Chapter 37

In his quest to finish 7-3 in the conference Jared Winslow had to beat the only team he played twice this season, White Mountain University/New Hampshire. In the 10 team conference each team played one in-conference team twice to round the schedule, he was happy that it was a team who had beaten them earlier. Avenging a loss would be all the reason to keep the team up for the final game.

The loss to White Mountain U was painful because they turned around an 11 point lead to a 3 point loss in the matter of 13 ticks of the clock. A fumbled field goal hold was picked up and returned for a touchdown and when WMU kicked off, they kicked on-side and picked a ball that bounced off a lineman's hands, never touching the ground, returning that for a score. NEAT downed the ensuing kick-off in the end zone and let Marv Hudson, Boge Hollins and company try to use the final 28 seconds to manufacture a score from the 20. A would be touchdown pass to Tim Waters was called back on a hold flag threw on Boge Hollins. Boge swore to no avail that he hadn't had the fist full of jersey the ref claimed. Hollins was a superior pass blocker, who hadn't been flagged before or since that game, but he was the first, publicly, to say that calls go good and bad for both teams and they would get it back. Privately he seethed because the game meant 3 wins in a row, and eventually would have been 4. Only the loss to New York State U at Buffalo, where the Green Aggies came out flat and never got going, prevented them from going for 5 in a row now.

NYSU@Buffalo was leasing Ralph Wilson Stadium until their new home digs were ready and they were playing Saturday night home games. Coach Winslow privately blamed that loss on the NEAT travel office who should have booked them on flights from Burlington to Buffalo, NY. Instead they bussed to Albany, NY, a trip of 3 hours, only to miss the miscalculated commercial connections to Buffalo and having to bus 5+ more hours to Ralph Wilson. What was supposed to be a 6 hour bus and plane trip to Buffalo for a night game at Ralph Wilson Stadium before 50,000 fans, turned into a nightmare 9 hours on 3 buses. They got to the Stadium at 4:30 for the 8 o'clock game. The team played like they were still on the bus, losing 31-19, and it was never even THAT close. They got there almost 6 hours later than they had planned. The incident resulted in Winslow and AD Joe Barber coming to an agreement that any flights would be charters out of Burlington and any trip over 5 hours would be overnight. Penny-pinching and cost cutting were noble, but when it came to the team travel, comfort and promptness had to take precedence when being noble hurt the end result.

All these things poured through his head as he prepared to meet his team for "report card". He knew that he and the coaching staff would have a tough week preparing and making sure no clip of video was missed in plotting a game plan. Weather was of a concern, 6 to 7 days out a major snow storm was probable to hit New England. Jared hoped for a change in the storm track, but the first few practices would have to take the probability into consideration. By Thursday they would know if it would affect game time. Today, however, was about telling the team how proud he was and giving kudos to the team as a whole for it's performance in Delaware.

At 1:30 Jared and the assistant coaches met in Coach's office to preview the game plan for the next week. They really hadn't seen new video yet, but they knew from the first game what a lot of their game was like. They all jotted down salient points they remembered from the earlier game and at 2:00 they went out to meet the team.

Ben Elgart met the trio in the hallway, ""Everybody's here Coach. They all saw the long range forecast on the board and most everyone is going to workout. They don't want to lose a day. They all want this one."

Coach Winslow smiled at their spirit. The little winning streak had them hungry and they still felt the sting from the earlier loss to WMU.

"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen! Let us begin by giving you a big hand." Jared said as all three coaches and any of their staffs who straggled in clapped for the team.

"Your weekend performance was exemplary, traveling, sleeping in strange beds and conducting yourself like professionals who mean business, business, business. You had a mission and you executed. You continue to improve each week, I'm sorry the season has to end now. If we get this last one, we may get an invite to a bowl, but don't let that be your carrot. We want to win this one for ourselves and not get beaten by any team a second time. But, no matter what happens next Saturday, it won't take away from the great season we've had. This team has gone from mediocre to very good in a short time and I credit your heart and your drive. Let's keep the workout brief today, just enough to stay sharp. We don't want to leave it all on the practice field and go out flat on Saturday.

We'll do another light workout tomorrow afternoon and then work on strategy. I guess Coach Ben and Coach Barry will lead the workout with the captains.

It was a typical workout in training shoes and sweats. They did a few minutes of stretching, then laps on the field, took to the steps to strengthen the hammys. Then some hit the weight room and a few threw around the football. If you asked any player why he worked out when it was strictly a voluntary task, most all would say they just wanted to stay sharp. The team was on a roll and no one wanted to change the mojo. Everyone was showered and out by 3:30 to let the stadium staff finish up and go to their families as well.

Jack Daniels looked like the cat who swallowed the canary the whole afternoon and he managed to wink to Oksana a few times in the locker room. Most of the team knew they were casually seeing each other, so it didn't seem out of the ordinary. Inside Jack's head, his mind swirled about the sex, the fact he defeated an inner phobia and maybe found the relationship he had been looking for. Hopefully Oksana would act as a cruise control for the relationship and get him to pace it.

On the other hand Julie Murcer and Gerry Granahan went out of their way not to let their eyes meet. Both wanted to squash any rumors that they may have spent the night together. They knew the who, when, and how of what happened the night before and it was nobody else's business. Their paranoia was unfounded as no one suspected the two to have hooked up; they were a quite unlikely pair.

For Green Aggie players and coaches the next 12 days were to be the most pressure packed of the season. There was the final game of the year, the wait for a bowl bid, Thanksgiving, and the press for exams before the Holiday Break. For some, there was a harried trip to wherever they called home to spend a special time with family, some near, some far. For others it was beating the loneliness of spending a traditional family Holiday away from home. Coach Winslow would make sure that each player who wasn't able to get home would spend their Thanksgiving with him and his family in a makeshift "living room" at Meditek Stadium. There would be multiple TV's for football games and others set up for video games. The smell of turkey and the big meal cooking would waft throughout while pies cooled nearby. It wouldn't be "home" but it would be as close as many could come to it. It was something Jared had started at Vermont Valley and he planned to always provide as long as he coached. Meg was disappointed that she wouldn't be with her family, but a Sunday "Thanksgiving" was planned at her family homestead with Jared's parents in attendance as well.

As players trickled out of the workout Oksana Cushman waited for Jack Daniels to come out the player's door into the vestibule at the rear of Meditek. He came through the doors hoping to see her and smiled, a gesture she returned.

"Can we stop at The Seattle for a coffee? We can relax and talk for a bit, then I have a gang of studying to do." She told him as he nodded.

The Campus Shuttle, nearing capacity, waited outside the fence for them to come and board but Jack waved it off as they intended to walk the mile onto the campus proper near the main quad where The Seattle and The Union were located. The hand holding walk was slow and introspective. On the way to Meditek they hadn't mentioned the night before except through a few mutual glances and smiles. Now on the way back she broke the ice with a question.

"Any regrets about last night?" She asked.

"Oh God NO! I'm just sorry you had to walk me through the... " Jack fumbled out.

"Don't be sorry, don't thank me, don't do anything like that. You had walls you couldn't break down and I walked you through them. You're on your own now. I have deep feelings for you and I wanted to express them, hoping you might reciprocate. I hope I won't always be the one to initiate acts of affection. Let your feelings go and don't hold them inside any longer. A woman likes to feel cherished and appreciated. Expressions of affection and sexual gratification should be spontaneous. As far as your fears and phobias Jack, it was all foolishness and paranoia. I don't want to hear another thing about it." Okkie said taking a firm stance.

"But when my..." He started.

Oksana stopped in her tracks and turned to him and put a finger to his chest.

"I have a sore jaw from what YOU think is a small penis. If it WAS small, and it's not, do you think I'd have a sore jaw from trying to show you how much I cared for you?"

"N ... n ... NO!"

"Then this foolishness ends now or I walk out of your love life. We can still be friends, but I will not be involved in an intimate relationship any longer no matter how much it hurts me. You don't seem to realize how special what I did last night was. I've had a lot of boyfriends and you're only the third I've done that with. Lots of girls pass out head like Hershey Kisses. I DON'T! I consider it VERY personal for obvious reasons. I broke my own morals code to prove something to you. If you still don't get it then our first night is our last night. Don't give me any more reasons for me to hide my heart so it won't get broken. Last words on the subject!!" Oksana said poking her finger in his chest to emphasize her last 5 words as her face turned redder and redder until she finished.

She turned and stormed away leaving Jack standing there for a moment, stunned. He was about to call out her name and chase after her when she turned from her huff and hollered back.

"I'll meet you at The Seattle!" She said firmly before turning and power walking ahead of him.

If she meant to leave him to walk and ponder her words, he got it.

"God!" He thought, "I think she just told me she loves me, in as many words, and I'm being quite the Dilbert about it for someone whose felt that way about her for a while."

As he walked along reflecting the last 15-18 hours it finally sunk in what she had done to ease his phobias and clear his mind and let him see the promise of what a relationship could mean. Suddenly the image of her on her knees, her white robe open, and her beautiful breasts displayed for him while she stroked him, made him realize that she only wanted him to be happy and confident so that he could make her happy. She wasn't repulsed or wishing he was someone else as he feared she might be. She accepted him, why couldn't he accept himself. A quick personal inventory of his situation,...