Match

12: Pursuit

All of Team Thunder gather in a tight circle during halftime. Coach John has his board scribbled with marker that looks like cartography planning for infrastructure. He highlights the players in red, and the directions in black.

"Jonah," he says.

Jonah looks up from staring at the grass. "Yeah?"

"I'm gonna need you to carry the ball, then pass it to Tate once he does a fake out."

He looks to Tate, who gives him a nod. "Okay."

"We're all gonna need to work together. A half hour can go by in an instant, and time's crucial if we wanna score two points to tie, or even three to win."

The referee blows her whistle, giving the thirty second warning to resume the game. Team Thunder is on one side, Team Rush on another. They form a circle, cheer, then run onto the field.

"Let's do this!" Coach John claps and hollers.

Jonah jogs to his position and watches ahead as Rush assume their positions and get the ball in the middle. The referee gives the 'OK' to her assistants on the sidelines, drops the ball, then backs up while blowing the whistle. A Rush player passes it, but gets interjected by Liam.

"Liam here!" Jonah shouts.

Liam passes the ball to him. He dribbles it further up, keeping watch for Tate, who's jogging at a slower pace on purpose.

"Watch out!"

Jonah sees a player run towards him, to which he dribbles around the player. More players run to steal the ball, but Jonah manages to carry it close. Until he loses sight of it for a moment, then gets it taken away in that time. Shit!

"Go go go!"

Whistles and cheers anticipate Rush's next move as they approach the centre line. Jonah follows behind, waiting for someone to get the ball back. Jared, one of Thunder's defenders, goes in for a slide tackle but the player does a ball hop right over. Ben readies his hands for a shot. The ball ends up out of bounds, letting Thunder breathe. Some of the people in the crowd go 'aww'.

"Yo Jone," Tate bolts up to him and lands a palm on his shoulder.

Jonah's startled out of his focus. "Huh? What?"

"Lemme carry the ball instead," he whispers, "I'll pass it to you and if there's a wide open shot, just take it."

"Alright, but if it doesn't work I'll pass it back."

The whistle blows, and it's back in game mode. Another defender from Thunder, Grayson, kicks it to Ryder. Ryder darts around, avoiding oncoming opponents. The cheers kick up a notch.

"Go Ryder! You got this!"

"Yeah Racin' Ryder!"

Jonah shifts to an opening and waves a hand in the air.

"Here!"

Ryder passes it to Jonah. Opponents scramble to steal the ball again. He eyes at Tate doing his fake out, then moves ahead to pass it. The goalie on Rush prepares for the shot by Jonah, until he passes it to Tate on the other side.

"Shoot!"

Tate takes a clean shot and it lands into the net. The crowd erupts into cheers and clapping.

"Yeah that's how you do it!"

Jonah runs to Tate and grabs his hand for a firm shoulder-bump.

"Nice shot dude!" He says.

The celebration isn't quite upon them, however. We just need to get at least one more, Jonah thinks while walking back to the centre. The ball drops and it's back to playing. Jonah kicks at the ball in an opponent's grip until the whistle blows. They separate and look at the referee. Boos circle around the field.

"What call was that?" Coach John shouts.

The referee ignores him. "You got a warning, Thunder."

What the hell? That was a fair play! He feels anger boil inside. Regardless, it's the upper hand for Rush, so Jonah backs off. The game continues as soon as Rush touches the ball. They pass back and forth constantly to wider spots. Jonah watches as some of his own teammates struggle to catch up.

"Get the ball!" He shouts.

"Oh no," Tate mumbles.

Ben attempts to take the ball, but it goes right around him and a player lands it in the net. The whistle blows once more. Half the crowd cheers, the other half is silent. Damnit, we were doing good! On the other side of the line, Coach John averts his eyes and rubs his forehead in frustration. Jonah feels the sweat pool from his temples, and not just from gradual fatigue. He knows he's going to get the talk-down once he subs off. In the end, it's all an unlucky game.

Now it all adds another shot away from even tying the match.

———————————

Jonah:
Lost our match. How'd u guys play?

He sticks the key in the ignition of his car and places his phone in the cup holder. From outside, Ben walks by carrying flags from the field. Jonah rolls his window down.

"Need help?" He shouts.

Ben turns to him and flashes a soft grin. "I got 'em don't worry."

"Alright. Hey you free for practice next Wednesday?"

He slings his bag strap further up his shoulder, making the flags teeter like hollow torch poles in his grip. "Sure. I only work until 3 that day."

"Sweet, I'll see you then."

"Good game today. Sucks we lost, though."

Jonah thinks back on the unfair call on him. He shakes it off. "Yeah. We'll get 'em next time."

Ben waves goodbye as he trots along to his car trunk. Before Jonah's about to pull out of the parking space, his phone dings.

Cole:

we won.