Lost & Found
Chapter 44

Copyright© 2007 by Douglas Fox

Romantic Sex Story: Chapter 44 - Kyle Martin goes to PSU seeking football glory. Read about his successes, failures and excesses as he tries to find his place in the world

Caution: This Romantic Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa   Ma/Ma   Consensual   Romantic   Group Sex   Anal Sex   School  

The start of a new semester always excites me – new topics to learn about, new professors and new classmates. I had two geography courses, more history, an anthropology course and finally something meaningful in my major – a course in teaching secondary school social studies.

Geography 30 – Geographic Perspectives in Sustainability and Human-Environment Systems was my first class in room 26 in the Hosler Building. It was the usual big lecture hall with a good 150-160 students in the class. Ms. Amelia Stewart, a nicely dressed, slim lady in her late twenties was our instructor. We would learn about how humans interacted with the environment over the span of human existence.

The class met Mondays and Wednesdays in the big lecture hall. The class was divided into eight sections. Twenty-two of us would meet with Ms. Stewart in separate sections during the week. By chance, my section met immediately after the lecture upstairs in a smaller class room in the Hosler Building. Ms. Stewart was an engaging lecturer who was quite pleasant to look at too. I decided this course would be fun.

I ate a sandwich I picked up at the Mix on the way to the Thomas Building for my next class – History 161. Dr. Brennan, the professor for the course, was simply the best professor I had in my two years plus at Penn State. To make it better, she was teaching about my favorite battle in the war I had studied more than any other in my life. It doesn't get any better than that!

Dr. Brennan was already seated at the desk in the front of room 215 when I walked in. "Welcome, Mr. Martin," she teased. "Imagine my surprise seeing you in this class."

"Gettysburg, Civil War, you're teaching the course – where else would I be this period?" I countered.

"Is your better half taking this course too?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"Kelly?" I answered. "Of course. She should be here any minute."

Cameron Miller walked in and had a seat in front of me. Dr. Brennan gave Cameron a big smile and said, "Mr. Miller, it has been a long time since we've met, hasn't it?"

Both Cameron and Dr. Brennan laughed before she explained to the eight other students in the room, "I've led three tours at Gettysburg this summer. Somehow Mr. Miller has managed to bump into my group every time I show up."

"I spent most of my summer roaming the battlefield," Cam replied. "You could have come ten times and probably would have found me somewhere every time. I'm a history major. It's what I love."

Dr. Brennan continued greeting and teasing students as they arrived. She seemed to know nearly everyone in the room already. She greeted Kelly by name when she came into the room and asked about her summer. Kelly sat down beside me when Dr. Brennan turned her focus onto the next student to follow Kelly into the class.

Dr. Brennan started off with a brief overview of the course syllabus. After that she handed out six readings that we were to review for Wednesday's class. All of them related to the fight between the 3rd Arkansas and the 20th Indiana and 86th New York regiments over possession of west end of Houck Ridge near Devil's Den on afternoon of July 2nd. She had a letter from a Union participant, two accounts from Official Records, an account from Battles and Leaders and finally an account from memoirs by a sergeant from the 3rd Arkansas Regiment. I had read accounts of this fight in Pfanz's and Sears' books. This was going to be an interesting assignment.

Kelly had come from Statistics before our class together and had News Media Ethics immediately after our class. Kelly had a nasty schedule Mondays – four straight classes from 10:10 am until 4:25 pm. Wednesdays were worse. She started at 9:05 am and didn't finish until 6:30 pm with a single break during the day. Fridays were full but not quite as bad – she had two free periods during that day. The nasty schedule did have its blessings. She had no classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

My Tuesdays and Thursdays were packed. I had a single class on Friday – History 161. Kelly and I were going to have to make the most of our weekend time together. We couldn't eat in the dining hall together anymore and our schedules were so different.

I headed over to the Lasch Building after history to do some video study of our first opponent, Boston College. They were 9-4 last season. They played well but weren't ranked at the end of the season. They were returning most of their starters. The preseason polls ranked them #25 in the country. They would not be push overs, especially for a team with as much turnover as we had.

I was pleased to find Chip in the video room studying when I arrived. Jay showed up about fifteen minutes later. He studiously avoided Chip, sitting down at a machine at the opposite end of the room from us.

Things were strained between Chip and Jay since Chip was named to start for our team. I couldn't blame Jay. Losing the battle to be starter was a bitter blow. So far I had no reason to complain about Jay's attitude or performance as Chip's back up. He kept his mouth shut during practices and did his job.

Practice ran well Monday afternoon. We had a game plan to practice now. Friday's silliness was long forgotten as my friends and teammates prepared for our debut game. Chip, Christian, Tanner, Jibril, Damian and I took extra practice on our passing routes after practice was over. If our offense didn't click this year it was going to be on the shoulders of the six of us.

--oooOooo--

I started Tuesday's classes off with Geography 115 – Landforms of the World at 10:10 am. Dr. Antonio Diaz taught the course. We had two lecture classes a week and one lab on Wednesday mornings. We would study how tectonics, volcanoes, water, wind and ice formed the mountains, valleys and rivers of our world.

Anthropology 45 was immediately after Geography 115. I hurried up the mall to the Sparks Building. Cultural Anthropology was another big lecture hall style class. Dr. Thomas J. Pearson was our professor. We would be talking about how humans developed cultures, comparing and contrasting cultures around the world and how they change and evolve over time. Dr. Pearson was animated and talked a mile a minute about this topic that he obviously loved. I'd have to pay attention to every second of his lectures so I wouldn't miss anything.

I didn't feel like rounding up my own lunch so I stopped by Pollock Commons instead. I found Chip Brinton, his roommate Matt Frye, Jeff Knox and ET LeBlanc at one of the tables. I sat down with them.

"Hey, Coach," Chip said in greeting. "How's it going?"

"Hey, Coach" "Good to see you, Coach" "How's things, Coach?" The other added their greetings. I allowed myself a bemused smile. I was shocked at how quickly Coach Burton and Chip had spread my nickname around. I think Christian was one of the few guys left on the team that didn't call me Coach now.

I returned their greetings as I started eating my meatball sub, tater tots and salad. The guys peppered me with questions about our game against Boston College two years ago. I tried to describe the game as best I could remember. It was only my second game after coming to Penn State. I assured my teammates that we would have our hands full with BC on Saturday.

The guys were excited about the news in the Daily Collegian. The game start time was moved from 12:30 to 3:30 pm. ABC decided to make our game one of the regional late afternoon games. It wasn't surprising. Both Penn State and Boston College had significant numbers of fans in the northeast and would deliver good ratings.

Matt, ET and Jeff all had classes after lunch. Chip and I headed over to the Lasch Building and studied video. Chip was surprised when I got up to leave at 2:15. He assumed I couldn't fit in a class before football practice at 3:45 pm. Technically he was correct, I couldn't fit it in. Coach Burton had given me permission to arrive late to practice since my next class was only offered a single time and was required for graduation.

I headed over to Chambers Building for my SS ED 411 class – Teaching Secondary Social Studies I. I was excited about this class. I finally was going to do work in my major. I was a little surprised to find myself in a small classroom instead of one of the large lecture halls when I got to room 224. I settled into a seat as other students arrived. Some of the guys and girls looked familiar. I probably had seen them in one of my freshmen education classes.

A couple minutes later Chad King walked in. He spotted me and took a seat beside me. "Hey, Kyle, how's it going?"

"I'm good, Chad," I replied. "I didn't realize you planned to teach social studies. I thought you planned to teach science."

"I changed my mind," Chad explained.

Chad and I caught up on each other's lives. We had EDSPY 15 and EDTHP 114 together when we were freshmen. The two of us were part of the informal study group that included Chad, me, Josh Bruno and Chelsea Walters that year. The group had lost touch last year when none of us shared any classes together.

"My friends on campus don't believe I know you," Chad commented. "They think I'm bullshitting them when I tell them I used to study with two of the starters on the football team."

"You can tell them I said they're idiots," I replied. "I'd also enjoy it if you want to study together for this class or work on projects together. I thought we got along well two years ago."

"That'd be cool," Chad agreed.

The professor walked in. He was in his early to mid-sixties. He was short, bald and had a ring of white wispy hair around his head. He introduced himself as Dr. Herbert L. Ward, Jr. Dr. Ward's manner and looks reminded me of my Grandpa Martin.

I scanned the room to see my classmates and fellow future social studies teachers. There were nine girls and eleven guys in the class. Dr. Ward took the roll. A couple girls and most of the guys turned to stare at me when I answered "here" to his "Kyle Martin?" query. I definitely was recognized.

Dr. Ward reviewed the curriculum for our course, his homework and test policies and the course schedule with us. He then launched into a lecture about the importance of social studies in developing well rounded, educated youth. His lecture was interesting and well presented. His style – well, his style could best be described as comfortable. It reminded me of watching David McCullough talk about one of his books on TV. I knew immediately that I was going to like Dr. Ward.

He wrapped the lecture up about five minutes early and dismissed the class. I went up front as the room emptied.

"Dr. Ward, do you have a minute?" I asked politely.

"Certainly," he agreed.

"I wanted to warn you," I began. "If your class ever runs a few minutes late, I'll have to get up and leave. I don't mean any disrespect by it. I play football and..."

"Ah, hah!" Dr. Ward replied beaming ear to ear. "I wondered if there was more than one Kyle Martin on campus or if I was teaching our team's star wide receiver."

"That would be me," I said. "I'm supposed to be at football practice at 3:45 pm normally. Coach Burton gave me permission to be late because of your class. I have to be dressed and on the field at 4:15 sharp or I run laps. If I leave before the lecture is done..."

"Think nothing of it, Kyle," Dr. Ward replied. "I want our best receiver practicing pass catching not running laps. You do what you need to do to keep your coach happy."

"Thanks, sir," I replied.

"Run along and get to practice," Dr. Ward added as I headed out the door. "I'll be cheering for you at the game on Saturday. Beat those Eagles!"

I jogged from the Chambers Building over to the Lasch Building. I marveled at the reception my professor gave me. Why couldn't Dr. Ward be my academic advisor instead of Dr. Henderson? I dressed and made it out to the practice field with about ninety seconds to spare before Coach Burton's deadline.

--oooOooo--

Our team practiced the wildcat formation every day that week. We didn't plan to reveal all our plays against Boston College. We would do conventional things against them where I would take all the snaps in the formation. I had the option to run or pass depending on pressure and pass coverage. The offense worked well enough when we got the blocking down for it to get big plays from our defense. Of course they knew what was coming and it still worked.

Chip took all the plays with the first string offense. Jay and Glenn shared the duties with the second string. Chip did pretty well running things though he made at least one or two gaffes a practice.

"Brinton, what the hell was that?", "Brinton, he's not your primary receiver!" or "Do your reads! He was covered!" the coaches would scream after each mistake.

Coach Peterson, Coach Schroeder and Anders huddled with Chip in the evenings to reviews plays closely so he would be ready for Saturday. Jay wasn't happy about any of it. He kept his mouth shut, except at our apartment, and did his job as QB2. Jay was convinced if he bided his time, Chip's inexperience would give him an opening and convince Coach Burton to switch him to QB1.

I received an e-mail from Dad on Tuesday night letting me know who was coming up to the game on Saturday. Liz and her boyfriend Josh had planned to use the tickets since Mom and Dad were busy that weekend. With the late start to the game Mom, Dad and Josh's parents decided the kids would have to pass on this game. None of the parents wanted Josh driving through game day traffic at ten or eleven o'clock at night. I e-mailed that Liz and Josh were welcome to campout on my apartment floor Saturday night. Dad e-mailed back Wednesday that he gave the tickets to one of his insurance clients. Josh and Liz would visit some other weekend when we had an early game.

I read the History 161 readings Tuesday evening. I read the official reports of the colonels of the 3rd Arkansas and 20th Indiana first. I read the Confederate colonel's report first then the Union colonel's. It didn't seem like they were describing the same action. The Confederate sergeant's letter home a couple weeks after the battle didn't make anything clearer. The Battles and Leader's account was exciting but didn't help me sort things out. The memoir the Union sergeant wrote late in life was exciting too but seemed unrelated to the other accounts I read.

All of these accounts were primary sources. This is the gold standard when you're researching in history. Dr. Brennan clarified things Wednesday afternoon. She reminded us of the purpose of the official reports. They weren't a place where the writer could report accurate facts, especially if things didn't go well for your unit, as happened to the 3rd Arkansas Regiment.

The letter home would necessarily suffer this defect. The letter home had the limited perspective of the writer, i.e. concentrate on firing your rifle as often as possible. A sergeant wouldn't have a lot of time to view what was happening outside his immediate 8-10 man squad.

The Battles and Leaders account was written at the height of the "Lost Cause" myth promulgation. Reconstruction politics greatly influenced interpretations of actions during the war. The last account, the memoir, was written fifty some years later. How well did a seventy-four year veteran remember the action half a century earlier?

Dr. Brennan explained that these kinds of questions were going to be asked constantly during the course as we studied the Battle of Gettysburg. Who wrote the account, what was his perspective and did he have an agenda other than accurately reporting what he observed during the battle? It was an eye opening question for me. I had never considered that before.

Living a mile apart made it harder for Kelly and me to spend time together. We met Thursday for lunch between my Anthropology 45 and my SS Ed course in the afternoon. I dropped in on Kelly for an hour or so on Wednesday and Thursday evenings after I was done with team meetings and workouts. Kelly and I made plans for a late dinner Saturday after the game and then for her to spend the night at my apartment.

Coach Burton assembled the team for a meeting after dinner on Friday night. He reviewed our responsibilities for the coming game and the arrangements for the team for the rest of the evening and before the game tomorrow. Buses picked us up from the Lasch Building and took us over to Beaver Stadium for the first pep rally of the season.

Over 20,000 students, fans and alumni showed up for the rally. I was impressed by the support they showed us. The Blue Band, the cheerleaders and the Lion entertained the crowd and got everyone wound up. Coach Burton spoke for a few minutes and then introduced the starters on the team. The defense was introduced first. Tyler Madden got the loudest ovation though Trevor Conwell, Shawn Byrd and Josh Bruno all were warmly applauded too.

The offense received scattered applause as each member was introduced – at least until it was my turn. The cheers and applause was loud and sustained for me. Hopefully I was going to be able to live up to my fans' hopes. Chip, Christian and Damian received polite applause, more in hopes of what they would do than what they had done last year. Coach Paterno went on last, as was fitting for our coach emeritus. JoePa wound the crowd up to fever pitch before sending the team off the field.

We took buses over to Toftrees for the evening. For some reason the athletic department roomed me with Trevor instead of Damian. He ended rooming with Jay. It didn't really matter. The four of us, along with Shawn Byrd, Josh Bruno, G. J. DeLuca and Christian all ended up in my room playing poker until lights out.

I checked my e-mail before I went to bed. I was surprised to get one from Matt Sauder. He wanted to update me on my high school team's progress. There weren't many surprises as he listed the expected starters. The only big surprise was the name of the starting tight end – Gary Harrison. My young protégé had managed to impress Coach Caffrey enough to step up to varsity. I sent off a thank you to Matt for the news and asked him to congratulate Gary for me on Monday when he saw him again.

--oooOooo--

Coach Burton left the team sleep until 8:30 on Saturday morning. After breakfast the buses took us back to the Lasch Building. We had position meetings with our coaches to review the game plan and to make sure everyone understood their roles for the day. After lunch we dressed and took our blue buses over to the stadium.

Fans were flooding into the stadium as we arrived. We got off the buses by the team entrance. Trevor, Tyler, Shawn, Josh, Chip and I worked the lines of fans between us and the door. I shook hands, signed a few autographs and accepted the kind wishes of the fans as I made my way inside.

We went through our pre-game preparations. Some studied the playbook, others kibitzed, some talked and joked while others listened to music to get themselves in the right frame of mind. I made my rounds of the wide receivers on our team, talking with and encouraging them. Tanner was keyed up and nervous about his first start. Christian was cool as a cucumber.

Jay and Chip both studied the game plan carefully as they prepared, just like Zack Hayes taught them to do last year. Damian zoned out on music while he got his game face on.

We headed out to the field for warm-ups about an hour before game time. The stadium was about 80% filled then. I spotted Kelly, Bev, Cindy, Steph Kolmar and Jen's "Kyle Krazies and Christian's Crew" sign. I gave the girls a wave. I also noticed Kelly's brother Mike and his roommate Jim were sitting with the girls.

It was a hot afternoon with temperatures in the low nineties. Big cumulus clouds hovered to the west of our stadium. The weather report said there was a 60% chance of late afternoon or evening thunderstorms. Coaches and trainers preached that we must keep ourselves well hydrated during the game.

We warmed up on the eastern end of the stadium. I helped Chip warm up his arm with some deep passes. One of them carried me close to the center of the field. I noticed every one of the Boston College players had a black oval with the letters "GH" embroidered in the center. I thought of Greg Harrison immediately but dismissed the thought. Greg had died three and half years ago. It certainly couldn't be that.

I caught a couple of Andrew Perkins' kickoffs to get ready. I fielded half a dozen of Mitch Jackson's punts. I reassured Mitch that he would do fine today. This was his first start.

As warm-ups were ending I jogged over to the 50 yard line. I recognized one of the BC players - #29, the defensive back that had covered me two years ago the last time we played.

I called out, "Hey, Cordell!" I knew from my study of their team that his name was Cordell Hughes. He was a senior from Worchester, Massachusetts and played right corner back. He probably would be covering me a lot that day.

Cordell gave me a funny look and then answered, "Martin, what's up?"

"Do you mind a nosey question?" I asked. "I saw the GH patch on your uniform." Cordell visibly relaxed when he realized that I wasn't going to trash talk. That wasn't my style. My play could speak for itself.

"What is it, Kyle?" Cordell responded.

"That patch, what does it stand for?" I asked.

"Coach wanted to memorialize one of our players who should have been a senior this year. He was killed in a car accident..." Cordell explained. " ... well, technically I guess he was a recruit." I bit my lip and tried to control the emotions welling up in me. I batted my eyes to try to keep the tears back.

"Greg Harrison?" I asked haltingly. Cordell looked startled by my response.

"How did you..." Cordell asked. "Ohh ... he was from Pennsylvania. Did you play against him?"

"No, we were from the same high school," I explained. "Greg was a very close friend. We went out on a double date the night he died. He dropped me and my girlfriend off at my house, took his date home and was heading back to his house when that drunk T-boned him."

"I'm sorry, man," Cordell said sympathetically. "I met Greg on campus. Both of us did our official visits the same weekend. He seemed like a really great guy."

"He was," I said.

"Coach Spaziani felt we should recognize Greg even though he didn't get to play for us," Cordell said. "This would have been his senior year. Coach is inviting his family up for our final home game, our Senior Day."

"That's a really nice gesture," I said. "I'm sure his parents and brother will appreciate it."

"Did Greg's little brother follow him into football?" Cordell asked. "Greg was so proud talking about his little brother. What's he now – like twelve or thirteen?"

"He's fourteen and started ninth grade on Thursday," I said. "I just heard from one of the guys on my high school team last night. Gary made the varsity team."

"As a ninth grader?" Cordell asked. "Do you guys have a really small school? No one plays varsity before tenth or eleventh grade at my high school."

"Our high school isn't that small," I said. "Gary is only the third guy in our school's history to make varsity as a ninth grader."

"Probably ride the bench though," Cordell observed.

"No, my high school coach wouldn't put a young player like him on varsity if he wasn't going to play," I said. "I worked with him over the summer. Gary is going to be a really good tight end."

"He must be if he's going to play varsity as a freshman," Cordell said. "Maybe Coach and I need to work on him when he visits later this fall. We could use another good tight end."

"You're going to have some competition recruiting him," I replied. "I'd like to see him in Blue and White four years from now."

"Good luck in the game today, Kyle," Cordell said. "We'll see a lot of each other."

"I know," I agreed. "I saw that on the video. You have a good game too, but not too good a game."

Cordell chuckled and shook my hand before we split up and returned to our respective locker rooms.

--oooOooo--

Boston College won the coin toss and elected to receive the kickoff. Andrew Perkins booted the ball into the end zone. The BC returner caught the ball and decided to come out anyway. Coverage looked OK at first as he passed the 20 yard line. Jeff Knox got blocked out of position. The returner cut back into the hole and streaked away from our pursuers. Andrew Perkins managed to catch his leg as he tried to get by. The pursuit took him down before he broke away from Andrew.

Boston College took possession of the ball on our 33 yard line. It was not an auspicious start for our season. They ran the ball on the first two plays. Our defense kept the runners bottled up. Coach C blitzed on the third with five yards to go. Unfortunately BC fooled us with a quarterback draw. He carried the ball down to our 9 yard line before Tyler Madden took him to the ground. BC faked a run up the middle on the next play. The quarterback drifted back and tossed the ball into the gap between Salim Rogers and Denzell Hunt. Their tight end caught it. We were down 7-0 before we knew what had happened.

Per our game plan, Coach Ferguson sent me out to return our first kickoff. I dropped back a few yards from the five when BC's kicker boomed the ball downfield to me. I advanced behind my blocking wedge waiting for a hole to open. The Eagles did a good job covering their lanes. I shot through a small crack between Jarrell Cook and Joe Ricci. Too many players were crowded around me. I managed to get the ball out to the 34 yard line before three guys gang tackled me.

My offensive teammates met me out on the field. Chip was overexcited when he called the first play. Thankfully Coach Burton foresaw the challenge. Our first play was a tailback run off tackle.

"Take a deep breath and relax, Chip," I directed before we broke the huddle. "You've run fifty or sixty plays on this field already."

"I know," Chip replied. "This has been my dream my whole life."

"You're doing it," I agreed. I left the second half of my thought unspoken. 'Don't screw this up!'

The play ran exactly as Coach Burton diagrammed it. Greg Nowicki, our center shot through the defensive line and tied up the middle linebacker. Ben Walker and Elijah Berks pushed the right side of the defensive line back. Jibril Sloan, captain and tight end blocked the strong safety away from the hole.

Chip wheeled and handed the ball to Damian, who blasted into the gap between Elijah and Jibril. He crunched into the outside linebacker coming to fill the hole, bounced free and picked up a couple more yards before the defense collapsed on his strong back. My roomie gained six yards on the play.

Coach Burton kept things simple to start. Damian carried twice more into the teeth of the defense for five yards and then seven more. Classic Burton playing calling would have sent me deep on the next play. We didn't do that.

We ran a play action pass where I started out sprinting like on a deep route. Cordell Hughes, the cornerback covering me stayed close. The outside linebacker drifted over too watching for a shallow pass inside. The free safety headed over my way too after taking half a step towards the line on Damian's fake run.

Fifteen yards downfield I stopped and took two steps back towards the line on a hitch. Cordell missed the move and continued downfield. The free safety help was deep. The linebacker was covering inside and I was outside stepping towards the sideline. Chip rifled the ball into my hands. I turned and started up field again. Cordell and the linebacker took me to the ground after I picked up a couple yards. We had the ball on BC's 33 yard line.

Jared Cantrell sprinted onto the field yelling for Damian to come off. It was wildcat time. Chip called the play and then broke the huddle. Jared took my split end spot while I lined up with Chip in the backfield. Greg gave me a nice snap, which thank God I didn't bobble. I streaked right behind Chip while he ran forward in search of someone to block. I scanned downfield. Tanner and Christian both were covered as they ran downfield. Boston College was well coached. They obviously knew that I could throw the ball.

I tucked the ball in tight to my chest and sprinted for the end of the line so I could get around the corner. Jibril blocked the pursuing outside linebacker away as I turned the corner. I sprinted down the sideline. The free safety, right cornerback and middle linebacker caught me and pushed me out of bounds at BC's 21 yard line.

The crowd roared its approval of our new offensive twist. Coach Burton sent Damian back in. The call was for a quick strike to me in the corner of the end zone. Three defenders flooded my corner of the end zone when the play started. Chip's second read was Tanner coming across the back of the end zone in the middle, then Christian in the right side. Jibril would be available in the middle about three yards short of the end zone. Damian was his outlet if he wasn't needed to block on a blitz.

Chip correctly read that I was covered. He checked to Tanner. Chip spotted him crossing along the back of the end zone and fired the ball towards him. Unfortunately he didn't see the nickel back hovering nearby. The nickel back cut in front of Tanner, intercepted the ball and kneeled down for a touchback. Eagles ball on their 20 yard line!

 
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