‘Fuck!’ Aaron slammed his fist down on the bench. ‘Do I have to do everything around here?!’

Coach Friedman turned to him. ‘Is there a problem here?’

Aaron didn’t stare into the glare of those glasses for long. ‘I ain’t got help! And we’re losing to these shitters because of it.’

‘You’re weak enough that you need help?’

Aaron bit his tongue. The silence dragged on before he said: ‘Yes.’

‘Alright, if you say so.’ Coach Friedman clapped his hands and the offence gathered around him. He picked up a whiteboard and quickly explained the adjustments he had in mind, whilst the Titans' short kick-off ended with the Wildcats at their 34-yard line.

When the Wildcats offence was back on the field, Kevin joined them as an extra TE.

The Titans were wary, but they remained as they were.

The Wildcats snapped the ball and Aaron jumped to the inside. Rudy followed him for a moment, giving him a shove, but Aaron was undeterred, and it wasn’t long until Rudy passed him off to Owen’s Zone.

Meanwhile, Isaac ran straight into Kevin on his blitz, as Kevin had remained back to block instead of running any route of his own.

Aaron continued across the field, and the QB remained untouched in the pocket thanks to his extra protection.

Pete watched as Aaron streaked across in front of him. His eyes darted around the field. The QB was watching Aaron closely, meanwhile, Kenny had been sucked down by the first TE who had run a route to the flat, and Lonnie was contending with the second Receiver who was running a Vertical down the sideline.

There was a gap right where Aaron was headed, and Pete realised it a moment too late. He chased after Aaron as the QB threw the ball over. The pass was a little behind Aaron so he had to slow down, and turn back to it, twisting as he caught it. This let Pete catch up, but only so he could shove Aaron out after an 8-yard gain.

The Titans huddled up. ‘Good play, Petey,’ Kenny said.

‘Yeah, nice read. If you hadn’t done that, we could’ve given up a touchdown there,’ Isaac said.

‘Hey, Isaac, switch,’ Owen said, panting hard. He then looked at Vincent. ‘That new bastard—’

‘He’s strong,’ Isaac added.

‘—we’ll catch him off guard,’ Owen continued. ‘We’ll catch them ALL off guard.’

Vincent smiled but worry pulled at the corners of his eyes. ‘Is this going to be a lot of work?’

‘We gotta do a Stunt.’

Vincent’s smile wavered for a second. ‘Ohh. I was worried you’d say something like that…’ Stunts were too much work for Vincent. He remembered practising them: diving to the outside and going AROUND blockers was so much work when you could just go THROUGH them instead. Even blocking against a Stunt was bothersome, having to think and wait for the right target to appear instead of bashing into the first guy you saw wearing the wrong jersey. It was so much extra work. Vincent sighed. ‘…Okayyy.’

Owen slapped him on the back. ‘There we go! Don’t worry, this’ll work great.’

The Titans lined up again. Rudy looked Aaron over. ‘You running away from me now?’

‘Hah, you’re the one who stopped guarding me. I didn’t see you chasing me on that last play. You scared now, bitch?’

‘Fuck you. I’m not scared of shit.’

The Wildcats snapped the ball, and again, Aaron rushed to the inside. Rudy followed, tugging on his jersey this time, but Aaron quickly whirled around and slammed into Rudy, flooring him.

Vincent and Owen went ahead with their Stunt. Owen backed off, like he was going to drop back into coverage again, though as Vincent cut in front of him, rushing to the outside and trying to get around the Wildcats’ wall that way, Owen darted back down to crash through the middle. Except, the Center hadn’t fallen for the stunt, and had bulled ahead instead of following Vincent like Owen had hoped.

The RB was right behind the Center, and he carved up the middle of the field until he reached Pete who wrapped him up securely and brought him down after a 6-yard scramble.

The Wildcats had a first down, and the Titans were on the back foot.

On his way back to the huddle, Aaron pulled aside his fellow Wideout, and whispered something to him. Rudy watched closely, but it was impossible to hear what they were planning over the crowd’s cheering.

Vincent smiled at Owen as they returned to the Titans’ huddle, but Owen couldn’t meet the overly cheerful gaze. ‘Well uh, that didn’t really work, did it?’ Owen said.

‘It’s okay … it’s just a first down,’ Lonnie said. ‘… We’ll stop them now.’

‘Don’t try anything fancy,’ Pete said. ‘We can’t forget about the run. We’ve stopped them before and we’ll do it again. These pendejos won’t beat us.’

Aaron was grinning when he and Rudy met again. ‘What the fuck are you so happy about?’ Rudy asked.

‘Don’t you worry your simple little mind about anything. Shut and guard me … if you can.’

Once more, at the snap, Aaron jumped inside. Rudy shoved him and grabbed onto his hip, following him along the field.

‘You’re so predictable,’ Aaron said.

‘Huh?’ Rudy didn’t falter as the two kept running.

‘Rudy! Where are you going?’ Isaac shouted.

‘What?!’ Rudy’s head snapped around. He didn’t stop running, even as he was looking at Isaac. A blur passed between them. The second Receiver blazed across the field in the other direction, right to the space Rudy had left behind. ‘Shit.’

Rudy locked up, he didn’t know whether to turn back or stick with Aaron. In his indecision, he did neither. Isaac on the other hand, scrambled after the free Receiver.

The open Receiver caught the pass thrown his way and turned upfield. It was just Freddy in front of him. He shook right and juked left. Freddy dove at him, grabbing his hips but slipping down to just one ankle. Freddy held on tighter than a Boa.

The Receiver yanked and pulled, dragging Freddy forward another yard as he tried to pull himself free. He was almost out when Isaac caught up with them and drove him into the ground.

The play resulted in 11 yards, and the Wildcats had another first down.

Isaac helped Freddy up, then went over to Rudy, shoving him in the chest. ‘Stick to your zone, idiot!’

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‘But he was gonna be open.’

‘Worry about the zone, not the man.’

Rudy gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything else. He stomped over to his position.

‘Beating you is almost too easy,’ Aaron said.

‘You haven’t done shit since halftime. Shut the fuck up.’

‘Yeah? Watch this next play.’

Rudy clenched his fists.

The play began. Off Play-Action, Aaron started forward to sell the run, before darting inside once more. Rudy followed him, but Aaron kept going.

‘Rudy! Zone!’ Isaac shouted.

Rudy kept with Aaron. Aaron was up to something, he knew it, and he didn’t want to let him get away with it. But Kevin was drifting over to the flat where Rudy should’ve been. Kevin was open after his momentary block.

Owen, after being shoved further outside by Kevin before the two ran past each other, had a free lane to the QB. His eyes lit up as he rumbled towards the defenceless QB, only for the RB to dive at his legs and cut him down at the knees. He fell head over ass and tumbled to the ground.

Rudy groaned again and peeled away from Aaron, rushing over to cover Kevin instead. As soon as Rudy turned his back to Aaron, Aaron cut away from the middle of the field and headed straight for Freddy.

Freddy turned and ran with Aaron as the two raced down the sideline. The QB launched the ball their way, high and long.

Aaron turned his head back, finding the ball within the darkening sky. Freddy did too. Both adjusted their course to run under its path. Aaron slapped Freddy’s hands down before stretching his own out. He didn’t turn around, he let the ball drop right over his shoulders and into his grasp, he barely had to break stride to do so.

Freddy flung himself at Aaron, swiping at the ball, but Aaron held it securely against his chest even with Freddy draped all over him.

Freddy fell to the ground, clinging to Aaron, but was kicked off as Aaron stumbled onward. Aaron kept his footing and remained running as Freddy was left behind.

Aaron was free. No one was stopping him; touchdown Wildcats.

Lonnie helped Freddy to his feet and told him not to worry about letting Aaron get away.

The lead belonged to the Wildcats once again, and the successful extra point secured it. There was a field goal separating both teams as they went into the last quarter with scores of 37–34.

‘What a game,’ Tommy said.

‘Huh?’ Jackson looked up. The brothers’ attitudes were polar opposites of one another. Whilst Tommy was laid back, happy to enjoy the exhilarating game playing out before them. Jackson was on the edge of his seat, a ball of stress with shaking limbs and chattering teeth.

‘What a great game,’ Tommy repeated. ‘Even if the scoring’s slowed down, both teams are still giving it their all.’

‘Oh… y-yeah I guess so.’

‘Try to relax.’ Tommy patted his little brother on the back, though Jackson was still tense. ‘There’s nothing we can do up here but cheer them on as they go down this final stretch. But I’m sure they’ll do fine.’

The reminder that Jackson couldn’t do anything for his teammates did little to ease his nerves.

As the Titans started the final quarter with the ball in their hands, the varsity team had arrived in full force, along with more fans to give them their support.

Kenny took his spot in formation. He couldn’t sit back and let the game slip out of his grasp, not without doing anything and letting Rudy shoulder all the burden. He had to do something.

‘You fucking assholes.’ Kevin rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Got me playing offence just to beat you guys. Can’t you give up already?’

Kenny didn’t respond.

‘Hey, I’m talking to you. You deaf or something?’

Vincent snapped the ball. Kenny stepped to the inside, stiff-armed Kevin back, then slipped through to the outside, breaking away down the sideline.

Kevin turned to give chase, which is when Kenny curled back. Kevin stumbled as Kenny made the catch and hopped back around. Kevin lunged desperately and wrapped himself around Kenny’s legs. Kenny lurched forward and stretched out for another yard as he fell. The play gained 9 yards for the Titans.

Kenny quickly flipped the ball to the nearest official and hurried back to the huddle. ‘Feed me the ball. I’m not letting this guy stop me anymore.’

Pete laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. ‘That’s what I like to hear! Show that puta who’s boss.’

‘Hey, they already can’t guard me. Don’t get distracted trying to force shit to that loser when I’m open.’

Both Kenny and Pete glared at Rudy.

‘Ah yeah, yeah, whatever.’ Pete waved him off and the team returned to their formation.

The next play, Kenny darted inside, slapping away Kevin’s hands as he attempted to hold onto fistfuls of Kenny’s jersey.

At the top of Kenny’s route—10 yards beyond the Line of Scrimmage—he froze Kevin with a shimmy to the outside before he cut in. It bought him just enough space to catch the pass on his chest as he found the gap in the middle of the Wildcats’ Zone.

Kevin was right on top of him, however. As he twisted upfield, Kevin brought him down, though he’d already gained 11 yards.

Isaac was up next with a Draw. He carved through the cautious Wildcats who were playing back for the pass, gaining another 6 yards.

The Titans were on a roll and went back to the air. Pete looked Rudy’s way, and whilst the Wildcats wouldn’t fall for the same back-shoulder feint that had led to the Titans’ last touchdown, Tiny was still drawn up out of position by such a threat. Kenny sprinted into the opening where he caught another pass. Kevin, hot on his tail, brought him down after 7 yards.

Rudy wasn’t about to continue being a decoy. Before he got too frustrated by being left out of the offensive flurry, Pete got him back into the action.

Kenny once again ran a long drag route through the middle of the field. Freddy did something similar, though deeper downfield, whilst Lonnie ran a Vertical up the middle of the field, and Isaac stayed in as extra blocking.

Rudy ran across the field too, but into the opening Kenny had left behind. With no one following him, he easily made the catch and turned upfield to challenge the DB whose Zone was much deeper down that sideline. Rudy was shoved out after a 13-yard gain.

The Titans had entered the red zone, and they weren’t about to stop now. They were looking for the kill shot, and Kenny would be the man to deliver it.

Kenny was brought over to Rudy’s side of the field, leaving Freddy isolated again. Even Lonnie was positioned at the end of the Line on Rudy and Kenny’s side.

‘They’re trying something…’ Kevin’s eyes darted around. He stomped over to Tiny and pulled him aside. ‘Move. Cover thirteen.’

‘That’s not the pl—‘

‘Just do it!’

Tiny jogged over to Kenny though he kept worriedly looking back at Kevin and the bench. Coach Friedman made no call to stop them.

‘Did you miss me that much?’ Rudy asked.

‘I’m not letting you score again, asswipe,’ Kevin said.

‘Like you can stop me.’

When the play started, the three Receivers on the left side of the field sprinted forward in unison.

Lonnie was the one most loosely guarded as he passed through some lower zones. He was also the first to break away from his straight sprint as he cut to the outside, passing behind Kenny and Rudy.

Kevin stuck to Rudy. Tiny hesitated for a moment, though kept with Kenny after he saw the high Safety bolt by them to cover Lonnie.

Rudy was the next to break away from the sprint as he cut inside, heading towards the goalpost.

‘Switch?’ Tiny asked.

‘NO!’ Kevin shouted.

As Kenny kept running, he drifted further towards the outside. He looked over his shoulder, and Tiny followed his gaze. The ball was coming towards them.

Kenny pushed himself harder, eyes briefly darting back to the ground to gather his bearings before he looked skyward and locked onto the ball. He bumped back against Tiny, securing his position around the ball’s drop zone.

Kenny dug his feet into the grass, dragging his toes as he leaned forward and stretched towards the ball. It fell into his grasp. Tiny shoved him and he stumbled out the back of the endzone. The nearby official stood tall and signalled the touchdown.

The crowd was a mix of groans and cheers, mostly groans, as the Titans swarmed around Kenny and Pete to celebrate the touchdown.

Rudy stayed off to the side as the celebration took place. He grinned at Kevin. ‘Look at that. You stopped me from scoring after all.’

Kevin shoved him away and stomped off the field.

Rudy laughed loudly.

Soon, Freddy kicked through the extra point. The Titans opened the fourth quarter by taking back the lead; the scoreboard read: 37–41.