Ty blankly stared at the official long after they had moved away. Even after watching the scoreboard tick over to 0–6 for the away team, he still didn’t fully believe what had just happened.

The special teams unit that came out to try and block the extra point attempt after the touchdown had to nudge Ty in the direction of the bench to get him off the field.

Deshaun stomped over to the bench and slammed his helmet down. ‘FUCK!’ He sat on the bench, one foot drumming against the ground as some of the team moved around him, weakly patting him on the back, head, or shoulder and giving him a quick word of encouragement.

Though when Deshaun saw Ty walk over, he stood up again.

‘Sit the fuck back down! Why the hell do you think you could possibly ever get off that bench again after screwing me OVER and OVER again like that?’ Ty yelled, getting right up in Deshaun’s face.

Deshaun shoved him away. ‘Me? YOU were the one fucking with ME! Not the other way around, freshy. The fuck you think you’re even doing on this bench, let alone the fucking team!’

‘Hey! Knock it off!’ The three coaches moved in to separate the two players, with Coach Long getting between them, a hand on either boy’s chest as his eyes angrily darted from one to the other.

‘I am THIS close to sitting both of y’all out,’ Coach Long said. ‘And honestly, I just might! You’re both on VERY thin ice, and if it weren’t for Coach Hoang putting his neck on the line for y’all, I would send you both home right now.’

‘I’m beginning to think you might be right, Coach. Maybe these two are a lost cause after all,’ Coach Hoang said. ‘But… I’m going to be gracious—or foolish—enough to give you both one more chance. Don’t make us regret it.’

Ty was led away from Deshaun by the OC, Coach Norman, though shrugged his hand off. He sat down as far away from Deshaun as possible.

When he finally focused on the field again, the extra point for the Pirates had gone through without a hitch, making the score 0–7, and the Dons' return of the following kick-off, had only been good enough to get them out to the 23-yard line.

Before the offence took the field, Coach Long and Coach Norman pulled the hippy-looking QB aside.

‘Listen Jay. Our defence needs some time to cool down after that long drive. I don’t want you to feel any extra pressure, but we can’t afford to have a short drive of our own. We need to move down the field, but, we need to buy some time for the D to recover. Can you do that for me?’ Coach Long said.

‘No worries, Coach. I’ve got you. We’ll take it niiice and slow.’ Jay nodded with a smile.

Coach Norman put a hand on Jay’s shoulder. ‘We know we can rely on you, Jay, but, if the defence gives you something over the top or there’s a play to be made, don’t hesitate to take that shot. Trust yourself and your instincts too.’

Jay still had his carefree smile as he kept nodding.

The coaches shoved him towards the field and cheered the offence on, the crowd hollering as well for the moment the Dons offence first took the field that game.

Just before Stephen made his way out there, he stopped by to check on Deshaun.

‘Don’t let that shit get to you, dawg. Imma get those points right back, don’t even worry about it,’ Stephen said, pulling on his helmet.

‘Fuck you, dawg. Get the fuck out there already.’ Deshaun waved him off but Stephen laughed and grinned, heading out onto the field.

Coach Hoang then rolled over to Deshaun’s side. ‘Hey. I know it must be frustrating, but we wouldn’t be so hard on you, and I wouldn’t be pushing for you two to work together if I didn’t think you could pull it off. That being said, however, if you really don’t think you’ll be able to manage to get along, and if you wanna throw in the towel and call it quits, then just say so, and we can be done with it, and you both can rest easy and sit out tonight.’

‘C’mon Coach, you know I can do this, it’s that damn fresh—’ A stern look from Coach Hoang stopped Deshaun short and the teen turned his head away. ‘Fuck, man… yeah, whatever, we’ll do better.’

‘I’m not saying you have to be best buddies all of a sudden, you just have to work together.’

Coach Hoang gave Deshaun a pat on the shoulder and then moved away to Ty to give him the same talk.

‘He’s the one who won’t get out of my way, or won’t say anything out there or even think of anything other than himself and his own man!’ Coach Hoang’s disapproving glare had done nothing to stop Ty’s little rant.

‘But you ain’t pulling me outta this game… I’ll work with him, whatever it takes. They ain’t scoring like that again. NEVER.’

‘Don’t ruin the rest of the season just over your own ego, Samuels,’ Coach Hoang said before leaving Ty alone again.

Ty watched him go, and then looked over to where Deshaun was sitting; neither teen went over to one another, nor did they say anything to each other for the rest of their time on the bench during that drive.

The offence did at least do what Coach Long had asked of them, and their drive was sucking up a lot of time and allowing the defence to catch their breath, letting the more frustrated members cool off.

Though as they went about it, Stephen was practically a non-factor out there, seeing as he was being double-teamed each play, and the rest of the Receivers were struggling to find the soft spots of the Pirates’ zone defence.

Ty watched as number 23—their RB—was at least doing a good job at eating up the yards on the ground; it looked like run defence was the Pirates’ weakness.

‘Ay! There ya go, Chris! Them boys can’t stop you!’ Deshaun called out after number 23 had just picked up another first down.

Coach Long and Norman could be seen watching on at each other’s side, chatting with one another.

‘Looks like that intel we got from that little Hernandez boy was pretty spot on, hey Coach?’ Coach Norman said.

Coach Long shook his head in disbelief. ‘Don’t know how that boy knew, but, yeah, he hit it right on the head. That 51 out there is slow moving to his right. Can get a lot of good runs right up through that gap between him and the edge.’

They spoke of number 51 for the Pirates, their Nose Tackle (NT) who sat right in the middle of the defensive line. He was a BIG boy and would’ve been over 300 pounds whilst not even being 6 feet tall.

He also wore a heavy brace around his right knee, which could’ve been the reason why he was so slow to react to plays going that way, and so easy to block from that side.

Whatever the reason, the Dons offence was able to get as much yardage as they wanted running that way as things were, but they weren’t the only ones to notice that: the Pirates coaching staff had figured out that little weakness as well.

They made an adjustment on the fly, and little by little their ROLB (Right Outside Linebacker) crept down to fill in the gap between number 51 and the right-side DE (Defensive End).

Without those free, easy yards, and with Stephen still being taken out of the equation, it wasn’t long before the Dons offensive drive stalled out after passing half-field, and it wasn’t long before the Pirates D got a stop on 3rd down, forcing Jay to throw the ball away.

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But the offence had at least accomplished their job of draining the clock. By the time they came off the field, the first quarter was almost over, AND they had the added bonus of ending up in field goal range by the end of it as well.

Coach Long and his daughter Bella could be seen making a quick prayer under their breath as the kicking team went out onto the field.

The snap went off without issue, the placement from the holder was good, and the kick flew nicely off the boot.

It was good!

The crowd erupted into cheers and fanfare as the Dons put 3 points on the board and cut the Pirates lead down to 4.

With the extra momentum behind them of scoring and fighting their way back into the game, the kickoff from the Dons was excellent and caught in the endzone. The Pirates’ returner decided to take a knee this time, and settle for a touchback, meaning they’d automatically start their drive from their own 25-yard line.

Ty jogged out onto the field by Deshaun’s side, the two still not speaking with one another. Ty looked to the scoreboard to remind himself of the state of the game, remind himself of his mistake that cost them a touchdown and had put them in a deficit.

The Pirates were leading 3–7, with under 2 minutes to go in the first quarter.

Again, Deshaun and Ty were shoulder to shoulder as they lined up opposite Bastion and Patty.

‘Ooo! What scary faces you guys are making~’ Patty laughed.

‘Don’t. Fucking. Test me,’ Deshaun warned.

Patty feigned further fright before laughing more. ‘Hey, B. Reckon I could get the next touchdown, huh?’

‘Oh! O-Of course? I mean, I don’t want to take all the glory.’ Bastion nervously chuckled but soon quietened as Deshaun glared at him with a look that could almost kill.

‘Set…’ The Pirates QB slapped his thigh and Bastion suddenly turned away, jogging back towards his offensive line, with Deshaun following. But as they neared the mass of players there, the ball was snapped and everyone burst into motion.

Ty went to rush after them, but Patty sprung forward and got in his way, just as the rest of the players on the field rushed towards him. Bastion ran full force against that tide and laid a block against one of the Dons LBs, as the ball was handed off to the RB for another run.

Deshaun was lost in the flood of players streaming his way and smothered by a block from an OL.

Try as he might, Ty couldn’t break away from Patty’s block, even as the RB came his way and was so close within reach, but Ty’s fingers just couldn’t stretch far enough and the RB skirted away and ran down the field for a big gain, the Pirates getting a first down with the first play of their second drive.

‘Heh, looks like another touchdown won’t take long,’ Patty said before Ty finally shoved him away after the play was dead.

Again and again, the Pirates nickeled and dimed onward with a few more quick plays, looking like it would be a repeat of their first drive, though out of the few plays so far, there hadn’t been a screen involving Bastion or Patty just yet.

Before the first quarter could run out of time, the Pirates went without a huddle once more and rushed up to the line of scrimmage to get one last play in.

Though the Dons were no longer surprised by such actions from this erratic offence, they were right there with them, ready to make them regret trying to get one last play in before the break.

‘Hut-hut!’ Again, Ty was met by Patty’s formidable block. But, after so much repetition of this, he was getting used to how Patty would fend him off, where he’d put his hands, how he’d use his strength to keep Ty at bay.

Ty was able to anticipate the forceful shove underneath his arms, slipping one shoulder back out of the way, getting Patty off-balance enough so Ty could slip by him as he scrambled to keep Ty back.

Though with how quickly the pass came out towards Bastion, Ty was still just a hair too late to interrupt it, though he didn’t give up. And with how quickly he’d gotten around Patty’s block, there was less of an obstruction in Deshaun’s path as he went around over the top of them and tried to cut Bastion off from getting further upfield.

Without even meaning to, Ty and Deshaun worked together in a differently anticipated way, and swarmed Bastion after he caught the ball, tackling him from head-on and behind both at the same time and dragging him down just short of the first down marker, right as time expired for the quarter.

The second would open up with the Pirates facing down a 3rd and 1 in their own half.

Ty got back up, he wouldn’t call that tackle a victory, but it was a set-up for a much greater victory. Just one stop and they could fully swing the game back into their control to open the second quarter.

He jogged back to the bench for the short break in between quarters, and even as JJ and others ran by, smacking him and Deshaun on the shoulder and congratulating them for their tackle, the two still didn’t encourage each other.

They both sat far away from one another on the bench again, and Ty took a long drink of water, looking around at the crowd.

It wasn’t hard to spot someone waving at him, Megan jumping around to grab his attention. Even her smile stood out amongst the crowd as others were moving around to go use the bathroom or get something from their car or just stretch their legs, no one else was focusing on him but her.

He looked at her, and she saw him looking, but he didn’t wave or even smile her way before he turned back around and lowered his gaze to the ground, focusing back on the task at hand.

The coaches left him alone as well, with Coach Hoang focusing on other parts of the defence, informing the Linemen and LBs that the Offensive Line for the Pirates had a tell when the play was going to be a run or not, and you could see what they were going to do beforehand on how their stance was before the snap.

‘Listen! Watch them closely, okay? Numbers 77 and 72 on the right side especially. You can see them lean more heavily on their lead foot if it’s going to be a run,’ Coach Hoang said.

Meanwhile, Coach Long and Norman were scheming up ways to beat the Pirates' defence, debating if they needed to get Stephen involved in more “pick” plays, where another Receiver could run across his path and try to take out one or both of his defenders to get him open, or if they should just continue to use him as a decoy and try to win with their numbers advantage elsewhere.

On the other side of the field, Patty was as relaxed as anyone could be, almost laying back on the bench with his hands behind his head.

‘So! How many touchdowns we scoring today, B? 4? 5?’

Bastion sipped his Gatorade and frowned a little. ‘Mm… well, those guys are tough but um… well, hopefully their offence doesn't take up so much time as well, and maybe we could speed up a bit… ah, I-I don’t know how much more we could score.’

Patty laughed and sat up more, smacking Bastion on the back. ‘Relax, B! We got this in the bag.’

Bastion nodded and flashed a grin, more of his friend’s confidence rubbing off on him.

Ty stared at the scoreboard, burning the 3–7 score into his mind, turning it into fuel for the fire of his soul.

There were still 3 quarters left in the game, and anything could happen, but he KNEW that he wouldn’t let them score another touchdown.

Soon enough, the break was over and it was time for Ty to get back out there.

The Pirates were once again in their heavy, goal line formation with an extra Lineman, and their bulky FB in to clear the way for their Halfback (HB), and this time when Patty and Bastion came over to line up with Ty and Deshaun, Patty looked upset, shaking his head and grumbling to his friend.

‘Why are they trying that? Like, I get it’s what you normally do in this situation, but we’ve been beating these guys all game, just give it to us.’

‘Y-You should trust the coach, h-he’s just doing what he thinks is best,’ Bastion said.

‘Hey!’ Ty snapped, glaring at them both. It had to be a trick, and he wasn’t falling for it, he KNEW they wouldn’t run the ball, he KNEW another screen was coming. ‘Quit fucking around and shut up! Maybe for shitty, unaccomplished losers like you, playing well for one quarter is something to brag about, but you haven’t won shit.’

Patty scoffed, not even taking up a proper stance. ‘I ain’t kidding around… but fine, fine. I can hold off bragging for a while, after all, there’s no way you two idiots are beating us.’

Ty narrowed his eyes, but all he could do was wait for the snap of the ball, that’s all anyone on the field could do.

‘Run! Run! It’s a run! Stop them! Get down low and dig in! Don’t let them get a single inch more!’ Coach Hoang screamed from the sideline, and the rest of the defence packed in tight to the line of scrimmage, nose to nose with the Pirates.

Everything was set for a test of strength between the two squads, but still, Ty wasn’t convinced, and still, he fully believed it was going to be a pass this way, and he was more than ready for it.

But, when the ball was finally snapped, Patty never moved a muscle, he just stood there, totally relaxed and disinterested, even Bastion, who had been in his typical stance, relaxed at the snap of the ball and took a step back instead.

All four players left out on their little island to the side of the field could only watch on helplessly as the rest of their teammates came together in a massive, dirty scrum in the middle of the field, battling over every blade of grass in their territorial war.

The QB never even handed the ball off, let alone threw it. He kept it himself, and tried to power ahead, with the two RBs behind him charging forward and giving him a helping push.

Eventually, the pile collapsed in on itself, and the QB was swallowed up into the mass, the ball lost somewhere underneath all the bodies.

Officials rushed forward from every corner of the field, whistles blowing loudly as they tried to pry bodies off the pile and get to the bottom of it to see just where the ball ended up underneath all that mess.

And all Ty could do was watch as he gnawed on his mouthpiece and dug his nails into his palms.