Fourth and Long

Chapter 3

Weeks went by. Hard weeks. The worst weeks of my life

School, football, and my life in general got harder. My friends felt bad for me at first, and were very caring toward me. For the weeks after my parents death, my friends would bring me meals and they would invite me to hang out more. But now, almost two months after the passing of my parents, and my friends seemed to forget. They didn't realize this was a life long thing that happened. They didn't realize it would have such a big effect on me. They were still my friends but they weren't as sorry for me as before.

Football went on, and I was still benched. It took me a while to get my arm back to normal, but once it was back I could throw better than usual.

Our team was seeded number one in our division so we were in the playoffs.

I woke up the morning of our first playoff game and got to the field an hour early. It was a rainy day, typical weather for Seattle. It was the best kind football day, it was so fun to play in the mud, if I got to play at all.

I got there before anyone else on the team, so I started throwing the football as far as I could. It went flying in the air, a good sixty yards.

"Since when could you throw like that?" I heard a voice behind me say.

I turned around, surprised. It was coach.

"Since forever." I said.

"I never saw you throw before." He said. "I didn't know you had an arm like that!"

"Yeah, I practice throwing a lot."

"I can tell."

There was a moment of silence before he told me to throw another ball.

This one went at least eighty yards.

"I'm very impressed. Even Kevin (the starting QB) can't throw like that." He went on. "You can throw in the route lines this morning for warmups. And maybe you can be second string QB, but you have to know the playbook."

"I do." I told him. "I memorized every play. I know the playbook more than anyone on the team."

"Alright." He said with a surprised look on his face. "Go get the route lines ready. People will start getting here soon."

The route lines were lines that we did in the beginning of every practice and game. Everyone would get in one of three lines, except the QB and center. The QB would tell the first person in line what route to run and then he would hike the ball from the center and throw the ball to the person in line. The three QBs for each line was the starting QB and the two backups. Now I'll be the QB in one of those lines instead of one of the other backups.

The rest of the team finally got there and I got a line going. Everyone was surprised that I was throwing and not one of the usual QBs.

Throw after throw was perfect. Every throw was right on target. The coach watched me in astonishment.

We finished our warmups and the game finally started. Since it was the playoffs, the announcer announced every player's name. We had an easy game because we were the top seed playing the lowest seed.

The game got going and it was 14-0 before the first quarter ended. By half time we were up 31-0. I played a few plays at safety because we were winning by so much.

The third quarter started and the other team got their first touchdown off a kick return. Later their team turned an interception into a touchdown and on the next drive they had a forty yard touchdown run by their star running back.

Third quarter finally ended. The coach was really mad because it was now 31-21. I don't see why he's so mad. We're still in the lead by ten points.

Forth quarter started and we had the ball. Another interception. They brought this one down all the way to the one yard line and a run play up the middle made the score 31-28. They were back in this game.

Minutes of the game went by with no scoring. There was only three minutes left on the clock. We had the ball with only thirty yard to the endzone.

The next play happened in slow motion. It was a pass play. Kevin took the snap, looked for an open receiver, and got ready to throw.

You could hear the hit from a mile away. The linebacker blitzed and hit Kevin on his blind side. Fumble. The cornerback for the other team picked the ball off the ground and ran it all the way back for a touchdown. They now had the lead with two minutes left 35-31.

That wasn't our biggest problem though. Kevin was laying on the ground, motionless.

No doubt he was out of the game. That hit was the hardest hit I've ever seen.

With the backup injured from twisting his ankle in warmups, I was the only other option.

"You're in Luke." Coach yelled over all the screams from the crowd.

"Yes coach." Was all that came out of my mouth.

I couldn't believe this was finally happening. My chance to be QB.

Our team returned the kick to the thirty yard line. Seventy yards, two minutes.

We couldn't run the ball because we only had one remaining timeout. So it was all up to me and my arm.

The first play was called was "trips-z." Three receivers lined up on one side and one on the other side. The three receivers on the one side served as a decoy. The defense expects the ball to be thrown to the side with the three receivers so they completely ignored the receiver on the other side. Perfect play, perfect pass.

As anticipated, the defense left the target receiver open. I released the ball perfectly, sending the ball soaring through the air. The receiver caught the ball and ran about ten yards before getting chased out of bounds to stop the clock. Forty yards to go. Forty seconds to go.

The next play didn't work as well. I got sacked right away before I had time to even see the receivers. Last time out called for our team. The play took thirty seconds off the clock because there was confusion with the coaches to whether we should have used our last timeout. Now there was only ten seconds left. Two more plays at most.

Another smart play. Four receivers. Three ran short routes so the defense would think we would try to get a few yards and then use our last play to bomb the ball into the endzone. But they would be wrong. The other receiver went deep into the endzone.

I threw the ball. Perfect. In stride. Touchdown. Game ended 38-35 and we were going into the second round of playoffs. And I would be starting QB.