Chapter 2

Hawthorn now needed just short of six yards for a first down, so Coach Harkness decided on one more gamble. He ordered that pass to the Fullback play that they had tried the first day Tag had played Fullback. Why not? They would probably have to punt anyway, so why not have some fun?

Harkness had to send in a substitute to review the play with the team, but they got the idea right away and put the play into motion. Based on the preceding play, The Jefferson defense was expecting another run by Tag. That was a very reasonable expectation from the way Tag lined up, so a Jefferson lineman and a Linebacker both tackled Tag before he got past the line of scrimmage.

The play was busted, but whistles blew like mad and a penalty was called against Jefferson. It was an automatic first down for defensive holding, plus some yards tacked on. Now, Hawthorn had a first down and some reasonable playing room, so they went back to what they had originally planned for their opening series.

The ball was moved down the field in eleven plays to the 17 yard line of Jefferson. Tag had not touched the ball since that second play of the game so Coach Harkness decided to call on him again. This time, he was to run between the Left Tackle and the Center. They went through the routine that they had practiced so many times, and Tag burst through the defense to drag three would-be tacklers over the goal line before he fell to the ground. Touchdown Hawthorn!

They kicked the extra point and Hawthorn led 7-0. Now that was a satisfying way to start a football game! Tag was suitably congratulated by the entire team when he went to the bench. Now, this was what Tag really wanted out of football. For all of his life, he had never been treated like this, and he loved it. He had been a hero for his defensive play the last two years, but that was pale compared to this!

A college scout happened to be at the game because his son was a graduating Senior at Jefferson HS, and he began to notice Tag's play. He decided to follow the kid for the rest of the game to see if he was really that good.

The rest of the game with Jefferson HS went pretty much like that first series had gone for Hawthorn HS. Tag scored three of their seven touchdowns without even playing in the fourth period. In fact, most of the starters were pulled by the beginning of the fourth period to keep the score from being ridiculous. As it was, the final score was 55-3. The two Hawthorn field goals were scored because Coach Harkness wanted his field goal team to get some real game practice.

That college scout was very impressed with Tag's play while he was in there.

The trip home from the game was one long celebration. The cheerleaders moved up and down the bus aisle giving each of the players a quick feel. Of course, the stars of the game got more than that until one of the cheerleaders blew it. Mrs. Harkness dashed down the aisle when one of the cheerleaders gave out a delighted squeal. She was found by Mrs. Harkness to be sitting naked in the place kicker's lap while he fondled her. She and the other cheerleaders were banished to the front of the bus after she and several others had to put their clothes back on. From then on, no cheerleaders were allowed to ride in the same bus as the football team, much to the disappointment of both groups.

Tag was one of the ones who was not caught in the act, but he had just finished with a cheerleader when the other girl squealed. This was important to him because it was the first time that he had actually deliberately touched a bare tit and nipple. Except for sex education classes which he could barely remember, he had never had the opportunity to know anything about the human female body. He did decide that he wanted to repair that gap in his education as soon as possible.

Tag spent the weekend being lionized by his family and close friends. This was what the lonely boy had wanted all of his life, but was not able to achieve. His parents had always been loving and understanding, and even his older sister had not been as bitchy as older sisters so often are. Nevertheless, they had not been able to help being condescending to Tag as they tried to cope with his learning difficulty which had extended beyond his school work.

For example, he was nearly 10 years old before he could consistently tie his own shoe laces. Just that was enough to be devastating to Tag's ego! He was teased at school about it until a sympathetic teacher put a stop to the public ridicule, but she could do nothing about what was said out of her sight. The expression "What does not kill us makes us stronger" was certainly working on Tag, because it did wonders to increase his determination—an effect that lasted his whole life.

Now that Tag was able to keep up and even excel with his school work led Tag to regain his ambitions for college football and the NFL. He had certainly had the body and the reflexes for it throughout his life, but now he had the mental capacity required. Coach Harkness recognized this and began a letter writing campaign to the coaches and staff of his Alma Mater, the University of Georgia. It was half-way through the high school football season before the word got around among all of the major football schools, but there was a steadily growing contingent of college scouts who followed Tag's last year at Hawthorn HS.

Hawthorn's second game that season was noteworthy for a couple of reasons: the team they faced was markedly stronger in every respect than Jefferson HS and it rained that night as if there was a return to Noah's time. Naturally, Coach Harkness had been aware of the weather forecast, and he had tuned his game plan to work with that. Tag's big hands were a key feature of the strategy for the game. Most of the running plays would feature Tag, but there would not be as many of those as the uninitiated might expect. Instead, those big hands would be put to use catching the wet ball in a variety of pass plays!

The team was down a little bit because of the misery of the weather, but it was a home game, and there should be a good crowd to cheer them on, even if the stands were not full. The opponent this night was Hickory Junction High School, commonly known as HJHS. Their defense was traditionally known as being as strong and rugged as their namesake, so Coach Harkness was expecting this game to be more one of guile than of raw strength.

HJHS won the coin toss and elected to receive the kickoff. Their coach hoped to score by means of some trick plays planned for the first series. He hoped that this would demoralize the Hawthorn team, especially if his vaunted defense lived up to its reputation. The HJHS team managed to work the ball out to the Hawthorn 47 yard line from their own 20 by means of some good play and a lot of luck.

However, their luck changed at this point and Hawthorn managed to stop them at the Hawthorn 43 yard line. This was way too far for any mortal high school-aged field goal kicker, so they settled for a punt. Everything was so muddy and slippery that the ball dribbled out of bounds on the Hawthorn 7 yard line. That was a damned good kick under the circumstances, but Hawthorn was buoyed by the fact that their defense did manage to stop the HJHS Juggernaut.

All of the Hawthorn players had extra long cleats to work in the mud, but it did tend to slow them down when they tried to run. Coach Harkness figured that it was a write-off and hoped that the increased stability in the slippery conditions would make up for the loss in running speed.

The first play from scrimmage by Hawthorn was a simple run into the line by the Halfback. He made two yards simply because none of the Hawthorn blockers slipped in the mud. This play was intended to confuse the opposition and make them think that Hawthorn was going with a conservative game plan.

However, on the next play, Tag lined up in what looked like a very old-fashioned Single Wing formation to the right. This was the pass play that had been run that first day to test Tag's ability to be a Fullback. The Quarterback dropped back an extra two steps and set up to pass. All of the other Hawthorn players except Tag formed a pocket of blockers around the Quarterback. Tag slipped his block and made a mad dash of 12 yards. All of this took place in a driving rain, but the Quarterback and Tag had practiced this very play while having water sprayed on them from a fire hose.

That strange form of practice made this seem like a proverbial piece of cake. The Quarterback lobbed the ball over the heads of the rushing HJHS defense into the hands of Tag, and those big hands had no trouble hanging on to the ball. Tag was completely behind every HJHS defender and took off at his best speed for the goal line. He had nearly 30 yards on the nearest pursuer as he crossed the goal line for the first score of the game. The radio announcer calling the game was as surprised by this play as was everyone in the stands and on the HJHS side of the line.

The announcer was surprised by the speed exhibited by Tag as he ran through the mud, and declared that Tag was like Superman: "faster than a speeding bullet!" That line caught the public's attention and was used thereafter in describing Tag's running ability.

Unfortunately, the PAT (Point After Touchdown) was missed because of the driving rain. The ground was so wet that the Kicker could not place his grounding foot solidly and he shanked the ball as he kicked it. Tag was the first one to console the Kicker when he reached the sidelines.

The rest of the first half was played to a defensive null. Neither side could defeat the rain that continued to pelt down, though both defenses were working their asses off and deserved a lot of the credit. Even Tag was stymied by the combination of the weather and the HJHS "hickory" defense. The funny thing was that the blocking just could not stop the HJHS tacklers, and they were able to get to the ball carrier often before he reached the line of scrimmage. Tag was not the only one on the Hawthorn side to try carrying the ball, but they were uniformly unsuccessful. Likewise, passing was a failure because the driving rain into the eyes of the pass receiver kept him from seeing well enough to catch the ball. Hawthorn was lucky that the opposition was having exactly the same kind of misfortune. The first half ended with the score at 6-0 in Hawthorn's favor.

The second half opened with Hawthorn receiving the ball. The wind and rain were at the back of the HJHS Kicker, and he put the ball in the end zone. This was still a live ball, and would be scored as a touchdown if HJHS could recover it. The Hawthorn receiver could not pick up the ball in his haste and dropped it, so he simply fell on it as a last resort. Under the circumstances, that was exactly the proper thing to do, but it did result in HJHS being credited with scoring a safety, which was worth 2 points. Now the score was 6-2, Hawthorn, and they, by rule, were forced to kick the ball back to the HJHS team.

The kick of the wet ball into the strong wind caused the ball to die at the HJHS 45 yard line where it was covered by what seemed like the entire HJHS team. Now it was back to the same old same old. The defensive struggle went into the fourth quarter with the score still at 6-2, Hawthorn. Then, by some miracle, the rain stopped, though the wind did not.

The HJHS Quarterback was now facing that strong wind, so his passes uniformly went for naught. However, the Hawthorn defense was tired and simply unable to keep the HJHS Running Back out of the end zone. The score was now 8-6, HJHS. The extra point was going to force the Hawthorn team to score a touchdown to win in regulation time. If the PAT was scored, Hawthorn would have to kick a field goal just to tie and send the game into overtime. All of the players on both sides were so tired by this time that no one was looking forward to overtime!

At this point, the HJHS coach showed a touch of genius: he decided to go for two points instead of one. Actually, this was very reasonable because the strong wind was going to make it virtually impossible for the HJHS Kicker to make the point. They lined up for a run into the end zone, and HJHS made it. The score was now 10-6, HJHS, and a field goal worth 3 points was totally out of consideration. Hawthorn had to score a touchdown or lose the game—it was that simple!

The only thing that Hawthorn had going for them was the wind at their back. This made long passes possible, but damned tricky. On the other hand, the muddy playing field was still there, and that gave HJHS a significant advantage!

The resulting kick off into the howling wind resulted in the ball falling short on the Hawthorn 33 yard line, and it was covered by a Hawthorn player before an HJHS man could reach it. The Hawthorn Quarterback tried two short passes, one to a Tight End and the other to the Halfback. These were supposed to be surprise plays, but neither one worked because the wind deflected the ball too much to be caught.

Everybody knew that the situation was third down and 10 yards to go for a first down. If they did not make that 10 yards, they were going to have to punt. The situation demanded another pass, but Coach Harkness called for a run by Tag around the left end of the scrimmage line. The best blockers were on the left side of the Center, so Harkness had some hope of this play succeeding.

There was only 2:49 left on the clock when Tag was handed the ball. The whole HJHS defensive team was keying on Tag, so they all ran toward him as the ball was snapped. Tag cleanly received the handoff and started his run around the left end. He was met by a mass of humanity and only made 6 yards. This was not nearly enough for the first down, so the Punter came into the game. This was an admission of defeat by the Hawthorn coaching staff; there was just not enough time left for this team to stop HJHS and score another touchdown.