Chapter 62: Finally, A Challenge?

The coin flip at the start of the game was interesting. The Churchill Chargers sent their entire offensive line to the fifty-yard line to meet the captains for the Roosevelt Rough Riders. The five young men were not precisely marching, but it looked as if they walked in perfect step with each other. It wasn’t with the same timing as a military march, but the center would take action, then the guards on either side would step, followed by the tackles on the outside. It was almost hypnotic.

Frank Robinson, the starting middle linebacker and senior captain of the Rough Riders defense, saw this before he and his group began to walk up to meet them. He turned quickly and yelled down the sideline toward where Tim was, away from everyone else, deep in his thoughts about the upcoming game. “Mayhem! Mayhem!”

Tim didn’t hear the initial yelling of his name, but he did hear the fifteen-to-twenty other teammates and support staff yelling at him and pointing at Frank. Tim took his queue and jogged up, carrying his helmet, to join the captains before they walked to mid-field.

“Hey, check it out! They are using their whole o-line as captain. They wanna try playing mind games, well then, we can play. The way you’ve been playing this year and especially after what you said in the locker room before the game, well tonight, you’re damn sure a captain, too!” Frank exclaimed, and Troy Williams, the starting quarterback and offensive captain, just smiled, nodded, and slid his helmet atop his head. The three walked up to greet the opposing team.

“Gentlemen, it is my and my fellow officials’ privilege to serve in that capacity for tonight’s game. We wish you both the best of luck and that everyone on both teams gets to go home safely tonight, without any injuries. Now, I am the referee. I am going to try to do my job to the best of my abilities. This ultimately involves me controlling everyone and everything on this field. To help make my job and your jobs easier, I urge you, as captains, to take responsibility of your teams. If you listen to what I and the other officials say and your teammates listen to what you say, then we should have no problems. Sound fair? Any questions? None? Good.

“Churchill, you are the away team for tonight’s game – you call it in the air.” The referee flipped the coin high into the air, and both sides backed up so as not to have the coin hit them and cause embarrassment.

“Heads,” one of the Chargers called aloud.

“Heads it is. Rough Riders, which way do you want to kick?” the referee asked Troy. He then shuffled to face away from the large clubhouse on the northern side of the stadium and out toward a large swath of open land. There was plenty of room for the stadium to expand if ever necessary in the future.

Without saying anything, Frank and Troy started shifting to the side and looking toward the scoreboard at the other end of the field. “Excellent, men. Let’s play a game of the greatest sport ever! Shake hands, and let’s get started.”

The shaking of hands was usually a precursor to the attitudes of both teams for the game. Luckily, this meeting between the two sets of captains was professional and down to business.

After the final handshake, the center spoke up before turning to leave the field. “Mayhem, we have been looking forward to this all season. We can’t wait to be the first team to embarrass you. Hope you don’t break under the pressure.” There were four separate audible snickers under their breaths.

“Pressure. What pressure? You guys been playing together for what ... six or maybe like, seven years, and this is like the biggest game of your high school lives. I’m just a freshman playing in only my eighth-ever game of football. I hope I don’t embarrass y’all too much,” Tim taunted the five Charger players while snapping on his chin strap. The referee didn’t say anything, but he was wearing a big smile when he blew the whistle to end the coin toss ceremony.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about. Let’s go, fellas,” Frank added to his fellow captains as they returned to the sideline and the kickoff team took the field.

Juan Cano quickly booted the kickoff beyond the end zone, giving the Chargers the ball on their twenty-yard line.

For their first offensive play, the Chargers’ game plan was to lean on their excellent offensive line and give the newly-promoted JV skill position starters a chance to prove themselves against the highly-touted Roosevelt defense. The coaches developed a game plan for their new quarterback, running backs, and receivers which invoked simple alignments and schemes to give the new players a fighting chance.

The offense’s favorite play was a screen pass to the underside, away from the most blockers. In essence, the team put their wide receivers and tight end on their right side, opposite from Tim’s normal defensive-end position. This pre-snap positioning dictates the strength of the offense to be on their right side of the defense’s left side. Hopefully, with the offense moving more players to one side, the idea is to trick the defense away from the play.

The offense would flow with everyone blocking to the overloaded side, but this would be a diversion. If correctly done, the defense would naturally flow with the blocks, over-extending themselves away from where the actual play was heading. The running back could sneak out to the other side and catch the ball with plenty of open space to use his considerable athleticism to gain at least a first down. It is a simple misdirection play, ideal for a younger running back newly off the freshman football team.

Just before the snap of the ball, Tim noticed the running back’s left foot pointing slightly more toward the left. It was subtle, but it was true. Tim smiled to himself.

There are clues that defenders use to attempt to identify the tendencies of the players they are facing. There are some indications and intimations to read and react, even if these still-growing high school football players are usually already larger-than-normal humans. Subtlety is not a phrase generally used with these young men, but it is there. The amount of pressure a lineman puts on their hand in a three-point stance is a quick tip-off to what he will do. If their knuckles turn white, they’re leaning forward onto their extended hands and more than likely coming out at you straight away. If the color is normal, they are either straight pass-blocking or pulling – moving behind the line to block for a running back.

In a two-point stance, the lineman will sit back on his heels. They usually have better posture when they are pass-blocking or pulling. These offensive linemen are bigger than average fellows and, consequently, tend to look for as much rest as possible. It is in a big guys’ nature.

Another clue to what the offensive line will do is to watch how he is lined up compared to other blockers. If the offensive lineman lines up behind the other blocker’s heels on both his right and left, he is probably pulling and unconsciously creating space to do so.

A well-coached and disciplined lineman will not give you many hints before the snap. However, even the best and most disciplined will unconsciously give away their next move as they get tired or psychologically defeated.

Tells are best showcased while watching a lineman’s shoulders. Before the snap, see if his shoulders point inward or outward (from the center). If they are inward, then he is down-blocking you or the man inside of you. Then you can get your hands on him and take a hard step towards the ball. If the shoulders are pointed outward towards the sideline, he’ll reach for you or pull you to the outside. If he reaches, use a push-pull technique to get on his outside. If he pulls, follow the man and react to what you see. If his back is slightly bent backward and shoulders widened, then he may be pass-blocking.

You can find another clue by watching where the linemen look. Offensive linemen learn to look straight ahead when they get to the line, so they don’t accidentally let the defense know where they are going. However, some linemen tend to look at who they are blocking as they approach the line of scrimmage. If you realize your lineman does this, you have an advantage over him on every play.

If the player is bright, he will learn to fake all of these tells and get the competition guessing and unsure of themselves on every snap.

On the snap of the ball, the Charger offensive line did an admirable job pushing the defensive line to the right, just as designed. Rather than get pulled into the flow of the play, though, Tim did not immediately attack. Instead, he took a step back and began to float to his right. He then concentrated on the running back, who was coming out of the backfield. The offensive line continued concerning themselves with forcing the defense away from the play.

Being a nervous sophomore on his first varsity start, the new Chargers’ quarterback blindly threw the ball to the area where his running back should have been. The quarterback would never admit it to anyone, but he was frightened of being squashed by a tidal wave of pissed-off Rough Riders.

Meanwhile, his offensive line had successfully moved everyone away from the play, and they were quickly giving up ground and in danger of losing containment. Of course, the quarterback had seen the film of past games and read everything the other teams had said after playing the Rough Riders. Yet, even being afraid of getting hit, something that came with the job, he feared looking foolish more. If he could get the offense going, then he’d look like a hero, even in defeat. He just wanted to look good, and he would get better.

The interception was easy.

The Chargers running back turned his head and saw the ball take a seemingly meteoric route from somewhere behind the line of scrimmage toward where he was going to be. If he had been alone, it would have been a beautiful play for the Chargers. The running back was not alone, though, and the one player each Charger offensive player was well aware of also saw the ball coming down. The Rough Rider was in the best position to catch the ball.

The running back understood he would not be able to get to the ball before Mayhem, so he set up to do the only thing he could to make sure the interception went no further. He got himself tangled in Tim’s legs before he could start running for the end zone. With one play, the vaunted Roosevelt defense got the best of the Churchill offense – not by attacking and destroying the offensive blocking scheme, but by stepping back and waiting for the offense to make their first mistake.

The celebrating was loud and effusive, but the Roosevelt offense quickly took to the field. Using a play from Big John’s older playbook, they put the first touchdown on the board using a simple toss off the left side to senior running back Jimmy Holmes. The following extra point lifted the Rough Riders to a 7-0 lead.

Juan Cano, once again, put the kickoff out the back of the end zone. The Chargers got the ball for their second offensive series, again from their twenty-yard line.

They had already thrown their new, young players into the deep end of the pool and a stupid mistake from their young quarterback forced them to retry their strategy. The Churchill coaches decided to simplify their game plans even further for the younger players. They would rely on their superior offensive line to punch some holes in the Rough Rider defense. An inside trap play in the middle of the offensive line was to be the next test. If the o-line could push open a hole for the running game, maybe the Chargers could grind out a few first downs and possibly even some points. Maybe.

According to the recruiting experts, at six feet, four inches tall, and weighing just under three hundred pounds, the Churchill senior left tackle Garrett Williams had the highest upside of the five well-recruited offensive linemen. He was a four-star-rated recruit with offers from all the large football schools across the country. His technique was not perfect, but his superior strength and long reach helped him against everyone he had faced, so far, across the line of scrimmage.

The senior left tackle had earned himself a reputation for playing angry. He never did anything illegal, but his reputation was to play until he heard the whistle indicating the end of the play. Williams’ highlight reel featured many blocks of poor defensive linemen getting abused yards away, play after play. His highlights focused on the multitude of pancake blocks. A pancake block is an apt description – simply knock the opposing player to the ground, then squash him flat by just laying atop him until the whistle blew.

The highlights often featured Williams smiling as he rammed his forearm into the helmeted face of the pancaked defender, attempting to drive his head into the ground. Williams would frequently giggle when jogging back to the huddle and rejoining his team.

Like Tim, Garrett Williams would also taunt the defense. It was all psychological games on Williams’ part. Throughout the highlight reel, the defenders regularly tried to regain their pride, wanting payback, by going outside the rules and attempting fighting or dirty plays. Williams would knock him to the floor again and complete another pancake block. He was known to add insult to injury by loudly calling out after a pancake block, “Damn, all outta syrup. Best bring some more!” That particular taunt started many fights.

The quarterback had successfully convinced himself the interception was a fluke and just his nerves getting the better of him. He was now ready to play and was not worrying about what might or might not happen to him. “Set. Hut!”

Tim lined up in his usual end position, once again across from Garrett Williams. Neither had, as of yet, had a chance to test each other. The right guard pulled out of his stance on the first down snap and made a mad dash to attack Jeff Smith, the senior defensive tackle just inside of Tim’s position on the outer edge. Jeff was ready for the oncoming block and held his ground, keeping his eyes up and watching what the quarterback was going to do.

The offense lined up in their normal positions but with two tight ends on the right-hand side. One tight end was outside the right tackle, and the other tight end set up behind the line of scrimmage, in a fullback position, between the running back and the quarterback.

The right guard and tackle, rather than attacking the two defenders directly in front of them, stepped back and fired out to the opposite side of the offensive line. The right guard aimed himself at Jeff Smith, who had trouble with the left guard as the two linemen fought for dominant positioning. Jeff kept his attention on the backfield and was looking for where the football was going. The left guard was doing an excellent job against Jeff, slowly moving him out of the way.

Jeff instinctively knew the play was aimed at his defensive area – Jeff’s defensive tackle position was the focus of the inner offensive line. The guards were quickly getting leverage on Jeff, and he could feel himself being shoved out of his position. That was when he saw the quarterback hand the ball off to the running back, who was now ready to shoot through the hole in the defense his body used to occupy. That was when the right guard collided with him and, with a solid blow, was able to move Jeff Smith out of position to make the tackle with the other guard.

On the snap, Tim, using his considerable speed, fired out and made first contact with the left tackle, Williams. Seeing examples of Tim’s speed on film was one thing; encountering it on the field, though, was an entirely different experience. Even if he could react quick enough to block against Tim’s initial speed attack, the strength of Tim’s next move set would still throw the offensive lineman for a loop.

He could get the offensive lineman off balance and beat any attempted block by moving faster and hitting harder than they could have prepared themselves. Tim was pleasantly surprised to find this left tackle reacting just quickly enough to counter for Tim’s speed off the snap, so Tim put a little bit more effort into fighting off Williams’ extended arms.

Tim noticed Jeff bracketed in a combo block by both offensive guards. He also simultaneously saw the quarterback and running back hand-off. Tim knew the defense now had a massive hole in the line, and the Chargers were going to run right through it.

Tim grabbed Williams’ extended arm by the wrist, and instead of pushing it off of him, he pulled the arm violently with him as he stepped down hard to spin himself around. Tim let go of the arm in mid-spin and felt Williams’ continued falling momentum, leaving him off balance. Tim then caught onto Williams’ shoulder and pushed it down to the ground to help continue his fall.

With his swim move complete, Tim looked for the running back but could not see him right away. That was when he felt a perfectly-timed block from the right tackle who had pulled right after the right guard. His target was Tim on the end of the line of scrimmage. The bulldozing offensive tackle perfectly timed his hit when Tim’s arm was still pulling Williams off-balance and made complete contact on his torso. The Charger offensive line used the right guard and tackle to attack Jeff on the inside and Tim outside and open a hole behind them. Tim now felt himself being pushed out of the hole the Charger offense had worked so hard to open.

Using a burst of strength, Tim kept himself from being knocked down and spotted the running back about to burst through the now-open hole in the defensive line. Tim punched the rampaging offensive tackle smack in the middle of his chest to push him off. Tim could see the Charger tackle desperately gasping for breath. He was able to get his balance again and had a clear shot at the scat-back running back as he ran to the formerly wide-open hole. To the runner’s respect, he was able to avoid a clean hit from Tim but was not able to break out from his grasp, taken down for a hard-fought two-yard gain.

One by one, players from both sides slowly peeled themselves up off the field after the whistles signaled the end of the play and made their separate ways to their huddles. The difference in attitudes was readily apparent. Gone was the vitriolic trash talk usually hurled at one another, replaced by an instant appreciation between the competitors.

“Okay! Okay! Huddle up,” the Chargers’ center called for his teammates to get ready for the next play.

The majority of the Churchill offensive line took a little longer to get into a huddle than usual. The center didn’t appreciate their outward show of weakness. “What the fuck, guys! Let’s go huddle up!” He yelled at the others, who slowly jogged into their proper positions in the huddle. “You guys are acting like you’ve played a whole game already. What the fuck?”

Everyone in the huddle could hear the right tackle gasping to recover his breath. They could also see he was heavily leaning on a couple of teammates. Their concerns grew, but he quickly regained his breath by taking full advantage of the lull in the action. He eventually set himself up for the next play right before the quarterback rejoined the huddle.