‘Yes!’ Jackson pumped his fists. ‘They did it! They finally stopped them. Haha, they couldn’t even do ANYTHING that time.’

‘Sure was quite the statement after half-time. That’s one way to take control of the game, huh?’ Tommy said.

‘Hell yeah, it is. Now the game’s as good as ours.’

‘Don’t go counting your chickens just yet, little bro. The Titans are still losing.’

‘Yeah, but now that we’re getting the ball back, we’ll score a touchdown and the lead will be ours again!’

But the Titans weren’t the only ones to make changes during the break. When Rudy lined up on offence—after the Wildcats’ punt resulted in Kenny calling for a fair catch—he was surprised to see Tiny manning him again.

Rudy laughed. ‘What the fuck? Has Kev run off?’

‘He didn’t run. You’ll see.’

Rudy looked around. Kevin was on the other side of the field, standing before Kenny. ‘Looks like he ran.’

Kenny sized Kevin up. ‘What? You got sick of being burnt by Rudy so you came to lose to me instead?’

‘I ain’t got nothing to worry about from a little BITCH like you. You are officially clamped.’

‘You’re so fucking corny. You aren’t clamping anything.’

Again, the new pairings would have to wait for their duels as the Titans kept to the ground to start the drive.

Kevin and Kenny clashed fiercely, though neither were really concerned about the game surrounding them as they were engaged in their own battle of strength. Kevin got the upper hand by the end of things though only slightly.

Elsewhere, Rudy flattened Tiny. Neither blocking contest had much impact on the run, which carved up the middle behind Vincent’s stout wall for a gain of 4 yards.

On second down the Titans tried the same thing, though received diminishing returns as Isaac only picked up 2 yards this time and they found themselves on third down.

They’d look to the air to pick up the remaining yards.

Vincent snapped the ball and Pete caught it cleanly. Tiny dropped back and didn’t contest Rudy on his release. Kevin, on the other hand, was as close to Kenny as he could be and their shoving match resumed.

Each push was like Kevin was beating on Kenny’s chest. Kenny swatted Kevin’s hands away and grabbed Kevin’s shoulders. Kenny shoved him back to get some space before he slipped through on the inside. His arm was tugged slightly, and Kevin stuck with him. No matter which way Kenny bobbed, weaved, or ducked, he couldn’t shake Kevin off; he couldn’t get open.

Meanwhile, Rudy rushed straight past Tiny, who offered minimal resistance and watched him go right by. Rudy’s brow furrowed in confusion. He looked back, calling for the ball. Pete threw it his way.

Rudy kept running. As the ball neared, before he could jump, an arm stretched over his shoulder. Surprised, Rudy desperately flailed for the ball, though the mass of hands trying to claim it, only sent it crashing out of bounds.

Rudy landed and looked behind himself. A Safety was there. Rudy’d been careless, Pete too. But now they knew something had changed, at least. That still wouldn’t help them now, as they were forced to punt for the first time as well.

‘Looks like BOTH teams have figured each other out,’ Tommy said. ‘At least for now.’

‘But…’ Whilst Tommy was intrigued and eager to see what came next, Jackson was dejected. The Titans hadn’t been able to capitalise on their stop and take the lead back from the Wildcats. ‘It was just one stop, the Titans will come back stronger next time!’

‘And the Wildcats won’t?’ Tommy looked at his brother. ‘Maybe you’re right, and maybe those stops were just flukes … for both teams. We’ll have to see, but I think we’ve reached the next stage of the game. Now it’ll be a defensive game of chess, rather than who has the bigger arsenal.’

Jackson’s leg started shaking again. ‘It doesn’t matter. The Titans will still win.’

Freddy’s hands shook as he stood behind the formation. His first punt in a real game was a nerve-racking experience. It was always nerve-racking when he was standing behind or in front of EVERYONE, able to see the whole field and both teams before him. It was wrong.

Two things repeatedly bounced around his mind. Both were advice Coach Otsen had given him earlier: “Don’t drop it,” and, “Make sure it goes forward.”

The ball came at him like it was fired from a cannon. He thankfully caught it, and slammed it onto his boot as fast as he could.

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It wasn’t pretty, but it went forward. It didn’t go far, but that meant the Titans didn’t have to chase it far either, and because of that, the return man had nowhere to go but down.

Still, the Wildcats took over barely within their own half.

Aaron’s grin was back when Rudy next saw him. ‘You had your one chance and you fucking blew it,’ Aaron said. ‘I should’ve expected it.’

‘I didn’t blow shit. All I gotta do is score one more touchdown.’ Rudy pointed to the scoreboard. ‘That thirty ain’t changing for you.’

‘Nah, it’ll change right now. You missed your one chance, I won’t give you another.’

When the ball was snapped, Aaron went right at Rudy. He darted outside and Rudy watched him right to the sideline, but when Aaron turned upfield, Rudy didn’t go with him.

Aaron gritted his teeth. He slowed and looked back. There wasn’t enough space. If he stopped now, Rudy was there to undercut any pass. If he kept going, Lonnie would swoop in. Did Rudy really trust his teammates like that? He just needed a moment of doubt, a moment where Rudy second guessed them and drifted too high up, then he could cut back into the opening. But there was no such moment.

The QB threw the ball to the other side of the field, and whilst the pass was caught out in the flat, Kenny quickly hounded the Receiver and took him down after a 5-yard gain.

Aaron went back to the huddle, frustrated but still determined.

Next, the Wildcats kept to the ground, however, a Dive up the middle was the wrong choice to make. Vincent crushed through the O-Line, and it was all the RB could do to get back to the Line of Scrimmage and not LOSE any yards.

Third down came, and the Wildcats went back to the air. Aaron wouldn’t be denied. He started outside, Rudy on top of him. He whipped towards the inside: Rudy didn’t budge. He growled and curled to the outside. Rudy was still there, even after Aaron faked going deep.

The QB finally looked away from Aaron, but it was too late. Owen was through the Line and there was no one between him and the QB. The QB dropped like a sack of bricks and the Wildcats were stopped without getting a first down for the second time in a row.

On the subsequent punt, the Wildcats overshot it, and after a few bounces—which Coach Otsen yelled at Kenny to let happen—the ball bounced into the endzone for a touchback.

The Titans started their drive with another run, earning a few yards and giving the Titans some extra breathing room, however, on second down, Kenny failed to break away from Kevin, and the pass Pete tried to force in was easily batted aside.

Rudy, meanwhile, had found something out. His route—which had gone ignored—was a sort of hook route. He looped through to the middle of the field, where he hoped an opening would be, but once again Tiny stayed low underneath him and he ended up right in his way … however, the outside of the field had been open.

Satisfied with the discovery, he wasn’t even mad about the incompletion as he returned to the huddle and informed Pete of the discovery.

‘You can throw a back-shoulder pass, can’t you?’ Rudy asked.

‘Huh? Of course.’ Pete looked insulted by the question.

‘Perfect. I’ll be open. Don’t screw it up.’

‘Pendejo,’ Pete muttered as Rudy went back to his position.

Nonetheless, Pete looked his way on the next pass, and found enough space to squeeze the ball in as Rudy breezed by Tiny. Pete lobbed the ball over, and before the Safety could drop down, and before Tiny could catch back up, Rudy caught the ball.

Rudy spun around to make the catch, making sure to stay in bounds on his toes before he was shoved out. The Reception resulted in a gain of 12 yards, and another first down.

Rudy was beaming, practically bouncing with every step when he came back to the huddle. ‘See? What did I tell you? Ah, if you can keep throwing it right there it’s free yards.’

Pete looked away, his focus on the voice coming through his helmet instead of Rudy. He grinned. ‘Hey, Rudy. Do that shit again, but this time, when the Safety drops down to stop you, blow right by him.’

‘What?’

Pete pulled Rudy closer, and explained Coach Otsen’s idea and adaptation. In expectation of the Wildcats’ Safety reacting faster to the same thing next time he sees it, Coach Otsen wanted Rudy to perform a double-move, a fake, to act like the same back-shoulder throw was coming to sucker the Safety in, so they could go deep past the Safety instead.

Rudy laughed. ‘Go big or go home. I like it.’

He lined up before Tiny, trying to ascertain whether the Wildcats had made any changes based on the frustrated look on the little CB’s face. While Tiny was annoyed, Rudy would have to wait and see after the snap if something changed.

Vincent snapped the ball. Another wrinkle to the play that Coach Otsen added was Play-Action. Pete turned and faked a handoff to Isaac, freezing the blitzers for a second, buying the Titans more time to pull off this larger, longer play.

Rudy ran forward, just like he had for the prior play. He faded towards the sideline, and Tiny guarded him the same: underneath, with eyes on Pete.

Rudy got to the same spot ten yards downfield, and half-turned to the ball. Pete drew his arm back, though it was just a pump fake as he held onto the ball and regathered his grip.

Rudy kept the Safety in his peripheral vision, and as soon as he saw them dart forward, he spun back around and bolted down the sideline.

Rudy wrong-footed the Safety who had to brace a hand against the ground to stop themself and turn to chase after Rudy who raced away into open grass down the sideline.

Pete lobbed the pass high over everyone’s heads. He aired the ball out as high and far as he could, letting Rudy run under it. Rudy stretched his legs. He sprinted without restraint and lunged into the catch, stumbling a bit as he steadied himself. He quickly recovered and pinned his ears back, racing towards the endzone.

He arched his back. The endzone was the only thing before him, but he wouldn’t allow himself to be tripped from behind again, he kept alert to his surroundings. No one came close. He sprinted into the endzone untouched, for a touchdown over 60 yards long.

There isn’t much difference between a 4 or a 5 point lead, but there is a big difference between 3 and 4 points, so the Titans elected to go for an extra point kick instead of going for 2.

Freddy pumped the kick through the goalposts without issue, and the Titans took a 4 point lead.