Chapter 73

The week leading up to this night has been nothing but a continuous scramble, with everyone in school and everyone in our whole town talking about, The Game.

There were local TV, radio, and Network TV news crews everywhere you looked, on campus and on the streets of Masonville.

In the bus parking area of the football field, there were eleven of the huge motor coaches, with various news outlet names and logos painted on the sides. There were cables and wires running in all directions and there were large satellite dishes set up outside the motor coaches.

Each time our team or the varsity team took the field for a practice session, the stands were half filled on either side, with sports reporters, TV and radio sportscasters, cameramen, and literally hundreds of support staff members of the different news organizations. There were also many local fans out each day to see the practice sessions, and all the hoopla caused by the reporters and announcers.

Coach Miller and the other coaches kept them away us until the evening before the game when the school administrators had called for an official media event with a question and answer session for both teams.

On Monday and Wednesday, we practiced with our pads and helmets on, though there was no contact. On Thursday, we dressed in our warmup suits and helmets as we ran our plays over and over, for an hour and a half. On Friday, we were ready for the game of a lifetime, for our team and our school.

The administrators were behind this game one hundred percent and went all out to make sure they had informed every radio station, TV station, and newspaper within a hundred miles, of the time and place of The Game.

Our game was even mentioned on the nationally televised, ESPN’s Sports Report and The Fox Sports Southwest, High School Football Special Report. There were write-ups in all of the Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston sports sections. We were told that there had been invitations sent to all the NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision Universities, and the Junior Colleges in Texas. We were informed that there would be high ranking, team officials attending from the two NFL teams in Texas — The Dallas Cowboys and The Houston Texans.

When we completed our last walk-through practice on Friday morning before the game, we asked our coaches permission to meet as a team, away from our coaches, the news people and everyone else who wanted to talk to us about our upcoming game.

We gathered on the fifty yard line, after the coaches had gone to the dressing room. We were having a last team meeting and we wanted it to be away from all the distractions of microphones, cameras, questions, and crowds.

“This could very well be the last game ever played on this football field. We’ve all seen where they’ve started ripping out the walls of our old dressing room. They have already staked off the new field and the new sports complex outside the city limits. I drove by there yesterday, and even with all the rain we had earlier, they’ve begun pouring concrete for the basement, and foundation footing for the new gym. They could very well leave this field intact as a practice field, and I hope they do. Whatever they decide, will signal the end of the old and the beginning of the new for Masonville Schools—Mason County Schools, and our combined sports teams. We may not even be The Mavericks next year, who knows?

“Tonight, We-Are-Mavericks! No matter if we keep the name or not after we consolidate — in my heart, I’ll always be a Maverick.

“Tonight, we’ll play what could possibly be our last game together as a team. I don’t know how you feel, but I am not going down without a fight! I hope you’ll stand beside me and the Maverick next to you, as we stand shoulder to shoulder, fighting for what we believe in — what we’ve asked our school for — a chance to prove ourselves one-more-time, and play together as a complete unit until we graduate!

“We played as a team last week against the Moss Point Buccaneers JV team for a whole twelve minute quarter and we proved to ourselves, our fans and our school, that we can compete with the JV teams in our conference. When we take the field against our own varsity team tonight, we will have to raise our play to a whole new level, if we are to win this game. They have just been crowned Class 4-A State Champions of Texas! They are determined not to let us win! This would be an embarrassment to the varsity team and their coaches, if they lose. Get ready for it, they’ll pull out all the stops and they’ll play us harder than they have played any team this year.

“But — we will play even harder than they do, from the first whistle to the last — and-we-will-win-this-game, because not only do we play as a team — tonight, we are playing for our future as a team! Someone told me this week that we’d be lucky to even score ten points on them, much less beat them! But I got news for them, and all of you too...

“Coach Miller has decided to let Coach Chad be our offensive coordinator during this game, and he has studied all our spread-offense plays for the entire season. He has Ben a completely new set of plays designed to be played in sequence, or individually at any time he gives Ben the signal from the sidelines. He has some game film put together with these plays taken from our eight-game season. He’s shown some of it to Ben and me, and-we-look-awesome on film, when our offense is clicking. We will go in shortly and he’ll show all of us the complete DVD.

“Coach Patterson will be our defensive coordinator during this game and he has some tricks of his own for our defense and special teams. I’m excited about our game and I’m excited about our chances of playing together as a unit over the next four years.”

After I made my talk, Ben spoke a few words to the team, and then each player — offense, defense and the subs — were given the opportunity to speak. Most of what was said, was in the form of a challenge to each other, and a commitment by each player to give all they have inside them to play as a winner and remember all that we have been taught.

The pre-game circus was over, and now, it was show-time. Coach Miller gave us a brief talk, then told us to play like Mavericks, just as we had all season, and we would make our fans proud of us.

Mr. Sam Rutherford was in our visitor’s dressing room, standing over to the side, near the lockers as Coach Miller gave his short pre-game talk. Coach waved to him, and Mr. Rutherford stepped into the center of the circle of players and coaches. He was smiling as he slowly turned completely around, looking at each of us as he did.

“Because of you young men, and your dedication to your team, to each other, to your coaches and to your school — we are about to make Texas Sports History here tonight. Whether you win or lose, your team will always be remembered as winners in the eyes of Masonville football fans and in the Eyes of Texas.

“We sent out invitations to all the Class 5-A and Class 6-A schools on our 2015 schedule, JV and varsity, since we’re still not sure at which level your team will play this next season. Those teams are all represented here tonight!

“We sent out invitations to the each of the NCAA colleges and universities in the state, and they are all represented here tonight. We had requests for tickets from thirty-seven, NCAA Division 1 Universities, in various states other than Texas, from coast to coast. They are all represented by a member of their coaching staff and many of them are also represented by their University Athletic Director. We have with us tonight, Mark Allen Emmert, President of NCAA Sports. We also have with us tonight, Jeff Long, Athletic Director at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and current Chairman of The NCAA FBS Football Playoff Committee. We have Texas Governor, Greg Abbott here tonight. We have members of the Texas State Senate and State House. We have Texas US Senators and Texas US House of Representatives in attendance.

“We have players and coaches representing both NFL teams in located here in Texas, and many other, former players who either played high school or college football in Texas sometime in their careers, or reside in Texas now, or originally came from Texas.

“The reason I’m going down this list and naming off a few of the more prominent dignitaries here tonight is...

“They didn’t come here to stand under the Friday Night Lights, just to see a high school football game. They came here tonight to see the Masonville 8^th Grade Mavericks Football Team play what has been called The Game of the Century, not only in Texas, but in the nation.

“There is no way I, or any of the coaches in this room, can tell you how proud we are of you young men. You have given us renewed hope for the future of all young football players—and the many, many thousands of student athletes participating in all high school and college sports—all across America.

“Let each of those student athletes take lessons in sportsmanship, dedication, and preparation, from you young men.

“Good luck to all of you, may you play the best game of your young careers and may you hold your head high, no matter the outcome of this game. May God Bless both teams tonight — God Bless Texas — God Bless America!”

He was still standing in the open circle as we clapped and cheered. Then Coach Clark stepped forward and held his hand in the air. We took a knee and so did the coaches and Superintendent Rutherford. There was not a sound.

Coach Miller was standing at the double doors and before he opened them, he raised his hand, “I believe in you young men, just as much as you believe in yourselves. Now let’s go play some football and show America what Maverick Pride means to The Dalton Gang — The Best Damn Football Team in Texas!“

We were told later, that the high school principal, Mr. Anthony Warner, had given basically the same speech to the varsity team over in the home team dressing room.

We came out of that dressing room like a thundering herd of stampeding buffalo. Ben and I were side by side as we led them to the opposite end of the field from the varsity team. They were already warming up when we lined up and started our warmup routine. We had been out on the field earlier, and jogged and stretched and did our situps, stretches and knee bends before we dressed out. We were loose and we were ready, as we worked up a sweat until fifteen minutes before game time. Then we lined up and hammered our martial arts routines for ten minutes before we ran to the visitors’ sidelines.

The band was playing our school alma mater, then came the National Anthem as we lined up on the sideline, with our right hands over our hearts, our helmets under our left arms.

Since we’re the visitors tonight, I made the call when the ref pointed to me. I called tails, and tails it was when the coin fell to the turf. We elected to receive and the roar of the crowd must have pegged the seismograph needles, at least here in Texas.

Coach Miller, Coach Clark and Coach Chad had us huddled around them.

“This is it, Men. Are you ready for some football?” Coach Chad yelled, and we ran onto the field to receive the kick.

We had watched many of the varsity team’s kickoffs from this past season and we knew their kicker hardly ever reached the end zone, but he kicked it high and deep. I was standing up at the five yard line, with Toro, Bateman and Mathews up around the twenty, and Martine at the ten.

The ball came right down the middle of the field and I pulled it in at the five yard line. By the time I looked upfield, I was stretching out, and hitting my stride. I could see a lane opening up on my left where my blockers had wiped out the first line of defenders. Someone hollered, get him, right next to me, just as I ran past. I saw two of their deep backs coming at me hard when I broke out into the open. I cut back toward the middle — I knew I could beat the nearest one, and when he committed I made another hard cut, leaving him with his arms grabbing nothing but thin air. Just as I thought I was going to be hit by the second man, Martine flashed across in front of me like a blur, wiping him out. I cut back toward the near sideline and let it all out, as I outran the fastest man on the varsity team, Jerry Cobb. He had the angle on me, but even with his speed and his angle, I still felt like I could beat him. I ran past him at their fifteen, and-he-wasn’t-even-close.

The cameras were flashing and the roar of the crowd was like thunder as I handed the ball to the ref, then placed my left hand over my ear-hole in my helmet, before turning to meet my teammates who were running to meet me.

We didn’t celebrate, we slapped hands as we ran to the sidelines. This game was for all the marbles and we knew we could celebrate after the game — when we win. We still had a game to play and we were committed in our efforts to win.

I could hear the announcer, now that the crowd noise quieted down.

‘And that — sports fans — was the player they call, The Outlaw, just doing what he does best’

Even our coaches kept their praise to a minimum when I reached the sidelines and the kickoff team took the field.

LaRussa kicked the ball into the stands on the kickoff, and the crowd was roaring again.

The varsity offense runs some plays out of the spread, but most of the time, they play hard-nose football, running off tackle, left or right, to set up their passes with play-fakes. Their quarterback, Harold Jenkins, is a good passer and a very good option quarterback, pulling the ball down and running when he sees an opening, but he doesn’t have the arm Ben has. He’s really accurate on the short passes and sideline throws, but he isn’t that accurate over forty yards down field.

We’ve run the four-three-four defense all year long. Four down linemen, three linebackers and four men in our secondary.

Our secondary is made up of Jimi Garcia at free safety, Bo James at strong safety, Martine Soto at right cornerback and Mickey Bradshaw at left cornerback. Between the four of them, they have only given up two, long TD passes all season.

On the short routes tonight, they were fearless, challenging the receivers every step of the way. They were good at their positions and the they are our three fastest players on defense.

The varsity has three receivers who are as good as any in their division, and this season they’ve racked up a lot of yards after the catch. Alton Davis is their best receiver at crossing the middle and catching the ball in traffic. He’s tall, and-he-can-run. He also has the best hands of anyone on their receiving corps. He was plagued with minor injuries early in the season and his numbers are down for the year, but any time he’s in the game, he can be a game-changer.

James Bateman, our right-side linebacker is Alton’s cover guy on the short passes, then he releases him to either Martine or Mickey Bradshaw, if and when they try to go deep. Tonight, Bateman was on top of his game, as if he was already playing pro football. The first three passes they tried against him, Bateman had Alton covered like a coat of paint, deflecting the ball before he could get his hands on it.

On this first possession, they had made a first down on two running plays off tackle and a delayed draw up the middle by their quarterback. They were now at third and five after another pass was broken up by Bateman. We had studied enough game film on them to know they were not a gambling team with their running game. More often than not, they throw on third down, with five yards or more to go for a first down. Our guys were prepared for a pass over the middle and for a little insurance, Coach Patterson had Jimi Garcia coming on a safety blitz. No one picked him up and he hit the quarterback on his blind side with his shoulder pads, knocking him backwards just as he released the ball.

Bo James was playing up for a short pass over the middle, and when the ball fluttered down like a crippled duck, he picked it off and raced toward the far sideline. We were on our feet, yelling and cheering, and it looked like he would go all the way, but the refs called him out of bounds at the fifteen.

We were on the field and huddled by the time the varsity defense lined up. We lined up in the I formation, then shifted just before the ball was snapped. Coach Chad had told Ben that if they shifted their defense, leaving our right side open, for him to run the power sweep to the right side and make them pay. Our guys came off the ball in one smooth motion as our two guards pulled, with Toro following them and me trailing. With Morgan, Rhino and Reed leading interference, I followed Toro to the five where he took out their middle linebacker. From there, I cut hard, then did a spin move, breaking a tackle, to fall across the goal line.

The crowd was still roaring when our offense stayed on the field for a two-point conversion attempt. I was the decoy, lined up as flanker on the right side. When the ball was snapped, I ran straight ahead as hard as I could run for the corner of the end zone. I had two defenders all over me and another defender already standing in the corner. This cleared the whole right side, and Ben hit Rashad for the two point conversion, right behind me as he flashed across the end zone from the opposite side with no one covering him. This was a play Coach Chad had put in just this week and we were excited that he let us try it, and even more excited that we had executed the play as good as we had in practice wearing our warmups.

“Listen up Men, they’re going to come back on you! Don’t let up or they’ll take this game away from you. They didn’t go undefeated against all ten teams on their schedule to give up this easily. Play like you know in your hearts you’re capable of playing. Play like you’ve played all season and keep the pressure on them,” Coach Patterson told the defense as they huddled around him before taking the field.

LaRussa has come into his own as a kicker. He doesn’t get to kick a lot of field goals, though he hasn’t missed a point-after all season. He makes up for it by putting the ball in the stands on his kickoffs, eliminating the chance of a return. He doesn’t just kick it long, it’s like he’s practicing for the distance record in high school field goals, kicking it through the uprights each time, to the appreciation of us, our coaches and fans.

With three minutes and nineteen seconds left in the first quarter, the varsity marched right down the field like they were going all the way before the quarter ended. They made it to our twenty-four yard line and had a third and six. I saw Bateman running back and forth, from one side of the line to the other, yelling at the linemen and the other two linebackers, as the varsity broke the huddle. They tried another running play off left tackle. Bateman and James Anderson both plowed through their blockers to stack the fullback up at the line of scrimmage for a one yard gain.

They lined up as if they were going for it on fourth and four, then had to call a timeout when our guys didn’t bite, by jumping offside on the hard count.

They kicked a twenty-four yard field goal just as the quarter ended.

The second quarter turned into an all out defensive battle. On our two possessions in the second quarter, we were inside their territory, but they stopped us on third down each time. Our defense held them to two first downs the entire second quarter, and they never crossed mid-field. The first half ended with the score still, 15 to 3.

During the halftime, our coaches were quick to tell us that we had just played the best first half they had ever seen a young team play. They were just as quick to caution us again, that the varsity could and would come back if we missed a beat.

“Keep them pinned back. Keep them at third and long, they’ll soon make a mistake and one of our guys will have a chance to pick them off. We’ll need a turnover to stop one of their drives, and slow them down,” Coach Miller told us.

The halftime seemed extra long to us, but finally, we were heading back to the playing field. They were receiving the second half kickoff and we could see their coaches huddled with the offense as the special teams took the field.

LaRussa is scary-good tonight. He nailed another kickoff into the stands, right through the center of the uprights. This one was a good ten feet above the crossbar. The crowd showed the little guy they loved him by giving him a standing ovation as he ran to the sidelines, with both his arms raised.

On their first drive of the second half, they lined up and ran the ball right at us. They were making short yardage, but twice getting first downs after crucial and very close measurements by the refs. They threw the deep ball off a play-fake, and twice on this drive, their passes were broken up by Jimi Garcia. The third one, the receiver dropped the ball as he turned upfield. Bo James fell on the ball, but they ruled it an incomplete pass. That drop may have cost them a TD, but they came right back and connected on a short pass for a first down. From there, they managed to score, after burning the clock for five and a half minutes of the third quarter. We were still up 15 to 10 when they kicked off.

They were prepared for our spread offense, determined to shut down the long ball, but Ben ate their lunch with short, sideline passes, then checking off once to run a sweep to the left. That caught them with their cleats stuck to the turf, just as it does each time Ben pulls that play on an opponent. We never run left, except when he checks off at the last second, maybe once in a game.

We drove all the way to their ten yard line and they stopped me on third and three at their seven yard line. Our coaches called a timeout and decided to let LaRussa attempt his second field goal of the season, to try and take an eight point lead into the fourth quarter. Of course he nailed it — just as time expired in the third quarter. The crowd gave him another standing ovation as he ran off the field. His kick put us up 18 to 10 as the quarter ended.

We could see the varsity players and coaches holding up four fingers to indicate the fourth and final quarter. Our entire team and coaching staff gathered on the sidelines to hold up, ten-and-two repeatedly, twelve fingers. Twelve minutes left to hold onto the lead and make history, or fall flat on our faces, and fail to live up to the hype.

Our coaches were upbeat, encouraging each player, each sub, to play this quarter as if our lives depended upon it.

To us, our lives did depended upon this one game, this last quarter.

LaRussa’s kickoff sailed through the uprights again, as if he had nailed another field goal.

The varsity drove the ball from their twenty, all the way to our fifteen on short passes, play-fakes, and hard-nose running by their halfback and fullback.

On first and ten at the fifteen, they tried a sideline pass to Alton Davis, to the right pylon, at the goal line. He had Jimi covering him and they just knew they could get the pass to the big guy. Jimi leaped high and grabbed the ball out of the air, just as Alton laid a tomahawk blow, hard across his left wrist, while holding his jersey with his other hand. Jimi dropped the ball and the ref threw the flag on Alton for offensive pass interference. Had Jimi come down with the ball, we would have stopped them from scoring.

They stepped off the penalty and we looked back to see Jimi lying on the turf, holding onto his left wrist. The coaches and medics ran onto the field when the refs called an injury timeout.

When they brought Jimi across the field to our sidelines, his wrist was swollen and already turning blue. As the medics worked with him, Coach Patterson called Brady Collier over, Jimi’s back up. Brady is good, but he isn’t even close to Jimi Garcia at safety. The coaches were telling him to just knock the ball down, the varsity was going to test him, now that Jimi was out of the game.

On the next play, they hit for a touchdown to Alton, when he leaped high to grab the ball in the end zone, with Brady trying to wrench the ball away from him on the way down.

They lined up to go for two — and the tie.

They threw to Alton in the corner and he pulled it in. We just knew they had tied the game — but he came down with both feet out of bounds and the refs ruled it no score. We were clinging to a two point lead when they kicked off to us.

They tried an onside kick but we were ready for them, we had practiced this for two hours this past Tuesday, with us kicking and with us receiving. Toro leaped high to come down with the ball as they piled on top of him. We had the ball on our forty-five yard line with four minutes and ten seconds left in the game. We needed another touchdown, or they could win the game with a field goal.

Ben hit me on a long pass over the middle and we had a first down at their twenty-eight yard line. He hit Doc Roberts on a sideline pass and we just knew we’d have a first down at their ten yard line. The refs ruled him out of bounds.

We had third and eight and they came at Ben with everyone but the team manager. He scrambled and managed to break free, but they nailed him four yards short of the first down.

Our coaches called a time out and decided once again to let LaRussa extend the lead. At least, they would have to drive the length of the field and score a touchdown to win.

LaRussa was true to form, hitting easily from the thirty-six where Jeff Biggers, our punter, placed the ball for him. We had a five point lead with two minutes and nine seconds left in the game.

Coach Patterson told LaRussa to kick it high, and short of the end zone. Drew LaRussa could play in the NFL at fourteen years old, if they’d let him. He’s that good. He kicked the ball so high, our cover guys were standing in a wide circle around their receiver when he called for a fair catch at their eight yard line.

They lined up with two minutes and two seconds left in the game. They had all their timeouts left, we had one.

Our defense was determined to stop them, but the varsity plugged away with short sideline passes, stopping the clock each time. They made one run up the middle for seven yards on a crucial third down, and quickly called a timeout. They were wearing Brady Collier out on the sideline passes and I saw Jimi Garcia jump up and run over to Coach Chad and Coach Patterson. He had his left arm in a sling and he was waving his right arm like crazy — just before he turned and pointed right toward me.

Coach Patterson was waving for me frantically, and I grabbed my helmet as I ran to them.

“Dalton, we need a stop. Jimi told us that he just knew you could get us one. We don’t have a lot of choices. We’re going to call our last timeout and we want you to replace Brady. You’re faster and you know receivers and defenders as well as anyone on this team. Get ready for it, they’re going to test you, Dalton. Just knock the pass down! Don’t even try to intercept it! All we need to do, is stop them from scoring a TD on these next two plays, and we’ll have the game,” Coach Patterson told me.

“Yes Sir, I’ll give it my best shot, Coach.”

“We knew that, Dalton. That’s the reason we’re gambling on the Outlaw in you. Now, go get that stop and win this game for us!”

Coach Chad and Coach Patterson both slapped my shoulder pads as I turned to run onto the field. I looked up at the game clock as I ran across the field to line up. There were only fifteen seconds left in the game and they had third and five at our twelve. They had to either score now, or get to the seven yard line for a first down—or—they’d have no choice but to go for it on fourth down, if there was any time left. I knew we had to do something now!

This was it for us—do or die.

My guys on defense all ran to meet me and we slapped hands and they slapped me on my shoulder pads.

“Get ready, Dalton. They’re coming at you!” Bo James told me as we broke and took our positions.

The varsity was still in their huddle when I took my place in the lineup. Two of their linemen pointed toward me and the others looked around at me. I watched as Harold Jenkins slapped Alton on his shoulder pads before they bent forward once more, just before breaking the huddle with a loud yell. I knew they were going to throw the ball to Alton. Everyone in the stands knew it too. He’s their go-to-guy whenever they have to make a play.

Sure enough, Alton ran over to line up across from me, and he was smiling. I was watching his every move, trying to read something in his actions that would give me a break or at least give me a clue about his route. He turned to look back at Harold, then waved high with his left hand, signaling for the ball, well before the snap. When he faced me again, his eyes met mine and he was grinning.