Chapter 18

I met Ed at the bus stop on Monday morning. Ed slapped me on the back and said, "What do you think, Kyle?"

"About what?" I asked.

"Our opponent next Saturday, Upper Moreland."

"Oh, is that who we're playing." I paused to remember them from the videos. Oh yeah, that team. "I'm not surprised. They are a strong team. They run a spread offense like us. They are going to be tough."

"We'll beat them, Kyle," Ed said confidently. "Count on it."

Penny joined us. I gave her a hug and a kiss. Talk turned to the Venturer Crew meeting next week.

Matt Horn had me increase my time on the exercise bike during rehab. I asked if it would be all right if I started lifting weights again. Penny was teasing me about getting a little flabby. What could you expect? I hadn't been able to exercise for two months.

Matt said I could do some upper body work as long as I sat down while I did it. It was too soon for me to put stress on my knee. Matt promised that I would be able to start exercising my legs in a week or two if I made enough progress.

Monday after school our team learned our game plan for Upper Moreland. They didn't have any obvious weaknesses. The coaches didn't come up with any special defenses for them, we would have to play them in our base defense.

Coach Caffrey tried having Drew and Andy throw a few passes. Maybe they could replace me on the reverse option pass. Neither Andy nor Drew managed a completion during practice. We tried one other trick play, a fake field goal. When the ball was snapped to Jeremy, our holder; Jeremy would toss it to our kicker Hal who then ran wide to the right. Hal's fast. We hoped he could make five or ten yards before he was tackled. This play would only be used if we found ourselves with a fourth down and short situation.

At Tuesday's practice Coach Caffrey abandoned the idea of running the reverse option play. Andy and Drew spent most of practice on the reverse and fake reverse plays. Hal and Jeremy continued practicing the fake field goal. We would need to find some edge to beat Upper Moreland.

Tuesday evening Dad made me spend an hour answering questions from the driver's ed book so I would be ready for the driver's test the next day. I was too keyed up to get much sleep that night. I had dreamed of the day I got my license for sixteen years. By tomorrow evening I expected to have my driver's license. Freedom to come and go. No more bumming rides with my friends. Freedom to find privacy with Penny in my VW Golf when ever the two of us wanted it. The possibilities seemed endless.

Mom picked me up after my first period Deutschunterricht [German class]. Mom met me in the VW Golf. I drove to the Orthopedic Center for rehab. Matt had me exercise the same way as the past few weeks. He promised me we would start something new next week.

Mom had me drive to Penn DOT's Driver's Center in Rohrerstown. I parked in the parking lot at the shopping center. Mom and I registered at the front desk and took a seat to wait for my turn. I went up and finished the multiple choice test of my knowledge of the rules of the road. The questions seemed easy. I found a seat beside Mom again.

I waited another 45 minutes before they called me for the road test. Mom wished me luck when I went forward. I met an older man in his early fifties at the front desk. He introduced himself as Mr. Horton. Everything was business with him. I led him outside to my car. He took a quick look around the car and then had a seat in the passenger's seat.

Mr. Horton had me pull out of my parking space and drive to the exit of the parking lot.

Mr. Horton flatly said, "Turn right at the stop sign." I looked both ways and turned right onto the street. I went about fifty yards when he said, "Turn right at this street." I turned as he indicated. I came to a T intersection. Mr. Horton said, "Turn left here."

I looked both ways, waited for a couple cars to pass, checked both ways again and then pulled out onto the street. The street sign said the street was Good Drive. I drove north for half a minute. Mr. Horton said, "Turn left onto Regency Drive."

I flipped on the turn signal, waited for an oncoming car to pass and then pulled onto Regency Drive. Mr. Horton said, "Take it back to the Driver's Center." I drove back to the entrance to the shopping center and turned in. Mr. Horton had me drive around to the back of the center and demonstrate that I could parallel park a car. Mr. Horton had me park the car in the front of the center.

Mr. Horton looked at me and smiled slightly. "Young man, you passed." He signed and handed me a test evaluation sheet endorsing me to receive my license. I nearly skipped back inside the Driver's Center. I couldn't believe that the test was that simple.

I took the evaluation sheet to the front desk and sat down with Mom. It took another 45 minutes for them to prepare my camera card, to take my photo and for them to give me my license.

Mom and I grabbed lunch at the Chinese buffet in the mall before I drove us back to school. Mom stopped by the office to square things away with the vice principal. I headed for my sixth period English class.

I was supposed to keep quiet about getting my license during school but I couldn't help myself. I told Andy, Ed, Jeremy and Hal before practice. They all congratulated me. Greg caught wind of our conversation.

He teased, "It's about time, Kyle. I was getting tired of driving you everywhere."

"I know I've been a pest sometimes," I answered. "Thanks for everything, Greg. You're a good friend."

The team practiced the key plays in the game plan for 45 minutes. The coaches had the team do some tip drills and then played a game of 'Keep Away'. It wasn't anything that would help us on the football field, but the team had fun. The game kept everyone loose.

Thursday and Fridays practice brought more of the same. The team seemed confident, prepared and ready for the game. Saturday afternoon we would play for dominance in the eastern half of the state.

Friday morning marked a milestone for me. I didn't have to ride the bus. I was allowed to drive the Golf to school. Penny rode up front with me, Andy and Liz rode in the back. That was way cool!

Friday evening Penny and I met our friends at the pizza place near the movie theater. It felt great having a car be able to take my date places. We headed over to the movies afterward. We watched about half of it when we decided it was not worth our time. We left and headed for that dirt lane south of Strasburg for some privacy. Penny and I took advantage of our situation to make love. The Golf was a little cramped but we managed.

Andy and I slept late on Saturday morning. We had breakfast around 10 and then hung out watching TV until 11:30. Mom fed us. I drove Andy and me to the school to catch the buses to Hershey.

The weather was warm for the 8th of December. The temperature was 45 degrees at noon just before Andy and I left for the game. The sky was clear and a gentle wind blew in from the northwest. It was going to be a good day for Ed, Greg, Andy and the other receivers.

The team gathered their equipment up and boarded the buses for our weekly trek north and west. My friends joked around on the bus ride and while they dressed for the game. Everyone seemed loose and confident. The stands were filling with fans when we came out for warm-ups. We went back to the locker room for our final preparations. Coach Caffrey gave a stirring speech about achieving our goals. Everyone was fired up when they were introduced to the crowd.

Justin, Coach Fisher, Coach Rodgers and I took our places in the press box and plugged into our communications network. The announcer reported that over 10,000 spectators were watching the game.

Our team won the coin toss and elected to receive the kickoff. Upper Moreland's kicker didn't have a strong leg. His kickoff came down near the 15 yard line. Tim Showalter carried the ball out to our 32 yard line.

Coach Caffrey decided to test UM deep immediately. Andy ran a deep route on the first play. Andy sprinted down field when the ball was snapped. Unfortunately the cornerback covering him was able to keep up with Andy. Ed's protection held for about four seconds before a defensive end slipped past Jerry Morton. Ed rolled to his left and threw the ball to Karl for a six yard gain. This wasn't an auspicious beginning for us.

We mixed our runs with short to medium passes and pushed down the field towards the Golden Bears' end zone. Andy caught a 20 yard pass when he faked going deep and then turned back to the QB at the last second. UM's players weren't real big, but the played hard. They nearly always had multiple tacklers on each play. We moved the ball down to UM's 18 yard line before they stopped us. We settled for Hal kicking a field goal to give us a 3-0 lead.

Hal put the kickoff into the end zone. The kick returner caught the ball and kneeled in the end zone for a touch back. The Golden Bears started on their 20 yard line. Watching them play offense was like watching ourselves in a mirror. Their quarterback threw crisp spirals to their receivers. They had speed at split end. They mixed up running and passing the same way we did. UM ran five plays, three runs and two passes before they showed us their deep threat. Their split end sprinted downfield past Seth Vogel, our cornerback, caught the ball and ran for the end zone. Fortunately Nick Zeimer was lined up deep enough to catch him at the 17 yard line before he scored. UM used five plays to push their way into the end zone. They kicked the PAT to take a 7-3 lead.

Our next possession went better. It took us six runs and four passes to move down the field and score a touchdown in reply to the Bears. Hal kicked the PAT to give us the lead 10-7.

UM took the kickoff and ran it out to their 27 yard line. Coach Wyndham tried blitzing to hurry their QB. It didn't work. They answered with a draw and two screen passes. They ran again when we stopped blitzing. As the drive continued our defense adjusted to what they were doing a little. They needed sixteen plays, but reached our end zone. The lead went back to the Golden Bears 14-10.

We started our next drive running at the Bears. We alternated running Drew and Marcus at UM. We pushed past midfield. Coach Caffrey tried our first special play. He called for Andy to run the reverse. The play caught most of the Bear's defense off guard. Andy ran down along the side line picking up 38 yards, putting our offense on UM's 17 yard line. We tried a pass into the end zone on the next play. Andy attracted three defenders in the right corner of the end zone. Ed rolled left under pressure and threw the ball towards Karl. The Bear's cornerback cut in front of Karl and intercepted the ball. The cornerback tucked the ball away and sprinted down the field. The free safety pushed Ed out of the way when he tried to make a tackle. The cornerback continued down the field untouched to score a touchdown. They made the PAT to bring the score to 21-10 Bears.

Tim ran the ensuing kickoff back to our 33 yard line. Ed and our offense worked the ball down the field with a mix of runs and passes. The deep play was never open, so we took the opportunities available. We used 12 plays to get into their red zone. Our drive stalled out at UM's 12 yard line when they stuffed Drew for a loss of a yard on third down and two. We lined up for a field goal. Coach Caffrey signaled for our fake. Jeremy took the snap, stood up and tossed the ball to Hal as he ran to his right towards the sideline. Hal beat the defender who was supposed to contain outside runs. He turned up field and was tackled by the second, third and fourth defenders on that side. Hal gained 8 yards on the play.

Ed lined our team up in our goal line offense. We pounded the ball at the Bears to try to get the last four yards between us and the end zone. On third down and goal at the two yard line we faked a handoff to Drew. Ed rolled right and found Andy alone in the end zone. Ed fired the ball to him for a touchdown. Hal kicked the PAT to narrow the score to 21-17 Bears favor.

Upper Moreland took our kickoff out to the 21 yard line. They ran and passed their way slowly down the field. Our defense slowed but couldn't stop them. It was third down and 5 yards to go on the eighth play of the drive. UM ran the ball at us. Austin, George and Jeremy all had the runner stood up after a three yard run. They stopped when the whistle blew. UM's big right tackle hit the pile, knocking everyone over a second after the whistle blew. Jeremy jumped off the pile and confronted the tackle. They yelled and gestured for a few seconds. Jeremy lunged at the tackle and was hauled away by George and Austin.

Jeremy continued struggling as George and Austin pushed him away from the confrontation. I could see Jeremy calm down when George talked to him a little more. UM lined up to punt the ball to us. Jeremy took his position on the right end of our line. Coach Caffrey called for us to try to block the punt. Jeremy blasted past the blocker and dove for the ball as it came off the punter's foot. I'm not sure how, but the punter managed to get the ball out a split second before Jeremy got to it. In the rush to get the ball away the punter shanked the kick. It flew about 20 yards where Ian Meyers fell on it. Ian normally is one of Andy's blockers on punts.

We ended up with the ball on our 38 yard line. There was a 1:20 left in the first half. We completed two short passes. The Golden Bears blitzed on the next play. We surprised them with a screen pass to Drew. He gained 26 yards. Ed handed the ball to Drew two more times for little gain. Ed was sacked on third down. Hal came in and tried a 45 yard field goal. Hal had proved to be a good kicker over the course of the season, but 45 yards was too far. The ball was true, but it landed just short of the goal post. Upper Moreland was satisfied to take their 21-17 lead into the half time. Their quarterback kneeled down to let the clock run out on the first half.

Justin looked over at me when the clock ran down on the first half. "Can you believe this game, Kyle?"

"These guys are good," I answered. "It's too bad someone is going to have to lose this game."

Justin smiled and replied, "We'll get them in the second half. I'm sure of it."

The four of us headed downstairs to our locker room. The other coaches were already reviewing adjustments for the second half. I headed over to join Ed, Jeremy and Hal.

Jeremy was ranting, "God damn son of a bitch. I'm going to kick his ass in the second half."

Ed grabbed Jeremy by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Knock it off, Jeremy. We need to you focused on the football not revenge. Do you understand?"

Jeremy declared, "I won't stand for anyone saying things about my mom. I won't!"

Hal added, "Listen to Ed. Your best revenge will be to cheer our victory at the end of the game. If you go after that asshole you will get hit with penalty. That won't help us win the game."

"Listen to these guys, Jeremy," I said. "Take your anger out on their running backs."

Our team headed back to the field confident that we had figured out how to contain Upper Moreland. Time would tell if we were right.

Hal boomed the kick off down to the 4 yard line to start the second half. Our special teams players stopped the UM's kick returner at the 18 yard line.

We switched to five defensive backs to start the second half. Brett Fulmer, a sophomore recently promoted to our nickel back position, was assigned to cover UM's fastest receiver. Brett had been extremely green when the season started, but he had improved dramatically as the season progressed. Brett was as fast as Drew.

The Bears used a mix of runs and passes on us in the drive. Jeremy played like a man possessed. He hammered the ball carrier on the first play. The next play Jeremy blitzed. He gleefully blew past the loud mouthed tackle and sacked the quarterback. The rest of the defense took inspiration from Jeremy's play. Their quarterback hurried his throw on the next play to avoid George's blitz. Brett's deep help allowed Seth Vogel step in front of the under thrown pass. He ran the interception back to our 47 yard line.

Ed executed a good drive down the field. Drew stuffed the ball into the end zone after seven plays. Hal drilled the PAT through the uprights. Score: 24-21 Wolverines.

Upper Moreland took the kickoff and worked the ball down the field 4 or 5 yards a play. They didn't run anything fancy, just basic football. Our defense tightened up when they approached the 20 yard line. Jeremy, Nathan and George bottled up their running game. UM finally settled for trying 36 yard field goal. Their kicker just sneaked the ball inside the upright barely over the cross bar. Score: 24-24 Tie.

We took the kick off and struggled down the field against UM's defense. This drive ended when the ball was stripped out of Drew's hands on UM's 22 yard line.

Our team and Upper Moreland struggled through the rest of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. Each outstanding play by our team was answered by an incredible play by them. The ball moved up and down the field, but neither team could muscle or finesse the ball into the end zone.

We broke the impasse in the fourth quarter when we unveiled our last trick play. Upper Moreland had seen Andy run the reverse successfully in the first half. We ran the play's doppelganger. The fake reverse looked like the real thing except Drew never gave Andy the ball. Most of the Bears chased after Andy while Drew ran down the far side line. Drew was tackled six yards short of the end zone. It took us another three plays, but Ed found Andy free in the back of the end zone. Hal's successful PAT brought the score to 31-24 Wolverine's favor.

We kicked the ball back to the Bears. In spite of Jeremy, Nathan and George's harassment, they managed to push the ball down the field on our defense. They sprang their surprise on us on what looked like a 10 yard hitch pass play. Brett, Seth and Nick all converged on the receiver when he got the ball. The receiver lateraled the ball to the tight end as he ran past. No one caught the tight end. We had never seen the 'hook and ladder' play before. Upper Moreland kicked the PAT. Score 31-31 Tie.

Upper Moreland kicked the ball back to us. After a couple running plays we tried something different. We sent Drew and Andy deep. We counted on one of them getting open. We didn't count on Ed getting sacked instead. We punted the ball back to UM with 2:31 remaining in the game.

Upper Moreland tried to score but couldn't break our fired up defenders. They did manage to get down to our thirty yard line as time ran out. They tried a ridiculously long 47 yard field goal. I confidently watched them line up for the kick. High school kickers do not make field goals this long. My heart stopped when the kick sailed straight down the center of the field. It bounced off the cross bar and fell out.

We were going to overtime. High school rules are different from NFL football. Both teams would have a chance on offense. The offense starts 25 yards from goal line. You continued on offense until you scored, lost the ball on downs or turned the ball over with a fumble or interception. The other team went on offense. If the score was still tied after each team had a possession, the game went to a second overtime. If a third overtime period was needed, the ball was started on the 10 yard line.

Upper Moreland won the coin toss and had first possession in overtime. Three straight running plays moved UM 11 yards closer to the end zone. On the fourth play they tried a pass to the corner of the end zone. Coach Wyndham had anticipated them and blitzed. Jeremy burst through their defensive line, hammered the quarterback and stripped the ball loose. Austin Herr grabbed it off the ground and started running for the end zone. He got about 10 yards when the referees whistled the play dead. The defense wasn't allowed to score in overtime. It didn't matter. Our offense had possession of the ball now and all we needed was a field goal to win the game.

Coach Caffrey played it cautious. We run the ball three straight times and moved it to the 13 yard line. We expected that 'Automatic' Hal would make the 30 yard field goal. He had never missed at this range in decent weather conditions. Jeremy took the snap and lined the ball up for Hal. Upper Moreland's defense surged forward. Hal kicked the ball. One of UM's linebackers managed to leap and touch the ball as it flew by. The deflected ball tumbled in flight and curved right and missed the goalposts.

We had first possession in the second overtime. On the first play Ed tried to get the ball to Andy in the corner of the end zone. He was surrounded by defenders. Ed dropped the ball off to Drew in the flat. Drew gained 8 yards on the play. We ran the ball at them twice more, gaining another seven yards. Ed tried another pass to the end zone, but no one was open. We ran wide to the right. Drew was forced out of bounds at the four yard line. Coach Caffrey had one trick left up his sleeve; a very old one that I hadn't seen us use since Zack Hayes played for us.