Quentin's Way

Chapter 5

            For the first time in a long time, my stomach was in knots. I heard some of what Coach Reeves said to us in the locker room, but I zoned out during most of his speech. This was going to be my one shot at proving I deserved my position on the team. I took a few seconds to take it all in so that I would always remember that moment before playing my first college game. The sound of my teammates growling as they got ready to take the field by storm, the look of determination in all the coaches' eyes, and the smell of the locker room; it all gave me an adrenaline rush. It gave me just the right amount of courage I needed to go out on that field and do what needed to be done.

            We were playing the South Carolina State Bulldogs and since it was a home game, we had to beat them. Our team lost the coin toss, so we had to kick the ball to them to start the game. Since I'm an offensive player, I had to sit on the sideline while defense played on the field first. We had a solid defensive line and secondary defense squad, so we kept the Bulldogs from scoring or from even getting within field goal kicking range. After the Bulldogs punted the ball to us, I finally got to get in the game.

            "Y'all know what to do," Coach Reeves said to us. "Get out there and put some points on the board!"

            Glenn, our quarterback, finally threw the ball to me when we got to third down. I got us the first down and a few more yards before I got tackled. For a quick second, I got super excited because it was my first completed catch of my college career and I got us the first down. I quickly got my head right and put my focus back on the game. Glenn threw the ball to me after each snap and I got us down the field. When I got us to the one-yard line, he decided to hand the ball off to Reggie but when Reggie tried to run it into the end zone, he got hit hard and the ball popped out. I quickly jumped on it to keep the Bulldogs from recovering it. After that, Coach Reeves called a timeout.

            He got in Reggie's face and asked, "What the fuck was that, Reggie? Your little weak ass can't take a fucking hit? You fumbled the fucking ball!"

            "I'm sorry, coach," Reggie offered. "I thought I had a secure hold on it. I'm sorry."

            "Fuck your sorry!" He turned to Glenn and told him, "Your white ass better throw that ball to Quentin. Do you hear me?"

            "Yes, sir," Glenn replied quickly.

            Coach Reeves turned to me and told me, "Make sure you're in the end zone, Williams. You can do this. I know you can do this. Get around that defense player and catch the ball."

            "I got it, coach," I told him while looking into his eyes. "I got this." We broke away from our huddle and as we were heading back onto the field, I told Glenn, "Fuck a field goal after we score. We need to go for two points."

            "You want me to throw the ball to you now and then again for a two-point conversion?"

            "Nah, throw it to me now on this play and then after I score, hand it off to Reggie for the extra two points."

            "But Coach Reeves said..."

            "Glenn, trust me on this. Hand it to Reggie. He'll get us the extra two points."

            We got in our positions and once the ball was snapped, it was like everything moved in super slow-motion in my head. I ran into the end zone and turned around just in time to catch Glenn's pass, getting us the touchdown. Glenn motioned to the sideline that he was going for two points and when the ball was snapped to him, he handed it off to Reggie. Just like I knew he would, Reggie ran it into the end zone. We now had eight points and South Carolina State had zero. After turning the ball back over to the Bulldogs, we stopped them from getting any points and soon we had the ball again. I got us another touchdown and our kicker kicked a successful field goal for the extra point, taking us to fifteen points.