Chapter 27

Our high school was gripped with football fever, the possibility that we could make the playoffs had everyone excited. This was our last regular season game. We played the Trojans. Their record was the same as ours, 7-2. Their two losses were to Central and the Braves. They had improved dramatically since last season. Their quarterback was a senior. He was the third rated quarterback in our league, behind Ed and Central's quarterback. They had no chance to make the playoffs because of their losses to Central and the Braves, but they were expected to play with a lot of pride. We played at their stadium. It would be a hard game and we would need all our skill and a lot of luck to win.

Tuesday fourth period I met Julie at the library to help her with her term paper. We concentrated on the research. The best book I could find for her was James M. MacPherson's "For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War". Julie and I enjoyed studying together. We decided to get together on Thursday night at my house to study for our biology test on Friday.

Football practice was intense and focused. Our three months of preparations, practices, and games all hinged on the outcome of the 48 minutes we would spend playing the Trojans. Andy Groff and Rick Winters had the defense more fired up than I had ever seen them. Jeremy finally bought into the team concept on defense. Over the last few games he had become fully as dominant as Andy Groff and Rick Winters in the defense.

Ed was comfortable as the starting quarterback. His early season doubts were gone. He ran the offense with confidence. I felt we had an excellent chance to win and continue our season into the playoffs.

Julie's mom dropped her off at my house right after dinner on Thursday night. We went to my bedroom to study. We were discrete. We left the bedroom door open. Julie worked at my desk while I lay on my bed. We spent an hour and a half reviewing the last month's work in biology. Julie and managed to sneak a few kisses while my parents, Andy and Lizzie weren't looking.

Julie really knew her biology. I was better prepared for this test than I would have been studying on my own. We talked about Julie's history term paper too. Julie thanked me for recommending the MacPherson book. It was just what she needed.

Julie and I kissed again just before her ride home was due. Things escalated faster than either of us intended. Soon we were clenched together in an embrace, my erection pressing into Julie's side. Julie looked shocked when she realized what it was. I tried to pull away, but Julie clung to me. She pressed her body against me, rubbing my erection against her. She smiled and kissed me again.

"Ah-hmmm," Mom said, clearing her throat to get our attention. "Your ride is here, Julie."

Julie groaned and answered, "Thank you, Mrs. Martin. I better go now, Kyle. See you tomorrow."

"See you in biology Julie. Bye," I said. My Mom led Julie downstairs to the door. I tried to adjust my erection so it wasn't too obvious. I was ready to close my door so I could jerk off when my Mom returned.

"Can we talk, Kyle?" Mom asked. I wasn't too embarrassed. I was sitting at my desk by then and Mom couldn't see my boner.

"Sure, What's up?"

Mom asked, "Are you and Julie getting serious, Kyle?"

"No. Why would you think that? We were just studying. Really!" I protested.

Mom countered with "It looked like you to were studying ... studying for Sex Ed."

"We were studying biology," I answered. Mom grinned. "No! We were studying for our biology test tomorrow."

"Uh-huh. Just remember what I discussed with you and Penny last summer. If the two of you have sex, I want you to be safe. Make sure Julie is willing. I don't want Lizzie to find out about any of this."

"I remember what you told me Mom. Julie isn't my girlfriend. She doesn't have sex. She isn't ready. You don't need to worry," I explained.

"You know quite a bit about a girl who isn't your girlfriend."

"Well ... I do like her, but I don't have enough time for a girlfriend right now. Julie isn't my girlfriend!" I protested.

"The boy doth protest too much, methinks," Mom countered as she left my room.

I closed and locked my bedroom door. I stripped, rubbed hand lotion over my cock and got to work bringing myself relief. I tried to think about Ed and my three-way with Jessie. My thoughts kept coming back to Julie. Did I really like her? Did I want to be her boyfriend? I squirted a big load of cum all over my chest before I could decide what I wanted. I dressed and went back to working on the remainder of my homework. What did I want?

I gave Trent Wilson a call after I finished my homework. We talked for a few minutes about our upcoming football games. I challenged Trent, "You guys make sure you beat the Braves tomorrow night. We're counting on you."

Trent answered, "Nah, I don't think so. We'd rather play the Braves next week in the playoffs than you guys. We plan to throw the game. We're starting the second string."

"What? You're kidding!"

"Yes, I am kidding. We are proud of being undefeated. We play to win tomorrow, even if it isn't the smart move for us. We have our pride."

"I'm glad. All of us are counting on you guys to win. Hopefully we see each other next weekend in Elizabethtown in the playoffs."

"That would be cool, Kyle. I hope you guys win too."

"Good luck, Trent. Kick their butts," I declared.

"Thanks, Kyle. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you. I got my license last weekend."

"Cool! Congratulations."

"You know we ought to do a double date some Saturday, you and Penny and me and Ashley."

"Um, I guess you haven't heard. Penny and I broke up two months ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Kyle. I'm sure you can find a date to bring along."

"Yes. I can manage to find a date," I said. "Let's do this when football is over."

"Cool. We'll do it when the season is over. Good luck tomorrow night, Kyle."

"Thanks, Trent. You guys play hard. Bye."

"Bye, Kyle."

It was nice to have a friend like Trent. I hoped I would get a chance to play against him again this season. The double date was a good idea. It would be fun.

--oooOooo--

Friday morning I met Julie just before first period started. She gave me a hug and said, "You look good in your white jersey, Kyle." Tonight's game was an away game.

"Thanks, Julie. Are you ready for the test?"

"Yes. I'm glad we studied together last night. I know it helped," Julie said. She gave me a kiss on the cheek. I sat down at my table.

Ed leaned back and asked, "You have a new girlfriend, Kyle?"

"No! No, no, nooo ... why does everyone ask me that? Julie and I were studying together last night and she wanted to thank me. That's all," I insisted.

Penny, who sat beside in this class, giggled and whispered in my ear, "Why aren't you dating her? You could do worse."

"I don't have time for a girlfriend. You know that Penny," I answered.

Mr. Herr called for quiet. He handed out the tests. Everyone went to work. I finished early. I had about ten minutes free until the period was over. I thought some more about what Penny said. The conversation was the first civil conversation the two of us had in the past two months. Before today, we argued if it was about the two of us or the conversation was strictly business regarding the Venturer Crew. It was nice to talk to Penny politely.

I was confident that I did well on the test. The rest of the school day went smoothly. Julie and I talked some more before History class and before deutsche Unterricht. I sat beside Julie for both classes. The teachers weren't strict like Mr. Herr with assigned seating.

Julie gave me a kiss when we left deutsche Unterricht after fifth period. "Good luck at the game tonight, Kyle. I'll be watching you. Score a touchdown for me."

"Thanks, Julie," I replied. "I'll do my best."

Andy and I had a quick supper at home before Mom and Dad drove us back to the school to catch the bus to the western end of the county to play the Trojans. The varsity team dressed, reviewed the game plan and went through our pre-game rituals while the JV team played.

I got a good look at the Trojan Stadium when we went out to warm up. The stadium was filling with Trojan fans dressed in blue and white. This school definitely was richer than ours. I wished we had a real stadium instead of the plain stands we had at our field.

Our team won the coin toss and decided to receive the kick off. Tim Showalter, our kick returner, bobbled the ball on the fifteen yard line, dropped it and was creamed by two tacklers. The Trojans recovered the fumble at our twelve yard line. The Trojans lined up and ran a play action pass. Rick and Jeremy bit on the fake and were out of position to tackle the tight end as he ran across the field. He scooped the ball up at the three yard line and ran into the end zone before we could tackle him. The Trojans made the PAT.

Tim did better on his second try. He gave us possession of the ball at our 31 yard line. Ed led us out. He displayed complete confidence in the huddle. "No biggie, guys. We can move on this defense. We've spotted some holes on the tapes of their previous games. Let's get to work and score on these turkeys." He called for me to fake a deep pass route while Stan ran a delayed draw up the middle. We picked up five yards on the play.

The coaches called a nice mix of running plays for Stan and Drew and a bunch of short passes for Don, Greg and me. We smoothly moved the ball downfield in four to seven yard chunks. At the Trojan 39 yard line, we decided to unleash the deep passing. I streaked downfield at the snap. The free safety started my way as I passed the cornerback. Drew came out of the backfield and blew past the outside linebacker assigned to cover him. The safety hesitated when he saw Drew come free too. Finally he decided to cover Drew. I sprinted downfield to their end zone and caught a beautiful spiral for our first touchdown. With the successful PAT, the score stood at 7-7.

The Trojan kick returner found a hole in our coverage and took the ball out to their 44 yard line. Their quarterback, Joe Cummings, was as good as his stats indicated. He drove his team down the field smartly. Our defense couldn't quite a get a handle on the Trojan play calling. He used short passes to spread our defense out and set up the running plays. With the successful point after, the score stood at 14-7, Trojans.

When we got the ball back, the Trojans went to blitzing. We ran three plays and had to punt the ball back to the Trojans. The Trojan punt returner squeezed through a gap in our punt coverage, avoided two tackles and dashed the length of the field to score another touchdown. Score: 21-7 Trojans.

We huddled. Ed said, "Relax, everyone. We can move the ball on these guys. The play is a tailback screen to the right side. Dustin and Jerry; you have to really sell your blocks before you release your guys. Get out in front and block for Drew when you release. We're going to burn them big time on this play, guys. On two. Break"

The play worked as planned. The Trojans blitzed as we expected. Dustin, our right guard, and Jerry, our right tackle let themselves get beaten on their blocks, slipped outside in front of Drew and prepared. I dashed downfield, drawing the cornerback and the free safety deep. Ed looped the ball over the heads of the Trojan pass rushers to Drew. Dustin and Jerry led Drew downfield. They didn't meet any defenders in the first ten yards. They blocked the strong safety and middle linebacker out of the way, leaving a gaping hole for Drew. He streaked downfield. The free safety finally caught him and shoved him out of bounds after a 36 yard gain.

Ed continued our drive with a mix of runs and passes now that the Trojans were more hesitant to blitz. I caught two passes on the drive. Drew made a first down on a sweep. Don pulled in a pass for a touchdown when I was triple covered in the end zone. With the PAT, we brought the score to a more reasonable 21-14, Trojans favor.

Each team tried two more drives before the half was over. All the drives broke down before anyone could score. We went in at half time still down by seven points. The coaches rallied the special team players and reviewed changes to fix the coverage problems. Coach Wyndham reviewed his adjustments with the defense. Rick Winters and Andy Groff each spoke to their teammates, seeking to light a fire in them. My offensive teammates and I reviewed our game plan. We were confident if the other two phases of our team did their job, we would win the game.

Our special teams coverage got the act together on the second half kick off to the Trojans. We took their kick returner down at their eighteen yard line. Our defense was fired up. On the first play the Trojans tried a sweep to the side away from Jeremy. Jeremy ran the play down from the behind before the runner could even get to the line of scrimmage. On the next play Jeremy blitzed. He and Andy Groff met at the quarterback. Each guy was credited with half a sack. On the third play the Trojans tried to fool us with a delay draw. Rick Winters stayed in position in the center of the line and tackled the tailback before he could get back to the line of scrimmage. The Trojans punted the ball to us. Karl Weaver took over as our punt returner for the second half. Karl wasn't as fast as Tim Showalter, but he was reliable. Karl brought the punt forward about six yards before he was tackled.

We started our drive on the Trojans' forty-nine yard line, excellent field position. We started with a couple runs by Stan. On the third play, we ran our flanker reverse. It worked, though not as well as usual. The free safety tackled me at their twenty-two yard line. The Trojans obviously had been paying attention to tapes of our previous games. We pounded the ball up the middle three times with Stan and picked up a first down at their eleven yard line. Ed had to throw the ball away when the Trojans blitzed and none of the receivers could get open. The next play was an alley-oop pass to the corner of the end zone. All I had to do was out jump the three defenders surrounding me, keep them from ripping the ball out of my hands and make sure I came down in the end zone. Fortunately, I managed it all in spite of the elbow in the side, the knee to the hip and the cornerback draped on my back. We scored the point after to even the score at 21-21.

Andy, Rick and Jeremy went wild in the second half. The three guys kept the Trojans off balance through out the second half. Between the hurries, the sacks, the tackles for a loss and Jeremy's interception, the Trojans couldn't move the ball. Ed continued calling our balanced mix of runs and passes. Drew scored on a deep pass when the free safety decided to help cover me. On the next series we did it again, except I scored the touchdown when the free safety tried to cover Drew. By the beginning of the fourth quarter, we were leading 35-21.

The Trojans finally managed to sustain a drive, but only to a point. They had to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown. The fourth quarter was Stan's time. Ed kept handing the ball to him and he would gain four, five, six yards or more on each play. We ran the clock down with a long drive that ended with a field goal. That brought the score to 38-24.

The Trojans went three and out when Coach Wyndham blitzed on every down. They punted the ball back to us. We continued handing it to Stan, who stuffed the ball down the Trojan's throats. We ran the clock out on the game without another score. The final score was 38-24 Wolverines.

We jumped and celebrated our victory on our opponent's field. All we needed now was for Central to win and we would be in the playoffs. Finally the coaches rounded us up and sent us to the locker room to shower and change.