QB Sneak

Chapter 14: New Faces

Practice Monday was interesting for a lot of different reasons. Firstly, I was treated WAY better now that it was clear I was the starting QB. Secondly, I was throwing to a lot of new hands. The best reason behind this that I could come up with is that the coaches wanted Geo to feel as welcome as possible by bringing all of his friends up to varsity. Thirdly, starting linebacker Zayri Blosingame was in a walking boot, after hurting his ankle last Friday. As the other players finished stretching, Coach singled out the new players.

"You might have noticed we've got some new faces this week at practice, this is both to get team numbers up in case of injury, and also to keep above the rostered player minimum." Coach announced. "New recruits, raise your hand when called." I looked around the circle, trying to find any unfamiliar faces. I succeeded, finding a lot of numbers I didn't recognize.

"DeMarcus Tree." Number 4, a thin black dude with long arms raised a gloved hand.

"Sammy May." Number 94, a chubby kid who looked redneckish raised his hand.

"Erick Guerrero." Number 88, a skinny looking kid raised a timid hand.

"Darrin Harris." Number 70, a thick, strong kid built like a brick raised a strong arm.

"Gulliermo Hart III." Number 20, a thin reciever with dreadlocks spilling out of his facemask raised a hand covered with a flashy pink and gold glove.

"Kekee Bush." Number 7, a kid with the longest dreadlocks I had ever seen, raised his hand.

"Salvatoré Cummings." I knew him. A semi-familiar number 6 jersey went up.

"Tyson Hill." Number 46, a toned, sharp looking returner raised his arm.

"Seth Cunningham." Seth also played last week, his familiar 13 was one I had thrown to quite a bit.

"Jerry Martinez." 97, another familiar face raised his hand. He was the only freshman with a full beard I had come across in a long time. Well, since Knox.

"Quentin Parker." A skinny kid without any pads beside a helmet in his hands raised his hand. He was wearing the team jacket, shoving his hands nervously inside the pockets.

"Alekos-"

"Alex." Alekos piped up.

"Alex Argyros." Another skinny, nerdy-looking kid raised his hand. He also was unpadded. It was likely they were either ineligible or kickers. Given that they were standing next to Miles and Evan, it was probably the latter.

"Eddie Rapp." The younger guys cheered for a short, tiny number 21 as he raised his hand.

"Isaac Caruthers." A corn-fed fat boy raised his hand. 68 was almost too fitting of a number.

 "Any questions?" Coach cut in, knowing the answer. Nobody responded. Being the starter, I got a lot more reps at QB during scrimmages, with Geo and Demarcus also getting a few snaps. 

None of the new recruits really stood out to me besides Demarcus and Kekee. Kekee's long dreadlocks made him hard to miss on the field, but easy to spot and avoid as a defensive back. He also kind of smelled. Demarcus, however was FAST. He could easily beat everyone on our team in a footrace besides Deedee, PJ, and Darius. You could tell the general air among the JV call-ups was that this guy was straight-up unbeatable.

Demarcus was also special in the sense that he could do just about everything. You need a DB? Demarcus has got you. QB? Another job for Demarcus. WR? You know who to call. He'll play DB, then run over to WR and throw himself the pass at QB before kicking a field goal, returning that same field goal, painting your porch, cooking your dinner, and walking your dog.

Am I getting overboard? Maybe, but I really like this dude. My Demarcus praise was cut off by Coach's loud whistle cutting through the cold October air.

"11s! Offensive starters on the huddle, gimme eleven defenders in grays on the ball, go go go!" Coach shouted urgently, causing the team to scatter from the water hoses. I trotted up to Coach Joey, the QB coach in my special purple practice jersey, setting myself and Geo apart from everyone else's black jerseys. Those indicated we were QB's and were not allowed to be hit. Anyone who gave us more than the standard wrap-up would hear from coach Joey.

"Spread right force! Spread right force!!" Geo screamed from the sidelines. Next to him was Demarcus, karate chopping the air and pretending to shoot a shotgun.

"Spread right force 50 slant shoot. Spread right force, 50 slant shoot. On one, on one. Ready, break!" We all clapped and whipped into formation. 50 slant meant that DeeDee and Norm would line up on either side of me and run a slant route. Right meant that Tad would line up on my right. Shoot was the route Tad would run.

"Ready, set! Green 25! Green 25!" Blake was right behind me, ready to act as a blocker. Everything good? I think so.

"Set hut!" I took the snap. I saw Wes's 91 and Arlo's 41 barelling toward me, leading the charge of an army of linebackers. Zero blitz. Perfect. I faked the handoff to Knox, who plunged into the pile, fooling half the LB's. Norm was wildly waving as he tore across my field of vision, leaving Dustin, the easily burnt freshman cornerback, in the dust. I threw him a bullet pass. The ball cut through the air with a hiss as Norm timed it up. He hauled it in, evaded Kekee and 20, whose name I forgot, and made a mad dash for the endzone.

"NORM!" All the coaches yelled as Norm broke loose, trying to evade Darius, his only pursuer. Darius couldn't catch up in time, and Norm made a house call. After tearing up the scout defense for about an hour, we popped our lids and wrapped up practice, content with the day. 

After giving Zayri Blosingame a buck to take my gear in, I stuck around afterwards, watching a heated punt off. Evan's kicks had been lacking since his hamstring pull last week, and so we brought in the JV punter, Quentin Parker to see what he could do. Quentin could bang it downfield, but his slowness to get the kick away signaled a problem for the coaches.

Alex made his return to school Tuesday, celebrated heavily by the team. I slogged through school the entire week before Friday finally came like Christmas. I put on my pristine white jersey and excitedly hopped in my truck to drop off Caspian at the elementary school. There wasn't a grass stain or dirt mark in sight on me as I walked through the school on the sunny November morning.

Class seemed to go by much faster with Alex filling the seat. Gone was the dust from his locker and notebooks, gone was the seeming emptiness of the school, and gone were pretty much all of my worries. In its place was an old buddy, some QB1 secrets, and the honor of being the first signature on his cast. This was the happiest I was to see Alex since, well, 2 weeks ago.

For the rest of the day, I felt untouchable.

Until the bus ride there, that is. By then, I felt uncomfortable.

After an hour of a very heavy pair of equipment bags on the legs of me and Maikel Oliver, my assigned seating partner, we lugged our bags off the bus one by one, filing into the Long Lake High School locker room, met with a marching band outside cruising into the stadium in unison.

Immediately upon suiting up, I was handed a laminated paper.

GAMEPLAN VS LONG LAKE

Long Lake's defensive line is one of the best in the state. You'll have to rely on your legs and your line if you wanna get through the night without ending up like Alex. Don't worry, Winston, you're starting tonight. Their offense is impotent, but that defense won't let you capitalize on it unless you find your recievers and communicate all night with the team.

I made sure my rib protector was on (a crucial mistake made by Alex), and led the team out of the locker room. We trotted out into the field to raucous booing in the cleanest white jerseys you'd ever see in your life. The old-fashioned black numbers really popped as I led the team out behind a lavish orange Midwest sunset that seemed like it was straight out of a museum. 

Just another day at work.