Chapter 17

The coaches worked us harder the final week of practice. They wanted us to put on a good show for the faithful fans and alumni on Saturday afternoon. We averaged 65,000-75,000 fans at the game the past few years. We had team or position meetings every evening after dinner. I barely had time to finish my homework. My time with Kelly was limited to eating breakfasts and lunches together.

Friday night after dinner the team met to review the plans for the game and to select team captains. No one was surprised when Zack Hayes was selected to be one of the captains. The other selections were much harder, the team had so many deserving candidates. We ended up choosing Evan Foster, Jake Washington and Karol Zizka to assist Zack in leading our team.

The team meeting didn't end until 8:30. Kelly and I went downtown to the Waffle Shop for a snack before bedtime. I would have liked to have spent some time alone with Kelly that evening so I could show her how much I loved her. Coach Burton gave us an eleven o'clock curfew and warned us no booze and no sex that night. I had to settle for making out with her a little before I went back to my room.

I shamelessly beat off after Damian turned the lights out that night. It brought me a little relief from my frustration. I fell asleep after my climax.

Coach Burton set up the Blue and White game schedule just like a regular season game. We had a team breakfast at the Training Table at 8:30 then everyone went over to the Lasch Building to prepare for the game in the morning. We returned to the Training Table as a group for an early lunch and then went back to the Lasch Building locker room to suit up for the game. Our blue buses hauled us over the stadium locker rooms to finish our preparations.

This week I was listed only on the Blue Team roster, so I left my white jersey behind at the Lasch Building. Jay Nicholson was decidedly UNHAPPY about the arrangements. He wanted to have me available for the White Team. I reassured him that we would have our time together soon enough.

The stadium was half full when we went out for warm ups. I worked a little with Zack and Colin as they prepared for the game. I shagged some kick-offs for Andy Perkins, our only kicker. The coaches dressed him in a red do-not-touch jersey since they didn't want him swapping jerseys every couple minutes during the game.

I spotted one of the 'Kyle's Krazies' signs hanging in the student section. It wasn't the one that Kelly, Bev and friends hung. I gave the guys a wave to thank them for their support. I spotted Kelly's sign a couple minutes later hanging beside the 'Christian's Crew' sign. I went over to talk with Kelly and her friends. She tried to lean down far enough to kiss me for good luck but couldn't. We settled for blowing each other kisses before I had to exit the field.

The stadium was nearly full when the team returned to the field to begin the game. The announcer said the crowd was a new record, 79,589 Nittany Lions faithful. The weather was perfect for the game. The temperature was in the low sixties, there was a gentle wind from the northwest and the skies were clear. Zack confidently predicted that we would fill the air with balls that day.

I held my helmet upside down in my hands while the team stood along the sidelines for the opening ceremony. I stared down at the new piece of duct tape I had placed in it a few weeks earlier boldly marked in black with the number 82. I said a silent prayer for my friend and fallen teammate, Greg Harrison, and dedicated my game to his memory.

The Blue Team won the coin toss and elected to receive the kickoff. I settled in back at the three yard line and waited for Andy's kick. I watched the ball as it flew to me. I backed up a yard, let it settle into my hands, scanned the field for would-be tacklers and then ran forward to get behind my blocking wedge. I was safely tucked in behind them when I reached the twenty-five yard line. I watched for an opening. Damian provided it for me with an excellent kick-out block on his man. I cut behind him and raced forward. I got tangled up in traffic and was pulled down near the forty-one yard line.

The crowd cheered their approval of the play. Thirty-nine yards on the return – it was a good first effort. I checked the sideline and saw Coach Schroeder signal for a three receiver set, so I waited for the rest of the offense to join me in the huddle.

Coach Schroeder pulled a surprise on the first play. The Blue Team had started every scrimmage with a deep pass this spring. Coach expected them to blitz, which they had been doing with some success this spring. Zack had me line up at the weak side and Anders went in the slot. The play was a wide receiver screen to me.

We correctly anticipated the blitz. Angus Pitts back peddled to get depth to make up for my speed. The four linemen rocketed off the line of scrimmage along with Karol Zizka. Anders sprinted down the field on a post route, drawing a couple deep defenders with him. Zack faked a panicked retreat from the blitz, turned and then coolly lobbed the ball over their heads to me.

I caught it, nestled it into my chest and scanned downfield. Angus had given me a twenty yard cushion in anticipation of the deep pass. I sprinted forward, gobbling up his generous offering of free yards. I lowered my shoulder when he set up for the tackle and just bowled over him. Angus did slow me enough to allow Yasin Clark to come over and knock me down before I could break loose again. That was OK – I gained thirty-one yards on the play. I got up to the cheers of the crowd.

We were satisfied to run a sweep and an off-tackle run on the next two plays to move the ball up to the nineteen yard line. The next play called for me to go the corner of the end zone. Zack fired the ball over the middle to Anders when I was triple-covered. Anders knocked over the first tackler, dragged another a couple yards and was finally stopped at the five yard line. Zack pitched the ball out to Shawn O'Conner on the right on the next play. Shawn made the first linebacker miss and carried the ball into the end zone for our first score.

I glanced up at the clock, which read 13:55. We went fifty-nine yards in five plays in only sixty-five seconds. Hopefully we would be this productive when the games counted. We congratulated each other as we left the field to the cheers of the crowd.

Andy Perkins booted the ball down the field to Tanner Riggs. Tanner had a decent return, to our twenty-nine yard line. Glenn Korbel didn't have as much luck with our defense. The White offense made one first down before they had to punt the ball back to us.

I caught Mitch Jackson's punt at our sixteen yard line. I managed to dodge and slip by tacklers until I hit a wall of bodies at the thirty yard line. To my surprise, I stayed lined up on the weak side instead of the slot. Zack commanded another brilliant drive, spreading the defense out and gobbling up yardage. I capped the drive off with a catch in the corner of the end zone for our second touchdown.

The White offense went three plays and out. Coach Ferguson had Jared Cantrell take the next punt. I lined up in the backfield beside him, ready to help him if needed. He judged the ball properly, so I watched for the gunner I was to block as the two of us advanced up field. I spotted David McCall trying to squeeze between me and the blocking wedge. I lowered my shoulder and plowed into him as Jared ran by. "Go get'em Jared," I called as he ran up the field. By the time David and I got up, Jared had been tackled. I glanced over at the yard markers. Jared had gained ten yards on his first punt return – not bad. Playing special teams could be fun even if you didn't have the ball.

Coach C turned up the blitzing on the Blue offense on the next series. We had to settle for shorter, quicker plays to keep possession of the ball. Jake Washington and Trevor Conwell took particular glee at being able to hit Zack after a month of Zack wearing a red jersey. Our drive broke down just before we reached the White Team's red zone. Andy Perkins came in and booted a field goal to put the Blue Team up 17-0 over the White just before the first quarter ended.

Coach Czarwinski surprised us when he sent Jay Nicholson out to start the next drive. Jay proceeded to demonstrate to the crowd what the team had seen all spring. He could play confidently and had full command of our offense. Christian, Tanner and Aidan Nagy were their go to guys. Wyatt Smith did a good job keeping our defense off-balance with his running. Jay moved his team straight down the field. Christian turned Denzel Hunt around with a fake on a twenty-five yard post route and caught the ball as he ran into the end zone. Andy Perkins booted the ball through to bring the score to 17-7 Blue's favor.

I was standing beside Zack when Coach Schroeder came over. He asked Zack, "What do you want to do? Do you want to sit this quarter and play in the third when you know the score or do you want to go head-to-head with Nicholson?"

"Let's give the crowd a real show," Zack suggested confidently. "Let's go head-to-head this quarter."

"OK, Hayes," Coach Schroeder said with a smile. "You're the man. Go get them!"

I accepted Andy Perkins' kickoff at our five yard line. I followed my blocking forward to the twenty and waited for a hole to open. None did. Jared Cantrell missed on his block on the gunner, his roommate, David McCall. I dodged David's attempted tackle and sprinted into the hole he had occupied. One of his teammates had an angle to catch me, but I outran him. Andy Perkins slid over and prepared to tackle me.

I wondered to myself, 'What now?' Normally I would lower my shoulder and bowl over any kicker bold enough to try to tackle me. Andy was wearing the damn red shirt. I couldn't do that. I did a pirouette as Andy tried to wrap me up and I slipped by him. I sprinted down the field in high gear for the end zone. Shockingly, somebody knocked me over as I passed the White twenty yard line.

I hopped up sputtering. How had anybody caught me? I turned around and saw it was David McCall. My friends explained that David had been inches from me the whole time from when I dodged Perkins until his desperation lunge took me down. I had to give David credit. It was a hell of a play.

Zack led the Blue starting offense back onto the field. I stayed on the weak side. White double covered me and Anders. Evan caught pass for ten yards on a curl. Hassan Jackson pulled in one on a nicely run out route on the next play to put us at White's two yard line. Coach Schroeder wasn't interested in fancy now. Shawn O'Conner ran off tackle over top of Trevor Conwell to score our next touchdown. Speed to the ball doesn't matter when 800 pounds of prime Big Ten blockers run over your position in front of the ball carrier. Andy Perkins booted the ball through to bring our lead back to 24-7.

Coach Adams, the White offensive coordinator, was up to matching pyrotechnics with Zack and the Blue offense. The two offenses exploded as they marched the ball up and down the field. Blue held a slim 41-38 lead when the referee blew for the end of the first half. We certainly had entertained the crowd.

Jay had actually managed to outscore Zack Hayes in the second quarter! I saw how proud my buddy was as he led his team into the visitor's dressing room for halftime. He had reason to be proud.

Zack lobbied hard to be allowed to play in the third quarter, but was shot down. Zack would have to stand by Coach Schroeder and signal plays into Colin O'Shea in the second half. I was surprised when I was told I was going to continue at weak side receiver into the third quarter. Jared Cantrell was going to handle punts in the second half and Max Rosen would take care of kickoffs.

Tanner Riggs broke a couple tackles on the kick return to start the second half. He delivered the ball to his team on their thirty-five yard line. Coach Adams kept Christian in at strong side receiver and Tanner at the slot. I suppose the offensive fireworks in the second quarter inspired Glenn Korbel. He led his team down the field on his first sustained drive in weeks. Glenn didn't manage a touchdown – he had to settle for a long Perkins field goal to tie the score at 41-41.

Colin led us onto the field. Max Rosen took the spot at strong side receiver, Alex Majerowicz in the slot, me on the weak side and Jabril Sloan at tight end provided Colin with his receiving targets. Colin didn't have a rifle arm like Zack or Jay. Coach Schroeder called more conservative plays. We ran shorter routes requiring guile and precision. Colin managed to patch together a drive using a lot of running by Damian mixed with a few passes to the wide outs. It took us thirteen plays and almost nine minutes, but Colin hit me for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Andrew Perkins' extra point brought the score to 48-41 Blue's favor.

Blue and White sparred inconclusively through the rest of the third quarter. The real test would come in the fourth quarter when Jay ran the White offense again. Coach Keller and Coach Schneider, the defensive coaches for the Blue Team had a couple tricks ready for Jay.

They let him move the ball a little before they baited him into throwing an interception in a defensive formation I'd never even seen before. I had studied the playbook enough to know it wasn't in there. Where ever it came from, it worked. I saw Jay across the field livid at falling for the trick.

Blue took over the ball on our own twenty seven yard line. Alex Majerowicz took my weak side position and Wes Kennedy went in at fullback. Colin handed the ball of repeatedly to Damian, who bulled ahead for three or four yards on each carry. Twelve runs and two short passes burned off most of the time left in the quarter and carried the ball to White's twenty-seven yard line. White finally got Damian stopped when they called a run blitz on the third down and three play. Andy Perkins went out to try a forty-four yard field goal. Andy missed when he hooked the ball.

I was watching the proceedings, assuming I was finished for the day. Coach Keller grabbed me. "Martin, I just got a call from Coach Burton. He wants you in for Nicholson's two minute drive."

"Over there?" I asked, pointing across the field. "I don't have a white jersey. I was told I was playing strictly..."

Coach Keller waved my objections off and pointed across the field. "Coach Burton wants you on that team with Nicholson, NOW! Beg, borrow or steal a white jersey. I don't care. Get going!"

"OK" I answered obediently as I trotted across the field to the White sideline. I scanned their, umm ... our sideline for someone to donate a jersey to me. The other receivers and tight ends were shorter than me. I'd need a tall person's jersey. I scanned the linebackers and linemen. Their jerseys would be long enough to reach my waist, but they were so much bigger than I was. I'd drown in one of their jerseys.

Finally I spotted Trevor Conwell. I knew he was done for the day. I tapped him on the shoulder as I pulled my jersey off. "Trevor, give me your jersey."

"What?" my friend demanded.

"Coach Burton wants me to play for White now. I need a jersey. Please give me yours. I'm supposed to be on the field now."

"Whatever," Trevor said. He pulled off his jersey and handed it to me. "Remember it isn't an eligible number, Kyle," as I raced over to Coach Adams, dressing as I ran.

Coach Adams smiled when he saw me coming. "Get in at weak side, Kyle. Jay will give you the play at the line."

I ran onto the field as I tucked in my shirt. I stopped to check in with the ref as an eligible receiver wearing an ineligible number before I advanced to the line of scrimmage. The ref understood my jersey problem and told me I didn't need to report after every play since this was only a scrimmage.

Jay gave me a big grin when he spotted me. He called an audible to change the play. I heard the stadium announcer report, "Last minute substitution, number 98." There was a pause while he searched the roster to find out which receiver had a 98 jersey. Finally he added, "Trevor Conwell, is lining up at wide receiver."

Jay had spotted the mismatch. I was lined up against G. J. DeLuca. G. J. is a good cornerback, but he doesn't have the foot speed to cover me deep.

G. J. stared across the line at me and asked, "Kyle, aren't you on my team?"

"Not anymore," I answered. G. J. frantically called for adjustments to the defense as the ball was snapped to Jay.

I raced down the field past G. J. Twenty-five yards downfield I turned to the sideline. Jay delivered the ball into my upraised hands perfectly. I pulled the ball down to my body and scanned the field to my right looking for tacklers. Tyler Madden had reacted to G. J.'s warning and was barreling towards me. I tried to dodge as he went for the tackle, but I couldn't slip past him. He crunched into me and sent both of us flying into a hard landing on the Beaver Stadium turf.

The speakers blared, "Number 98 – thirty-one yard gain for a first down," as Tyler helped me up off the ground.

"Nice catch, Kyle," Tyler said.

"Thanks," I answered. "That was a good tackle."

The announcer continued talking as Tyler and I trotted to our respective huddles. "I just have word, wide receiver Kyle Martin is wearing number 98." After a pause he added, "There has to be an interesting story behind that one folks, but I don't know what it is."

Jay gave me a slap on the back when I reached the huddle. "Nice to have you with us, Kyle. Good work!"

Jay turned his attention to the rest of the huddle and announced, "We're the second and third string gentlemen. Those SOBs across the field don't expect anything of us. We're also the future of the Lions' team."

Jay paused and clapped his hands. "The FUTURE is NOW! We have forty-eight yards to go to tie this game. Let make sure those bastards know we're after their jobs." Jay called the next play. We broke the huddle sharing some of Jay's fire.

The play was supposed to be another play to me to exploit my speed mismatch with G. J. Coach Keller had already adjusted. David McCall lined up across from me. Josh Bruno slipped over to help David cover the short pass as the ball was snapped. David shadowed me while Josh stayed between us and Jay. When I was ten yards downfield Tyler Madden came up to help David deep.

Jay correctly saw the triple coverage and fired the ball to the other side of the field to Christian. Christian caught the ball and was shoved out of bounds ten yards downfield from the line of scrimmage.

The Blue Team continued triple covering me and using single coverage on the other receivers. Jay fired the ball to Jabari on the next play as he crossed the middle of the field for a twelve yard gain. Pressure on the next play forced Jay to dump off the ball to Wyatt in the backfield. Wyatt gained a couple yards before Brendan Hayden clobbered him.

Tanner and I swapped position on the next play. He lined up on the outside left of our line. I lined up in the slot between him and our left tackle. I went in motion as Jay faked an audible call to change the play. He yelled "HUT!" just after I stopped in the slot between our tight end and Christian on the strong side of the field. Christian ran a post route while I ran an out, our routes crossing each other and tangling up the defenders trying to cover each of us. Jay fired the ball to me seven yards down the field. Tyler Madden shoved me hard out of bounds.

The time had run down to 42 seconds. The ball was on Blue's seventeen yard line and it was third down with a little less than a yard to go. Jay lined us up in our conventional three receiver set and sent us downfield on the next play. We were decoys to draw defenders away from the point of attack. The offensive line and Jabari, our tight end, surged forward and let Jay quarterback sneak the ball for a yard and a half. Jay coolly called a time out and trotted over to confer with Coach Adams.

We had thirty-seven seconds and at least four plays to cover the last fifteen yards to the goal line. We tried a lob into the corner of the end zone to me on the next play. The defense collapsed five guys into my corner. Jay lobbed the ball to me anyway, extremely high. I managed to catch it, but couldn't get a foot down in the end zone – ball incomplete.

We had thirty-two seconds left. On the next play I decoyed the defenders into the corner of the end zone while Tanner ran an out route underneath me. He picked up six yards before Josh Bruno tackled him in bounds. Jay called our last time out.

On the following play the coaches had me run a route along the back of the end zone while Jabari, Tanner and Christian ran along the goal line, all of us looking for a brief opening in the defense. Jay spotted Tanner first and fired the ball into his gut on the one yard line. Tanner leaned back and tried to back into the end zone as the defenders converged on him. He squirmed and struggled, somehow managing to slip between a couple defenders and drop into the end zone, the ball barely crossing the plane.

TOUCHDOWN! My White teammates and I mobbed Tanner, celebrating our score. We trotted off the field to the thunderous cheers of 79,000 Lions fans. Coach 'C' was waving on the field goal unit as we approached the sideline. Jay went ballistic when he saw this.

He ran for the coach waving two fingers over his head. "We got to go for two points. We can do it, Coach!" The rest of us crowded around Coach 'C' and Coach Adams helping Jay plead our case.

"Give up a sure tie for slim chance at a win?" Coach 'C' questioned skeptically. "You guys tying the first string is excellent work."

"Coach, we deserve a shot at a win," Jay insisted. "This is just a scrimmage. Let's give the crowd a good show. We can win this thing!"

"A win would be sweet," Coach 'C' admitted. "I'd enjoy teasing John [Coach Schroeder, lead coach for the Blue Team] about that," he muttered. Addressing the entire group, Coach 'C' announced, "This is going to take your utmost effort. Can you do that for me?"

We answered him with a chorus of yeses.

Coach Adams checked the play chart and told Jay what he wanted.

Jay huddled us at the fifteen yard line and said, "It's your ball Wyatt. Take us home." Jay called the play. "Stick it to them guys. Break on three. 1... 2... 3..."

In unison we shouted "BREAK!" and took our positions on the line of scrimmage. Greg Nowicki snapped the ball to Jay. Christian, Tanner, Jabari and I spread ourselves across the end zone, feeling for an opening spot. Jay dropped back three steps and faked a handoff to Wyatt as he dove into the center of the line. Jay paused a moment to scan the end zone and then shovel passed the ball forward to Wyatt at the two yard line.

We had faked the run into the middle of the line on the last four plays. We expected the linebackers would ignore Wyatt's fake and drop back into coverage. Unfortunately Josh Bruno, Tony Kennedy and Brendan Hayden knew our playbook as well as us. They hadn't bought the fake and were waiting for Wyatt. They converged on him and slammed him to the ground at the one yard line. That quick the play was over and our opportunity evaporated.

The Blue defenders, after being back on their heels for the whole drive, could celebrate. Celebrate they did. The crowd cheered wildly with them. The crowd was non-partisan between the Blue and the White teams, they simply cheered great plays by anyone.

Word came down from Coach Burton to let the last few seconds on the clock wind down. Our scrimmage was done. The two teams milled around together in the center of the field, soaking in the party atmosphere and congratulating each other. We had put on a great show for our fans.

Reporters and camera crews were wandering the field doing interviews with players and coaches. Channel 8's Mr. Steele located me and did a short interview. He quizzed me about my number changes from 85 last fall to 87 for the first fifty-eight minutes of the game to 98 for the end. We had a good laugh at the story.

The two teams headed to the dressing rooms. I followed the White Team members to the visitor's locker room. I swapped Trevor his white jersey for my blue one and headed back to the home locker room to drop off my pads and other gear. The buses took us back to the Lasch Building to change and shower.

Coach Burton called for the team's attention just after I got out of the shower. "The Athletic Department PR staff would like the following players at the main team meeting room in fifteen minutes for the post-game press conference: Hayes, Nicholson, O'Conner, Foster, Thompson, Martin, Washington, Conwell, Zizka, Bruno, and Madden. That's in fifteen minutes gentlemen. Don't be late."

I gave Damian a big thumbs-up as I passed him on the way to my locker. He had a grin that went from ear to ear. Jay was bouncing around at his locker, talking a mile a minute. I wasn't sure if he was more jazzed from being invited to the press conference or from his performance on the field.

The eleven of us filed into the meeting room and took seats at the long front table on the stage. Zack and Jay sat to the left of Coach Burton. The rest of us spread out along the table from there. Damian and Trevor sat on either side of me.

Coach Burton praised the team's efforts that day. He announced the team captains we had selected the previous evening. The press asked a lot of questions about our defense, or lack of defense, that afternoon.

Coach Burton explained, "I didn't expect our defense to be as far along as our offense this spring. We lost half the defensive line, two thirds of the linebackers and a key defensive back from last year's team. Of course it is going to take the new people time to get used to working together. The offense on the other hand is returning nine of the eleven starters. Last year's starting receivers were being pushed for their starting spots by our current starters at the end of the last season."

I noticed Coach Burton glance my direction and smile when he said it. What did that mean? Anders and Hassan were excellent. Certainly I wasn't going to take one of their spots.

Coach Burton continued on, "I expected our offense to be sharp this spring and they were. The defense needs more work together, but they will be strong next season. I am confident of that."

The reporter quizzed Zack about his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy the next season. He was non-committal about his prospects. I knew he actually really wanted to win it.

Eventually the reporters asked me about how I came to be wearing a white 98 jersey at the end of the game. I related the story briefly with assistance from Trevor about how I found myself on the field for the last drive.

Mr. Montgomery, the Lancaster evening newspaper asked, "You looked pretty spectacular on that last drive Kyle. Do you think you were the key to the final touchdown?"

"I don't know if I did anything all that special," I replied. "The defense wasn't expecting me on the first play when I got all the yards. After that, they covered me real well. I only made two catches so I don't think I was the key to the last drive."

Mr. Montgomery tried to follow-up on my answer but Jay interrupted. "Kyle is being too modest," Jay explained. "His two catches made us over half the yards we needed to score. Beside, his presence on the field changed the whole equation for the defense. The rest of the field opened up for me when Kyle was playing. I'm looking forward to the day when the two of us both start for our team. We're going to have some fun then!"

This led the reporters to question Jay more about the final drive and the decision to go for two points at the end of the game. One reporter asked what went wrong on the two point conversion.

Jay explained, "The play would have worked if it hadn't been for brilliant play by Josh..." He gestured down the table to our friend. " ... Brendan and Tony. They played it perfectly."

The reporter followed up, "Would you make that call again?"

"Hell yes!" Jay replied. "I wouldn't hesitate. I'll always believe we can get three yards with our offense."

The questioning turned to the defense. Jake Washington and Karol Zizka patiently talked about the challenges of defending against Zack and the Blue offense. Josh Bruno took a couple very complimentary questions from reporters. Coach Burton concluded the press conference after half an hour.

Trevor and I hurried out to the lobby. We were fifteen minutes late meeting Chip Brinton and his friends. They were patiently waiting for us, talking with Christian, Bev and Kelly.

Trevor greeted his former classmates warmly. Chip introduced his friends to me. Chip was accompanied by Austin Dilworth, Adam Nields and Christopher Taylor this weekend. Chip invited Christian and Bev to join us for dinner.

As our group left the Lasch Building, Trevor asked, "Where do we want to go for dinner tonight? I need to meet my date, so I'll meet you there."

Everyone agreed on pizza after a few minutes of discussion. Trevor would meet us at Hi-Way Pizza as soon as he picked up his date. There was one other important piece of business that I had to take care of.