Chapter 13

Practice was pretty strange. We worked on two separate offenses. Coach explained that the pro set should work pretty well against Trail City, but Whitehorse would be prepared for it. Since they were so much bigger than us, he wanted to try something else. The Wishbone was his choice. It was a different option offense than we were used to. In it, Tim would switch from halfback, to fullback. The two other freshmen, Jake and Fred, would be the halfbacks. It looked interesting, but put a lot of work on me. I was supposed to read the defense on every play. From that, I was supposed to determine who to get the ball to. I would have to study a lot of Whitehorse film in the next two weeks.

Coach Nelson must have said something to dad about it. When we got home, there was a new projector in the family room, along with some film reels. He had managed to get film of University of Texas games. Most of my evenings were spent studying it with dad, while he helped me understand it. For the first couple of days, it seemed complicated, but then something seemed to click, and I began to catch on.

We split time in practice, but the majority of the reps were for this weeks game. Just because the last meeting was easy, it didn't mean Trail City would hand anything to us. Most of the Wishbone time was spent on how to NOT fumble.

Friday was a home game, and the place was packed to overflowing. My whole family was there, as usual. Bernie, Frank, and Jean were sitting with grandpa and the folks, while Denise and Ann had the best seats in the house, as cheerleaders. Gail was back on the squad now, but as a member only. She still seemed happy to be there.

Trail City must not have scouted our last game. They were obviously confused from the start. They looked at our formation like we were aliens, wondering what happened to the option. I probably could have had four hundred yards passing again, but coach wanted to work on some running plays. The way he mixed it up was devastating. The final score was 76-0, and five of the scores were on defense. Once we had a big lead, they tried to pass. Our secondary was a lot better than the first time we had played them, and so was our pass rush.

Charlie came by Saturday with Ayasha and good news. According to the Oncologist, her cancer was gone. The only problem, was the questions that followed. They didn't like the answers they received, but that was alright. It was all they were going to get. We'd have to be very careful if we ever did this again.

Bernie and I talked it over some, and we were all for taking the chance anyway. The health care on the reservation wasn't that good, especially for children. Because of the time and distance, we'd only be able to do it in an emergency though. we discussed the idea of spending a few days there in the summer. If we could do that, Charlie volunteered to find someone to do any work on the ranch we might need done.

Monday was all Wishbone, and my homework paid off, big time. Dad's knowledge of the game, with a lot of input from Frank, had taught me a lot. Coach even drafted them to help get us ready for Whitehorse. It would be the toughest challenge until the playoffs, and he wanted it bad.

My plate was pretty full. Between school, practice, homework, and chores, there wasn't a spare minute. Thankfully, I had the best way to relax waiting in my room every night. Half of the time, there were three ways. Being busy was a good thing. It helped keep my mind off of the pending trip to New Mexico.

By the time game day rolled around, we were ready. No one even seemed nervous on the bus. Every person on the team was confident, and when the game started, it showed.

After our defense forced a punt, we started on our thirty-eight yard line. In five plays, we scored. Every one had been a run, and like Trail City, Whitehorse was confused. They had scouted us, and what they saw now was definitely not on any film they had. They never did figure it out, and we won 48-7. I only threw five passes the whole game, and three had been touchdowns to the tight end.

Promise was the last game of our regular season, and we were looking forward to playing them. Their team was even smaller than ours, as was the town. We had three times the population, and it showed. They hadn't won a game all year.

November was pretty cold, so trips to our cave were rare. Bernie and I had been practicing, though. The power, whatever it might be, was much weaker at the ranch. We could still tap into it though. When we did this, I actually got to be the first to discover something. The power could actually be stored! The amount was limited, of course, but it could be done.

I have to admit that with the playoffs coming up, the thought crossed my mind to use it in a game. With a little creativity, I could be unstoppable. The temptation was brief, thankfully. What would winning mean, if it was done by cheating? It just wasn't my style.

I still hadn't bought a ring for Bernie. It wasn't because I didn't want to. Unfortunately, they were pretty expensive. Money was one thing I didn't have. I toyed with the idea of trying to create one, but that didn't seem right, either. The four of us spent most of our time together. Bernie had her license now, and had taken over most of the driving. We still used the truck, though.

The game went just as we had expected. The 62-0 score was actually lower than it might have been. A few more freshmen had been brought up, and they played quite a bit. Depth was our biggest enemy, and we needed bodies. The real test would begin next week.

We actually got a decent seed in the tournament. Fourth was a big accomplishment for a school of our size, undefeated or not. At least we wouldn't be playing one of the big powerhouses in our first game. We knew that whoever we did play, they would be the best team we had faced. As coach had put it, we were nothing more than "a big fish in a small pond". Now, the roles would be reversed. We were undefeated, and the team we would be playing, Perry Central, was 7-2. We were still the heavy underdog.

Coach Nelson decided to use the Wishbone against them, after studying film from their games. I could see why. Perry was really big up front, and blitzed a lot. They weren't very fast though, and a triple option should confuse the hell out of them. We worked the 'bone' exclusively all week, and I was seeing plays in my sleep.

I still made sure to pull my weight on the ranch. All of my chores were done every day, and I even took the wagon out and cut some more wood on Wednesday. Along the way, I went on my first date. Bernie drove, and we went to the movies. We saw 'Blazing Saddles', and it was a riot! Both of us laughed our asses off! The town didn't have much in the way of a gathering spot for teenagers. In our case, it was the local drive-in food joint. After spending an hour or so talking to people, we headed home.

We told Ann and Denise a little about the movie, and they made us promise to take them next week. We both agreed quickly. Actually, we felt kind of guilty the whole night. Somehow, it didn't seem quite right for them not to be with us. Studying took up a lot of time, too. All four of us had straight A's, and intended to keep it that way.

The trip to the game was a long one. We were worried about our opponents, but more concerned about one other thing. Since the game was so far away, we figured that there wouldn't be anyone there to cheer for us. Man, were we wrong!

We were still warming up when the busses arrived. There were seven of them, and they were all full. I think the whole town was there! This went a long way in improving our attitude. There was no way we were going to let them down!

The 'Bone' worked like a charm. It wasn't that we moved the ball so well, or even the fact that we scored most of the time. The deciding factor was that it took so long to do it. Perry scored almost every time they got the ball, too. We had the ball a lot more than they did, though. More than twice as long, in fact. The final score was 41-28, and we went home winners.

Before we even left the stadium, we knew who we would be playing the following week. We HAD to win this one. We would be playing O'Gorman, from Sioux Falls. That was the school that I would have been attending if we hadn't been adopted. It wouldn't be easy. They were a big school, and undefeated also.

On Monday, coach told us that he believed we could do it. We would have to change from the Wishbone, though. O'Gorman was way too fast for it to work, and too disciplined. He decided to use another formation that we had practiced. If last week had been tough, this week would be a killer. The Wing-T was a bitch to learn. The fakes had to be so convincing that you almost needed actors to run it. It was still an option offense, but we could pass, too. The objective was the same. Control the ball!

Coach got hold of film from Penn State, Notre Dame, and Delaware. All three ran the offense, and ran it well. Our plays came right out of the film. The biggest advantage was that no high school team in the state was running it. The hope was to catch O'Gorman totally unprepared. Our coach really knew how to screw up an opponents scouting!

School the next week was a blur. The team had been popular before, but now it was bordering on the ridiculous. We maintained our discipline in practice, though. I made sure the whole team knew how much I wanted to win this one, and that seemed to increase the intensity even more.

If Perry Central was confused, O'Gorman was much worse than that. I think they didn't even have a clue where the ball was over ninety percent of the time. Heck, once we ran the same play four times in a row. It worked every single time! I think the short passing game was what really did it. We'd catch them crowding the line, and I'd hit one of the backs across the middle. It went for a long gain every time we did it. 52-6 never felt so good. I even saw some of our old tormentors in the stands. It was great!

We finally got some respect after that one. The offense had worked so well that coach decided to stick with it. Another Sioux Falls school, Roosevelt, was next. They were a lot like O'Gorman, and shouldn't have enough time to figure out the offense. The hope was that we hadn't run the same one two games in a row, they wouldn't be sure what to even prepare for. Their only loss had been to the team we had just defeated.

Coach was right, as usual. It was closer, but we still won 48-14. We had done it. Our team had matched dad's in accomplishment. We would play More, from Rapid City, in the semi-finals. They were 8-2 in the regular season, but had been on a run since losing their first two games. That run ended when they played us. The Wing-T completely baffled them, too. That one was 48-7, and they hardly touched the ball on offense.

We would be playing West Central, from Hartford, in the championship game. It was the first for our small school, and the town was going nuts. There were banners across the streets, signs in every business, and everyone we saw wished us good luck. Oh, and Gail started going out with Tony. She really had changed a lot, and people were starting to accept her again. I guess it wasn't actually 'again', though. This time, it was different. Her friends were now 'friends', instead of cowed admirers. She was a lot happier, and it showed.