyes, except one pair, were on coach as he spoke. The respect we all had for the man was well earned. It looked to me like the new guy didn’t respect anyone.

On Tuesday morning things heated up pretty quickly. When Luke and I entered school and passed by the administration office, I could see coach Vince, our principal, and our athletic director in a closed-door meeting. Somehow I knew what it was all about without being told. I couldn’t wait for my PE assistant class third period with coach Vince. It would give me a chance to hear what was going on.

Luke and I chatted during the break after second period.

“Have you seen our new teammate today,” I asked.

“Nope, but during first period, when I was heading for a counseling appointment, I saw his parents in with the administration.”

When third period arrived I didn’t have to wait very long to get caught up. As I entered the locker room coach waved me into his office, and shut the door.

“Eric, you are one of the leader’s of our team, and I wanted you to know what’s going on with our new transfer situation.”

Then he proceeded to tell me that the new guy quite possibly would be looking for a new home, again.

“Last night I did some checking with his coach in Missouri, who I happened to know, and what I heard wasn’t complimentary. He told me they couldn’t get rid of him, and his family soon enough.

Coach told me his colleague had said that the parents were a big pain in the ass, and looking for excuses to cause trouble. Apparently there was always a threat of a lawsuit about one thing or another. The kid was not a great player, and his on field attitude quickly turned everybody off. Also the coach had found out that in fact there was a pending law suit involving the coach at the school he had attended during his freshmen year.

Apparently shortly after the season ended the coach had told both the kid and his parents they were no longer welcome.

I asked coach what he intended to do, and he told me they were having a closed door meeting with the principal, the athletic director and the parents at noon. And that he would give his opinion at that time.

“Eric, I’ve seen this kind of thing before, and the outcome will depend on how our administration handles the entire situation. I know this, our administration won’t be bullied.”

I would love to be a mouse in the corner during that discussion.

When practice started our new teammate was a no show, and before we broke to begin coach addressed the situation.

“Guys I just wanted to let you know right away that our new transfer will be transferring to another school. I met with his parents, and our administration, and after a lively discussion they decided that Crater High was not for them. Now we’re going to move on and get ready for our Friday night challenge.”

I think our entire team was a step quicker, and certainly happier as we broke into individual warm up areas.

Later as we walked off the practice field I asked coach Vince,

“Coach I bet that meeting was interesting.”

“Son, let me tell you something I learned a long time ago. If your administration is strong, and willing to stand their ground and not be intimidated or threatened with lawsuits by parents, things usually work out for the best. I’ve seen it the other way, and it never works out well.

Thank goodness our AD and our principal are made of the right stuff.”

He went on to say “When Don hired me,” speaking about our athletic director Don Kling, “He said to me, I’ll ask that you put a team on the field that plays hard, is disciplined, and acts at all times with class. If you do that I’ll have your back no matter how the win/loss record turns out.”

I said, “So far coach the win/loss deal is working out pretty good.

What about our principal? He seems like a good guy does he have your back as well?”

“Jack Beech is as good as it gets. Sitting in that office there is a lot of pressure but he handles it easily. I’ll tell you this, Don and Jack are the best I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. And I say ‘with’

because the good ones make you feel like an equal.”

SIX

“ON THE ROAD AGAIN”

WILLIE NELSON

I

The drive to Prairie View was about two hours, and we were loaded and ready to go way before the starting time. Most of the players were standing outside the bus waiting for the coaching staff.

When coach Vince arrived Luke had a surprise gift for him.

“Coach we wanted to make sure you had a good supply of candy.

Hopefully this will last you for fourteen games.”

He handed coach a huge bag of ‘Jelly Beans’ to the applause of the entire team, and then we were on the road again.

As we headed up the highway the talk was mostly about getting the season started on the right path. But, there was certainly some chatter about our new look uniforms. Coach had changed the helmet color to white, and added a cool logo in shades of blue. It looked something like the Nike swoosh but with more color, and more substance. We also had added Carolina blue game pants. We would look great, and now we just had to play great.

The Cavaliers had given us a good game last season, and they had a veteran group returning. This wasn’t going to be an easy game, and the staff had made that plain the entire week of practice.

During the early group warm-up session coach Vince visited with their head coach. He had told us last year how much he respected Coach Loud, and I could tell by the greeting the feeling was mutual.

The locker room was quiet as coach Vince gave us our pre-game instructions.

“Remember boys the most important down is the next one, and the kickoff to our season is about ten minutes away. We’ll be returning the kick so let’s make a statement right away.”

In our return alignment Stevie was the deepest of the three deep guys with J. P. and Randy on either side. It was going to be a simple wedge return. Coach didn’t believe in fancy reverses and such, and

often told us spending time on kick off returns doesn’t make a lot of sense.

“Boys if we’re returning kick offs all the time we’re getting our butts beat.”

The stands were filled on both sides of the field. Ours was a typical visitor set of bleachers, and our crowd of followers spilled out onto the track surrounding the field. There were great expectations for sure, and it looked to me like our Comet fans didn’t want to miss any of the action.

We lined up, the whistle blew, the football soared into the early September sky, and the season began. Stevie gathered the football into his arms at the ten-yard line, and headed up field. At about the twenty he burst past the first defenders, and if he hadn’t been tripped up at the thirty he might have taken it all the way. As it was, we would begin on our own forty-one yard line.

Coach had given me the play on the sideline, and we huddled up so I could tell our guys. It called for a trips alignment, and I would roll out towards the single receiver. We had a trips right formation so I would be moving left, and the single receiver, on our sideline was Luke.

He had what coach called a ‘Choice’ route, meaning after seeing their defense Luke would signal his route so I would know his ‘Choice’. He gave the signal for an out route, which meant he would break back towards the sideline at a depth of twelve yards. The defensive back was playing soft, and Luke froze him with a burst before turning to the outside. My first throw as the starting quarterback was on the money.

First play, first completion, and first first down. Here we go.

We were into our no huddle up-tempo game immediately, and because the football was on the left hash mark our trips alignment was to the right. Coach signaled an option play. I would simply read the defensive alignment, and call the direction at the line of scrimmage with our ‘Cadence’. Like most teams we had ‘Hot’ words and ‘Cold’ words designed to confuse the defense. It was actually quite simple, a series of words, and numbers. I wasn’t sure defenses paid any attention anyway.

The defensive end came directly at me so I flipped a quick lateral to Stevie. He followed the three receiver blockers, and turned up field.

Their free safety made a nice ankle tackle, but not until after another twelve yard gain.

This time we lined up trips to our left, and coach signaled what we called ‘Eric’. It would be a pass, and I would select a receiver at the line of scrimmage, calling his route in the number sequence. They aligned with their secondary favoring our trips side, which left our right wide receiver in one on one coverage. Time to find out if Teddy was ready to compete as the full time starter. I called a ‘Waggle’ and sprinted left three steps before stopping. Turning to make the throw to the backside I saw Teddy had frozen the DB with an inside post move before flying past him with his ‘Go’ route. He was an easy five yards ahead of the frantic DB, and my pass fell into his arms at the ten-yard line. He breezed into the end zone with our first score of the year. Three plays, fifty-nine yards, touchdown Comets.

Cezar, now the full time kicker since John was off to Notre Dame, booted the extra point right down the middle of the uprights, and we led a stunned group of Cavaliers seven to zero. Fifty-two seconds had ticked off the score clock. I had a touchdown pass and my best buddy the first of what I thought would be many extra points. As he came off the field he pumped his fist, as I greeted him, and gave me a quick ‘high five’.

II

Prairie View had a lot of players returning on offense, and the experts had expected this to be a shootout. They had a new quarterback, but their best wide receiver returned, as did the tight end.

They were called the “H & H boys”. The wide receiver was Gary Hamelt and he was electric with the football in his hands. The tight end was Mike Hala and he was a beast, and a two time first team All-State player. He’s about 6’7 I think, and we’ll need to keep an eye on him all the time. They also had a little slot receiver who was quick as a cat.

His name was Garrett Sully and he was their main kick returner as well.

Both defenses were untested, and filled with new players. The good news for us was our new look defense was our best-kept secret.

The game plan was simple. Blitz the quarterback, and keep him from getting into rhythm. We would double the big tight end with our strong and free safety. That would leaver our young corners on Hamelt but if we harassed the QB enough that would help.

Our kick off game plan was to kick from the hash mark, cross field, and with a high kick coming down on about the opponent ten yard line.

Cezar had been working on this kick all summer, and to no ones surprise the hang time allowed our cover guys to swarm their running back on the fifteen. It was a goal of our special teams coach to hold teams return to inside the twenty. Coach Nook had a big smile on his face as the guys trotted off the field. Mission accomplished.

The Prairie View offense was a pro style set with a tight end and two wide receivers. They ran an “I-Formation” most of the time but also split the tailback at times to give a four receiver look.

Expectations

were high, and all our offensive guys were lined up near the sideline watching the action. They tried a toss play, to their fast tailback on first down. A simple play with positive results most of the time. Myke Vares made the play look like a bad call, as he forced the runner back inside where Scott Kenston and Ryan Kish combined to plant him in the turf for a two-yard loss. Good beginning.

Coach Nick called for an inside blitz on second down, expecting a pass, and he was right on. Their QB dropped straight back, and nearly before he could look downfield for a receiver J. D. and Myke arrived at the same time, causing a ten-yard loss. It was third down and twenty-two, on their own three-yard line. This, I’m sure, was not the start they had in mind, but our guys were pumped up and confident.

On third down we faked a blitz, and dropped eight into a zone coverage affectively blanketing their receivers. The QB had some time before our rush got to him, and his hurried throw out of the end zone was closer to Gage than their receiver. Fourth down and punt the football.

I had met their quarterback in an off chance meeting over the summer. It was at a semi-pro baseball game I had gone to with some of the guys. I didn’t know him but he came right up to me and said,

“You’re Eric Lewis right?”

“Well yes, do I know you?”

He spent the next five minutes telling me how he had watched both the state semi-final last year and the basketball title game.

“I just love the way you compete and I just hope I can come close to gaining the respect you have around this state.”

I was a bit surprised but he was a likeable kid.

“Thanks for the compliment. Can I ask, what’s your name?”

“Bill Flower, you know almost in bloom,” he said while showing a big grin.

“I’ll be the starting QB at Prairie View next fall and I think you guys will be coming to our place. I sure hope we can give you a game.”

Stevie and J. P. were dual safeties, and we played pretty conservative only rushing two. But their punter got off an excellent kick forcing Stevie back near the fifty-yard line to field the ball. He made the first two or three defenders miss, grasping at air as he stutter stepped to the right and then the left. Then he darted through a gap and sailed down our sideline.

He had told me more than once that he could beat anyone for forty yards, but he said, “At forty-one everyone would catch me.”

He was joking of course but their punter managed to make him prophetic as he pushed him out of bounds on the nine-yard line. A forty-one yard return, first and goal.

Coach called one of his favorite goal line pass plays, which basically called for the slot receivers to run crossing routes and the running back to slip into the flat. Both wide receivers would run go routes into the corner of the end zone. I had the option of hitting the running back or the crossing slot, depending on the defensive coverage. The outside linebacker picked up Stevie, which told me they were in a zone coverage. Toby crossing under his brother Thomas’s pick was wide open. He caught the ball and quickly handed it to the referee just like he’d done it before. Touchdown Comets.

To the credit of Prairie View, although shocked a bit I’m sure, they settled down, and played competitive the rest of the first quarter. But, on offense, they had a hard time picking up our new inside blitz scheme, and a periodic ‘Edge’ blitz by our strong safety kept them totally off balance.

By the start of the second quarter we had held them to two first downs, and the wide receiver had one catch, as did the slot, but the tight end had zero. Our fourteen to nothing lead looked good. Any questions about our defense were answered in a positive way, and our offense looked explosive.

On our third series we stumbled a bit. First I overthrew Luke on a simple curl route, and then on second down with no one open I tried to scramble. It could have been a nice gain but while avoiding the pass rush I was tripped up just before breaking free. On third and ten I missed Thomas on a deep crossing route, again with an over thrown ball. I wasn’t happy with that series as I felt it was all my fault. But I also knew I wasn’t going to dwell on the negative.

I had a scowl on my face as I knelt on the sideline, and Teddy was quick to notice.

“Hey buddy relax Joe Montana has missed a receiver or two, and you won’t see him pouting on the sideline.”

I jumped up, motioning him to move away a bit, and we began playing catch as I was working on my footwork.

“Thanks buddy, I’ll be fine.”

That was the case as we scored twice more to take a twenty-eight to zip half time lead into the locker room. Both touchdowns came on passes, one to Luke and the other to Bill Fay, getting some playing time behind Thomas. He made a circus catch in the corner of the end zone.

We’ve got a bunch of receivers that make a quarterback look good. Welcome back Bill.

The mood was confidant in the locker room. Each coach chatted quietly with his group of players before we broke into offense and defense teams gathering in opposite ends of the locker room. Coach Nick spoke with the defense in his usual determined tone. He had a way about him that didn’t allow for players to mentally wander into never-never land.

Coach Vince pointed out a couple possible weaknesses in the Cavalier defense, which he felt we could take advantage of with our audible system. It was actually pretty simple, and I had the option of changing the play call at any time.

Coach reminded me more than once, “My play call is a suggestion son, a gut feeling, just look at the defensive alignment, and either stay with the call or change it.”

Of course he had prepared me during the week to look for certain things, like how they adjust to a trips formation. Do they slide the linebackers, or the safeties? It was simple to see, and easy to change a play if necessary.

Defensive pressure can hurt any offense so we spend a lot of time working in practice Vs a seven-man front. Most teams that try that will blitz off the edge of our formation, and we’ve got a couple simple adjustments to attack that strategy. The last thing coach reminded me of was exactly that possibility, “Look for the edge blitz son, and be ready to audible to the option.”

On our very first second half series, with a second and six challenge, they showed blitz. Coach has been in this game for a long time, and has an uncanny ability to be a step ahead of our opponent in

his approach. We were in a balanced set we call ‘Deuce’, both slots aligned half way between the wide receiver and offensive tackle. The outside linebackers were both sneaking up for the blitz, and my first read was the depth of their safeties. They were both about ten yards deep and moving forward, a definite clue it was going to be a man-to-man coverage.

I called the simple audible, and we ran a speed option towards one of their blitzing linebackers. He was in my face fast, but I was ready, coach always said, “Think pitch son, the keep will show later.”

Our slot and wide receiver on the play side simply ran go routes, occupying the defensive backs playing man coverage. Stevie took the pitch, and had nothing but green grass in front of him. He broke past the lunging defensive back that had finally recognized the run play, and sailed the sixty-six yards into the end zone.

They finally got untracked a bit, and finally got into a rhythm. True to form Mike Hala made some fantastic catches, and made it look so easy. They scored in the third quarter on a well-executed play action pass to the big guy, who had shaken the coverage, and was open in the corner of the end zone.

After that, we shut them down, and it was pretty much over. By the forth quarter all our starters were on the sideline. They got another score Vs our subs, and for us Tommy Keck lead two nice drives, neither resulting in a score, but I’m sure it helped his confidence. It was his first varsity game action, and it was great to see him step up to the task.

Both J. J. and Blake looked good, and I can see a great future with Tommy throwing to those two.

SEVEN

“ENDLESS HIGHWAY”

ALISON KRAUSS

I

The final score was forty-two to fourteen. We were off and running, and it was great to get off to such an impressive beginning.

I heard coach Loud tell coach Vince as they met at midfield, “Holy cow coach, you could have scored sixty on us.”

“We were pretty hot that’s for sure but your guys will rally, and I know by next week you’ll fix any leaks in the ship.”

“You give me too much credit, but I’ll do my best.”

“Just keep finding ways to get the H & H boys and Sully the football, and you’ll make it tough for anyone.”

Coach wished him good luck with a pat on the back, and a thumbs up.

I got a chance to speak with Bill Flower after the game and tried to encourage him as best I could.

“Keep your head up Bill. We’re pretty good so don’t let this game drag you down. Ok? You guys have a lot of weapons and Coach Loud will fix things in a hurry I’m sure.”

“I was hoping we’d give you a better game. Maybe I tried too hard, but you’re right Coach will right the ship.”

Coach Nook has done a great job with our special teams, and we look at the kick off team almost as another offensive weapon. Because of Cezar’s ability to locate a kick we can adjust the aiming point after we get a look at the opponents return alignment. For example if we place the football on the right hash mark we can then kick right to right, or right to left or onside. Like our offensive we’ll make those calls before executing the play. Cezar was also a perfect six-for-six on extra points, and his deep kick offs were mostly un-returnable. Of course Cezar is having a blast in his part time role, and still leading the soccer team as a returning All-State player.

The bus ride home was pretty festive for a while as everyone was excited after getting the season started on such a good note. The last

hour it got pretty quiet, but it wasn’t an endless highway, and most of us were asleep when the driver pulled into the school parking lot.

The last thing coach Vince said to us before we left the locker room was typical coach psychology.

“Boys, lets remember there are two groups that need to think we’re better than we are, Us and Them.”

It’s all about confidence, and right now we knew ‘Us’ was better than ‘Them’. But our next challenge would tell the real story. The purple and white Omaha Central Eagles would be a stern test.

They have been a perennial power in football in Nebraska for decades, and include such honored alumni as the legendary Gayle Sayers who played his college football at Kansas, know as the ‘Kansas Comet’ and his entire NFL career with the Chicago Bears. His friendship with fellow Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo was the basis for the movie “Brian’s Song”.

“Hey great start buddy,” said Cezar as we got out of his clunker car.

He was heading to his bungalow room over our garage, and I countered with, “I could get used to this feeling.”

We were both supporting big grins as the night came to a close. I think I was asleep even before my head hit the pillow, but the good news was I would have some pleasant dreams. My junior year has gotten off to a great beginning, and I couldn’t wait for the next challenge.

II

Over the weekend I received a few phone calls from college recruiters. Since I was a junior it was OK for college coaches to make calls to prospective players. After one call dad asked, “Son, how do you feel about all this attention?”

I thought for a moment before answering. “I think it’s what I’ve dreamed about all my life. Now I’m going to be able to have enough time to make the right decision about what school to attend.”

“What is it that you’re looking for?”

“Dad, I want the school to have a successful program, and I want it to be a good school. Someday football will end, and I want to have the kind of education that will make it easy to find the right job.”

“Just let me tell you that this college decision is going to be all yours, but if you need any help your mother and I will be ready to offer our opinions.”

“Thanks dad, and I want this to be a positive experience so I’m going to try to be as honest as possible with recruiters. If I don’t like a school I hope I have the courage to just tell them no thanks.”

“If it gets to that and a coach just won’t take no for an answer I’ll be very happy to intercede on your behalf.”

Knowing my dad I knew that wouldn’t be hard for him to do. I think his Croatian heritage would make it easy for him to defend his oldest son. He could be very persuasive when circumstance called for that.

All this attention got me to thinking a bit about where I wanted to go, and I had a list of schools already written down. Of course the University of Iowa was on top, and Nebraska was a very close second.

I wasn’t so sure about Missouri, although their head coach, Warren Powers, had played at Nebraska, and had the team playing well. I guess that should be enough to keep Mizzou on my list.

Because Iowa was in the Big Ten I was leaning towards schools in that conference. Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, bordering states, all fell into that category. But, I liked the Big Eight schools too. The Big Red Cornhuskers of course and Missouri, but also Kansas and Kansas State had some interest in my mind.

Mom had asked me about Notre Dame a time or two and there was part of me that thought I’d certainly like to visit, and see what it felt like to walk on that historic campus. UCLA and Washington were the class of the west at the moment, and Penn State in the east. But I wanted my school choice to be close enough that my family could watch me play, so that ruled out schools on the east or west coast. And places like Georgia and SMU were just too far away. Even Big Ten powers like Ohio State and Michigan were just too distant.

The first call I received was from an assistant at Nebraska. His name was Frank Solich, he had played at Nebraska, and had been on the coaching staff since 1979. He introduced himself, and then proceeded to tell me that they had watched me play since last season, and had me high on their recruiting list. We small talked for a while, and then he assured me they would be following my career closely. He wished me good luck, and the team as well. I was very impressed with his professionalism. Wow, I needed to make sure I didn’t let this

attention affect how I played or how I prepared to play. I wanted to use it as a motivating tool.

Later Luke dropped by, and I told him about my day fielding calls from college coaches. Luke sometimes helped me, and we chatted about possible college choices a lot. He knew his size, and possibly speed would make it hard for him to play at the D-1 level, but there was no doubt he wanted to keep playing football.

“I think Ball State might be a good choice for me,” he told me during one conversation.

“That’s in Indiana, how about something closer to home like Drake?”

“I’m not sure I want to be that close to home,” he countered.

“Really? Why?”

“Well hell, how can I be the campus hellion and get away with it if I’m within reach?”

“Very true my good friend, very true.”

EIGHT

“DOUBLE WIDE PARADISE”

TOBY KEITH

I

The weekend was pretty uneventful other than watching college games on Saturday, and the NFL on Sunday. The University of Iowa Hawkeyes got hammered, by Nebraska 42-7. It was supposed to be somewhat of a building year after the Rose Bowl season a year ago, and it looked to me like there was a lot of ‘building’ to do. We were actually slightly closer to Lincoln, Nebraska, home of the Cornhuskers, than to Iowa City where the Hawkeyes are located. To tell the truth I actually root for both teams, but when they played my Iowa roots make’s it hard for me to root for the ‘Huskers’. But I do really like the way coach Tom Osborne runs the program in Lincoln.

The NFL is a mess. It looks like the player’s strike will delay the opening of the regular season. I’m not sure I can get into watching my favorite teams with reduced rosters, and the stars watching at home.

Maybe some golf on Sunday’s would make more sense.

The high school rankings are out, and we are in the third position.

It’s the highest ranking ever for Crater, and I hope we can prove to the voters that we deserve it. We’ve had a great run that began last year in football, continued in hoops, and of course the state title in baseball was the frosting on our cake. The confidence that success brings is obvious, and you can just feel it in the locker room. I just want to make sure that we understand we have to earn respect by playing with skill, but also with class.

Our next opponent, the Omaha Central Eagles, have been knocking on the state title door in Nebraska for a few years. Last season they, like us, made it to the semi-final, before suffering a close loss. Sound familiar? It will be our home opener, and certainly there will be a bit of state bragging rights at stake. I think playing such a strong opponent is a win-win for us regardless of the outcome.

Central featured a ground game that was similar to what coach Osborne runs at Nebraska. It’s a power run game but also features

some option elements. Their quarterback is a returning starter, so I’m sure our defense will be put to the test early and often. But if the effort we showed last Friday on defense is an indication, we’ll be up to the task.

I feel great about where we are on the offensive side of the football. Stevie and the twins have moved into the system with ease, and I love all the threats we have at the so called ‘Skill Positions’. The new look offensive line gave me excellent protection, and are physical enough to make our run game nearly equal to our pass game. I’m sure coach will have a new ‘wrinkle’ or two come Monday at practice, he usually does.

I wasn’t surprised when on Monday coach “tweaked” our pass protection scheme. We can drop back or sprint out, and coach felt the sprint out was becoming too difficult, so he changed it to a short sprint-stop action. Defensive ends seem to be determined to beat the offensive tackle up field, making it very difficult to get to the edge like we want to. Coach now wants the offensive tackle to work the defensive end up field instead of hooking him, and I’ll set up inside that block. The running back will now set inside the tackle, and work back to help the inside protection.

“The best thing about this change is the ball will get out faster, and our pass pattern will have more flow,” coach told us as we walked through the change.

“It also makes the ‘throw back’ pass easier, and we’ll add a few patterns on the back side of the action.”

Coach Edwards worked with the quarterbacks on the drop during individual practice time.

“It’s more of a angle drop with vertical steps, than a horizontal sprint.”

He went on to show us a three-step drop setting up inside the tackle. To the right, for a right-handed QB it is a three step action.

Going to the left it will require a fourth step, which is really more of a hop. To get the footwork right it takes a bit of practice, but after the drill I felt like it would soon be ‘old hat’.

II

The Eagles run a three-four defense, and look to play mostly zone in the secondary. It looks to me like their two safeties play fairly tight

which coach thinks will open up some of our vertical routes on the sideline. For example, in our trips formation we can run the outside two receivers on ‘go’ routes, and the inside receiver to the flat. This causes the corner back to sit in his short zone, while forcing the safety to try and cover both deep receivers. The key is to deliver the football quickly, because the longer the ball is in the air the more time the safety has to adjust. There is a ‘hole’ in the zone about fifteen yards deep on the sideline that we hope to take advantage of with what we call a Go-Shoot pattern.

Watching video during lunch has become a standard operating procedure for our little group of receivers. Toby, Thomas, Teddy, Blake, and Luke all have the same lunch period that I do, so we “brown bag” it and spend the time watching video of our upcoming opponent.

It’s pretty casual, but I’m always amazed at the suggestions my friends have after watching.

Luke keeps things loose with his chatter, and even though Blake is only a sophomore he isn’t afraid to offer his opinion. The twins are catching on fast, and asking all the right questions.

“If the corner stays in the flat do I still run my ‘Shoot’ route,” asked Toby.

It was a good question because by doing so he would certainly be covered.

“When the corner squats and picks you up, it only opens up the other inside receiver on a vertical route.”

I then showed him the pattern Vs that zone on the white board.

“Oh, ok I get it. Football has some of the same techniques we use in hoops.”

“Yep, there is a lot of reading the defense, and running to open spots.”

We have a lot of fun during our lunch period video time, and sometimes our offensive line guys join in the sessions. Another of our transfer’s, Brandon Janes, was settling in nicely at offensive guard. He was a great addition, and filled a spot we all had been a bit worried about. He’s six-four and about two hundred sixty pounds of football player, but his sense of humor keeps us all laughing. He’s no football grunt that’s for sure. His father had taken an administrative position in the school system, as Principal of our junior high.

At the other offensive guard spot Jake Luce showed in the first game that he was up to the task. Both our new guards have good

mobility and size. Of course Mike Frich started all thirteen games last year at center, and gives our line the type of senior leadership that is always necessary. In the end, I think this group will prove to be better than last years line.

Mike was a year older than me but we quickly established a great relationship. It’s important that the center and quarterback be on the same page. With Mike it was easy because he is a guy everyone looks up to. Need anything done? Mike is the first to volunteer.

Our two junior offensive tackles were opening a lot of eyes. They are in many ways clones. Both are close to six foot-four, and in the mid two-forty range. They have the kind of frame the D-1 guys are looking for. It wouldn’t surprise me if we had three, Brandon, Beau, and Rob, major college scholarship guys playing for us. That’s a luxury I’m going to enjoy for the next two years. It’s sort of like standing behind a double- wide paradise of offensive linemen.

After practice on Monday we decided to hit our favorite gathering spot, the ‘Doorway’. It was an over-the-hill restaurant that had become our home away from home last year, after the bowling alley changed ownership.

The group included Stevie, and all the receivers. We didn’t talk much football though, it was more of a social time, and the banter always leaned towards good natured kidding. Blake, being a sophomore, was the butt of more than one joke, usually initiated by Teddy, but he had figured that out right away, and went along with everything in a good natured manner.

Teddy looking at Blake asked, “How are things going with that slick little bird I see you walking the halls with?”

“She ain’t no sparrow buddy, more like a swallow.”

That caused a few chuckles within the group.

“So, what does she swallow?”

Before Blake could answer I said, “Oh my let’s not go that direction guys.”

Teddy’s reaction was to give Blake a questioning look while simulating a pretty normal teenage boy activity.

“You’re the dreamer me thinks,” added Toby as his brother Thomas just sat back, and while smiling broadly said, “Can we change the subject please?”

About that time the waiter arrived, and we began our snack ordering.

“Bring me a piece of that banana cream pie please,” The sweet tooth orders that followed were typical, a lot of pie and soft drinks.

Our session lasted about an hour before it broke up, and we all headed home. The question how much fun was it to be a teenage athlete on a winning team was easy to answer. It was serious fun here in Crater.

NINE

“NOTHIN’ BUT THE TAILIGHTS”

CLINT BLACK

I

The week flew by, and before I knew it we were in the locker room dressing for our home opener. I just love to put on the game uniform.

It’s always given me a rush even back in ‘Pop Warner’ football. In my dreams I’m sitting in the locker room at UI, and then in the NFL with the 49ers, and it’s exactly the same feeling. Amazing.

Luke and I were walking the field, a ritual we always did on home games. We just walked from goal post to goal post and tried to drink in the game day atmosphere. We had done it ever since we both played our first varsity game last year as sophomores.

We were about done and heading toward the gate where people were already lined up when I noticed a couple of our best supporters walking toward us. Jerry Mann and his son were our radio broadcasters. They were legend in the Crater area and did all three sports.

“Hey Eric, ready to go tonight?” It was Jerry, the father.

“Think so, you know what coach always tells us, “Prepare to win, Expect to win and Believe.”

It was the son Gill who spoke next.

“He has quite a few of those I hear,” speaking about Coach Vincetti.

“Luke and I are going to co-author a book of his sayings. We call them Vincisms.”

We chatted for a while longer and headed in different directions for a different type of game preparation.

The “Specialists” were out early as usual, and as we approached the field I saw coach Vince leaning against the goal post while observing the scene. He always does that, and someday I’ll have to ask why.

Our stands were nearly full, and it was one hour before kick off.

There weren’t many fans on the Central side, but I’m sure they would be filled too before kick off. This was an important game for both teams. Not just to measure two good teams from different states, but because it would tell us just how good we are, and maybe what we need to improve on before heading into our league schedule.

Our coaches had prepared us for Central’s power/option offense, and I was anxious to see how our guys preformed. The good news is I’m sure the Eagles haven’t seen much of our three-three stack defense, and that could certainly be an advantage for us. They ran a standard defense but they could give us seven man pressure by blitzing their outside linebackers. But, we have two excellent audible’s that should slow down much of that if we can execute. The problem is we can only block six of the seven, and I have the unblocked guy. I’ll need to recognize who he is, while making sure the audible call allows for me to have enough time. Hopefully our quick pass game will allow me all the time I need.

The purple and white clad Eagles looked impressive as they took the field for warm ups. I didn’t see any out of shape players as they began their pre game team exercises. One thing was a bit strange.

They were on their side of the fifty-yard line but just barely. Their captains were crowding our side of the line, and they had about fifty players all looking directly at us. I thought it was simply an effort to intimidate, and I’d never seen it before.

It looked to me like they had a college coaching staff, because there had to be at least ten coaches decked out in identical coaching gear. They all wore purple sweatshirts, and matching caps, khaki colored pants, and black shoes. The other thing is they all had a scowl on their face. One of their coaches made it obvious during special team time, as he had a stopwatch out, and was timing our snap and kick.

Then he would look at his watch, and frown as if to say, that’s not good enough buddy. I just looked at him, shook my head and laughed.

On the other hand our coaching staff wore different gear. They all had some powder blue, but it wasn’t all the same. Some wore caps, some didn’t, and the shoes were different colors as well. Coach had kidded us a time or two about never having won a ‘Pre game’ warm-up.

We wouldn’t win this one either. But like he says, we’ll concentrate on winning the ‘Game’.

I had been elected as one of our captains along with seniors Stevie, Teddy, and Mike. To me it was a real honor to be included with that group. As we approached midfield for the coin toss the atmosphere was electric. You could see the other players bouncing up and down on both sidelines in anticipation of the game’s start.

Their captains were very stern and business like, and even when we shook hands they said nothing but stared directly into our eyes.

Another intimidation tactic, and I wondered if they had a script to follow.

They called heads, and the coin came up heads. They chose to receive, and acted like it was somehow their right of passage to win the coin toss. Maybe it was, but it turned out that was about the only thing they won. I wondered if they were having any fun playing football. We were, and maybe that, in the end, was the difference.

Coach Nook told Cezar to kick away from their star tailback, who aligned up as the deep man on their return team. The whistle blew, the football soared into the air, the crowds on both sides exploded with cheer, and the game was on.

Our kick coverage team pinned them down inside the twenty. You could see they were a confidant team as they broke the huddle. Maybe they lost a bit of that when they ran a power right for no gain, followed by an option left which lost a yard. On third down they ran a draw that also lost a yard. Our defense had met the challenge and forced a quick punt.

Stevie fielded their punt on our forty-yard line, and scooted into their territory. We broke the huddle, and quickly settled into our trips alignment. It was a pass with a short sprint action, which we had worked on all week. Their down three defensive linemen were all tall, and athletic looking so we’d find out right away if the new scheme would work or not.

Our inside slot receiver ran a twelve yard out route, and the other slot a quick sideline cut. Our wide receiver ran a go route so I had three options on the play, depending on how they dropped. Their outside linebacker drifted toward the outside taking away the out route, but by so doing left open the deeper out. I hit Thomas in stride, and we picked up a first down, and fifteen yards. I had no pressure, and the pocket allowed me freedom and time to pick out the open receiver.

Another trips formation, and a different route accomplished the same result. This time I hit the inside slot on a quick out cut, and Toby picked up twelve yards, and the second first down. We had first down

on their fourteen-yard line, and quickly lined up for our third play. It was the same sprint action but this time I slipped the football to Stevie on our sprint-draw play, and he scampered untouched into the end zone off a great kick-out block by Brandon. Cezar nailed the P.A.T. and we had ourselves a very quick seven-zip lead.

II

Cezar kicked off into the end zone, and they took over on the twenty yard line. Three runs later they faced a fourth and ten. The punt snap sailed over the punter’s head, and out of the end zone for a safety. Their ‘Swagger’ sort of disappeared after that. It wasn’t looking good for the Eagles.

We took over at the fifty after their kicker shanked the kickoff out of bounds. The thing about having two slot receivers that were six five is it gives you a great advantage in most of the underneath routes. Toby and Thomas had returned to football with vigor. Both were great targets in the pass game, and the bonus is both of them were excellent blockers. Our run game was going to be way better than we had anticipated.

We mixed two passes with three runs, and found ourselves with a first down on Central’s two yard line. We knew they would bring the

‘House,’ and they did. Our speed option play was the perfect call, Stevie took the pitch, and waltzed into the end zone. After Cezar’s P.A.T., it was sixteen zip. The clock had ticked off six minutes in the first quarter.

The rest of the half was more of the same, mistake after mistake by the Eagles, and near perfection for the Comets. Coach used a liberal substitution pattern, and all our young receivers found playing time. So did Bill Fay. It was so good to see my Yeti buddy back in football gear. He wasn’t a great athlete, but got everything out of his body. His self-discipline was really incredible, and I know it was that, and his consistency that allowed him to help our team.

We had a comfortable thirty to nothing halftime lead. No one saw this coming, least of all the visitors. They trouped into their locker room with shock or dismay or disbelief or panic on their collective faces, both players and coaches. The look a like Eagle coaching staff was assembled just outside the locker room, and it looked to me like the

head coach wasn’t a happy camper. He was yelling loud enough for everyone to plainly hear.

The assistant coaches were looking pretty defensive, as they lined up against the building’s outer wall, and listened to the head whistle scream, “What the hell is going on here?” As they concentrated their vision on their matching black shoes.

I thought it was simple, we were concentrating on playing football, while their concentration was all on how to try and intimidate, wrong choice for the Eagles. I love playing teams that compete, and play the game right. As for Central it won’t bother me at all to see nothing but their tail-lights as they crawl back to Omaha.

They obviously had a lot of good athletes, and my thought was if they quit playing intimidation games and just played football for the love of the game, they would be very good. Maybe they’ll learn a lesson, and instead of returning home with their tails between their legs decide to concentrate on fundamentals of football. If I were them, I’d start by moving my pre-game warm up near their own end zone.

There were a lot of smiling faces as the clock ran down on our forty-eight to nothing whitewash victory. Our defensive coaches were beaming like parents over a newborn. And they had reason to be happy. We dominated their offense, and held the Eagles to a eighty-eight yard total. We swarmed to the football the entire game, and their run game was a non-factor. They didn’t have much of a pass game either, but also had almost no time to throw. It seemed to me like we had defenders running free in their backfield all night long.

The linebacker corps was especially impressive. Led by J. D., they were flying around, making plays all over the field. Scott had at least two solo sacks, and Myke forced a fumble and seemed to be in the right place constantly. While the Eagle tailback argued with his linemen after another Myke tackle behind the line of scrimmage, he casually walked back toward our defensive huddle. The chaos our defensive was causing the Eagles was lighting up our sideline. There were a lot of smiles on faces of the powder blue Comet players.

As we left the field coach was speaking with the local sports reporter as I walked past.

“Eric, stay a moment, Jerry would like to speak with you a moment.”

Coach was referring to Jerry Helmer who was the lead high school reporter for the Crater Review.

As I waited I remembered coach Vince’s words about how to handle the media.

“Remember to treat them as your friend. They’re not the enemy.”

“Great game, Eric.” Said Jerry as he turned to me with his note pad in hand.

“Thank you. Tonight we had all cylinders humming together.”

We spoke for five minutes or so, and I gave credit to our defense, and our offensive line. They never get enough credit when things go well and a lot of criticism when thing’s don’t.

For those who wanted to brag about states rights, and such, it was a great opportunity. But for the players we just enjoyed a night of near perfection. Standing in the shower along side Luke and Cezar I said,

“I’m going to remember this one for a long time. Bringing the beast down to size is awesome. I’m not sure it will ever get better than this.”

Our little gathering at the ‘Doorway’ had turned into more of a team thing. I’m not sure the place could handle the entire team, but that wasn’t my problem. It wasn’t just football players, but friends as well.

Sometimes the girls Val, Karen, Jackie and Marsha would liven up the evening with their presence. Tim, Bill and Doug were nearly always in attendance. Doug usually kept me in my place with some sarcastic criticism, which frankly I enjoyed. Sometimes others like Mickey De Bell and Joe Dale would join in the fun.

Val had volunteered to host the group on Saturday night again.

We usually spent a joyful time visiting and listening to typical high school music.

“Hey Val,” said Doug. “How about a party, in think it’s time.”

“Funny you should ask, we’ve just been talking about that. Let’s do it.”

The banter over burgers and fries was lively as you would think, and it didn’t slow down until the party began breaking up around eleven thirty, after the local sports on TV.

We had planned to go to the Iowa game on Saturday, and as we left the restaurant Luke asked, “What time should we leave?”

“I think around ten will work. That will get us there in plenty of time.”

“Yes usually, but it’s the interstate game with Iowa State, and there will be a huge crowd.”

“All that will do is make it more fun. See you at ten buddy, and go Hawks!”

It turned out we had a great time. Even though our Hawkeyes got handled by the Cyclones. The nineteen-to-seven score was larger than it first looked as the Iowa offense struggled all day long. Their season was off to a zip and two beginning, which had to be discouraging after the Rose Bowl team of last season. The good news is neither loss is in Big Ten play. They have a road game next week, at Arizona, before opening league play at home against the Northwestern Wildcats.

Hopefully they’ll get a win in the desert, and turn their season around.

On the other hand the Nebraska Cornhuskers throttled an outmanned New Mexico State team 68-0 in a laugher. Next week was a big game at Penn State. They were ranked number two in the nation behind the Pittsburg Panthers. The Huskers were ranked number three.

We got home in time to drop by Val’s. Most of the guys were playing pool but I spent more time upstairs chatting with mostly the girls. Mickey De Bell was the only other guy in the room. He was pretty quiet most of the time but had a sly wit and kept everyone laughing with his one liners.

We were pretty tired after the drive to and from the Iowa game so we didn’t stay very long. I said my hello and good night to mom and dad and headed for my bedroom.

Rankings don’t always tell the whole truth, and sometimes teams fall under the radar overlooked for much of the season. That was the case last season for us, but our number three ranking after this seasons first week made it impossible to sneak up on anyone. I couldn’t wait for the rankings to come out this week. After our impressive victory, in what was supposed to be a dogfight game, might even move us up a spot.

Next week league play would begin, and it was always a challenge. I’m sure the Canyon Valley League would once again prove to be challenging. One could go to the bank on that. Our first league game was against Washington at home. The Cardinal would come to town with a one win, one loss record. It would be the second season under their controversial head coach, who last season, amid turmoil, had taken over on an ‘interim’ basis for ‘Rock Bee’, a state legend.

TEN

“DREAM WALKING”

TOBY KEITH

I

The state high school football poll came out today, and we have moved up to number two in the rankings. Of course that’s an honor to our school, and our program, but we’ll need to keep ‘rankings’ in perspective. There was a buzz around the halls, and more than one of my teachers congratulated me on the season’s beginning. I tried to be humble, and reminded everyone we had to perform on the field and let everything else take care of itself.

Patti Wylie, one of our English teachers, was a real sports fan and always went out of her way to say something nice to me. She had been my teacher as a freshman, and I still tried to spend some time chatting with her about sports. I think she must watch sports center all the time because she was always up on the latest news.

“Big win, Eric.” She said as I passed by in the hallway outside her room.

“Thanks Ms. Wiley. We played awesome.”

Later I spoke with one of the track coaches, Charles Smith, who had two son’s play here at Crater. He was, like most of our faculty, very supportive, especially of Coach Vince, and never missed a game.

“Great effort Eric.” He said as we passed in the hall. “I’ll be sure to let the boys, speaking of his two sons, know how good we’ve become. They still bleed Comet Blue and White.”

I had a chance to speak with coach Vince during my PE assistant class. I wanted to know more about why he had the pre-game ritual of leaning on the goal post.

“Coach, I’ve noticed you leaning on the goal post pretty much every game as we come out for our special team warm-up. Is that something you’ve always done?” Coach just laughed, and then went on to tell me why.

“I had the good fortune to coach a game in Alabama during the

‘World Football League’ days a number of years ago. I was an assistant coach of the Portland Storm, and we were playing the Birmingham Stallions in Alabama. I had been an admirer of coach Bear Bryant for many years, and just playing a game in the same stadium where he coached, was a thrill for me.”

“Wow, and why the goal post thing?”

“Bear had the ritual, and I’ve seen many pictures of him leaning against the goal post. So about twenty minutes before we were to take the field with special teams, I grabbed one of the other assistant coaches, and told him to come with me, I needed a witness. We walked out onto the field, and I leaned up against the near goal post, and asked my friend to do the same. Then after about five minutes we walked to the other end and did it again. The assistant, totally puzzled, asked me,

“What are we doing this for?”

“I paused for a moment and then said to him, Bear Bryant has leaned on both these goal post’s, and now I can say me and Bear Bryant have this in common.”

“That’s pretty cool coach. Who was the other coach?”

“His name is Ron Morrer. He was a veteran coach who had been at nearly every level. We were good friends and although I was just a first year assistant at that level, unlike some others, he treated me as an equal.”

“I’ve done that before every game I’ve coached since that day.”

“He’s been a legend for a long time. Have you ever met him?”

“That’s another good story. Actually I’ve met him twice. The first time was in San Francisco for the national football coach’s convention.

The banquet was in a big dinning room at some swank hotel, and it was packed. One of the reasons was the coaches association was recognizing John Wayne as their Guest of Honor.”

“And I bet you know that Duke Wayne played football at USC

under his real name, Marian Morrison.”

“I sure did.”

I went on to say, “The Bear and the Duke. You must have been thrilled because I know John Wayne is one of your all-time favorite actors.”

“I was, but it didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped.”

“Really, why was that?”

“Before the banquet began there was a line at the head table where the Duke was sitting, and Bear Bryant sat next to him. Coaches were lined up asking for his autograph. The banquet program had a great picture of him riding a stallion on the front cover. So, I decided to join the group waiting. About that time the master of ceremonies made an announcement asking to give Mr. Wayne some space. Of course he meant to keep others from joining the line of autograph seekers. But I was already there so, I stayed, and it wasn’t long before I was next in line.

Then coach Bryant, sitting next to the Duke, looked at me and said, “Didn’t you hear the announcement?”

“Before I could answer Mr. Wayne said, It’s ok, no problem,” and reached for my program. Bear just frowned.”

“Wow, you said you met him twice though. Was the second meeting any different?”

Coach laughed again, and told me the second story.

“I was at a clinic in Seattle, Washington, and between sessions I was waiting for the elevator. No one else was around, and when the door opened Bear Bryant was standing alone in the elevator. It had been two or three years since the San Francisco banquet, and there was no way he would have remembered me, but I was scared to death.

As I stepped in and joined him in the elevator, I said something stupid like, hello Mr. Bryant, hoping he had no clue who I was. The ‘Hello son’

answer he gave me put me quickly at ease, and I immediately began breathing at a normal rate again.”

“How old were you then coach?”

“I had just begin my coaching career, so I was either twenty-five or six.”

“Nice. Is it true that he’ll retire at the end of the year? Seems like I read that somewhere.”

“I’m not sure if he’s made it official, but that’s the rumor I hear.”

And then coach went on to say, “You know I’ve had a bunch of experiences in my coaching career that I cherish, and meeting both John Wayne and Bear Bryant are at the top of my list.”

“Is the Bear your only coaching idol?”

“No actually I’m equally impressed with another coach, Wayne Woodrow, ‘Woody’ Hayes to be exact.”

“Didn’t he get fired at Ohio State for hitting a player?”

“He did son, and I’m sure he regretted that. He had quite a temper, but he was a taskmaster, and demanded a lot from players and coaches alike. His teams played with the kind of discipline that I always hoped mine would.”

“Did you ever meet him?”

“Not officially ,but I listened to him more than once in clinics, and he was so professional it was no wonder he demanded so much from others.”

Coach told me how he admired that coach Hayes was an historian and well read.

“I’ve read a few books about coach Hayes and there is a lot more there than just a football coach. The book “100 Yard War” is especially good. You should try to read it when you get the chance.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.”

II

During our lunch time video session with our little group, I told everyone about why coach leaned on the goal post before games.

Luke asked, “Do you think we should start calling him ‘Little Bear’?

And Thomas chimed in with, “No, ‘Little Duke’ sounds better.”

“I wouldn’t touch either of those with a ten foot pole.”

Everyone just laughed, and we continued with our film evaluation of this week’s opponent.

Washington high school had been a power in Iowa for years under coach Bee. He had been forced out a year ago, and his replacement was a very controversial guy who, after a poor first season, has managed to stay afloat, and still has the job. They have a win over a division three team and a loss to North Omaha in an inter-state game last week in Omaha.

Their team last season must have set a record for unsportsmanlike penalties, and it would be interesting to see if anything had changed on that front. There were more than a few instances in our game that I clearly remember.

At practice Coach Vince spoke only briefly about the Washington attitude after complimenting us on our effort Vs Central.

“Boy’s that was a great win, but we all need to remember we did that through hard work and teamwork. We need to focus on Washington, and not dwell about last week, that’s in the past.”

He had a way of bringing us back up from despair or down off of cloud nine, without making us feel guilty.

We put in a good days practice working on a few ‘wrinkles’ like always. Coach tries to give the next opponent something different whenever possible. It’s not anything major, but usually just a simple thing like motion to trips instead of lining up that way, or lining a slot in the backfield at times. This week it was lining Stevie up in what is called the ‘Pistol’ alignment. The running back will line up behind the quarterback instead of to his right or left. It really doesn’t affect anything we do but might confuse the defense, as they had not seen us do that on film.

Coach told us about a game years ago, where he changed from a double slot alignment to a two back tight wing alignment.

“When we lined up for our first play I could easily hear their strong safety on our sideline yell, “Where are the slots,” to his teammates as he tried to figure out where to align.

He just laughed and said, “Boy’s let’s just play football, and have some fun at the same time.”

I can’t speak for my teammates, although I think I know how they feel, but I’ve had more fun playing football for coach Vince these past months than I’ve ever had playing football, or any other sport. I’m dream-walking and couldn’t be happier.

On the way home Cezar asked me, “I hear you had a great chat with coach today about his coaching idols.”

“Where did you hear that,” I asked?

“Luke’s cousin was in the PE class when you are coach’s aide, and overheard some of the conversation.”

“That rascal.”

Leo was a freshman, and playing quarterback for the frosh team.

“Coach actually met both John Wayne and Bear Bryant huh?”

“He did and I’ll tell you something, I just hope down the road someday I’ll have a chance meeting with one of my coaching idols.”

“Like who?”

“How about Tom Osborn?”

“Oh hell, buddy, you’ll probably be playing quarterback for him.”

ELEVEN

“BIG BLUE NOTE”

TOBY KEITH

I

The press had made a pretty big deal about our lop-sided win last week and also about our number two state ranking. But we’ve learned how to keep all the hype in the background ,and to concentrate on the next game.

At practice on Thursday coach said, “Central is history boy’s, front and center is Washington, and all of our attention needs to be on them.”

Thursday’s practice was always a short one and usually finished in time for us to see the opening kick off of either the JV or the frosh game. Since the Frosh team had the same schedule as us, they were playing Washington’s frosh team here at home. I hustled out of the shower, and along with Luke and Cezar headed for the game field to watch.

The first thing that caught my eye was that Washington only had twenty-three players dressed for the game. That was sort of a shock, because I can remember watching freshmen games when I was in junior high and Washington always had a huge squad. Even my freshmen year, coach Bee’s last season, they must have had fifty players. Something wasn’t right at Washington High. That was certain.

We had another good Frosh team put together by the freshmen coaching staff. Coach Greg Mark was a math teacher and had been coaching for a long time here at Crater. He worked with the offense and his assistant, and defensive coach, was Barry Bowman who worked in the student center as a coordinator. Barry was new to the staff having moved from Wyoming to take the position at Crater. And, Coach Mark often stood on the sideline during varsity games. He and Coach Vince were long time friends, and he had actually come out of retirement to help coach build the program.

We had forty-five players suited, and it wasn’t long before our superior numbers, and athletic ability took over the contest. It was

twenty-eight to nothing as the teams headed into the locker room for the halftime break.

Luke was beaming because Leo had thrown two TD passes, and ran for another. He had the luxury of having some outstanding athletes as teammates and did a good job of distributing the football. Christian Steph was a running back who also played linebacker. He was a multi-sport athlete, like most of the Crater jocks, and was widely know as the class clown. And two Jeremy’s were outstanding. Jeremy Johns was a sure handed receiver and Jeremy More a little running back that could really scoot. Both of them would be varsity athletes sooner rather than later.

We were standing close to the door, and I couldn’t help but overhear the discussion between the Washington head frosh coach and one of his assistants.

“Coach sure won’t be very happy when he hears this score“, said the assistant.

“Hell, he doesn’t give crap about the frosh team. How many times have you heard him say, I’m here to win varsity games, I don’t give a hoot about the Frosh team.”

“Be careful spider man might overhear, he’s hovering right over there.”

He was pointed to a little guy that looked a bit like a weasel. It turned out “spider man” was a former youth coach who somehow wound up on the varsity staff.

“I don’t care, I’m tired of a punk with a high school education telling me what to do, and how to coach. He can tell the boss anything he likes.”

“It won’t be hard he follows him around like a shadow, with his nose….you know where.”

It sounded like there were still a lot of problems in the Colonial program.

I’d heard coach Vince and others talk about the Washington situation, so what we overheard didn’t surprise me at all.

On Friday morning when I went to my PE aide class third period our athletic director, Don Kling and our vice principal, Mr. Donald, were in deep conversation with coach Vince. He poked his head out of the office door and told me to get the class started. I didn’t know what it was about, but I’m sure it was serious.

I got the guys started with roll call and warm-up before coach showed up. We were in ‘flash football’ unit so it wasn’t long before the teams were matched up, and playing on the practice field.

Then coach Vince said, “You’re probably wondering what that meeting was all about,”?

“It looked serious to me.”

“Well, it was but fortunately it was all about Washington, and had nothing really to do with us. Let me tell you about it before the rumors start flying.”

Coach told me that there had been a sudden change with the Washington football program.

“I’m sure you remember the turmoil last season surrounding the dismissal of coach Rock Bee after a long and distinguished career.

Apparently the controversy over the situation has been simmering since last fall.”

“I remember some of that, but my main memory is how unsportsmanlike they were.”

“There was an administration change after last year. They have a new superintendent, and she made it pretty clear she didn’t approve of what was going on with the Washington football program.

“Wow, was that the news?”

“No, the new news was yesterday they fired the head coach, and the Athletic Director.”

“Really? Why?”

“Apparently the coach was on pretty thin ice, and I guess he got into some kind of argument with the new Principal. The AD apparently tried to intervene on the coach’s behalf, and they decided to cut their losses, and show them both the door.”

“Do you know what the argument was about?”

“Don Kling told me it was something about a public altercation between the coach and a heckler in a bar. He’s had those kind of issues before. I guess the leopard didn’t change his spots.

“And why the AD?”

“He tied his wagon to this guy for some unknown reason, and that mistake in judgment cost him his job. There were rumors of some hanky-panky going on behind the scene with a secretary too, but no one will admit to that. Not smart.”

“Who is going to coach the team?”

“One of the vice principal’s will be the ‘Interim’ head coach.

Apparently he’s a good man, and actually coached football about ten or fifteen years ago.”

“Wow, that won’t be easy.”

“Well the game has certainly changed, but maybe he’ll be able to get control of the team, and their on field attitude will include some discipline.”

“I’m thinking if they really want to restore order they’ve got a coaching legend not far away.”

“You’ve got that right, but I’m sure he’s had enough of Washington High football.”

“Coach, none of this stuff will affect how we play. Some wise man told me once to “Play the next down,” and the next down is tonight.

We’ll be ready.”

II

By the time the game began everyone was familiar with what had happened to the Washington head coach. It really didn’t affect us so we just went about our pre-game as usual. I felt like we were more than ready for our opening league game, and prepared to make a strong statement. Nothing against the Washington players, but we wanted to emphasize how important good sportsmanship was to high school football.

“Let’s see if we can have zero penalties guys.”

It was Luke speaking to the team prior to leaving the locker room.

We all nodded, and I knew our concentration was going to be at a peek.

The game turned out to be somewhat of a laugher. The Washington players seemed to be demoralized, and confused. The new head coach was nearly invisible on their sideline, as I’m sure he wanted to get through the game without incident.

It was thirty-five to nothing at the half, and we were pretty much flawless. Well not completely, we did have a five-yard offside penalty.

Coach reminded us at halftime to keep our composure, and to finish what we’ve started here at Crater. We did. The final was Crater fifty-nine the Colonials nothing. We had put a big blue note stamp on the Colonials, but I had to feel sorry for them. The players can’t control the coaching situation, and they can’t be much different than teenagers anywhere.

Our back up guys got nearly all the second half playing time, and some of them showed they might help down the road. Tommy Keck was really good. He threw the ball well, but also his leadership and control of the offensive was very impressive. He’s such a nice kid I’m really happy for him. And, the two sophomore receivers, Blake Denton and J. J., turned in another eye opening performance.

During the hand shaking after the game one of their guys, who I knew from basketball, caught my eye. His name was Mark Hatten and he wanted to chat, so on the way off the field we spoke.

“I just want you to know Eric, that many of us thought they should have made this move to remove the coach long before now. We didn’t all drink his cool-aid.”

“I’m sure the whole mess has been a huge distraction.”

“Some of the guys liked him. He pretty much let you do what you wanted, and too many teenagers thought his style was ‘new age’.”

“Well I guess kids always like the parent who lets them do what they want, and hate the one who is the disciplinarian.”

“Where were the parents on all this?”

“Hell, parents don’t care about anything but winning.”

“Not all of them my friend.”

“Well it’s been somewhat of a nightmare. Maybe now we can just play football, and stay out of the newspapers.”

I asked him how the administration could back a guy like that.

“They spent all their time talking with kids mostly trying to get transfers who didn’t give a damn to shape up. They should have spent the time getting the coach, and his buddies to start demanding discipline. But I guess if you feel like to be good you had to be confrontational, it wouldn’t have mattered much.”

“For what it’s worth, apparently the coach had zero discipline in his personal life, so it’s not too surprising he didn’t demand that from his players.”

I wished him good luck, and told him I’d see him during basketball season.

“We’ll be ok. By next week we’ll have a huge weight off our shoulders. See you on the court. I hope you guys win it all this year.”

Last year even after we kicked their butts they were arrogant, and almost abusive after the game. Not true this time. They had their tails between their legs, and looked to me like they were just happy to be heading back home.

Hopefully they’ll get back to playing good football like they did for so many years with coach Bee. I guess the good news is, the new administration has made the decision, how you play the game is more important than the win-loss record.

I was surprised to see a different reporter talking with Coach V

after the game. John Zanno was the lead columnist for the paper and I’m sure didn’t spend much time covering high school games. But he had done a couple stories last year about the issues at Washington.

He had been very critical of how the administration handled that situation, so maybe he had a vested interest.

Like a lot of columnist he had some critics but I liked the way he wrote. It just seemed to me his work was so professional, and after all it was his job to give his opinion. I’m quite sure I’d read all about it in tomorrow’s sports page.

Our group was loose and confident as we munched on after game pizza at the ‘Doorway’. Some of the guys were with their girl friends, and the rest of us just enjoyed the after game glow of success.

I noticed a guy sitting alone at the counter that I didn’t recognize.

He looked a little uncomfortable so I decided to say hello and find out who he was.

“Hello, I haven’t seen you here before are you visiting?”

He looked a bit startled, and finally said, “My family has just moved to Crater, and I thought I’d get something to eat after the game.”

“And you picked the ‘Doorway’.”

“Someone told me it’s where the team hangs out.”

“What did you think?”

“I’m not a jock, but I do enjoy watching. It looks like we’re pretty good.”

“I hope you don’t have a bias against jocks.”

Laughing he said, “Oh no it’s just the damn thing doesn’t fit me very well. I had a bunch of ‘jock’ buddies back where we came from.”

He was a tall good looking guy with curly hair but didn’t have the look of an athlete. We had a nice friendly discussion, and I offered to introduce him around, but he told me he didn’t want to interrupt so I didn’t push it.

It turns out Friday was his first day in school, and he was a junior as well. He told me he had six brothers and two sisters. All younger.

“Wow, that’s a lot of people to feed.”

“Yes, but we’re just a big happy family.”

We chatted for a bit longer; he seemed like a really nice guy, before he decided it was time to leave. I told him I’d try to look him up at school. Maybe I could help him, and make the transition easier.

“I’m sure it can’t be easy moving into a new community, and without knowing anyone. But, you’ll find Crater is an easy place to make friends.”

As he got up to leave he said, “We’ve talked for twenty minutes and I don’t even know your name. He offered his hand to shake and said, I’m Tim.”

“Glad to meet you Tim, as we shook hands. I’m Eric. See you on Monday.”

TWELVE

“GIRL YOU’LL BE A WOMAN SOON”

NEIL DIAMOND

I

The league games all fell into the ‘favorite wins’ column. South and St. Christopher both won big, and Lakeside did a number on Brown. The top ranked team in the state, City High of Iowa City, also had a decisive win. The only top-ten team to lose was Hoover ,of Des Moines who began the week ranked number nine. Someone would take their place on Monday.

South and Lakeside were both in the ‘Others’ receiving votes category. South was eleventh last week so it was quite possible we would have two teams from our league in the top ten soon.

Both South and us lost in the Semi’s last year, so I’m sure the voters in the media had a good idea of the strength of the Canyon Valley League. Of course our final spot in hoops, and winning the baseball state title only enhanced our reputation around the sate of Iowa.

On the way to school Monday Cezar asked, “Who was that guy you were talking to at the ‘Doorway’ Friday?”

“He’s a new kid, and I’m going to look him up today and introduce him to the gang.”

“Nice. Is he an athlete?”

“He told me he the jockstrap doesn’t fit very well, but that he had a lot of good friends who played.”

“I’m sure I’ll get a chance to meet him then. Ok, I’ve got to speak with coach Terry, see you later.”

Cezar was team captain for the soccer team, and of course had a dual role as our kicker. He called coach Hogan by his first name, which most of the soccer team did.

I wandered into the commons area and said hello to a few buddies, before I noticed Tim sitting with a very nice looking girl. They seemed to be in a deep conversation so I hesitated a bit before I caught his attention.

He waved me over and said, “Hey Eric. Let me introduce you to my sister Kim.”

She looked a bit shy, and reserved but that would be a pretty natural expression just arriving at a new school.

“Glad to meet you. Tim say’s you’re a jock.”

“Geese, I hope he said something good about me too.”

She smiled and said, “It’s ok, and he’s the one who thinks jocks are all stupid.”

Before I could say anything she got up and said, “I’ve got a counselor appointment with a Mr. Bram. What can you tell me about him?”

“Jack’s a good guy, you’ll like him.”

“Jack?”

“He’s the frosh baseball coach too, and everyone calls him General Jack. He’s in the National Guard or something like that.”

She gave a shrug, and moved on down the hall toward the counselor’s offices.

I turned to Tim and said, “What grade is your sister in?”

“She’s a junior too, and my twin.”

“I thought you told me your brothers and sisters were younger.”

“They are and she is, by about two minutes I think.”

“What the devil is your last name?”

“It’s Herod and you’re Eric Lewis, the quarterback,” he said with a big smile while reaching out his hand.

“Glad to meet you.”

“Well Tim, I’m glad to meet you too, but I’m probably going to be more interested in getting to know your sister.”

“Be careful she’s a pretty strong headed number, and remember she’s got no balls.”

My thought was, “Girl you’ll be a woman soon.”

It was really easy to banter with Tim, and I was serious about getting to know his sister.

We continued to chat about this and that and it turned out Tim was in my advanced math class fifth period. About then the five minute bell rang, and as we headed our separate ways Tim said, “Eric I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

“Ha, ha. Isn’t that a line from Casablanca?”

“Right, I’ve seen it a thousand times.”

“We’ve got that in common then. Welcome to Crater my friend.”

II

“Who was that good looking chick you were making sweet talk with this morning,” asked Luke as we headed for the practice field.

“Ah, she’s Tim’s sister, and I wasn’t sweet talking.”

“Yeah right. Most of the time you don’t even look twice at a girl. I see a looming romance coming up.”

“You’d be wrong my friend, I don’t need any complications in my life right at the moment.”

To tell the truth I did have an interest, but I wasn’t about ready to admit that to Luke or anyone else. Kim seemed to me, on first impression, not only to be a good looking, but smart as well. I’m just a normal teenager, and although sports are a very high priority, meeting the right girl would maybe keep some balance in my life.

At the end of practice Cezar was doing his kicking routine, and the soccer team wasn’t practicing so on the way home I thought it was a good opportunity to chat with him about girls.

“Hey buddy can I get your advice on something?”

“Oh my, it’s got to be a girl thing. Right?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Simple, you don’t ask for my advice about anything, so I figure you’ve met a girl and don’t have a clue what to do next.”

“Well hell buddy, you’ve had about ten girlfriends since you moved in last year. I think it’s smart to ask an expert.”

“Ok, tell me about her.”

“Well, she’s new and I just met her today, but she’s pretty and smart and she’s perked my interest.”

“Nice, and now you want to know what to do next. Right?”

“Yes, I don’t want to be a jerk jock, and act like a fool but I thought I might just ask her out on a ‘coke’ date. What do you think? Is that being too aggressive?”

“Just don’t expect too much my friend.”

“I won’t expect anything. I just think I’d like to find out if there is anything there. You know?”

“I do and maybe it will silence the Gay talk about you my friend.”

“Yeah right.”

On Tuesday I had a chance to chat with Tim before our fifth period math class began.

“Can I ask a question about Kim?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Well this might be nothing at all, but I think I’d like to ask her out for a coke date at the ‘Doorway’. Do you think she’d be ok with that?”

“I think so.”

“I don’t want to be pushy, but I’d like to get to know her better.”

“Got it. Hell, Eric, all she can say is no buddy, go fly a kite.”

I got the chance when at lunch I ran in to her as I was heading for our lunch time video session.

We chatted about small stuff, mostly how are you getting along and so forth? And then trying not to stutter like a complete fool I asked,

“Would you like to get together over a coke and chat? Maybe the

‘Doorway’ would be a good spot.”

When she hesitated I thought I might have been too forward, but just before I could say forget it she answered.

“You don’t think it would look like I’m trying to butter up the star quarterback do you?”

She was smiling; nearly a laugh, and I liked that.

“Maybe, but I bet you can handle that all by yourself.”

“Ok, it’s a date. When?”

“What are you doing tonight about six?”

“Looks like I’m dating the star.”

“Ha, ha I hear he’s a bit shy.”

“Where did you get that idea?”

“Your brother.”

“He’s got a lot of balls.”

I was smiling as I headed down the hall towards the gym. Ok, my first date.

THIRTEEN

“AIN’T NO GOOD GOODBYE”

BILLY RAY CYRUS

I

The game Vs the T. F. Brown Falcons was at their place. It was a relative short bus ride, and so we dressed at home in our game uniforms, without pads and headed north. We had new jerseys that had a simple but classy look. The powder blue numbers were outlined in black, which made them stand out nicely. We had both blue and white game pants, and coach had picked white as the color for tonight. White made you look bigger, and although we had no need to look bigger it was, at least for the Falcons, an intimidating look.

Before we took the field I noticed Teddy Bose, our talented wide receiver, and team clown, sitting on the bench in the visitors locker room looking at his shoes like he didn’t recognize them, as I passed by.

“What’s up Teddy you look puzzled”

“Well I know the left shoe is mine because the L is plainly visible.

But I’m not sure about the right one.”

It was typical Teddy, and I simply chuckled to myself as I headed for the field. He was the team comedian, and although he was a pretty good athlete, his humor kept us all in stitches, and we never quite knew what to expect next.

I didn’t think anymore about it until we were on the field with special teams, and suddenly Blake showed up complaining about not being able to find his game shoes. He was wearing his practice one’s, and I thought how lucky he was to have those when I remembered Teddy in the locker room. Then the thought struck me, how the devil did he end up with Blake’s shoes?

The Brown Falcons were a team in constant turmoil, and it seems this season was a mirror of the last few for them. They were winless in the pre-season and Lakeside had put a thumping on them in the first league game. Their 0-3 record didn’t offer a lot of promise, as after our game they would match up with South. For them it was sort of a murderers row beginning to the league season. They would be playing

the top three teams, in everyone’s pre-season poll, in their first three league games.

They had a new coach again this year. Adam Gunn had played for coach Vincetti in college, and coach thought he was the type of guy who could put new life into the Falcon program. He had his work cut out for him.

We had worked hard all week in practice with a new version of the

‘Wild Cat’. This time Luke had taken my place at quarterback, and I moved to receiver. When coach Vince had installed it on Monday he let everyone know that it was more of an emergency plan than anything else. He had told me during my PE aide class that although he thought Tommy was coming along great if I suffered an injury it might be a better move to have Luke take over.

“I want to take a good look at it just in case. It’s always good to look ahead and have a plan B and C.” He told me.

The game plan called for the Luke ‘Wildcat’ sometime during the first half. We scored on our first two possessions, and then coach called for Luke and the ‘Wild Cat’. To no one’s surprise Luke looked like a perfect fit as his quickness made him a major run threat. He wanted to show he could throw the ball too, so coach had installed a couple easy passes as well.

We had planned to use the no-huddle ‘Green’ mode in our ‘Wild Cat,’ and I think the Falcon’s were taken totally by surprise. It took four plays to score, and to tell the truth I sort of felt sorry for the Brown guys.

They looked totally confused, and were certainly out manned. They were in for a long night. The first quarter ended with us having a comfortable 28-0 lead.

Tommy started the second quarter, I think coach wanted to let him know he wasn’t disappointed in his play, but just wanted to look at the new version of the ‘Wild Cat’. Surrounded by veterans Tommy stepped right in and led us to a quick score.

I played the rest of the half, and we trotted off the field with a comfortable 41-0 lead. To be fair it was like men playing boys, but I knew coach would sub liberally in the second half. I would be surprised if any of the starters played more than a few downs. They didn’t. We had quickly proved to be master of the house.

As we took our last minute instructions, before heading back to the field I suddenly heard Blake say, “Hey there they are,” as he and

everyone within ear shot, saw a nice pair of Comet game shoes sitting next to a vacant locker. Teddy was nowhere to be seen.

II

The final was 56-6 as our subs added a couple scores, one on an interception return by Jared Vick. And in the fourth quarter the Falcons were able to score a touchdown Vs our back up back ups. They messed up the point after touchdown to no one’s surprise.

The two coaches had a brief encounter as the game ended.

“Keep your head up Adam, you’ll get this program turned around.”

“Thanks coach it’s going to take awhile but I’m in for the long run.”

I thought their players looked like a JV squad as I shook hands after the game. I know I didn’t look like a war vet but it looked to me like most of their guys didn’t even have to shave. I was up to twice a week, well almost. To be totally truthful no one would have noticed if I had missed a week or two.

Our coaching staff was pretty happy at how we had played in our first four games, and I know we all felt like we had a ton of weapons.

Things can suddenly jump up and bite you in the butt though, so I’m sure our staff will work hard at tying up any loose ends before our next stretch of league games.

Next up was St. Christopher Prep at home. I’m sure they would be 2-0 in league, as they played Washington tonight, which I’m sure was still reeling from the firing of their head coach. That would mean we would be playing an undefeated opponent. If that didn’t get our attention we would learn a lesson we should have learned long ago.

But Prep could wait. I wanted to enjoy our beginning, and because our bus ride home would only take thirty minutes we would be home in time to spend an hour or so at our favorite restaurant.

As we walked out of the locker room towards the bus I noticed mom and dad speaking with someone I didn’t immediately recognize.

That is until I got a bit closer, and saw it was Officer Home. He was a Crater grad and had become a big time fan. He was also the young policeman who was first on the scene last winter when Sean, his girl and me, were in that awful automobile crash.

“Hi Eric, nice win,” he said as I approached.

“Thanks Mr. Home

“Actually out of uniform Steve works.”

“I know but I have a lot of respect for you guys in uniform and I can’t go there yet.”

“I understand, anyway, another nice win. I think we’re better than we were last year.”

“Well, time will tell on that, but I sure like the direction we’re heading at the moment. But, next week begins the real test’s.”

I gave mom a hug and nodded towards dad. “Ok I’ll see you all at home. We won’t be long,” I said as Cezar approached and we headed for the bus.

After the short bus ride, we were showered and dressed in a flash and off to see our friends.

“How did the date go”, asked Tim not a minute after we arrived at the ‘Doorway’.

“What date?” I countered with a big grin.

Actually the ‘date’ with Kim had gone well. We got to know each other a bit better, and I think both of us were happy with the arrangement. Kim wasn’t ready for any kind of a permanent relationship, and neither was I. But we seem to hit it off well, and I think our friendship will be a lasting one. If it becomes more than that, down the road, so be it. If not, that would be ok too.

We hadn’t been there very long when Sean Kitter walked in the door. Sean was a freshman in college at Northwest Missouri. He had been a starting slot last year, but his best sport was basketball where he was first team All-State. He also played on the golf team, and had been a close friend for a long time.

“Hey Sean”, I said as I waved him over to our table. He was beaming like a long lost buddy, although he’d only been gone for a little over a month.

“How’s school and all that?”

“So far I’ve got no complaints. It’s a very comfortable atmosphere.

I think I’m going to enjoy my four years in Missouri.”

I asked if he’d been at the game, and he said no, but that he’d heard the score and wasn’t surprised.

“I heard coach Vince benched you in favor of Luke,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

Before I could answer Luke piped in with, “Yeah sure, coach knows real talent when he see’s it.”

We spent the next hour or so chatting mostly about our time together on and off the court, course, and field. It was a very pleasant evening. Sean is such a good friend, and I do miss him. Before we broke it up for the evening I said to him, “You know sport, there ain’t no good goodbye, so let’s just not go there. Then I had a thought, and I asked if he wanted to play nine on Sunday.

“Love to if it’s early. I’ll need to be heading back by early afternoon.”

“You’ve got a deal. First tee at the Muni at ten?”

“Perfect.”

And it was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

FOURTEEN

“ALL NIGHT TO GET THERE”

RASCAL FLATS

I

The game Vs Prep took on an entirely new meaning last spring.

Marist High School, a small catholic school, and division III athletic powerhouse closed its doors for the last time. Most of their returning football players chose to enroll at Prep. Marist was traditionally strong in all sports, and even though they played in a lower division a lot of their players could have played at any level. Prep has always been competitive but now with their added numbers, and quality players they will be a force for sure in the CVL.

The Crusaders were 4-0 after destroying Washington 48-0. I’m sure they would show up with some bluster, and I knew we would have our hands full. The good news was the game was at home, and like most teams there was less distractions for home games, plus we usually played our best football in front of our home crowd.

The practice week had gone well, and we were healthy. The game was being played up by the media, statewide, as a ‘game of the week’

type contest. Last season after our tough loss to South Catholic we had put a whipping on Prep. I’m quite sure their coaching staff has reminded them, and made the game a ‘pay back’ type challenge for the Green and Gold Crusaders.

We weren’t completely healthy, as Dan Winters had come down with a bad case of the flu on Thursday. But, Jared Vick had played very well in his backup role, and there was no question he would be up to the task. Tony Berg’s groin was acting up so dependable Rob Shiff would probably see some quality playing time as well.

Coach had reminded us over and over during the week that we needed to concentrate on being as good as we could be, and not worry about our opponents. Of course we were drilled on what to expect from the Crusaders on both sides of the football, but the truth is we need to be prepared both physically and mentally. We always try to play with

confidence and composure. This week we would certainly be tested, and it would probably come down to which team was able to stay focused and finish.

The crowd was huge, no surprise, and the spirit on both sides was evident from the players, to the cheer squads, and the fans in the stands. It was high school football at its best with two talented teams matching strength’s under the lights on a Friday night. I’ll probably face bigger challenges in my playing career, but I think I’ll always have fond memories of high school football.

Their team leader, Joe Mass, was a three year starter at center.

He was a class act and I believe student body president. We’d crossed paths now and then and I always thought he had a great ability to keep things in perspective. I smiled and shook his hand and heard him say,

“Good luck Eric, this should be fun.”

We won the toss, and chose to receive. Coach nearly always wanted the football first. Their kick was a bouncer designed to keep the ball away from our deep kick returners, J.P. and Stevie. We took over on our own thirty-yard line, and lined up for the first play in our trips formation. Prep played a four-three defense, and featured some very aggressive players, led by the brother’s Mark and Greg Bacon. They were senior’s and had anchored Prep’s defense at end for three years.

For that reason our game plan would feature a lot of mis-direction plays, and we began the game with a sprint draw that is designed to look like a sprint out pass. It did and Stevie burst through a gaping hole for a fifteen-yard gain. That was the good news, the bad news was he fumbled the football, and Prep recovered. One of the Bacon boys had stripped the football from behind. Those two athletes didn’t know the word quit.

Coach Staut ran a Wing-T offense at Prep that featured a strong running game, and some very affective play action passes. It would be a test for our new defense for sure. I think our opponents are still trying to figure out our three-three defensive front, because up to now no one has been very successful moving the football. Prep had a third down and five, and their quarterback kept the ball after a sweep fake, bootlegging away from the run action. It didn’t fool our outside Linebacker at all. Scott Kenston leveled him for a huge loss, and the ball popped loose. There was a scramble for the ball, and J. D. came up with it after two or three players had a chance.

So we had traded turnovers on our first possessions, and it looked like both teams were a bit nervous. We now would put the ball in play on our own twenty-seven yard line. I could tell the adrenalin was pumping as we came to the line of scrimmage. It was time to put together a good drive, and put some doubt into the Crusader frame of mind.

We ran a simple play action dive with both slot receivers running ten yard ‘stop’ routes. I pulled the ball from Stevie while their inside linebackers bit on the run fake. Thomas was wide open. He made the safety miss, and picked up another ten before being tackled. A quick twenty-yard gain, and we lined up without a huddle in our ‘green’ mode.

Prep was ready with their defensive alignment, as their coaching staff had obviously prepared for our quick no huddle attack.

This time we motioned Toby across the formation. I faked the ball on a sweep action, and ran an option away from the motion. We caught them in a man-to-man coverage, and their outside linebacker ran with Toby. That left them a man short as I pitched the ball to Stevie when Mark Bacon’s reaction was towards me. He picked up fifteen more yards for another first down.

From their thirty-eight yard line we ran a toss play towards our trips. It wasn’t a simple toss however, but a reverse as Stevie flipped the ball to Toby who after about ten yards pulled up and threw a pass to Luke. He had sneaked behind their corner, who was reacting to the reverse, and was all alone in the end zone. The trick play had caught Prep completely by surprise, and after Cezar’s true point after we led seven to zip.

The quick strike score sort of took the breath out of the Crusaders, and they seemed suddenly not as confident of a team. Once again our defense stuffed their offense, and after a short punt we took over on their side of the field.

Coach continued his mis-direction attack with counter plays, and play action that had the Prep defense totally confused. We scored on a simple, away from motion, pass to Teddy who ran a nice quick out route. We call it a ‘speed cut’ and the play is called “Sting”. Probably because it often stings our opponent. The corner back was slow to react and Teddy bounded into the end zone before handing the football to the referee. Another Cezar kick, and we led fourteen to nothing with two minutes remaining in the quarter. Their stands were quiet, as they too had seemed to lose some steam.

II

The second quarter was nearly identical to the first. Our defense continued to swarm the Prep offense failing to give up a first down in the quarter. Both Jared and Gage had picks as our DB’s shut down their receivers. Passing wasn’t their strength and being forced to throw this early in the game showed their desperation.

We scored another two touchdowns, one on a nifty run by Stevie of forty yards, and the other on a throwback ‘Go’ route when Luke simply out ran the coverage. That after I overthrew a wide-open and sure score to Blake, in for a play in replace of Teddy. We led at the half twenty-eight to nothing.

As both teams left the field I could see the Bacon brothers exhorting their teammates. I knew they wouldn’t allow their team to quit. We would need to maintain our aggressive play.

We were a confident team as the coaching staff went over halftime adjustments. I’m sure there weren’t many on the defensive side of the ball but coach Nick wasn’t about to let our guys relax. I could hear him loud and clear from the opposite side of the locker room admonishing his defense to keep the pressure on the Crusaders.

“When they run that darn toss, let’s not take all night to get there.”

Coach Vince was his usual composed self, and simply asked if we had any suggestions. Luke, always on top on things, had a couple good thoughts, and I told coach I thought a dose of the ‘Wild Cat’ might further shake them up. He agreed.

The final was forty-two to six. It was forty-two nothing entering the fourth quarter, and coach called it a night for the starters. We gave up a meaningless score late in the fourth, but blocked their extra point try.

It was a decisive win and I’m sure the media covering the game would sign our praises. And it looked as if the Marist transfers needed some adjustment to the top division.

Walking off the field Greg Bacon, shaking his head, found me and said, “Eric, I’m damn glad I’ve seen the last of you on a football field.

You guys are really good.”

A very nice comment and gesture from a heck of a football player.

I wished him well and good luck.

And Joe Mass did what good kids do, “Eric you gave us a lesson, I hope we can recover.”

“I’m betting on it Joe.”

I thought it was one of the best games we had played in my short tenure on the varsity. We knew our offense would be very good but the key I think is the way our new look defense was playing. Up to this point nobody had been able to either run or pass affectively or consistently, and that made it very hard to compete.

Our locker room was alive with happy faces, and all of the coaches looked very pleased. There was a lot of back slapping, and praise was coming from all angles. Even coach Vince, usually not one to show much emotion, was pretty pumped as he walked around talking to players.

“Eric,” he said to me, “You just keep making all the right plays son.

If you keep this up we’ll be hard to beat.”

That was great praise from coach, and I was motivated to keep working hard. And I wanted to show the kind of leadership that all teams needed, especially from their quarterback.

We headed out of the locker room to meet family and friends having done a hard job well.

The usual crew gathered at the ‘Doorway’ but there was also a few of last year’s guys. Trevor Port and Josh Work were there, and I spent some time with them. Both were at Iowa State, and neither was playing football. We chatted about college, and they both said they were enjoying it in Ames. They had pledged the same fraternity, and looked to me like college life fitted them well.

I spent some time with Tim, as he has become a member of the

‘Yeti’ group. Everyone likes him, and his low key and quick wit humor fits in nicely with all of us. As usual there were a sprinkling of girl friends in attendance, and everyone was enjoying an after-game high.

“So, the star quarterback is basking in the glory I see.”

It was Kim, and she had a smile on her face that told me she was just ribbing me a bit.

“Now what is a jock hating academic doing in here?”

“Just trying to repair my image, I guess.”

We both got a laugh out of that. Kim has become a good friend, and I need to thank Tim for that.

About that time the sports coverage on the big screen came on, and of course the highlight was our game. They showed both of our first half touchdowns, and a number of excellent defensive plays including the quarterback sack and fumble that Scott Kenston caused.

Then they began the build up for next week’s game at South Catholic.

It would be two undefeated teams ranked in the top ten. We were assured of at least second, and last week South was seventh. Both of us made it to last year’s semifinal, and had hopes of making it to this years championship game.

The TV coverage began at eleven thirty, and ended just after midnight, so the place emptied out pretty fast after the last highlights had finished.

Cezar asked me on our drive home how my relationship with Kim was coming along.

“I think we’ve developed a good friendship,” I said.

“Well, be careful my boy, that’s how serious long term romances all begin.”

“How the devil would you know? None of yours have ever lasted more than a few weeks.

“That’s about all it takes to find out I’m really just a hick from a third world country with no future.

We both got a big chuckle out of that.

FIFTEEN

“COUNTRY ROADS TAKE ME HOME”

JOHN DENVER

I

The game of football can give the participants a lot of hard knocks, and not all of them the physical kind. Sometimes it’s the mental part of the game that leaves the biggest memory. A loss can linger forever, and a win can suddenly be overshadowed by a close loss. The ups and downs of competition in any sport will test even the most resilient players resolve. Such was the case last season when we lost to South on a ‘Hail Mary’ pass, on the last play of the game. We were determined to not let the game be decided on the last play this year.

Our practice week was pretty typical except there seemed to be a sense of urgency that sometimes over the long season is lacking. The level of concentration all week was like studying for a big test in math that you hoped to ace. There is something about playing on the road for a big game that I enjoy, even more than playing at home. It would certainly be a mad house at South, who this year were playing their home games about twenty miles from their campus. They have never had a true home field, and for the past few seasons have bounced around the area. This year is the third year in four that they have changed their home field.

The football field was actually just part of a multiple sport facility built by the city a few years ago. They were home to a minor league baseball team, and multiple soccer teams. All these teams called the Vaughn Street complex their home field. The football stadium had a capacity of about five thousand, and portable bleachers added for this game would make the total around seven thousand. I knew it would be full, and there would be spectators surrounding the field as well. It was destined to be a wild scene, and I couldn’t wait.

We had minor scare at practice on Wednesday when J.D. Graves took a blind side hit in what was suppose to be only a semi-full drill, and had to spend some time with the trainer. When he bounced out of the locker room back to the practice field, our trainer Pete Rock followed

him closely, but everyone just called him Petie. He flashed thumbs up sign and everyone took a large sigh of relief.

We had begun to practice a ‘two back’ set where J. D. was the fullback lined up in front of Stevie, and it had looked pretty good. When we did that we would play with three wide receivers, one of the twins usually being the one sitting out. Coach had said the formation would most likely be used in the ‘Red Zone’ that area from the twenty-yard line to the goal line.

“I hate to change personnel and disrupt our rhythm, but I think this will give our opponents a lot of things to think about in game planning,”

is the way coach Vince justified the change in formation. It was more of a run formation so I think the play action passes coach had installed would be very affective. Defenses would need to crowd the line of scrimmage to stop the run, leaving fewer players in the secondary. I like how it looked in practice, and thought it just might be the extra thing we would need to pull out a victory on the road.

But coach wasn’t about to overlook our regular offense, and he had put in a ‘Jail Brake’ screen play we hadn’t shown yet. Because South was likely to bring a hard pass rush it was looking like we could break either Luke or Teddy loose for a big gain, especially if we caught them in a blitz. They had shown a tendency in earlier games to bring heat on long yardage downs. On the play I had the option of dumping the ball to Stevie who ran a ‘flat’ route away from the intended wide receiver. We could run the play with or without motion but I thought the play was best with motion because sometimes it give’s the defense too many things to cover or to contemplate. Also when you factored in our

‘no huddle’ fast pace with trips and balanced formation and sometimes no back in the backfield our offense gave everyone fits. I think coach Vince is way ahead of the time’s, and I could see in the future a lot of teams trying to play an up tempo no huddle offense.

Game day arrived, and the powder blue color was everywhere.

The bus ride was only about forty-five minutes, and you could hear that darn pin drop it was so quiet. Except for the driver missing a gear or two as he shifted up or down it was silent as a church before the choir began to sing.

As we got off the bus it was already evident that it would be a full house. Spectators wearing our blue or South’s green were lined up at the entrance gates. There were long serpentine lines wrapping around the parking lots. Of course there were some ‘go comets,’ and some

‘you’ll be sorry’ comments being tossed about by charged up fans of both teams as we headed for our locker room under the stadium.

By the time we were on the sideline listening to the national anthem the place was jammed full of fans awaiting the start of the

‘Game of the Week’. The TV cameras were obvious on both sidelines, and I’m sure they all hoped the game would turn out to be as big as the build up had been. The sports media had featured something on one team or the other all week in the nightly sports news segment of TV

coverage.

II

The last notes of the anthem hadn’t yet drifted off into cyberspace when both rooting sections began chanting, while the cheer squad did their routines, and the bands played the fight songs. Wow, this was as big as a regular season game could be, and to me it had all the excitement of a playoff game. We won the toss, and would be receiving the ball first. Here we go, it will be a physical contest, but I hoped the

‘hard knocks’ would be delivered by us, and not our worthy opponents.

South played a standard three four defensive front which allowed them the possibility of dropping eight players into coverage. But it also gave them many blitz opportunities as well. During our film study I had noticed that their outside linebackers had tipped off their blitz by creeping closer to the line than when they were going to drop into coverage. I hoped they hadn’t corrected that.

They kicked the ball on the ground to begin the game not wanting our return guys to have an opportunity to set up our return. J. D. had fielded the ball on the twenty, and ran it back to our thirty-six yard line where we began.

On first down I threw a short pass to Luke on a combo route with Thomas, and after I delivered the ball I got rocked by their big inside linebacker, who had found room up the middle as our offensive line missed a cross blitz. The pass was complete for a short gain and as I picked myself up off the artificial grass their ‘backer’ said, “Get used to it super star, I’m going to be in your back pocket all night.” He was their best defensive player and wasn’t shy about trash talking. His name was John Telesman, a senior returning all-league player. I looked at him and smiled without saying anything. I was going to let our play do the talking.

We moved the ball down the field, and with a first down on their nineteen-yard line J. D. came into the game replacing Toby. Our two back formations caught them off-guard when we ran an inside isolation play, double teaming their nose guard, and J. D. laid a lick on the big mouth linebacker. Stevie scooted through the gaping hole and before the safeties could react he was crossing the goal line. Cezar’s kick gave us a quick seven to zip lead.

Once again our defense was in top form, and after South made an initial first down they were forced to punt from deep in their own territory. Luke ran the punt back to near mid-field, and our offense took over. I saw both outside linebackers tipping off an edge blitz, and changed the play call to a speed option. Blitzing the linebackers meant they would be in man-to-man coverage, and if I could make the pitch cleanly we were assured of a nice gain. The blitzing linebacker came directly at me.

I always remember coach Edwards saying, “When you see the blitz think pitch, that way you’ll never be surprised. The keep will show itself, and you’ll have time to read that.”

I was ready when the linebacker came flying directly at me, and after the pitch Stevie burst up field for a twenty yard gain, before one of the safeties forced him out of bounds on their twenty-four yard line.

After an incomplete pass that was broken up by J. P.’s brother Tim, and a short gain on a draw play we faced third and nine, and I know they would bring pressure from somewhere. Coach called the

‘Jail Break’ screen play, and this time it was Blake, who had again replaced a limping Teddy, on the receiving end. The pass rush was fierce, just as we hoped, and Blake caught the ball with a host of friends in front of him. He easily covered the distance into the end zone. It was the perfect play for the situation.

Our supporters were going wild on our sideline, and across the field the green clad boosters of South were trying to remain optimistic.

That enthusiasm was put to a test when on second down after receiving the kick off we deflected a pass at the line of scrimmage, and the tipped ball landed in the arms of J. D. as he was dropping into his zone. He made a diving catch grasping the football tightly as he hit the turf. It was our ball on their twenty-one yard line.

Coach went to our two back alignment again, and on first down we ran a toss to Stevie. He followed J.D.’s block on their outside linebacker for a twelve yard gain. Suddenly it was first and goal on the nine. This

time we ran a play action pass as I faked to Stevie on a dive play. We ran slant’s by both Toby and Luke, and J.D. slipped off his lead block and was wide open in the flat, as South attacked the run fake. He glided into the end zone without being touched. Everything we had run worked to perfection, and again Cezar’s kick was good. It was only nine minutes into the first quarter, and we led twenty-one to nothing.

Our sideline was fired up, and everyone was pumped. South was good but we had hit them with some new wrinkles, and they hadn’t responded very well. We knew it was a four-quarter game, and they weren’t the type of program to give in easily. They didn’t.

The second quarter was back-and-forth and physical with both teams playing solid defense. They had kicked a field goal as the first half closed, and we led twenty-one to three heading into the locker room. Coach told us that South would probably spend the half time making adjustments to our two back set so we should be ready to see a different defensive front when we returned to the field.

To South’s credit they came out ready to play, and after receiving the second half kick off moved the ball down field into scoring position.

They seemed to have regained their confidence, and along with that their pride. For the first time all year an opponent had put together a consistent drive Vs our defense.

They had first and goal on the six, and their fans were hyped and loud as they snapped the ball. But our defense suddenly grew stout, and after three runs they still had the ball on our six. In came the field goal unit. The thought crossed my mind that it might be a good time for a fake, and that is exactly what they tried. Their quarterback was the holder, and after he picked the ball up and rolled out looking for a receiver, Myke leveled him, and the ball went up in the air end over end. Gage covering their tight end stepped in front and picked off the errant throw. There was ninety-nine yards of fake grass in front of him and he showed nothing but the back of his jersey to the South players in pursuit.

The touchdown interception took the wind out of the Saxon sails, and we went on to a very convincing thirty-eight to three win. No ‘Hail Mary’s’ could steal a victory this night.

Our crowd swarmed the field after the final whistle, and made the end game hand shake routine difficult. I did manage to shake Tim Ligott’s hand and say to him, “You might want to reconsider your choice of school’s.” I was just kidding but his eyes lit up bit. Food for thought.

I did manage to spend a moment with their young quarterback, who I have know for a long time. His name is Eric Rest, and he actually lived in our district but chose to attend South. It was a good call and he had told me over the summer that he really felt at home. Both his parents had attended Notre Dame, where his dad was a star defensive back. I’m sure Eric would follow that path.

“Tough one Eric, we were on fire tonight.”

“We’ll bounce back,” he offered as a look of determination came across his face.

I could tell how competitive he was, and I also knew his leadership would help them get past this loss. He was just a sophomore but I thought he had a great future.

“Good luck and stay healthy.”

As we headed towards our end zone another South player stopped to say good game. His name was Mark Groth and we had played together on a summer travel hoops team.

“You guys are really good Eric. Good luck, see if you can’t get the big trophy this year.”

We gathered under the goal post, and coach Vince’s words to the team echoed our feeling.

“Guys, that was one of the most satisfying wins in my career. To go on the road into a hostile environment and play this well is very, very impressive.”

He went on to tell us to savor the win, but remember how hard we prepared and how focused we were all week.

“There will come a time in the playoffs, when we travel, that we’ll need to play with the same intensity, sense of urgency and precision that we showed tonight. Let’s enjoy this win, but never forget how teamwork and focus together make a winning formula.”

As our bus pulled out of the stadium parking lot I couldn’t wait to celebrate with my friends, and the thought crossed my mind, country roads, take me home.

SIXTEEN

“ONE LESS SET OF FOOTSTEPS”

JIM CROCE

I

The North Marian game Vs the one win Mustangs would be at home. Our staff spent the week working us hard on basic fundamentals. Our goal for the week was to shut them out, and to play like champions. What that meant to us was always respect your opponent, and prepare with the understanding they would come into our house with upset in mind. Coach has told us many times, regardless of the record of the opponent, above all don’t let that influence how we prepare for the game.

We were still ranked number two in the state, and because of the sound beating we gave South they had fallen into the ‘others receiving votes’ category. We still had Fort, with a three and two league record, and Lakeside at four and one on the schedule so we couldn’t be moving in the wrong direction. The plain and simple fact is if you do a sloppy job of preparation you’ll get worse. That goes for a football team or any team in the sports field. It’s a pretty good bet that philosophy works in the business world as well. Maybe that’s why so many ex-athletes head up big time corporations.

A team can’t be ‘fired up’ for every game, and coach Vince had made in clear that his best teams played on an even keel. He felt like the key was to never be too high or too low emotionally. And the fact that we had pretty good leadership always helped. Our senior class never let the underclassmen get over confident.

After practice on Thursday we gathered at the ‘Doorway’ for a bite before most of the team went back to school to watch the soccer game, and root for Cezar and his teammates. I for one have a hard time seeing why millions of people around the world love this game. To me it’s mostly a drama of who can fake an injury the best, and a one to nil win just doesn’t do it for me. But I loved Cezar and would always be one of his best supporters.

Last season our soccer team made it to the playoffs for the first time in a long stretch, and this team was better. The game Vs Brown was essentially for the league title. Both teams were undefeated in league, and both had easy games the next two weeks.

Brown had a history of good soccer, and maybe that has something to do with their continued poor showing on the football field.

After watching their guys run around in warm ups it looked to me like some of them could certainly have helped their football team. The goalkeeper was about six four and probably over two hundred pounds.

I’m sure he could have played somewhere on their other football team.

But kids like to play on winners, and Brown’s soccer program was one of the best.

There was a good crowd and it was a highly contested game.

Both teams had opportunities to score in the first half, but neither did, and the nil to nil halftime score simply legitimized my feelings about the game of soccer. A soccer purist would tell me about the great defense, and my answer would be “Boring.”

As Cezar passed by the bleachers I caught his eye, and said, “Put in some offense next half please.”

He just rolled his eyes, and gave me his big grin. I don’t know anything about strategy in the game of soccer, but I’m sure coach Hogan will have something in mind to break the stalemate.

It was still a scoreless game with about two minutes left on the clock when suddenly there was a breakaway by our guys. One of the younger players was flying down the ‘Pitch’ and Cezar was off to his left. There was only one defender in sight, and he had to commit to the ball which made the pass to Cezar easy, and my roommate took advantage and rifled a shot past their athletic goalie, and into the corner of the net. It was enough for the win, and our guys had for all intent won the league title.

Cezar was swamped with congratulations after the game, but he was sure to give credit to his young teammate for making the pass that made his winning kick possible.

As he massaged the kids hair he said, “Hey, I don’t even get a chance to make that kick if Brad doesn’t make a perfect pass.”

I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Hurt, standing close by, were excited to see the team star give credit to their son. And by the size of the smiles on their faces, I’m sure that was true. Brad’s older brother Doug had played football but he was a soccer and tennis player.

Mom and dad had a little surprise for Cezar at the dinner table.

After cleaning our plates of the Spaghetti Carbonara, liberally doused with Parmesan, mom brought out a beautiful three-layer cake with League Champs emblazoned on the frosting.

“Wow, not yet but we’re not about to let it slip out of our hands now. Thanks mom.”

II

North had beaten Washington earlier in the season for their only league win, but they had two other wins in the preseason. They had played South tough last week, only losing by twenty-six to thirteen after a thirteen all half time score.

They had a new coach who had come down from Wisconsin where his teams had been perennial state contenders at the AA division, which was the second highest division in the state. His name was Chris Newsome and he came from a family that was all football.

Both his brothers coached high school football and his father Andy was a legend in the Badger state.

Our two back offense had proven to be very affective last week, and Coach Vincetti had added a couple things to make it even more diverse. A mis-direction screen pass, after a counter fake, had looked great in practice, and I knew coach would call it at the appropriate time.

He also added a reverse pass off the toss sweep with Luke throwing, and I felt like it was a good ‘surprise’ play.

We were workmanlike during the first quarter on both sides of the ball. The Mustangs had some success throwing off of their standard veer run action, and moved deep into our territory on their first possession, before Mark Mack picked off an errant pass in our end zone. We drove the eighty yards in about ten plays, as they didn’t allow any long gains. Luke scored on a throwback slant from the eight yard line for our score, and our soccer team captain, and star added the extra point to remain perfect on the season.

In the second quarter we pretty much shut their offense down.

The steady dose of veer action with all its variations can be difficult to stop, but it was their first season with the system, and there was room for improvement. We picked up a field goal, and then just before the half, with the ball at mid-field, coach called the screen pass. It was set up perfectly, and Stevie utilized blocks by both Mike Frich and Jake

Luce to break free, and into the secondary. He put on a nice hesitation move that left their safety clutching air, and would have breezed into the end zone except for a desperation lunge by one of their DB’s caught Stevie’s heel, and he went down on their eighteen yard line.

The next play was a play action fake to Stevie, and a boot in the opposite direction. I was looking for Luke on a deep route, but he was covered. I took off and made one of their guys miss about the ten, spinning off his tackle attempt. Then I headed for the corner, and arrived about the same time as two more opponents. I leaped in the air, felt a hit, but it wasn’t enough to stop my momentum, and I tumbled into the end zone for the score, as we took a seventeen to nothing lead into the halftime break.

Once again it was all focus during halftime as our coaching staff went over small adjustments. We were a confidant team, and although the game was probably out of reach for the visitors we all wanted to play errorless ball, and not give them a chance to mount a comeback.

There was a nice surprise as we filed out of the locker room as our soccer team had formed a gauntlet for us to run through on our way back to the field. I’m sure it was coach Hogan’s idea, and of course with Cezar doing double duty it was a tribute to him as well. Our crowd didn’t fail to notice, and gave both teams a rousing cheer. Sometimes there is friction between teams at a school but not here at Crater. I give both coach Hogan and coach Vincetti credit, as both of them are obviously big supporters of all the athletic teams.

We began the half in the ‘Wildcat’ and Luke did his usual magic act. It took six plays to score, coming on a razzle-dazzle reverse that was set up by Luke’s sprint out action. He flipped the ball back to me, and we caught the Mustangs over pursuing which made the clear path to the goal line a simple matter of out running the out of position defensive backs.

The fourth quarter was pretty much a chance for subs, and youngsters to get some game action, and show their skill belonged at the varsity level. To no one’s surprise Tommy looked good, and J. J.

had a couple nifty receptions. The final was thirty-eight to nothing as our defense put up their fourth shutout of the season. Our team didn’t appear to have any weaknesses, although I know none of our coaches will admit that to anyone.

We were seven and zero and flying high. Later watching the TV

sports coverage of high school games we learned that Fort Brenner had

upset South, and Lakeside had done likewise Vs Prep. Our next two opponents would be a challenge, but as of now there was one less set of footsteps trailing very close.

Also, Washington got their first league win beating Brown. I thought back to my discussion with Mark Hatten, one of the Washington players, after our game and felt good for him. Maybe they could put the turmoil in the program in their rear view mirror. For the players sake I hoped so.

SEVENTEEN

“MR. BOJANGLES”

JERRY JEFF WALKER

I

The weekend was full of football as the family, including Cezar, attended the game at Lincoln between the Cornhuskers and Kansas State. The game wasn’t all that great as the Big Red rolled forty-two to thirteen but the atmosphere certainly caught everyone’s attention. It was a sea of Red with only a sliver of Purple where the State hopeful supporters were sitting in the upper reaches of Memorial Stadium. The thought crossed my mind that the venders peddling Nebraska wear only had to keep a simple inventory, as nearly everyone except the small group from Crater, and the opponents, was dressed in blood red.

After a close loss on the road to Penn State, the number one ranked team in the nation, the ‘Huskers’ had rolled over three straight opponents, and were ranked number three in both the coaches and media poll. They had built a strong program under former coach Bob Devaney, and Tom Osborn had only taken it to a higher level.

Coach Vincetti had some connections in Lincoln, and managed to secure for us the six tickets. We were in the end zone, but high enough up to have a great view. Actually, I preferred this angle because you could see every play as it developed. I wish we had this view on our game tapes. I know both the colleges in division I, and the NFL utilize this angle. I’m sure for the same reason.

We were all amazed at how informed the fans in the stadium were about the game of football. When Nebraska had the football it was eerily quiet before the snap, and then the eighty thousand fans erupted with cheer. But, when K-State had the football cheer’s of ‘Go Defense’

rocked the stadium, making it nearly impossible to hear. It was all positive, and I never heard a boo or a derogatory remark aimed at State, only cheering for the home team. Pretty cool.

Cezar’s comment about the atmosphere sort of said it all.

“You’ll never see anything like this in soccer. It’s sort of like a war with supporters of both teams verbally abusing the opponent, and each other, especially during the World Cup, to the point of absurdity.”

The Nebraska fans were loud, and not shy in showing support, but it was so civilized. The lady in front of us had to teach her young son when to stand to cheer, and when to sit quietly. It was something I would guess she learned from her father years ago.

At halftime as we stood in line at the concession stand a man approached us wearing a Husker red blazer.

“Excuse me for interrupting, but coach Osborn wanted to welcome you and your family to the game.”

He was talking directly to me, and I was nearly speechless. I had no idea coach Osborn new we were here. I stammered a thank you, and then the man introduced himself as a former player, and long time supporter. He was very accommodating and seemed to know all about the football program at Crater. He knew nearly everything about my sport career, and was full of praise for how coach Vincetti had built the program into an Iowa power in such a short time.

“He used to coach here in Nebraska you know. Won three state titles as I recall.”

He went on to tell us he had played under coach Devaney and now was just a loyal alumnus.

“Coach wanted you to know when the time comes we want to host you in a formal visit. You’ve made a name for yourself as an underclassmen, and we’ll be watching closely as your career moves forward.”

He was graceful and charmed mom with his compliments. I was amazed at how informed he was about Crater football, and my athletic career. Was this what I could expect during the recruiting game?

“Now Eric I play a workman like game of golf, and maybe during the spring we can arrange a match in between baseball games.”

How the devil did he know about my love for golf? Wow, I guess they do their homework. Of course both Paul and Danny asked a number of questions that had to be a bit annoying, but he handled them with ease.

As we finished our meeting I said, “Please thank coach Osborn for his thoughts, and be sure to let him know we all wish him and the team the best.”

I wasn’t sure I handled the unexpected meeting very well, but it was the first time a division one football program had shown face to face interest. If nothing else I got a glimpse of what the recruiting world was like.

As we headed back to our seats for the second half Cezar chimed in with, “Ok, superstar can I have your autograph?”

“Well if you keep kicking the football into the end zone, and making field goals maybe someday a stranger wearing a red blazer will know your name. I’ll just tell them we’re a package deal.”

II

On the way home after we had thoroughly discussed the game, and the recruiting effort the subject changed to a situation on our team.

Cezar brought it up first as we were talking about how well our defense had played this season.

“Tell me Eric how do the guys feel about Myke?”

“We all love the way he plays and the emotion he brings.”

“I know he does on game nights, but I’ve heard some talk about how lazy he is, and that he doesn’t really practice well.”

“Sometimes he goes about practice with a nonchalance that drives a few of the guys crazy, but he makes up for it on game days.”

Paul chimed in with, “What difference does it make if he doesn’t play with game speed in practice. If he did he might kill someone.”

Then Cezar asked, “What does coach Vince think?”

“Let me tell you about a discussion I had not long ago with Coach V about that very subject.”

It was during my PE aide period, and coach had the class playing flash football so we had some time, while observing the games, to chat a bit. I asked him about his two rules.

“Where did you come up with your two rule idea,” I asked?

“You mean never embarrass our program and best player plays?”

“Yep.”

He went on to tell me that during a visit to UCLA about ten years ago he had the opportunity to sit in on a coaching meeting about personnel.

“When I left that room I had a different outlook on how to evaluate players.”

He told me that during the meeting the position coaches had the opportunity to talk about each player, giving both plus and minuses about each one. One of the coaches was discussing a player who it seems had a cavalier attitude about practice. He wanted to demote the kid in favor of one who was ultra serious about his practice attitude, and his effort. The head coach, Pepper Rogers, listened quietly, and when the assistant was done offered his opinion. It went something like this according to coach Vince.

“Son,” speaking to the young assistant, “I want you to listen good now.”

Coach Vince imitated coach Rogers Southern drawl as he told me the story.

“Ok, you like this kid that comes to practice early and stays late.

There’s a lesson here, and you need to remember it. You take that kid that sweats a lot on Tuesday, and I’ll take the kid with talent. Now listen! I’ll kick your ass every time. Never forget talent wins.”

Then he went on to say, “Now we can’t let him or anyone else prostitute the program.” And there was a long pause as coach Rogers contemplated his next words.

“If he’s killing people we’ll probably need to do something about that, but if he’s just molesting them, like Mr. Bojangles, we’re going to play him.”

Everyone got a kick out of the story, but to tell the truth coach Vince told it much better. My Southern drawl isn’t very good.

Coach V told me that coach Rogers was a pretty funny guy, and he told stories that kept everyone laughing throughout the day. He had left UCLA after the 1973 season to return to his alma mater, Georgia Tech. He retired from college coaching after the 1979 season.

“I know a lot of that story is fiction, especially the if he’s killing people part, but the lesson to be learned is not to fall in love with a nice kid, and put too much emphasis on a workmanlike attitude and not enough on talent.”

Myke is a very talented player, and he doesn’t sweat much on Tuesday either, but he sure plays great on Friday night. I’ll go along with coach Vince’s vision borrowed from coach Rogers any time of the day or night.

There was some discussion about where to draw the line on practice attitude. But I think the end result was that everyone agreed coach Vince has a good handle on it. He isn’t about to let any kid

embarrass the program by acting like an idiot on the practice field, but he also runs a loose ship, and loves to have fun while practicing. He wants all of us to enjoy the game. We’re pretty focused, but at the appropriate time we can enjoy a good laugh.

We rolled into Crater early enough for mom to serve us a great desert. Vanilla ice cream with Cornhusker red strawberries, how fitting.

EIGHTEEN

“FIRE AND RAIN”

JAMES TAYLOR

I

The Fort Brenner Bulldogs were a program on the rise. Their coach was new having replaced Coach Bruck who had decided to retire. Coach July had a reputation of putting new life into a program, and his Bulldog team had shown signs of breaking through in the Central Valley League. We knew they would show up ready to play, and they did.

Luke, Cezar and I arrived at the stadium about two hours ahead of time as usual. What was unusual was our opponents were already on the field. We sauntered over to the game field, and watched for a bit as they were in a walk through defensive drill. We could tell their players were really keyed up by the way they preformed the simple drill. I had never seen this before, and wondered if they did that every time they played on the road.

As we left and walked towards our locker room we could still hear the noise from the game field.

“Wow,” I said to my friends, “They look ready to play don’t they?

We better match their intensity of we could be in for a long night.”

We found out in a hurry as the game began that we were in for a competitive game. It seemed to me they had something extra to prove because from the opening kick off they were sky high, and emotional.

But, they didn’t let the emotion affect their play in a negative way, that was evident when they took the kick off and ten plays later their feature back, Dave Milinere, scored on a short run, and after a successful point led seven to nothing. It was the first time all season that we had trailed in a game.

On our first play I completed a short pass to Thomas on a quick out pattern, and their corner planted him to the turf with a vicious tackle.

Thomas not only stayed on the ground for a while, but had fumbled the ball. Luckily for us it had rolled out of bounds just before they jumped

on the ball, much to the dismay of their sideline players, who were jumping and cheering like they had just won the game.

J. D. replaced Thomas, and we ran the next few plays from our two back set. But they were ready for it, and after one first down we were forced to punt. The Bulldogs took over on their own twenty-one yard line.

They were running an unbalanced line with a power-I backfield and I think it caught our defense coaches off guard. They hadn’t show the formation in any of the game film I had watched, and it seemed to nullify our stack blitz scheme. Milinere, the tailback, ran with reckless abandon as if he had something to prove. Again they moved the football down the field for another score. Our sideline was a bit dazed, and our fans were quiet for the first time all year. The quarter ended on their scoring play, and after the extra point they led fourteen to nothing.

Our confidence didn’t get any better when on the kick off they shredded the blockers in front of Stevie, and two angry defenders slammed him to the turf. The fifteen-yard penalty for excessive celebration didn’t give us much solace as Stevie was escorted off the field with an obvious leg injury.

We were being tested by a fired up, and incensed team, Fort had not just come to play, they had come to win. I don’t think anyone saw this coming, and you could describe our demeanor as one of shock.

Somehow we needed to make some plays to get back into the game.

Randy Taylor had taken Stevie’s place in the backfield. He was a junior with excellent speed, but with little playing experience. He had played a mop up role for the most part during the first half of our season. The good news was he was a confidant player who played like he had something to prove. Now was the time.

During the second quarter they didn’t seem to lose any of their energy while we continued to struggle. With a little over three minutes in the half we took over on our own sixteen-yard line after a nice punt.

I hadn’t felt comfortable since I saw them warming up two hours before the game, and my play had showed that I wasn’t my usual self.

It was time for me to show the kind of leadership good quarterbacks could pull out of their hat when needed.

The first play was an option, and the defensive end jumped the pitch back, so I cut up field and broke to the sideline with a good block from Teddy. As I cut off his block one of their guys hit me from the blind side, and stripped the ball from my grasp. I dove for it but couldn’t

manage to hold on as their safety arrived at the same time. I lay on the turf, and watched another of their players jump on the loose football.

Not exactly the kind of leadership I was hoping to provide. They had the football on our twenty-six yard line.

They worked the ball towards our goal line, and just before half attempted a fifteen yard field goal. The ball sailed through the uprights just as the half time buzzer sounded. Fort’s halftime lead was a convincing seventeen to nothing. This game had major upset written all over it.

II

The somber locker room was full of players with their heads down wondering what had happened. We were playing a team intent on bringing fire and rain down on our heads, and we had one half to put out the fire and control the rain.

We had a number of players nursing injuries, none of which were major, except it looked like Stevie’s night was done. Our medical staff was working on his ankle, but when I passed the training table it didn’t look good to me. Randy would need to prove he was varsity ready during the second half, and the rest of us would need to get our heads together or we were in for a mighty fall from grace.

Coach Vince talked to the team about execution, and getting our confidence back.

“We’ll need to show more fight than we did in the first two quarters.

Every team has an off half, but the really good ones can overcome adversity. I think we’ll find out if we’re that kind of team or not.”

The other coaches met with their charges, and just before the break was over coach told the offense, “We get the second half kick off, and we’ll need to put some points on the board. Let’s settle down, and execute like we have all season.”

Just before we broke Randy said, “Guys’ I’ve got my chance and I’m not going down without a fight. You can count on that.”

Coach Nook had moved J.P. to the deep spot replacing Stevie, and he took the kick off on the ten. It was a hash-mark wedge return, and he hit the crease in the coverage team perfectly, and set sail up field. A nice cut back at the fifty left their kicker pawing air, and a nice block by Toby sprung him clear. J. P. took it to the house with our stands wildly cheering him on.

Wow, that was hopefully the shot in the arm we needed to regain some momentum. Cezar’s kick was good, and we had cut the deficit to ten points.

After Cezar’s kick-off sailed into the end zone our defense took the field with renewed vigor. After three run plays the Bulldogs were forced to punt from their own twenty-two yard line.

J. P. was again the deep man, and fielded the punt on our thirty-six. He avoided the first defenders, and cut behind a wall of blockers on our sideline. Down the field he raced, and didn’t stop until the end zone for his second score of the half. Without running an offensive play we had cut the margin to three points, and there was still over six minutes left in the third quarter. Our rooting section had suddenly awakened, and was alive and well. If there was a roof on our bleachers it might be holding on for dear life. Our sideline was alive for the first time, and the defense was eager to take to the field. We had ourselves a ball game.

The ensuing on-side kick caught Fort completely by surprise, and Cezar, after a squib kick, recovered the football himself. First down Comets. Coach Nook had been working on what he called the ‘dribble’

kick all season during practice, but this was the first time he had called it during a game. It couldn’t have come off any better.

On first down we ran one of our trips patterns, and Teddy was open in the flat. The fifteen yard gain continued our momentum, and we raced to the line of scrimmage at their thirty-six. We ran another trips pattern to the opposite side, and this time Luke was open on the curl route. It was a simple throw and catch, and another first down on the twenty-four. One more trips pattern had the defenders bent over pleading for air, and Thomas caught the out route, and stepped out of bounds on the twelve yard line. Then we ran a sprint draw, and no one touched Randy as he pranced into the end zone untouched. Our first lead became four after Cezar’s kick was true.

The sudden turn of events might have made most teams quit, but Fort wasn’t about to lie down. We fought tooth and nail for the rest of the quarter with both teams squandering scoring chances. We entered the fourth quarter holding the slim twenty-one to seventeen lead.

Fort had the football on the fifty-yard line with a third and six distance confronting them. They had run a power play all night long for significant yardage, and to no one’s surprise they tried it again. This time J. D. timed his blitz perfectly hitting their exceptional tailback in the

backfield forcing a fumble. Scott, attacking from the outside, was the right man in the right place, and fell on the loose ball on the forty-four yard line. First down Comets.

Coach decided to go with the two back set and as we trotted on to the field he told me to stay in the huddle, get some first downs, and try to milk the clock. It was good advice, but Randy would have none of it.

We had called a simple ‘Blast’ play with J. D. leading Randy into the hole. It’s a play designed for tough yardage, and a four or five yard gain is a success. This time Randy hit the hole so fast he was past the linebackers and into the secondary in the blink of an eye. Before the twin safeties could even react he was past them, and heading for the end zone. No one had a chance to catch him with his sprinters speed, and mere seconds later he was handing the football to the referee as casual as can be. Welcome to the varsity Randy. Cezar’s kick was true again, and we suddenly enjoyed a twenty-eight to seventeen lead.

We had finally deflated the Bulldogs, and the air was out of their sails. Their offense could only muster two first downs in the quarter, and we tacked on another score on a J. D. short run with six minutes left. The final was a hard earned thirty-five to seventeen victory. We had dodged a bullet, and learned a lesson at the same time. The thirty-five to nothing second half score showed everyone we weren’t about to let one bad half affect our determination, or to dictate the outcome.

At the end of the game as I passed by Millinere he still looked fresh as a rising sun. He took my hand in a vice grip and said, “Damn I thought we were going to get you guys. We gave it our best shot.”

My return comment went something like, “Well you did way more than that,” as I shook my hand and tried to get some blood circulating back into it.

I was exhausted, more from spent emotion than from the physical effort. Fortunately the hot water cascading down my body in the shower worked its wonders. Cezar was standing next to me also in a state of wonderment.

“That was one heck of a game,” then I paused before adding,

“This feels so good, maybe I’ll stay right here until the water turns cold, or the janitor closed the place down.”

“You’ll be by yourself my friend. I’m out of here.”

NINETEEN

“WE’RE ALL IN YOUR CORNER”

THE HIGHWAYMEN

I

Before practice on Monday coach Vincetti told us why the Fort guys were so fired up.

“I need to apologize to you because it was my stupidity that set the Mustangs on a revenge path.”

He went on to tell us about a comment he had made to their coach that was the catalyst for their anger.

“Coach July is a good friend, and when he asked me what film I wanted in our exchange I told him I didn’t care, and to just send me your last two games. I didn’t mean it to be demeaning, but he took it as that, and obviously spent the week harping to their players about our lack of respect for their program.”

He paused for a moment, and then said, “I’ll set the record straight at the right time with coach July, and assure him I meant no disrespect.

But I’ve learned a lesson boys, and it will be a cold day in Crater before I manage to antagonize another opponent before we’ve played a down.”

My thought, like everyone else, was we’re all in your corner coach.

We were finishing the league season at Lakeside, and like last year they were one game behind in second place. A win for the Pelicans would mean a tie for first, and they would get the first place seeding because of the win. It was our task to keep that from happening

We were a bit beat up, and had five starters standing in street clothes on the sideline of the practice field. Stevie was the worst off as his swollen ankle still looked awful. It was an ugly sight of blue and black, and even his toes looked swollen. I was sure Randy would be the tailback come Friday. Our two offensive guards were also shaken up. Brandon had a shoulder injury, but he insisted he would play through the pain on Friday. Jake was nursing an elbow injury that was painful, but he thought by Friday he would be ready to play. John Barlow was taking all the reps at his offensive guard spot. Scott

Kenston was nursing a slight hamstring pull, and Mark Mack was down with what he thought was the flu. As bad as it looked I felt like everyone but Stevie, and possibly Jake would be in the lineup by game time.

Lakeside would offer us the same challenge as usual. They were a big if ponderous team that never hurried, and always tried to steamroll the opponent. They ran a very simple smash mouth run oriented offense, and our defense would need to be aggressive. Everyone knew it would be a dogfight in the trenches. We were smaller but quicker, and last year it was that quickness that won the day. Hopefully we’ll be able to take that advantage, and leverage it into a strong defensive showing.

We didn’t change anything on offense, as coach felt like Randy could do everything Stevie could. He had shown us by his performance last Friday that he was up to the task. I just hoped he was durable, as we really didn’t have a backup. Coach gave J. P. a lot of reps in the tailback spot, and he was such a good athlete by the end of the practice week he looked very comfortable.

Dustin took some reps there as well. Coach V liked his speed so he gave the kid a few plays, and some reps until he became comfortable. My thought was he’d be good on options and toss plays but probably not inside the tackles.

J. P. had quietly become one of our better players and although he told me he thought baseball was his best sport he was hoping to land a division one football scholarship.

“Baseball is fun but football pays the bills.”

He was referring to full scholarships in football and partial help in baseball. He had his sights set on attending Stanford and that wasn’t cheap. I asked him if he had heard anything from Stanford football, and his answer surprised me a bit.

“I have, and they’re telling me that they are looking at three or four defensive backs, and that I’m on that list.”

I had to say great of course, and I was really happy for him but I just didn’t think a five foot ten, one hundred seventy something pound athlete would draw much attention at the D-I level. I’ll say this about J.

P., he was very smart, not just in the classroom as his 4.0 G.P.A.

showed, but he had athletic smarts. It seemed like he was always a play ahead in anticipation of what might happen. He was the leader of our defense without being obvious. Everyone trusted his judgment, and

his ability to stay ahead of the game. On second thought, I think Stanford is the perfect place for him.

II

Lakeside was about an hour’s drive up the freeway. The town was sort of a ‘resort’ city in some ways, as the small lake drew a lot of visitors especially during the summer months. It was a one high school town, and they were really into supporting their athletic teams. As the bus drove through the city on the way to the school, located just south of city center, one could see their school colors everywhere. There were navy blue and white banners and flags on both sides of the highway. They always wore a lot of black in their uniforms, and the way they played the colors should really be black and blue.

Last week Vs Fort for the first time all season our offense had struggled. Coach told us it was more about ‘us’ than ‘them,’ and we needed to get back to the basics.

“Sometimes I think I ‘tinker’ a little too much trying to be perfect with our offense,” he told us on Monday. Then we spent the practice week doing reps of our basic trips and deuce patterns. It was ‘back to basics’ time for the Comet football team, and I think it will show Vs Lakeside on Friday night. I know I felt more comfortable than I had in a couple of weeks.

We all understood the importance of winning this game, and drawing the top seed from our league. It meant we would get the first two playoff games at home, and during playoff time home field advantage is usually a big deal. We were still the number two-ranked team in Iowa and we wanted to secure that spot, because the highest ranked teams got the better draw in the brackets.

Our first two offensive series were just ok. We moved the ball, but didn’t score on either possession. But our quick defense was up to the task Vs the Pelican offense. It was a zero to zero game when we took over for our third possession, with one minute and forty five seconds left on the first quarter clock. Up to that point the Pelican fans had a brief period of hope. It would soon disappear with a barrage of passes that defied description of high school athletes.

Up to that point I was five for eight throwing the football but Lakeside hadn’t given up any long passes. Our short and intermediate

pass game was clicking probably as a result of the good practice time working on both.

We started with a trips pattern that broke Luke open on a curl, and he picked up some extra yardage after the catch. After the first down we ran a flat/curl route out of our deuce formation, and again the curl was open. Teddy picked up another first down.

There was less than a minute to go in the quarter, and coach called for a pattern we call ‘Stick’. The wide receiver runs a slant-stop as the slot runs a speed cut out just under the slant. We had run the play earlier for a good gain, but this time the strong safety covering Toby was in good position, and the inside linebacker was under the slant. The corner was also in good position over the top.

But the play was a ‘Stick and up” which called for Toby to turn his out into an out and up. The maneuver caught their strong safety out of position as he was trying to jump the out route. I needed to thread the needle before the free safety could rotate in that direction, and I did just that. Toby took the pass in stride, and crossed the goal line untouched to finish the twenty-seven yard throw and catch.

From that point on our pass offense was on fire. I completed seven in a row on our next two possessions both of which ended up in the end zone. The first was on a double pick route for the inside slot near the goal line, and Thomas was by himself in touchdown land. The second score, our third of the half, came on a speed option pitch to Randy after a throw to Luke took the ball to the six-yard line. We left the field at halftime leading twenty-one to nothing. I felt like we were back to playing the kind of football we had played for most of the season. Precision and confidence worked in tandem with speed and timing to give us a commanding halftime lead on the frustrated Pelicans.

The second half was another dose of Comet magic, as our offense continued to click, and our defense had total control of the Lakeside offense. By the fourth quarter we had Tommy in at quarterback and J.

P. and Dustin alternated at tailback. And, justifying Coach V’s faith, Dustin scored our last touchdown on a simple toss play, when he broke one tackle near the line of scrimmage, and sprinted forty-five yards into the end zone.

We actually forced them out of their usual game plan, and they threw six passes in the second half, unheard of for them. The final was

a resounding forty-six to nothing, and there were no black and blue warriors from Crater High limping off the field.

Coach Hasty just shook his head when he spoke with Coach Vince after the game.

“You gave us a big time whipping coach. I think you’re better than last year’s team. Good luck in the playoffs. Bring home a championship for our league.”

“We’ve got a chance coach. Thanks, and enjoy your offseason.”

After a quick shower I spoke with Stevie, and he told me he felt much better.

“I’ve seen enough of Randy to know if I don’t get back on the field soon I’ll be a second stringer.”

That wasn’t about to happen, but it sure was good to know we had a back up tailback that could be a starter on most teams.

TWENTY

“BIRD DOG”

THE EVERLY BROTHERS

I

Our first playoff game was against West High of Iowa City.

Heading into the season it looked like West would field a very competitive team, some said a state title contender. However, before they played a game, their star tailback was ruled ineligible, by the Iowa Schools Athletic Association. He had transferred from bitter rival City High twice. As a sophomore he played for City but there was an issue of some kind with the coaching staff, and he spent his junior year at West after his family moved across the boundary line. He moved back to the City district immediately after the season ended so he could wrestle at City for legendary wrestling coach Wade Billips. When the family moved again so he could play football at West the ISAA had had enough. They ruled the moves a sham, and disqualified the kid from playing football at either school.

The result was that West limped into the playoffs. They had tied for the fourth place spot out of the Empire league with a five win and four loss season record. But, they had the tie-breaker and the leagues second representative. They ended the regular season with a fifty-two to six loss to cross town rival City High.

We were expected to win big, and we did just that. The game was really over after we took a twenty-one to nothing first quarter lead. By halftime the Trojans looked disinterested, and acted as though they might not come out of the locker room for the second half. The final of fifty-six to zip meant they had been outscored one hundred eight to six in their last two games. Ouch.

Their coach was a veteran of many years at all levels. It turns out he grew up in the same town and Coach Vincetti, so there relationship goes a long way back. His name was Ron Simons and coach had told us he was a great competitor and felt like he would get the situation at West under control if given time. After the game I could see both

coaches chatting and it sounded like Coach Vince was telling his friend to hang in there.

“Ron you’ve got your work cut out for you but if anyone can turn this situation into a positive you’re the guy. Good luck.”

Next on the playoff schedule had us again at home Vs the winner of the Dubuque Senior High Rams out of the always-tough Mississippi Valley League. They were heavily favored over Lincoln High of Cedar Rapids. We were watching sports at the ‘Doorway’ and no one was surprised when the score was flashed on the screen. Dubuque Senior forty-eight Lincoln fourteen. It would be the Red and White clad Rams coming to Crater for a second round game.

By this time in the season I was getting letters from colleges on a regular basis. Coach Vince had a folder in his office marked ‘Eric’

where he put all the correspondence letters. It was a rare day when I opened the folder to find it empty. I was learning that the recruiting game not only started early, but it apparently never let up. Some of the schools sent letters nearly every week. I got to the point where I was tired of it, and unless something different showed up I paid little attention. Then one day a letter from Notre Dame arrived, and that caught my attention real fast.

When I mentioned it to mom that night she was all excited.

“Eric, you know Notre Dame is a very special school, and a diploma from them carries a lot of weight in the real world.”

“I know mom but they haven’t been especially successful under coach Faust.”

“Well they will be with you playing for them.”

“Spoken like a mother.”

About that time Danny came into the room, saw the letter mom was holding and got very excited.

“Wow did they offer you a scholarship?”

“They can’t do that yet, and don’t be putting the cart before the horse my little friend.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m a junior in high school, and I’m not nearly ready to begin worrying about what college I’m going to. I want to enjoy these next two years being a Crater Comet.”

“Well if Notre Dame offered me a scholarship I’d jump at it.”

“I’ll remind you of that in about eight years from now buddy.”

Paul showing up about then said, “Notre Dame huh. Don’t go there, Eric, they suck.”

The thought crossed my mind to keep the recruiting letters at school in the folder where no one but me, and coach Vince knew who sent a letter.

“Mom seems to think they won’t if I go there.”

“You’re not that good big brother,” he remarked as he headed for the kitchen, and an after school snack.

And he was probably right.

“What’s for dinner mom?”

“Oh just some Irish Stew my boy.”

I rolled my eyes and headed upstairs to my room away from family, and at the same time recognizing the smirk on mom’s face, which told me she was having fun at my expense. I love my family.

II

The Rams showed up on Friday looking very confident, and I knew they would offer us a challenge. They had made the quarterfinal last year so they have been in the playoff hunt, and knew what it took to advance. So did we.

Their head coach, Ray Brown, and Coach Vince had coached as assistants on the same college staff a long time ago. Coach said, “It was only for one year but in that time I found out what a good coach Ray was, and still is.” He went on to say, “He’ll have a solid game plan set up, and will give us some new looks on defense. He’s very good at that.”

Their feature running back was named Charlie Weaver. He was over six feet tall and ran with a deceptive gait. He didn’t look particularly physical but he ran with authority. It looked to me like he loved playing the game. He would bounce up after being tackled and race back to their huddle with a give me the ball again posture. We would need to control him to some degree.

Their best defensive player was Brant Carter. He was a linebacker but he played everywhere. Sometimes he lined up as the weak side LBer, sometimes as a defensive end. On film he was seemingly everywhere and on nearly every play you could find number twenty one getting off the pile last. We would need to know where he was at all times.

The first half was competitive. We scored first on a Stevie twenty-yard dash but they countered with a nice drive evening the score at seven apiece, as the first quarter came to a close. After our first drive it was a though they had a bird dog on Stevie as his runs were pretty well controlled, mostly by that darn number twenty one.

Randy took the kick off into their territory, and on first down I hit Blake, again giving Teddy a break, on a throwback route for a forty-five yard touchdown. We forced a quick three and out, and this time, again on first down, we scored on a reverse pass ‘Flea Flicker’ trick. Stevie was wide open down our sideline, and my pass was on target. The twenty-one to seven score lasted until Cezar kicked a thirty-yard field goal on the last play of the half.

Coach admonished us to not let up.

“Don’t give them breathing room guys. Make sure you stick with the game plan and focus.”

We had heard this before and were smart enough to take it to heart. I could tell by the demeanor of my teammates that there was little chance we would stumble during the second half.

We both had scoring opportunities during the third quarter, but neither could get the ball into the end zone. We squandered a great chance after J. D. recovered a fumble deep in their territory. I had a tipped ball on a slant route hit their trailing corner directly between the numbers on his jersey for an interception. I was upset with myself for the throw that was slightly off target. It was only my fourth INT of the season, but I knew I’d catch hell from my brother Paul later that night.

He liked to keep me in my place. I think he believed it was his job to make sure all our success didn’t go to my head. I didn’t mind.

When we held them on a fourth and two on our fifteen-yard line early in the fourth quarter I felt like we needed to sustain a drive, and eat up time off the clock. We went on a ten-play drive featuring runs by both Stevie and J. D. out of our two back set. Then with the football inside their twenty I faked a dive to Stevie, and hit Luke on a stop and go route for our final touchdown. The thirty-one to seven score was to be the final.

After the game Coach Brown and Coach Vince shook hands and I overheard the last part of their conversation.

“Bart, your kids really play the game the right way. It’s impressive to watch even from the visitor’s sideline. Good luck next week.”

An uninformed observer of Iowa playoff football watching the scores on TV would think it was another romp for the Comets. In reality, we were excited about the win, and knew it was a much more difficult game than the score would indicate.

But we were on track and moving into the quarterfinal game. We came through without another injury, and Stevie had nearly regained full strength in his ankle. Coach was sure to give Randy some well deserved time to give Stevie a rest, and he wouldn’t disappoint.

Kim was at the ‘Doorway’ and I found myself very glad to see her.

She had become a very good friend, and someone I could chat with and know whatever I said wasn’t going beyond the two of us.

“How about a piece of pie,” I asked?

“As long as it’s American Pie.”

With that we sat down, and I waived at my favorite waitress.

“I hear Notre Dame is recruiting you, true?”

“Wow word travels fast.”

I explained how the recruiting wars went, and that letters were only the first step in a long and arduous trail in the recruiting of a high school athlete.

“It really doesn’t mean much, except I’m on their list of prospects.

And once you get on one D-I school’s list it doesn’t take long for the others to find out and join in.”

“Is it fun or a pain in the butt?”

“I’ll say this, at first it’s flattering to hear from collage coaches, but it gets old pretty fast. I just want to enjoy my high school time and not worry about all that. There will be ample time by this time next year to deal with it.”

We chatted for another fifteen minutes or so before I said, “Want a ride home?”

“Want me to hop on your skate board,” she laughed?

“I’ve got Cezar’s car. Right after the game he hopped the bus for Chicago to see his parents.”

“Oh my, unchaperoned, can I trust you?”

“Of course not, I’m a lecherous sex freak.”

“Well ok then, I’ve been looking for one of them for a long time.”

I’m not sure the goodnight kiss qualified me as a stalker, but it was nice.

“See you on Monday super star.”

“You bet.”

We both had a good laugh at that.

And a bit later I had a smile on my face as I landed in bed. Maybe I wouldn’t be only dreaming about football tonight.

TWENTYONE

“GOOD THINGS HAPPEN”

DIERKS BENTLEY

I

The playoff’s were down to the final eight teams, and there were no real surprises. All the top six ranked teams were still alive, and the two others were ranked nine and ten in the last regular season poll.

City high of Iowa City ranked number one was in the lower bracket and would play the number ten ranked Roosevelt Riders from Des Moines. Also in the lower bracket were North High of Davenport, ranked fourth, and they were matched with Hoover also from Des Moines, and ranked number five.

We were in the top of the upper bracket and would play East High of Sioux City ranked number nine in state. Also in the upper bracket were the two time defending state champs Jefferson J-Hawks from Cedar Rapids, with a number three ranking. They were matched up with the number six ranked Dodgers of Fort Dodge. It was Jefferson that had eliminated us with the last play two-point conversion in last year’s semi final.

Because we had the higher seed we would host East. It was an easy hour and one half drive down highway 29 to Crater from Sioux City, so I’m sure Raider fans would easily fill the visitors side of the field. It was sure to be a madhouse.

We would be the favored team, but it was up to us to not overlook the Raiders. We can’t feel entitled just because we were in the semifinal a year ago. After watching video of East I’m sure no one in our locker room would go into the game overconfident.

East featured a stud of a fullback, who also played middle linebacker. His name was Gary Palumbo and he had started for three years. He had two brothers who also played. Jason was their free safety and Luke played defensive end. Along with those three they had a quick tailback by the name of Kamu Leehi that looked like a JV player until you watched him dart and dash around the field making defensive players look silly trying to tackle him in the open field.

Coach Nick thought their center was a brute.

“He’s the guy who calls all the line of scrimmage adjustments. He looks like a coach on the field.”

His name was Greg Marsh and he was a returning All-State player and three year starter. Word had it he had more than a few scholarship offers to deal with.

Our defense would certainly be put to the test to stop the run. But, they also had a great array of play action passes in their repertoire that they utilized to maximum efficiency. The quarterback, Mike Fanjer, was very efficient and accurate. He was a diminutive athlete but was a wizard handling the football, making their offense very difficult to get a handle on. He had a completion percentage off the charts as defenses concentrated on stopping the run.

Coach Nick drilled our guys on staying at home and not falling for the fakes and getting into a guessing game.

“Hold your ground and occupy your gap until you’re certain where the football is located.”

He was especially critical of our defensive backs when they got caught peeking into the backfield in practice.

“Don’t get fooled by a play fake. Play your man and only run to the football after it’s crossed the line of scrimmage.”

We were going to play a lot of cover one, which was man to man with a free safety over the top. Dan had done a great job all year and coach was counting on him continuing doing exactly that again.

The plan was for our front six to nullify the run leaving the defense backs free to cover the play action passes. On paper it was sound, and I think we have the athletes to get the job done. That unit has been lead by Tony and J. P., but Mark Mack, Gage Nichols, and Dan Winters had quietly molded into a very solid deep three unit.

As game day approached the tension became more and more obvious. The pressure was certainly on us as the favorites, and by Thursday I thought we were a bit too tight. My answer was to have some fun after practice, so I had organized a bowling night. The bowling alley was under new ownership, and they had cleaned it up.

and looking for new customers. When I suggested to them it would be fun to have a ‘Team’ night they were excited to show everyone what good host’s they could be.

We arrived at the bowling alley to see ‘Go Comet’ signs in school colors covering the walls. They had everything set up for us, and we

were the only occupants. Cezar had organized the soccer team to be

‘Cheerleaders,’ and we had the defense wear blue t-shirts, and the offense white. The soccer team split up in like colored shirts to show support for their chosen side.

It was a blast. The coaches were also in attendance, and there were a lot of friends and family as well. Some of the guys threw more gutter balls than you would think athletes should, but no one complained. It came down to the last frame, and both J. D. and J. P.

threw strikes beating Thomas and Toby’s spares for the win.

I think the night broke the tension, and we all left in good spirits.

Hopefully we would be ready to play, and at ease when the fun began on Friday night. I’m a firm believer that good things happen to good people, and our group certainly qualified as ‘Good People’.

One of the new owners had been a high school coach until a few years ago when he retired. He turned out to be a very talkative guy, and I enjoyed listening to him chat about football and about our team.

“You’ve got more ‘hiders’ on the team this year,” he told me during a break in the action.

“Hiders, what do you mean?”

“When you guys get up, and coach starts looking for subs, the

‘hiders’ stay in the back, and when coach heads one direction, they head the other way.”

“Wow, really?”

“Some guys just want to be on the team. They really don’t care if they play. You know you can get hurt playing football,” he said with a big smile on his face.

II

The Orange and Black Raiders looked like a confident team as they warmed up, and they had a bunch of good looking athletes running around their end of the field. Obviously we had athletes as well, and of course we’d been in playoff action a lot. This would be our seventh playoff game in the past two seasons.

I believe the bowling night had broken the tension, and we were a loose but focused team. Coach had always preached to us to expect to win, as you prepare to win, and believe in each other. It had become his three constant phrases, and we all thought it should be a chapter in his book after he retired.

This was the first quarterfinal playoff game for East in a long time.

I knew they were a well drilled, and fundamentally sound football team.

They were obviously well coached, and would be prepared for everything we had shown during the year. Coach Vince knew their head coach from his time in Nebraska, where the East coach had a lot of success before taking over the job in Sioux City two years ago.

“He’ll burn the midnight oil watching every video of us he can get his hands on, so his team will be very well prepared.”

His name was Don Carty, and he specialized in taking over moribund programs, usually on their last legs and turning them around.

He had done it his entire career, and everyone admired him for that.

In his sly way coach had changed up some of our formations slightly because he knew they would focus on what we ran from each formation. For example in our trips set we usually had our wide receiver on the line of scrimmage. For this week we put the middle receiver on the line, and adjusted the width of the splits to make it look like a different formation. It was all camouflage, but coach thought it would cause them some momentary confusion.

We began the game on offense, and I could tell right away they were somewhat confused, and maybe even a bit unsure of how to line up. We took advantage of that uncertainty, and moved the ball down the field to a first and goal without even running a play on third down.

Coach even changed up our two back set by putting J. D. in the backfield by himself, and Stevie on a wing. I could hear their defensive captain trying to get his guys aligned, and he was out of position when we ran what we called a ‘Scissors’ play where I faked to J. D. on a dive action, and handed the ball to Stevie cutting back to the inside. He cut off a beautiful trap block by Brandon Janes, and waltzed into the end zone.

I could see their defense staff drawing things up on a sideline

‘White board’ with the players huddled around. I knew coach Vince’s plan had worked, and I just hoped they didn’t have some wizard pulling tricks out from his sleeve like some card shark at the whistle stop saloon.

Their stud fullback nearly made their slight tailback invisible looking like an NFL player in front of a junior high boy. Our defense was up to the challenge on their first possession, and only gave up a single first down before forcing a punt.

We took over on our own thirty-eight yard line, and lined up in our

‘Wild Cat’. Once again coach had made a slight adjustment, and the Raiders looked lost. Stevie was in the backfield along side Luke but so was Blake. We had our two fastest players side by side, and with Luke’s quickness it was going to be difficult for East to match up.

On first down Luke faked to Stevie going left, and ran an option play to the right. When their defensive end attacked Luke he pitched the ball to Blake who took off around the corner. He got a fantastic block by Toby on their strong safety, and broke back across the field. I could see him coming but was out of position to block the safety. Blake saw it too, and knew what to do when I yelled ‘With Ya’. As soon as the safety bit on Blake he threw a lateral pass across the field that caught everyone but me by surprise. I easily sprinted the remaining yards into the end zone for a spectacular six-point play.

We had been practicing the ‘With Ya’ play after practice for about a month, and this was the first time we had actually done it in a game.

Our stands went completely nuts, and our team clown Teddy Bose kept yelling, “Sports Center, Sports Center” waving a white towel over his head while facing our stands. Blake had replaced him in the formation, so we could have our fastest players together in the backfield. Teddy didn’t give being replaced a second thought. Like most all of our guys he was first and foremost a team player.

I think the play broke the back of the orange clad Raiders, and our defense stuffed their offense shutting down the run. And, our defensive backs, staying in position, blanked their receivers. The half ended without them scoring or crossing midfield. We lead at the half by a comfortable twenty-one to nothing score.

The second half was more of the same as they became more and more frustrated as the game went along. We scored once more in the third, and another to begin the fourth before our subs took over. The final of thirty-five to nothing was a testimony to our focus, our preparedness, and our belief in our game plan, our coaches and our teammates. Semi-final here we come again, and this time we won’t let it go down to the last play.

After the game I spoke with their center.

“Sorry your high school football career is over, but I understand you’ll play in college somewhere.”

“It’s going to be tough hanging up the gear for the last time, but you’re right I’ll definitely play in college and my long term goal is to get into coaching. I just love this game.”

I wished him well and turned to greet our fans.

Luke’s parents were the first on the field after the handshake line.

“Great game Eric,” said M. G. with a huge smile. Let’s keep this season going a couple more weeks.”

“I’ll drink to that,” said mom and she and dad joined the group.

We all hoped our opponent would be the Jefferson J-Hawks, and we had revenge in mind. But later watching the sports coverage while munching burgers at the ‘Doorway’ we were all surprised when the final score of the Jeff Fort Dodge game was announced. Fort had pulled an upset, and beat the defending champs fourteen to thirteen.

So it would be the powder blue Crater Comets Vs the Red and Black Fort Dodge Dodgers in the first game of the semi-final double header in Kinnick Stadium on the University of Iowa campus. North High of Davenport had beaten Hoover easily, and would face the number one ranked City High Little Hawks in the second game.

TWENTYTWO

“CLOSE ENOUGH TO PERFECT”

ALABAMA

I

The game Vs Fort Dodge was all I could really concentrate on all week. The recruiting letters were still arriving on a regular basis, and phone calls from assistant coaches were becoming an irritant.

It wasn’t my best week in the classroom, but most of the teachers understood. Mr. Tushey, my social studies, teacher was one of my favorites ,and I think he must have been an athlete in his day because he seemed to grasp my situation, and tried to put me at ease.

“Eric, I can tell by the far off look in your eyes that the Continental Congress doesn’t have your full attention. But I’ll admit it takes a poor second this week to the Fort Dodge Dodgers.”

“Is it that obvious,” I asked?

“Let’s say you’re not your usual on top of things self son. But do me one favor, and try to stay awake.”

Our banter got the attention of nearly everyone in the class but it wasn’t the first time something got in the way of a lecture. I think that was why he was so popular, he wasn’t afraid to ‘Ad-Lib’ when he felt something, no matter the topic, was worth discussing.

Between classes it wasn’t uncommon for teachers standing next to their classroom door to wish my teammates and me good luck. The game was extra-curricular, but our teaching staff understood the importance of school spirit, the role sports played in a good school, and were willing participants.

Mr. Dibbs, another social studies teacher, and a graduate of Notre Dame was sporting shades of blue in his attire all week, and a ‘Go Comets’ sign in the shape of the Fort Dodge mascot was hanging from the doorway. You needed to circumvent it on the way into and out of his room. He said you’ll all need to “Dodge” the Dodger now so be alert, in an all too obvious play on the Fort Dodge nickname.

Fort was ranked number six in the polls but they were undefeated in Iowa. The only blemish on their record being an opening game loss

to Central High of La Crosse, Wisconsin. They were on an eleven game win streak, and other than last weeks squeaker over Jefferson the least margin of victory was fourteen points. We would be tested for sure.

Our practice week was efficient, and productive. Coach cuts practice down during play off time, and I think it keeps everyone fresh and focused. The ninety-minute workout hustles by in a hurry, but we cover everything necessary. Coach has always preached to us about fresh legs on game night, and he makes sure we’re not over worked.

He doesn’t care how much we sweat on Tuesday. Thank you coach Rogers.

We had a lot of bullets in our gun, and coach didn’t feel like we needed to add more. We have two versions of the two back set, and likewise with our ‘Wild Cat’ group. Our regular offense could both run and pass with equal diversity, and that’s why we were averaging over forty points per game. Our defense had proven itself with five shut outs during the season, and were giving up only a fraction over six points per game.

By the end of Thursday’s practice I felt like we were primed, and ready to go. There was only one problem. Our soccer team had made the semifinal game for the first time in school history, and would be playing on Friday night. Fortunately there game was also in Iowa City.

It was being held at the sport complex at Hickory Hill Park, about a twenty-minute drive from the campus football stadium. Worse yet, their game was set to begin only one hour before ours. There was no way Cezar would be able to get to our game for the first half at least.

Hopefully he would arrive in time to kick during the second period.

Last season I had been the back up place kicker to John Fahey, but I hadn’t done much kicking this season because Cezar was so proficient, and the odds of him getting hurt were practically nil. He was close enough to perfect that I never thought I’d need to kick. But this week I worked extra after practice, and felt like I still had good range and accuracy, but in the heat of the battle it might be a different story.

After practice on Thursday the team gathered in the school cafeteria for a team dinner. Parents did the serving, and the school band gave us a sneak preview of their upcoming holiday performance.

Mr. Land, the band director, was a major football fan, and a graduate of the University of Iowa. He bled Black and Gold, and his son Blaine had

been a three sport star here at Crater, and was the punter for the Hawkeyes for four years.

His band had won numerous competitions over a period of years, and this year’s group was certainly in that same class. They put on a good show, and the finale was all show business with both the cheerleaders, and dance team lending their talent to the number. We gave them a well-deserved standing ovation.

I noticed coach Hurd standing with Hal Nagel, and his cross-country teammates getting ready to be introduced. The state meet was this weekend, and I wanted to wish both coach Hurd and Hal good luck.

Hal is one of the favorites, and our team has a chance to place in the top three. Hal was a quiet guy, but I always thought I should make an effort to get to know him better. Something about his calm nature seemed to me to be asking to be liked. Of course he played basketball too, and that’s really the only time I have had an opportunity to get to know him. I needed to make time.

II

Arriving at the Stadium two hours before the kickoff we had the luxury, because ours was the first game of the double header, of a normal pregame warm up schedule. The specialists were out one hour before kickoff, and I had to do double duty as both punter and place kicker. It wasn’t a big deal, and J. P. was the back up punter so he took a few more practice snaps while I did the placekicking. The ball was flying off my foot, and I felt like I was in my comfort zone both punting and kicking. Of course I hoped to do more kicking than punting come game time.

The stadium was only open on one side, but it was nearly full.

There must have been at least twenty thousand spectators here for the games. Of course it helped that City High was in the second game.

They had the luxury of not traveling at all.

We were especially quiet prior to the game. I’m not sure about everyone else, but all I could think about was last year’s semi-final ending, and I was determined to do my best to keep that nightmare from happening again.

During pregame warm-up the two head coaches met near the fifty-yard line. Two masters, and long time friends meeting again. Coach Stu Peck, everyone called him Sonny, was about ten years older than

coach Vince, and had the unusual double as both head football and softball coach. His football teams were always good, but his girls softball teams were great. The Dodgers, under his leadership, had five state title trophies in their school trophy case.

The game was a chess match from the beginning. To no ones surprise both coaches had their teams primed, and the back and fourth contest was a toss up seventeen to seventeen at the half. I had a hand in all seventeen points, first on a scramble from their twelve-yard line when all our receivers were covered. My extra point try was true.

Fort had an undersized middle linebacker by the name of George Fish, and he was tough, cat quick and had a nose for the football. It seemed like he made every tackle for the entire first quarter. I for one got a little tired of hearing over the loudspeaker, tackle by Fish.

At the beginning of the second quarter we were on the Dodger nineteen-yard line and ran a bootleg play, which actually fooled ‘The Fish’. It was designed for me to throw to Luke on a corner route after the run fake, but he was covered, and I was forced to run. The boot action had fooled their defense too, and left only the outside linebacker in position to make a play. I started for the flag at the goal line in a footrace with their defender. He had a good pursuit angle, but when I cut back at the five he couldn’t stop his momentum, and I glided into the end zone for my second score. Again, my point after touchdown was good, albeit after glancing off the left upright.

Then just before the half after a short drive I kicked a twenty-seven yard field goal right down the pipe to tie the score. We had played an excellent half of football, but so did our opponents. Two very good football teams were in a battle, and one would come out on top while the other would shed tears, and head home disappointed. I didn’t care much for that memory.

As the two teams walked up the stairs leading to both locker rooms, I heard their middle linebacker say to a teammate, “That damn QB got me on that boot, but it won’t happen again.” My thought was, good I hope you are worried enough to slow down your pursuit.

Cezar still wasn’t with us as we came back onto the field after the halftime break. We had heard a score of one to one but didn’t yet know the final outcome. It looked like I might be called on to do kicking duty the entire game, which was ok by me, but I missed my friend, and knew he wanted to be with us too.

Then just before the half was to begin with us kicking, out of the tunnel he came running. There was a large cheer from our fans, and the smile on his face told me they must have won. They did in a shoot out by the score of two to one. I handed him the tee and said, “Kick the damn ball into the end zone you little runt. He did.

I have to give credit to coach Nick for making some halftime adjustments that seemed to stymie the Dodgers running game. They didn’t want to be a pass first team but without moving the ball on the ground they were forced to do just that. On third and ten from their own twenty-yard line their quarterback faded to pass. It looked like a screen of some kind but the ball was hurried and over thrown directly into Myke’s hands. He didn’t give anyone a chance to stop him as he raced untouched into the end zone. We had a quick seven point lead after Cezar’s kick, at twenty-four to seventeen.

Once again our defense stopped two run plays, and on third down Dan stepped in front of a seam pass for another interception. He darted toward our sideline, and was run out of bounds on the Dodger sixteen-yard line. First down Comets. To no one’s surprise the first player to slap him on the back was his backup Jared Vick.

The ensuing option play was amazing in that it seemed to happen in slow motion for me. As I challenged there outside linebacker, who I happened to know. I met him at the Iowa camp and he was a fun loving guy and obviously a very good football player. His name was Finn Benkley and wonder of wonders he was from Ireland. I was heading for his inside shoulder like coach Edwards always coached me to do, and Finn jumped the pitch man, and I turned up field. To my surprise their safety was chasing Toby on a wheel release, and there was nothing but green grass, ok artificial grass, between me and the goal line. I was actually laughing to myself as I crossed the last striped line and flipped the ball to the referee. My Croatian friend kicked his fourth goal, he had both of the scores in the soccer game, of the night and we led thirty-one to seventeen just five minutes into the third quarter.

I give the Dodgers credit because they never quit, and battled to the end. But our two quick scores had given us a cushion, and the lead we weren’t about to surrender. The final was thirty-four to seventeen as we shut them out in the second half. Cezar added another field goal in the fourth quarter to seal the win, and give him two semi-final victories in the space of a couple hours. The smile on his face was worth a thousand words.

After the game I spoke with Finn and he told me, “Damn Eric all week our coaches told us not to let you run and I’ll be darned, that’s exactly what I did.”

And on the bus home we got the news that our cross-country team had won the state title. Hal Nagel finished first, and four of his teammates finished in the top twenty. They not only won, but set a state record by having five runners in the top twenty. It had never happened before. Wow a state title and both the football and soccer teams playing for another pair of trophies.

TWENTYTHREE

“MAKE ME WANNA TO SCREEM”

BLU CANTRELL

I

The City High Little Hawks beat North high of Davenport twenty-two to twenty in an exciting matchup. They had taken a quick lead, but North caught them at twenty-all early in the fourth quarter. The winning score came on a safety when the center snapped the ball over the punter’s head, and out of the end zone late in the contest. A horrible way to lose, but don’t tell me about that I’ve had my share of heartbreak in my short high school athletic career.

In last year’s quarterfinal we had defeated City at their home field by a score of fourteen to nothing. I’m sure that fact would be emblazoned in their minds, and probably on the locker room white board. They had been the defending state champions so dethroning them had to have been a bitter pill for them to swallow.

They had lost their All-American tailback to graduation but had replaced him with another yardage machine. His name was Danny Rule and their propaganda lead was ‘King Danny Rules.’ Every year their offense was tailback orientated, and this edition was no different.

But, they could throw the football as well and their fullback was a beast.

The chink, if there was one, in their armor was their defense. They have given up a lot of yards, and points all year. Fortunately their offense has bailed them out whenever needed.

I felt like we could score points, and I hoped that coach Nichols defense, which had been so good all year would have one more herculean effort within their grasp. But we would be tested like never before as the balanced attack the Little Hawks would show us had been unstoppable all season long. They were averaging, like us over forty points a game. This could end up being a shootout of major proportion.

Coach Vince had emphasized all week that City was capable of scoring a lot of points, and we shouldn’t get down if they did that.

“I’m expecting us to play another good defensive game, but be ready to compete if it comes to a wild high scoring game.”

The media experts were preaching just that theme in the game coverage. Frankly if it meant we were going to need to outscore our opponent I was confident we could do that.

The game was a Saturday afternoon affair, so we had an extra day to prepare. Coach chose to have only a walk through on Friday, and practice was over in less than an hour.

With their big win last week our soccer team would also be playing in the state finals, but it would be contested on Friday night. Cezar would be able to play in two state finals in two days. I’m sure that had never been done before, and I know he would like nothing better than to be a part of history.

The media was playing up the City Vs Country angle, but it wasn’t a bunch of country bumpkins that would show up from Crater.

Someone had suggested that we show up wearing cowboy hats, but fortunately coach Vince vetoed that idea.

Coach Bell had replaced a legend at City. He was a good friend of coach Vince, and had three state titles under his belt. His teams were always well disciplined, and played a tough brand of hit you in the mouth football. Everyone in the state had great respect for coach Bell and his program.

We left early on Saturday, and our rooter busses, all nine of them, were following in hot pursuit. I’m sure with City being, in affect at home, the crowd would be huge. The stadium seated around seventy thousand, but with one side closed off it was closer to a thirty thousand capacity. With the state title on the line I’m sure there would be at least that many in attendance.

When we disembarked at the stadium there were already huge crowds of people. It looked to me like it was equally divided between Comet Powder Blue, and the Little Hawks black and gold. You could feel the excitement in the air as we headed toward our locker room under the stadium. In the background you could hear both bands warming up, and I’m sure the cheer squads on both sides were practicing their own routines, and probably just as nervous as were the players on both teams.

Just before I entered the locker room I noticed coach Vince talking to a group of guys I thought I recognized. It turned out to be former defensive coordinator Carter Mc Queen, track coach Kenny Hurd, my social studies teacher John Tushey and Jim Pont an art teacher who

was also the head girls golf coach. They all wanted to wish coach good luck, and show their support for the team.

I had heard that coach Mc Q had some interest in returning to the program, and I knew coach Vince had a lot of respect for him, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that happened as soon as next fall. I waved to the group, and all of them waved back while shouting words of encouragement. We were a small town and a small school, but we certainly didn’t lack in loyalty. I had a confident feeling as I left the parking lot and entered the dressing room.

II

Warm ups went by fast, and so did the pre-game locker room talk.

We were anxious to get the game started, and feel the sure fire contact that was high school football. The first hit always knocked out the nervousness, and the anxiety in me. Even an especially hard hit just reminded me that it was football ,and it was a collision sport.

The first quarter couldn’t have gone worse for the Comets. City hit us with three knockout type punches, and led by a embarrassing twenty-one to nothing score. We had given up a seventy-yard touchdown run on their first play from scrimmage. “King Rule” bounced off a tackler near the line of scrimmage, bolted outside, and down the sideline. As he flashed past our bench I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. This wasn’t a good way to begin, and it was something they couldn’t do in an entire game last year in our shutout win.

We went three and out for the first time all season, and they quickly took advantage, moving down the field with a precision attack that had our defense on its heels. There tailback wasn’t as big or as fast as last year’s king Kong, but he was quick and elusive and tough.

That was a combination that we would need to figure out sooner rather than later. Especially after his sixteen yard touchdown scamper put us in a quick fourteen to nothing hole.

Our second possession was better but a fumble by usually reliable Luke after a nice catch and run gave City the ball once again. On first down we were called for a late hit on their quarterback nullifying an interception by Gage Nichols, and the Little Hawks were suddenly in

business again on our half of the field. They took advantage, and scored on a nicely executed play action pass that caught Dan playing run. Their tight end caught the ball in stride deep over the middle, and we found ourselves facing a three-touchdown deficit. This was not the picture I had in my mind before the game began. Our beginning was so bad if we made another mistake it would be impossible to make up the deficit.

Then, as the second quarter got under way we found some rhythm, and the tide began to turn. Stevie got loose on a counter play for a nifty thirty yard run. That was followed by a Luke acrobatic catch that gave us a first down on City’s ten-yard line. Our first score came on a shovel pass to Toby, while the defense was chasing Stevie on what looked like a simple option play.

They put together a good drive as we continued to struggle defensively but they ran out of downs with the ball on our fifteen, failing to make a fourth and one. That pumped up our defense, and the offense took advantage by marching the eighty-five yards in six straight pass plays. The drive was culminated when Thomas made a circus catch in the corner of the end zone. There was five minutes left in the second quarter, and we had cut the lead to seven points when Cezar’s second point after split the uprights.

We got a break with a little over a minute remaining when their tailback finally did something wrong. After reversing his field when we had smothered a toss play he was hit from behind by Myke, and the football came out. Rich was seemingly lying in wait, and did the smart thing simply falling on the football instead of trying to pick it up and run, a dream of all linemen.

The ball was on the City nineteen, and we put our trips formation to the field. I took three steps towards the single receiver, who was the first option, but Teddy for once was double covered. My next option was to look to the backside, and try to find one of the trio all running inside slant routes. Thomas, the middle receiver, broke open near the goal line, and I hit him with a laser that the chasing linebacker had no chance to knock down. Cezar added the extra point, and we had tied the game. Twenty seconds later the half ended, and two exhausted teams headed for their respective locker rooms.

TWENTYFOUR

“DOWN THE ROAD TONIGHT”

BRUCE HORNSBY

I

The twenty-one to twenty-one halftime score was only the beginning. It was obvious to everyone these two teams were about as even as you could get. The offensive firepower was impossible to contain even though both teams were capable of playing stout defense.

We had proven that over the course of the season and City had shown they were up to the task when needed.

At halftime coach Vince had told us to settle down, and try to get the emotion of coming back from a three touchdown deficit under control.

“Sometimes the effort it takes to catch up leaves a team unable to continue that pace. We don’t want to go down the road tonight.

Fortunately we’ve got a halftime to recover. The main thing boys, is to continue the fight, overcome adversity, and never, ever give up.”

All the coaches spent time with their group of players, again going over game plans, and making necessary adjustments. Coach Nichols was his usual emotional self, and I could tell he was fighting himself to keep under control. He did, and I thought our defensive guys would continue to play with controlled aggressiveness.

Coach Vince went over a couple of ideas that made good sense.

They had been beating our two receivers when we tried to crack and lead on our options, and coach changed the blocking scheme to man on man. The outside receiver would block the corner, and the slot would block the outside linebacker.

“Stevie you’ll just need to beat their safety one on one.”

The other change was to deepen the ‘Stop’ route because there was a lot of room between the dropping linebackers and the twin safeties.

“Let’s move the “Stop” up to ten yards.”

It was a simple but affective change up as it turned out and I just played catch with the twins for chunks of yardage during our nine-point

third quarter. The only blemish was they broke through and blocked Cezar’s point after kick on our touchdown. We didn’t have that problem on his thirty-six yard field goal that lead off the scoring in the quarter, and gave us our first lead at twenty-four to twenty-one.

The other bad news was their tailback was proving to be nearly unstoppable, and ‘King Rule’ broke free for a fifty-three yard scamper to again give City the lead at twenty-six to twenty-four. Then after a bad snap their quarterback managed to pick up the loose ball, and after scrambling around avoiding tackles found his teammate alone in the corner of the end zone for a two point try. Their lead was suddenly twenty-nine to twenty-four.

That didn’t keep us from continuing the offensive show and on our first play I hit J. J. on a beautiful throwback route. He had earned some playing time with his playoff performance. We took a thirty to twenty-nine lead into the fourth quarter. But once again back they came, and went ahead again on a six play drive resulting in a short touchdown run by their fullback. This time they pulled a planned fake kick, and made it pay off with a nice play resulting in another two pointer when their left side blocking back slipped unnoticed into the end zone on their right side. The lead was thirty-seven to thirty. The fans were certainly getting their money’s worth.

II

The fourth quarter was one for the ages. The first six minutes were scoreless but then the fire works began again. The last six minutes and three seconds either seemed like it went by in a flash or took forever depending on which sideline you were standing. The back and fourth battle had finally looked like the Little-Hawks had taken command. The scoreboard read thirty-seven to thirty when with three ticks over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. When their quicksilver tailback scored it increased their lead to forty-four to thirty.

It didn’t look good for the powder blue Comets, but there was fight left in the teenagers from Crater. When it took us only twenty-four seconds to score hope rose again on the east sideline. Teddy burst past their corner on a simple fade route to haul in a seventy-six yard bomb that had to be the result of a mix up in their defensive backfield.

Cezar’s kick was true to make it forty-four to thirty-seven and the clock read 4:39.

The emotional rollercoaster ride continued when on a third and one we blitzed the house, and when their fullback broke free at the line of scrimmage there was nothing but grass in front of him. He easily rambled forty-nine yards into the end zone. It was fifty-one to thirty-seven with 3:01 on the clock.

Thirty nine seconds later, after two sideline passes had quickly moved the ball to their thirty-seven yard line, Luke made a diving catch in the end zone, and Cezar once again split the uprights. With 2:32 on the clock we trailed fifty-one to forty-four. The icing was they were called for roughing the kicker, and we kicked off from the fifty-yard line.

Coach Nook called for Cezar to kick the across the field from the hash mark kick he was so good at, and their return man fair caught the ball on their nine yard line. There was 2:29 left on the clock. At that point City did the obvious thing. They milked the clock as much as possible before taking an intentional safety, and with :46 seconds left City led 51-46.

Their kick went out of bounds without time ticking off the play clock. We could have made them kick again but chose to take the ball.

We took over on our own forty-four yard line. We had no timeouts left but forty-six seconds can be an eternity when you’re trying to protect a lead. Two sideline passes moved the ball to their forty-one yard line, but took a precious twenty seven seconds off the clock. With 00:19 left we lined up and faced a do or die forty-one yard challenge.

Coach called for another sideline pass, but I overthrew Luke, and the clock read 00:12. I think I could have thrown the “Hail Mary” pass into the end zone, but we had a special play that we had worked on all season long. We lined up in our deuce formation with the twins in the slot. Luke was wide on the Left, Teddy on the right. They were of course playing there outside linebackers loose, and the corners were fifteen yards off of our wide receivers. The last line-of-defense, their safeties, were nearly on the goal line. It was the identical defense we expected, soft in the middle.

Toby, lining up on the left froze the linebacker with a vertical move before breaking inside on what we call a ‘Glance Two’ route. I hit him in stride, and the defender was left clutching air. Toby caught the ball, and raced towards the end zone. Both of their safeties converged on him near the twenty-yard line, and a split second before both defenders hammered him, he lateraled the football to his brother cutting behind

and underneath, as practiced and planned, and Thomas headed for the opposite sideline.

The corner defending Luke had now reacted towards Thomas, and was in hot pursuit. It looked like it would be a photo finish near the goal line. At the very last second the defender dove and clipped Thomas’

heel tripping him up, but he somehow managed to soft toss the football into the air towards Luke, alone about ten yards away on the five. My sure handed friend didn’t fail us, and clutching the ball close to his chest, my red headed friend danced across the goal line. The clock read 0:00 as Luke triumphantly held the ball above his head.

The scoreboard in the north end zone was flashing 52-51, and Luke just stood motionless on the green artificial grass while holding the ball over his head, and waiting for forty-nine teammates to descend. It didn’t take anyone long.

EPILOGUE

“TIME IN A BOTTLE”

JIM CROCE

I’m not sure the scene in the end zone could ever be replicated but I didn’t care. The final drive for the winning score came out of fantasy-land for sure, but it was our fantasy, and it was real. I just felt like I wanted to keep this time in a bottle, it was that precious. We didn’t leave the end zone for what seemed like forever while our beaten foes stood in silence before slowly walking toward their own sideline.

After our last second losses in last years football and basketball season’s this was payback in some way I guess. It also made it our second state title in a row, and three if you count last spring’s golf championship. The only team not to win in our streak was the soccer team that had come up short on Friday.

As we assembled for the award presentation I overheard the referee’s talking to coach Vince. Basically what was said didn’t surprise me at all.

The head ref, wearing the white hat, said, “Coach Vince we just wanted to tell you what a pleasure it is to officiate your games. Your team is always under emotional control, and that I’m sure is to your credit.”

Coach thanked him and waved to his colleagues before joining the other’s on the staff waiting for the ceremonial awarding of the Gold Medal. This was one award I just might wear around my neck for a long time.

AUTHORS NOTE

The State Final closely resembles the 51-48 win my team had in the Championship game at the conclusion of the 1997 season in Oregon. The final score in that game came on a short field goal after our opponent had tied the score at 48 all with just under two minutes left on the clock.

The ‘With’Ya’ lateral play had worked for us many times over the years. I first became enamored with the ‘sudden lateral’ while watching old black and white footage of games played in the early stages of our game of football, near the turn of the 19th century. After all, our modern game is a derivative of rugby, and during those early games the football was lateralled all the time, and sometimes more than once on the same play.

If you’ve enjoyed the four ‘Sports Series’ books you’ll soon have access to “Backboard”, the fifth in the series. You can find it online or at your local book store soon.

CAST, RUN and SHOOT

There are so many of my ex-players, coaching friends and teaching colleagues that I want to pay tribute to I can’t list them all. But, many of them are present in my stories. I know I’ve forgotten some but fortunately I’ve got five more books to find a ‘role’ for everyone.

MAIN CHARACTER: ERIC LEWIS; I was a three-sport athlete in high school and as a freshman at the University of Oregon. I was a QB in both high school and college so having a three sport athlete and a QB as the main character made good sense.

I’ve had the great fortune to coach many great kids, but probably because of my background I’ve established a close coach/QB relationship with every one. Most, like me, were multi-sport athletes and of course so is Eric. From Bob Sotta, my first QB, to Eric Dungey, my last, they are all part of my lead character. Bits and pieces of each one show up in his personality, his humbleness, his intelligence, his talent and his character. Thanks boys, you made writing about Eric Lewis a joy.

CRATER PLAYERS:

LUKE ATWOOD, Mc Nary High & Vienna: LUKE ALWOOD: JOHN BAUER, Lakeridge High: JON BARLOW

J.J. BIRDEN, Lakeridge High: J. J. BIRD

BRYCE BOHLANDER, Mc Nary High: BEAU LANDER

TONY VREDENBERG, Mc Nary High: TONY BERG

TED ROSE, Lakeridge High: TED BOSE

STEVE COURY, Lakeridge High: STEVIE CURRY

BLAKE DUTTON, Lakeridge High: BLAKE DENTON

THOMAS EL BADRAMANI, Vienna Vikings: THOMAS EL

BILL FAHEY, Lake Oswego High: BILL FAY

MIKE HELFRICH, Lake Oswego High: MIKE FRITCH

NATHAN HOWELL, Mc Nary High: NATHAN HALL

THOMAS HERZ, Vienna Vikings: THOMAS HART-ZELLER

JEREMY JOHNSTON, Lewis & Clark: JEREMY JOHNS

BRANDON JONES, Mc Nary High: BRANDON JANES

TOMMY KNECHT, Lakeridge High: TOMMY KECK

SCOTT KENNISTON, Mc Nary High: SCOTT KENSTON

JAKE LUCEY, Mc Nary High: JAKE LUCE

RYAN MIKISH, Mc Nary High: RYAN KISH

JEREMY MORSE, Lewis & Clark: JEREMY MORE

TOBY OBERZELLER, Vienna Vikings: TOBY HART-ZELLER

JOHN PIGOTT, Lakeridge High: J.P. LIGOTT

MARK Mc DANIEL, Lakeridge High: MARK MACK

GAGE NICHOLAS, Mc Nary High: GAGE NICHOLS

JOHN PIGOTT, Lakeridge High: J.P. LIGOTT

RICH ROGERS, Lakeridge High: RICK ROGERS

ROB SHIFFER, Lakeridge High: ROB SHIFF

CHRISTIAN STEPHENS, Lewis & Clark: CHRISTIAN STEPH

FRANK STRATTON, Lakeridge High: FRANK STETSON

ANDY TAYLOR, Mc Nary High: RANDY TAYLOR

MYKE TAVARES, Lakeridge High: MYKE VARES

JARED WICK, Mc Nary High: JARED VICK

ROB VIAN, Mc Nary High: ROB WIEN

DAN WITHERS, Lakeridge High: DAN WINTERS

OPPOSING PLAYERS:

GREG BAKKEN, Lakeridge High: GREG BACON

MARK BAKKEN, Lakeridge High: MARK BACON

BRIAN BILLY, Saarland Hurricanes: BILLY BRYAN

GRANT CARTER, Lakeridge High: BRANT CARTER

CHARLIE KLEVER, Lakeridge High: CHARLIE WEAVER

MIKE FANGER, Lakeridge High, LC & Vienna: MIKE FANJER: BEN FINKLEA, Lakeridge High: FINN BENKLEY

GEORGE FISHER, LOHS & Lakeridge High: GEORGE FISH

BILL FLOWERS, LOHS, BILL FLOWER

MARK GROTHE, Lakeridge High: MARK GROTH

GARY HAMBLET Lake Oswego High: GARY HAMELT

DR. MARK HATTENHAUER, My Cardiologist, MARK HATTEN

MIKE JUHALA, Vienna Vikings: MIKE HALA KAMU LEE, Lewis & Clark: KAMU LEEHI GREG MARSHALL, Lakeridge High: GREG MARSH

JOE MASON, Mc Nary High: JOE MASS

DAVE MILNER, Lakeridge High: DAVE MILINERE

GARY PALUMBUS, Lakeridge High: GARY PALUMBO

JASON PALUMBUS, Lakeridge High: JASON PALUMBO

LUKE PALUMBUS, Lakeridge High: LUKE PALUMBO

ERIC RESTIC, Jesuit High School: ERIC REST

GARRETT SULLIVAN, Lakeridge High: GARRETT SULLY

JOHN TELESMANICH, L & C College: JOHN TELESMAN

OTHER PLAYERS:

BRAD HART, Lakeridge High Soccer & Tennis: BRAD HURT

DOUG HART, Lakeridge High football: DOUG HURT

CRATER COACHES:

TED ANAGNOS, Mc Nary High: COACH ANGELOS

JEFF AUVINEN, Mc Nary High: COACH ALLENON

LARRY BOWMAN, Lake Oswego High: COACH BOWMAN

VINCE DULCICH, Lake Oswego High: COACH BART VINCETTI BOB EDWARDS, Lake Oswego High: COACH EDWARDS

JERRY GROSSEN, Lakeridge & Mc Nary High: COACH GROSS

KEITH HURDSTROM, Lakeridge High: COACH KENNY HURD

TERRY LOGAN, Lakeridge High: COACH HOGAN

ROYCE Mc DANIEL, Lakeridge High: COACH MACK

GREG MARKS, Mc Nary High: COACH MARK

CRAIG NICHOLAS, Mc Nary/Lakeridge High: COACH NICHOLS

DAVE SNOOK, Mc Nary High: COACH NOOK

TY WILSON, Mc Nary High: COACH WILSON

OPPOSING COACHES:

RON AUGUST, Dallas High: COACH JULY

THURMAN BELL, Roseburg High: COACH HERMAN BELL

RAY BRAUN, Oregon State University: RAY BROWN

DON Mc CARTY, Oregon City, Beaverton High: Don Carty ANDY KNUDSEN, St. Helens High School, ANDY NEWSOME

CHRIS KNUDSEN, Centennial High School, CRIS NEWSOME

RON SIMONSON, Lake Oswego High, RON SIMONS

SONNY STUPECK, LO & Lakeridge H.S.:

COACH STU (SONNY) PECK:

CRATER TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS:

JACK BECK, Lake Oswego High: JACK BEECH

JACK BRAMSMEN, Lakeridge High: GENERAL JACK BRAM

DALE CLELAND, Lakeridge High: Dale Land DON KIELING, Lake Oswego/Lakeridge High: DON KLING

JIM PONTI, Lakeridge High: JIM PONT

PATTY REILLY, Lakeridge High: PATTY WYLIE

CHUCK SMITH, Lakeridge High: CHARLES SMITH

JOHN TURCHI, Lakeridge High: JOHN TUSHEY

FRIENDS:

MARION BLEW, Lake Oswego High: MARION GREEN

VALRIE DAVIDSON, Lake Oswego High: VAL DAVID

MICKEY De BELLIS, Lake Oswego High: MICKEY De BELL

KAREN KISKEY, Lake Oswego High: KAREN LISKEY

YETI’S:

MIKE ANDERSON, Lake Oswego High: MIKE GRANDERSON

BILL CHURCH, Lake Oswego High: BILL CRUTCH

DOUG COLLINS, Lake Oswego High: DOUG ROLLINS

DON CRUICKSHANK. Lake Oswego High: DON CRICK

JOE DAHL, Lake Oswego High: JOE DALE

BILL FAHEY, Lake Oswego High: BILL FAY

TIM HAROLD, Lake Oswego High: TIM HEROD

OTHERS:

MARK and M. G. ATWOOD, parents, Mc NARY

JOHN CANZANO, Columnist @ the Oregonian: JOHN ZANNO

DONNA MARY DULCICH, Lake Oswego High:

DONNA MARY VINCETTI DAN DUTTON, Lakeridge High: DAN DENTON

JERRY GILMAN, Mc Nary High sportscasters: JERRY MANN

MARK GILMAN, Mc Nary High sportscasters: GILL MANN

STEVE HOLM, LO & Lakeridge High: OFFICER HOME

RON MORE, ATO brother and long time friend: RON MORRER

JERRY ULMER, Oregonian Sports reporter: JERRY HELMER

PREVIEW

“BACKBOARD”

Book Five in the

ERIC LEWIS BOOK SERIES

by the coach

Thomas Smythe

“KEEPING UP”

ALABAMA

CHAPTER ONE

I

I slept in until nearly noon, which I can’t ever remember doing.

But we stayed up way past midnight celebrating our amazing victory in the state championship football game. I’m sure the win over City High of Iowa City will go down as the best championship game ever played. Our last play 52-51 win was an ‘Epic’ and the ending is worthy of a ‘Sports Center’ highlight. Me and my teammates might, no will, be basking in the glory into eternity.

There had been a ‘celebration’ at the school after we arrived back in Crater. It was jam packed with friends, family, and fans and naturally everyone was in a festive mood. Coach Vince spoke, and

so did coach Nichols. He got the biggest laugh when he told the crowd, “I think it was the defense that stole the show, by allowing the offense twenty seconds to win the game.”

Later at the ‘Doorway’ the usual crowd was in attendance.

There were a lot of football players of course, but also most of our social club, the Yeti’s, were there as well. It was a diverse group of jocks and non-athletes, and we all get along great. The club was started by one of the guy’s older brother, and his group of buddies.

They were two years ahead of us, and passed the torch to our class when they graduated. Social clubs in school had been banned a number of years ago, but ours was simply a group of guys who liked to gather and spend time together. Ok, in winter we all wore military liners that made us look like, in our own minds, the Abominable Snowman, the ‘Yeti’.

Doug Rollins, Tim Herod, Donnie Cruck, Mike Granderson, Joe Dale, and Bill Crutch were not football players, and most non-athletes although Donnie played some tennis and Mike some golf. But the group enjoyed friendship, and fun together on most weekends. Of course this turned out to be a special weekend, and no one wanted to miss the celebration.

The two o’clock starting time in Iowa City had given us plenty of time to visit, and of course watch the highlights on the big screen.

Even knowing what was coming the last play still sent chills through my body. They replayed the ‘Play’ more than once, and each time the group exploded with joy as Luke crossed the goal line.

“I just wanted you to know that game might just make me a football fan,” said Kim with a big grin.

She was Tim’s twin, and had become my sort of girl friend.

Neither of us wanted a permanent relationship, but we did enjoy each others company, and now and then managed a ‘coke’ date in between games and other obligations.

“You’ll have to wait about nine months to prove it. Basketball starts on Monday,” was my reply.

“Really? You don’t get any time off.”

“Well, there is tomorrow.”

About that time my burger and fry order arrived. Luke, Cezar and Stevie were sharing a giant pizza at our table. The place was packed with team members, and friends all sharing the excitement and thrill of victory. I wondered what the City guys were doing. I

know one thing; they wouldn’t be watching the highlights no matter where they were. I know the feeling.

When I got home mom and dad were still up. Mom had some desert ready, and in spite of not feeling hungry I managed to down two helpings of her ‘Victory’ cake.

“I might just stay up all night. I don’t want this feeling to end.”

Mom answered with, “If that’s the case my boy you can clean up in the kitchen.”

“I’ll try to remember that. But I’ll say this, it’s not high on my priority list.”

About that time dad asked, “Have you checked the phone for messages? I bet you’ve got a lot of congratulations waiting.”

I hadn’t so I turned it on, and was amazed at the number. It was on the speaker so we all listened for a while, mostly to college assistant coaches sending their congratulations. But one message caught my attention. It was coach Osborne, “Eric, I just wanted to tell you officially you’ve got a scholarship with your name on it here at Nebraska. I hope you’re enjoying the celebration. That was the most exciting football game I’ve seen in a long time.”

He went on to praise coach Vince, and wished me well in basketball as well.

Mom was in the kitchen, and missed most of the well wishers, but she did hear us speaking about the call from coach Osborne.

“What did he say,” she asked?

“Just for your information he said that if I keep improving I might get a ‘Walk on’ invitation with the cornhuskers.”

“Somehow I don’t believe that, but you might just walk on upstairs to bed my boy. It’s after one in the morning.”

With that our family party broke up, and I headed to bed with great memories still rolling around in my brain. I didn’t drop off to sleep for a while, and of course I replayed in my mind the last three minutes of the game. But I also dreamed about wearing a red Nebraska jersey instead of a black Hawkeye one for the first time.

Choosing a college wasn’t going to be an easy task. But for now the attention was pretty flattering.

Inside Back Cover

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After a long and distinguished coaching career coach Smythe turned to writing. You can find all of his books on his web site www.smythe-books.com. He is semi-retired and lives in Vienna, Austria.

BACK COVER

After two heart breaking losses, football in the semi-final and basketball in the final, it was baseball’s turn in the playoffs. The Crater Comets win the state title in a last inning thriller. It’s a lot easier to begin the new year and a new football season while wearing a championship ring.

We have twenty returning lettermen to begin with and at least two significant transfers to bolster our roster. I’ll move from wide receiver to quarterback, my natural position, and three offensive line starters return.

The defense looks to be a bit smaller but I think more athletic overall. We will be young on that side of the football but I believe more athletic than a year ago. Coach Nick will work that group into a force before we’re too far into the season.

Our coaching staff has added Dave Nook as a receiver coach and he’ll be in charge of special teams. He will coach the inside receivers which leaves Coach Mack free to work exclusively with the wide receivers. For my money this is the best coaching staff in our league and probably in the entire state of Iowa.

A state title, a state runner up and a state semi-final in my three sports last year could be labeled a huge success. However, coming as close as we did to sweeping all three our sights are set a bit higher than in the past. We have the talent and the coaching, now it’s up to us to use that advantage to attempt an historic triple. Winning all three championships is our goal and we can’t do that unless we win the first one.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE