Chapter 43

He said, “I’m John Helgar. You’re Jerry Short and Bob Stovall, aren’t you?”

“I guess so. John, it’s good to meet you.” I extended a hand which he shook. Bob waved at him in a friendly way.

“You guys were questioned about your girl friends? What gives? The reporters didn’t ask about any of our girls.”

I said, “I guess it started with Alice and me. Our class schedules mesh closely so she was free and came to my practices. Friends of hers joined her. They watched and cheered for fun. Later, some of them wanted to meet nice guys that they accused me of being.” I grinned. “We introduced people and some of them, Bob included, worked out and became couples also. They continue to come to our practices and games. This one was too far away and our school and the hosting folks made no effort to put together a package, much less one that was affordable.”

“That’s unfortunate. Our school put together a package designed for students to help people get here. Unfortunately, I don’t have a girl.”

Bob said, “My girl is Alice’s roommate. Alice is Jerry’s girl. Alice lives on a farm and Marilyn went with her for the weekend. At least, our coach has arranged time for us to go to church if we desire. I know Jerry and I will go.”

John looked surprised. “I’ve never been in a church.”

I said, “If you have time. We have a local bus. Church is between eleven and twelve local time. We would be glad to have you join us.”

John thought a moment. “I would like to do that. I’ll have to check the team schedule. I know we were going to leave Sunday right after lunch, I think. If I can, I will. You guys make it sound interesting and even enticing. What would I wear?”

Bob said, “What you have on now is good. Churches aren’t formal any more. I will wear what I have with a different but similar shirt.” He grinned. “Win or lose, we would be glad to have you join us. Jerry and I pray for everyone in a game even the referees.” He grinned.

We were called to lunch which was served buffet-style with both teams eating together. The three of us went in to eat. We were all joined by teammates at one of the large tables.

John introduced us to his teammates and we did the same. The meal went well and we parted shaking hands all around. We went into the appropriate locker rooms to get our uniforms after taking it easy for a half hour or so. I went to the bathroom before putting on my uniform. We had special jerseys for the game supplied by the host committee. There were enough of those.

Fully dressed, we went out onto the field for some light exercise to loosen up. We ran and did some exercises that didn’t show off any abilities which fit our standard warm-up routines. I noticed that our opponents, the Golden Bears, had a different philosophy in their warm-up. With half an hour before kickoff, we returned to our locker room to rest and wait to be called.

We were called and ran out on the field easily. Four of us went for the coin toss. We were considered the visitors so I told Bob that he should call the toss for us. I figured it didn’t matter since we rarely won the toss anyway. We shook hands with the opposing captains and were introduced to the officials. Bob called, “Tails.” The coin was flipped into the air and came to down tails! We, of course, deferred to the second half. It was different to go to the sidelines planning on sitting down and waiting. We kicked off and the Bears ran the ball out to the twenty-eight. Our defense went out and did a great job of forcing them to a “three and out.” The punt was downed on the thirty-one and it was our turn to go out.

I knew that both teams had great defenses. I thought our best shot would be to strike early. Bob and I talked with Coaches Marshall and Edwards about our initial series of plays. They wanted a focus on misdirection with play action and options. Our first play would be a play action that would actually be a pass with Tom as my primary target. Bob would block. If left alone, he would head out on a crossing route. As usual, I was to be flushed from the pocket and run for my life, a not uncommon situation. I received the ball and the play developed as planned. Bob went out to receive. All our receivers were well covered even Bob. I tucked the ball in tightly and truly began to run for my life heading for the sideline and a first down.

I made both, the sideline and the first down. I was two yards away from the line marker when a Golden Bear pushed through two of his teammates to slam into me! I went down hard dropping the ball as I blacked out for a second. A flag was thrown. John helped me up saying, “Jerry, I’m sorry for what he did.”

Bob was there and helped me over to our side of the field. Coach Marshall said, “Jerry, are you hurt badly?”

“No sir, but I need to sit out for a bit.” I was helped to a bench and sat down. The call was spearing and unsportsmanlike conduct. After a review, the spearing was upheld and that Bear was out of the game. He was their number one linebacker. I didn’t understand why he would do that but I wasn’t understanding much at that particular moment.

With Mark, our reserve quarterback, we stayed on the ground but Bob managed to get a first down after two tries. I felt better but wasn’t ready to go out yet. Mark stayed out and ran a play action with a hand off to Bob which worked. If we just held on to the ball, we were in field goal range. We made eight yards so, on fourth down, we kicked a field goal.

Our kickoff was fumbled by their runner. He had to fall on it leaving them starting from their twelve yard line. They made twenty yards before Trevor and the guys stopped them on downs. They had to punt to us.

After a short run-back, we started at our thirty-four yard line. We were three and out gaining only six yards. We punted.

The game went back and forth with our field goal being the only score in the half. During the half, the coaches sat with Bob and me. Coach Edwards said, “We’re seeing the Bears are keying on you, Jerry. We’re going to have to adjust to hide better what you’re doing.” We talked over specifics and came up with a plan.

We went out to receive for a change. Trevor and Tom were our two receivers. Tom caught the short kick on the fly and ran it to the forty-six before being tackled there. He came off for a breather and the rest of the offense went out on the field. We kept our usual play action formation but, instead of passing or handing off, I ran. It worked and I ran for my life to be downed on the twenty-one. We were within field goal range but I wanted a score if we could do it.

One of our play action formations was called. It was option full. We gathered in the huddle. I asked, “Does anyone have any ideas? I think we need a touchdown. Our defense may not be able to hold them forever.”

There were nods all around. Tom said, “We haven’t thrown to Condell in three games now or in this one. What if you go through the play and then run for your life. Condell can make a halfhearted block and follow along ready to catch a lob from you?”