Coach Hoang looked through the rearview mirror and into the back seat of Coach Long’s car, his eyes resting on Ty’s reflection.

‘I hear the Falcons are more of a run-heavy team.’

‘Yeah. I heard that too,’ Ty said without looking away from the window. ‘Do you know who their best Receiver is?’

‘Their top target is their starting TE. Do you think you can handle that kind of assignment?’

‘What’s the difference?’ Megan asked.

‘Don’t you know anything?’ Bella snapped, staring at the other girl like she was a dog that couldn’t understand the command “sit”.

Megan huffed and turned away from Bella, looking to her big brother for help. ‘Big brother?’

‘There isn’t any,’ he said. ‘It just means they’ll be a bit bigger than normal, probably slower though. And sometimes they’ll be blocking instead of trying to catch a pass.’

‘And it means you’ll be more involved with run defence if we decide to let you cover that TE,’ Coach Hoang said. ‘There’s a lot of differences. I don’t think you’ve had to cover a TE since the first week and well… you had some struggles with that.’

Ty shot Coach Hoang a dirty look.

‘But we’re still thinking ‘bout it. Besides, we’ve got the JV game to worry ‘bout first and foremost,’ Coach Long said. ‘Ain’t that right, sweetie?’ His eyes briefly met his daughter’s in the mirror before he focused on the road again.

‘Yeah, we’ll win this one too,’ Bella said.

The car fell back into silence, and as Ty stared out the window at the oncoming arena, he felt today would be a good day to test how he’d deal with a RB like Denzel.

As Ty and Meg found their seats in the stands, they had their choice of the best seat in the house as the place was almost empty. Sure, they usually got to these away games pretty early when coming along with Coach Long, but still, it was emptier than usual.

Ty settled into his selected seat. He felt calm and focused today, there was no boundless energy inside him that he needed to expunge by running all over the place. His mind was set on the game before him—he could bring one-half of his simulations to life today.

Even if he didn’t expect this RB to be anywhere close to Denzel’s level, it’d still be good practice.

‘Ty?’

He looked at Meg sitting beside him. ‘Hm?’

‘Would you … like me to read to you? While we wait?’

He looked at the cover of the book she held up and read the title: “Of Mice and Men”. He thought about her offer for a moment. It’s not like he had anything better to be doing. ‘Sure.’

Her face brightened with a smile and she shuffled closer to him, almost edging over into his seat. She quickly flicked back to the start of the book and held the pages up before him so he could follow along, then she began to read aloud, her voice just quiet enough so only he would hear.

Eventually, the members of both JV teams arrived, and both teams ducked into their respective locker rooms to prepare.

Without interrupting Meg’s reading, Ty had watched the players arrive, though he wasn’t sure why he did—there was no one interesting to see from the JV teams.

As the players arrived, so did more spectators, though it was still a relatively sparse crowd that was there for the beginning of the JV game.

Just before the game started, Meg stopped reading and slipped a bookmark into the page they had gotten up to.

Ty told her that she could continue reading if she wanted, but she said she didn’t want to distract him from the game.

‘Hah, I’m sure there won’t be anything I’ll regret missing,’ he said, earning him a couple of glares from Coach Hoang and Bella alike.

Bella quickly pushed Ty’s comment and his entire existence out of mind, focusing on the game as it began.

It was a close and competitive one from beginning to end. It was so close that it even went into overtime after the Dons scored a field goal in the final minute of regulation to tie the game.

It didn’t get any less competitive throughout overtime, as even then it came down to the wire. With five seconds left in overtime, and the scores still tied at 30 at piece, the Falcons had the final play of the game, and one last opportunity to win it.

They were going for a field goal. The kick would be a length of 39 yards, certainly gettable, but not guaranteed. (Hell, no kick is ever guaranteed to make it through the uprights, blocked or not, no matter how close it is.)

The small stadium had filled out to half capacity by now, and nearly every spectator was holding their breath at the moment, awaiting the final kick that’d decide the fate of the game.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

JJ was seated near Ty and Meg, and Ty could hear him frantically mumbling in Spanish. From the cadence and pleading sound, Ty suspected it was some kind of prayer.

Meg sat next to him still, her hands partially covering her face, fingers crossed on both of them.

Ty’s jaw was set tightly as he sat with arms crossed over his chest. “Hurry up and get this over with,” he thought. It was bad enough the game had gone into overtime and prolonged the start of his own, but to have dragged out all the way to the final seconds was incredibly frustrating.

Even after the snap of the ball, the stadium was still almost silent, the sounds from the field amplified greatly as the players rammed into one another. The Dons did their best to disrupt the kick and block it, while the Falcons fought tooth and nail to hold them back.

The Falcons’ Kicker got his boot to ball cleanly, and as it flew off the ground, it soared into the air undisturbed, no Dons player able to get even a finger to it.

For Ty, it all happened rather quickly, though just about anyone else who watched would’ve said it was as if time slowed down to a snail’s pace while the ball floated through the air. Then suddenly, the ball smashed into the right goalpost and bounced out, and the world sped back up.

The Kicker looked as if he’d just watched his childhood dog get run over. The crowd let out a dejected gasp, and then a small portion of the stadium burst into cheers as the few Dons supporters and members celebrated the miss.

The game ended in a draw, and whilst Bella didn’t keep her promise to continue winning, it was better than another loss on the JV team’s record.

Ty was just glad it was over, and before the teams had even gotten off the field, he was already heading towards the away team locker room.

“Why are they happy with a draw? How embarrassing. I’d rather lose.”

JJ joined him in the locker room as they waited for the JV team to arrive and then clear out their stuff so the varsity team could take over.

‘Hell of a game, wouldn’t you say?’ JJ said.

Ty shrugged. ‘It was only close because of how sloppy both teams were.’

‘Hahah, maybe, but what else can you expect? Besides, it was still entertaining, and that’s the important thing, isn’t it?’

Ty looked at him as if he had just said the sky was green. ‘What?’

‘Well, okay maybe not the most important, but they all would’ve had fun, and it was fun to watch, plus, close games like that are always a great learning experience. And a draw isn’t as heartbreaking as a loss, right?’

Ty looked away. He thought back to the two losses he’d suffered earlier this season and how wretched they’d made him feel. …But, he had no draws to compare them against. ‘I’ve never drawn before,’ he told JJ.

‘What? Really?’

‘You have?’

‘Yeah, yeah, it was… back in my freshman year, hah, feels like a lifetime ago. We were behind, just like the Dons this game. And yeah, it’s pretty miserable that we JUST couldn’t get past them, but it’s better than nothing. Like, imagine carrying a boulder all the way up to what you think is the mountaintop, then, when you finally get there, you realise you’re only halfway, but it's over, you can’t go any further. That’s the kind of feeling, whereas a loss is like, getting halfway up, and then you trip and fall all the way back down.’

‘But you don’t reach the top, you still fail,’ Ty said.

JJ laughed. ‘If that’s how you want to see it, sure.’

JJ and Ty went quiet as the JV team started to file into the locker room. As the exhausted boys sat down to rest and pull off their equipment, Coach Long and Bella stood before them.

‘I’m really proud of the work you guys all put in today,’ Bella said.

‘The way you boys clawed yourselves back into the game was inspiring. Don’t feel too bad about not being able to get over that final hump. See this game as a loss that your hard work turned into a draw, that’s nothing to be ashamed of,’ Coach Long said.

‘What are you two crowding around here for?’ Coach Hoang had stopped at the door, addressing Ty and JJ.

‘Are we a little overeager to play our game?’ JJ said.

‘Maybe a little. It’s not too late to go for a run and burn off that extra energy if you need to, Samuels.’

‘Fuc… no thanks.’

Coach Hoang chuckled.

It wasn’t long until the JV boys were spilling back out of the locker room, and as they went by, JJ made sure to congratulate every one of them, giving them a pat on the back as they passed him.

Rabbit stopped and looked up at them, exhaustion evident on his face, though it didn’t dampen his smile. ‘Good luck you guys.’

Ty grunted in response. After the last of the JV players had left, he went further into the room and picked out his spot, dumping his bag down.

‘Ready to give it your best, Tyrese?’ Coach Long looked down at him.

‘I’m ready to win,’ Ty said.

Coach Long laughed. ‘Good. I think we’ll be starting soon, seeing as the first game went long.’

‘Can’t start soon enough.’

‘That’s the spirit.’ Coach Long then stepped out and went to bring the rest of the varsity team into the locker room.

Ty was geared up and ready for his upcoming battle before the rest of the team had even made it to the locker room.

Coach Long kept his pregame speech short and sweet, and it wasn’t long before the teams were out on the field, warming up across from one another.

Ty looked across the field at the Falcons. Number 89 stood head and shoulders above the rest. “That’s the one. That’s my prey.”

Though he wasn’t as big as Stephen or the “Ogre” Ty faced in his first game with the Dons, wondered what kind of trouble the Falcons’ large TE would give him … if they threw his way at all today. A smile crept across his lips as he thought of the Falcons giving him the same respect the Mustangs had.

Ty would have to wait to find out, however, as the Dons lost the coin toss, and were made to receive the opening kick.

Coach Long gathered the offence into a huddle. ‘Let’s capitalise on this chance and take the lead, boys. Go out there and set the tone for the game, take the lead and never look back. Family on three. One, two, three—’

‘Family!’ The huddle surged away from Coach Long and streamed onto the field.

Despite the hostile crowd, which wasn’t too raucous today, the Dons went out and on their opening drive did exactly what was asked of them.

However, whilst Coach Long and the offence would’ve been hoping for a touchdown to start the game, they had to settle for a field goal. It was still points on the board at least, and straight away they’d taken the lead.

It was up to JJ, Ty, and the rest of the Dons’ defence if they kept that lead now.

The Dons’ kickoff resulted in a touchback, after which, Ty jogged onto the field, eager to come face-to-face with number 89 for the first time and see if he could add anything giant slayed to his résumé.