“Bullshit!” Ty stared daggers at Marshall who stood across the field, still gloating and revelling in the glory of his touchdown.

Marshall looked over at Ty. While smirking, he held up two fingers. Two touchdowns. Two more to go.

“None of that shit fucking counts. Damn coward can’t do anything against me and he knows it.”

Again, the extra point was successful, and the Vikings extended their lead out to 17–28. The Dons were still within reach just a field goal and a touchdown with a two-point conversion away from tying the game again. All hope was not lost… yet.

Coach Long moved over and put a hand on Ty’s shoulder. ‘Alright, Tyrese. You’re up again. Let’s see if we can’t get that touchdown right back, okay? But there’s no worries if you can’t break through, just do your best.’

Ty stood up and made his way out onto the field, breathing heavily as he took up his position. “Another fluke. These bastards are just the luckiest fuckers I’ve ever met. That’s all it is. I’ll get the touchdown right back.”

The kick was skied high, and Ty caught it near the 5-yard line. He rushed forward, running like a man possessed. He sped past the first attempted tackle, and then jumped to the outside, bursting through an outstretched arm.

He stumbled, but kept his feet and spun away from another would-be tackler. He had slowed down completely now, however, and the rest of the Vikings’ kicking team converged upon him.

Still, he struggled. Even as he was wrapped up by multiple opponents he kept pushing against them, squirming to break free as his feet pounded against the turf. Their arms began to slip from his shoulders and fall further down his body, until one hooked onto the ball as Ty held it tight.

Both sides yanked hard, the ball caught in the middle of a tug of war, and then it popped free. Ty fell to the ground, tumbling over his head as the ball shot into the air and then bounced away.

Thankfully, it rolled out of bounds before either side could recover it. As ordained by the rules, a fumble that went out of bounds, was returned to the team who had fumbled it—the Dons maintained possession.

Ty sat on the ground, panting heavily as he stared at the spot where the ball had rolled out of bounds. His hands tore up some of the grass, and he ignored the offers of help from his nearby teammates to pull him up, and picked himself up instead.

Ty’s shoulders were slumped, his head hung down as he went back to the bench.

‘Good work out there, Tyrese. I love the fight,’ Coach Long said, whacking him on the back. ‘Just be careful with the ball next time. It’s okay, you’re learning, and we were lucky that we got it back this time.’

The Dons’ offence would take over at the 39-yard line after Ty’s return and fumble.

Jay’s face was looking sterner than usual. His lips were curled into a slight frown, and his forehead was showing some wrinkles for once.

He knew better than any Dons player out there that this drive was the most important of the game; a catalyst for their comeback, or their downfall. But he had a feeling they could do it.

The Vikings were not a defensive juggernaut, and with the renewed offence, and the team stepping up to fill in for their fallen brothers, they could move down the field.

It was breaking through the stout, redzone defence that was the real issue. It was what had him worried right now, but he had to get those thoughts out of his head; they’d have to get to the redzone first.

Coaches Long and Norman felt the Dons needed to make a statement to start this drive, and so they decided to make another run up the gut, with JJ leading the way as the primary blocker for Cameron.

JJ wasn’t about to let the team lose two in a row, and he was getting fed up with things ending in a stalemate every time he clashed with Mike.

Someone had to fire up this offence, and that someone would be him.

When the ball was snapped, JJ shouted as he ran forward. Mike hadn’t even gotten around the first block from the Dons’ Center when JJ fired into him.

His eyes widened as he was knocked back, his feet almost completely leaving the ground. Then, before he could even get his bearings back, JJ—with another fierce cry—launched his second assault and this time, lifted Mike off the ground and pancaked him flat onto his back before crashing on top of the larger boy.

Cameron streamed forward through the wide open gap, and run into the secondary unscathed before he was brought down by multiple defenders but not until he had picked up 12 yards for the Dons.

That set the standard for the drive, and while one or two plays might’ve been stopped and held back, the Dons moved down the field. Whether it was thanks to a pass to Benny or Cole, or another great run from JJ and Cameron, they steadily ate through the yards and then found themselves just outside of the redzone.

It was second down with 1 yard to go, and the call was to look for the touchdown right now, with a long pass to Cole down the sideline. If that failed, the Dons would fall back to a run to pick up the first down.

Jay was calm. He felt good about their chances. The line just had to hold up long enough for Cole to get open and down the field.

The ball was snapped, and Jay dropped back, scanning the field and then looking across to where Cole and Isiah’s duel was taking place.

Isiah was on him tight, but Cole might’ve had a step. If not a touchdown, they could get a penalty out of it.

Jay pulled his arm back, and then stopped. No good. There was a Safety waiting over the top, the airspace over that area was completely cut off.

His eyes quickly darted back to the middle, looking for his safety valve, Benny. Mike was just breaking through the line, but Jay could lob the pass over him …

Jay’s eyes widened as Mike stopped and sprung up mid charge, getting a hand to the pass right as it looped over his head.

The ball bounced high into the air, taking on a new, wild trajectory. Benny was knocked aside as the defence converged on the ball like a flock of seagulls to unguarded food.

It fell right into their laps, and the pass was picked off.

The Viking who had caught the interception didn’t get far on his attempted return, but the damage was done. The Dons drive was over.

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Jay hung his head back, pinching the bridge of his nose. He shambled off the field, his teammates following him off and patting him on the back.

JJ hurried over to his side, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him close. ‘Hey, don’t worry about it, hermano. Mistakes happen, it’s all good. We’ve still got this. We’ll get you that ball right back.’

JJ took to the field alongside the rest of the defence, and Jay sat down on the bench. Coach Long came over to consolidate him. ‘Hey, it’s alright now. That was a hell of the play from the defence, and those things happen. We can’t dwell on it, and have to focus on doing better the next drive. We can still win this game.’

When the Vikings’ offence took up their positions on the field, right after the first play, it was clear they’d made an adjustment based on what had happened to end the first half.

When Nathan dropped back to pass now, the RB stuck in the pocket with him, offering extra protection in general, but looking out for any late blitzes that could come from Deshaun or the other DBs.

If it was hard to break through the stout offensive line to get pressure before, it was practically impossible now.

Coach Hoang rested his chin on his hands, watching the development. ‘Hmm… at least it gives us one less aerial threat to worry about. Our zone just needs to hold firm now.’

During the drive, Isiah was still struggling to find space within the Dons expansive zone, and while the run game was working a little better for the Vikings, JJ was still a dominant force when it came to stopping it and they couldn’t get consistent gains that way.

Going up the middle, he was able to nullify Mike’s power, and leave the door open for his teammates to swarm in and take down the RB. And if they tried something to the outside, well they wouldn’t have the benefit of Mike’s blocking prowess then, and JJ was much faster getting to the ball and would shut that down singlehandedly.

The one place they had to go was with Marshall, and his battle with Ty.

The two went back and forth with one another, constantly pushing each other to their limits every play.

Ty kept on Marshall like he was attached to him, and most plays the WR was never able to get any space away from him. … But all he needed was a step.

Thanks to his absurd reach, and his incredibly sticky fingers, Marshall was able to reel in catches that should’ve been impossible. And all he needed was one catch at a time to work his way down the field.

Ty could stop him twice and disrupt the pass, but all Marshall needed was one long grab and his team would gain another set of downs, so even if technically Ty was winning more of their battles, the Vikings were still moving down the field bit by bit.

The Vikings reached the Dons’ 30-yard line, and were looking to put the game out of reach with another touchdown, but currently, on third down and long, they just needed to worry about getting a first down.

As the Dons’ huddle broke apart, JJ pulled Deshaun aside. ‘Coach Hoang said you’re the Hound this play.’

Deshaun frowned, looking across to the Vikings’ huddle, eyeing the RB. ‘I don’t think that’s going to work.’

‘But that’s the call. Trust the Coach.’ The two broke apart and took up their positions.

When the ball was snapped, Deshaun bolted straight by Isiah. Isiah was surprised but looked back to Nathan as he streamed down the field. ‘Hey! Watch the blitz! I’m open! Over here!’

Nathan didn’t have a reaction, but the RB stepped up, running into Deshaun’s path and blocking him off.

‘Out of my fucking way!’ Deshaun shoved the other boy back.

Nathan stepped up to throw, bumping into the RB slightly as he let go of the ball—it wobbled through the air instead of spinning in a tight spiral. ‘Shit!’

Ty looked back and saw the wobbly pass—his eyes lit up.

He and Marshall fought for the best position as the ball floundered towards them. It looked like it was going to be too far away, even for Marshall’s stretched out arms and fingers.

Marshall relented, giving up as he saw the ball was too far. Then Ty launched himself and dove past.

He stretched his hand out, fingers shaking as he extended them as far as he could, he twisted his body to get as much reach as he could, like he’d seen Marshall do plenty of times before.

The ball grazed his finger tips. Then, just like Marshall would do, Ty tried to latch onto the ball and drag it in.

It bounced away as his hand snapped closed and his arm drew into his chest. He crashed to the floor, and the ball fell to the ground.

“Fuck!” Ty sat up, one eye twitching as he stared at the ball.

‘Hmph, dumbass.’ Marshall shook his head, jogging away.

Ty picked himself up, kicking the ground before he made his way off to the bench. He almost had it. But now he had to watch as the Vikings set up for a field goal.

The kick was good, and the lead was pushed out to two full touchdowns. Ty ground his teeth as he watched the scoreboard tick over.

His next return wasn’t a good one. He came out from inside the endzone, and didn’t even make it back to the 20-yard line as he had blindly bulldozed ahead and tried to weave his way through the heavy traffic.

On the sideline Bella sighed, scrubbing at her face with her hands. ‘Maybe it was a bad idea suggesting that idiot. He just runs in like a mad bull and doesn’t even try to look where he’s going.’

When the Dons offence took the field again, they looked as if their fire had died down. They were less invigorated. It was like the interception on their last drive had drained all their energy.

JJ was growing tired after his constant battles with Mike on both sides of the ball, no longer able to provide that all important spark.

Nor was Cameron used to carrying so much of the load, and he too was looking less and less energetic.

While the third quarter did end with the ball in the Dons’ possession still, and the break bought them a short reprieve, it wasn’t enough, and it didn’t take long into the final quarter before the Dons’ drive died and they had to decided to punt the ball away.

Coach Hoang sighed, closing his eyes. “Come on, defence. It’s up to us now, guys. Let’s drag this back for a win.” He looked at Ty as the defence marched onto the field. “It’s up to you. Shut them down, Samuels. Show me that special something.”

Once again, Ty and Marshall’s intense duel resumed, and once again, Ty just couldn’t get all the stops he needed.

When the defence tried to switch things up and bring more pressure against the QB, the Vikings had adjusted again. Now when the blitz was called out, Nathan found a target right from where the blitz had come from, getting the ball out quickly and earning his team small but impactful gains.

It wasn’t long before the Vikings were right within field goal range again, knocking on the door of the Dons’ endzone.

‘You’re not getting lucky again,’ Ty said, pacing back and forth in front of Marshall. ‘I’m getting my pick this time.’

‘You’re the one who was lucky. You pull some retarded stunt like that again, I’m getting a touchdown.’

‘You haven’t scored on me. You CAN’T score on me. This game is mine.’

Marshall pointed to the scoreboard. 17–31. Then he held up four fingers. ‘I still need two more. And I’m going to love scoring them on your head.’

‘HIKE!’ At Nathan’s screech, the field exploded into motion. Ty stabbed a hand out, shoving Marshall back. The larger boy growled but pushed through, smacking Ty’s hands away as they ran down the field side by side.

Marshall shuffled his feet, wobbling his body and head, but Ty stuck with him and didn’t overcommit to either side. Then Marshall continued straight ahead, trying to push past Ty.

Ty stuck to his hip like he was glued to it, and the two broke away further down the sideline, sprinting towards the endzone.

They looked back, the ball was in flight, heading right towards them.

Ty turned around first, tracking back as he kept his eyes on the ball. He had it. It was his! He leapt into the air, stretching one hand out to reach the high-arcing ball. It was going to fall right into his grasp, he could pull it in, he’d practised this countless times.

Then two massive hands blocked his line of sight to the ball as Marshall reached over him, arms stretching out further than Ty’s could. Marshall got his hands to the ball first.

Ty swiped at the ball, but hit nothing other than air as he crashed down to the earth.

Marshall landed behind him, pulling the ball in tight to his chest. His feet were in bounds with yards of room to spare. He was standing in the endzone. It was a touchdown.

Ty lay on his back, watching an official close in, signalling the touchdown. Marshall stood over him, grinning down at him.

‘That’s three, nigga. Now hold this for me.’ Marshall dropped the ball onto Ty’s chest and sauntered off.

Ty’s world went silent.