Last Chance (13 page)

Cassie and Jack helped Pete clean himself off and Connor asked, “How exactly would someone get on the football team?”

Jack replied, “The season just started, but I know that walk-ons are allowed up to the fourth game, so you would just have to convince Coach Dane to give you a tryout.”

Pete asked, “You aren’t really considering joining those Neanderthals, are you?”

Connor responded, “Don’t worry about that. I’m planning on taking your dear friend Trey’s job.”

Pete and the others laughed and flexed their muscles. Cassie said, “You guys are crazy! You’re just gonna get hurt.”

Matthew put his hand to his chest and looked at Connor. “I think we’ll be OK. We just need to get a tryout.”

Chapter 10

pity date

“I guarantee it; you won’t regret givin’ us a look. I know we don’t look as big as most of the guys on the team, but we’re really strong for our size.”

Connor responded, “Speak for yourself. I’m plenty big enough to handle your guys.”

“We’re both quick and tougher than we look.”

Matthew and Connor had the head football coach for the Eastview Chargers cornered for over ten minutes and were trying everything to convince Coach Dane to let them go out for the football team. He didn’t seem impressed. “Boys, I’m telling you, I just don’t think you’ll be cut out for the team. We take football real serious around these parts and you don’t have any background in the sport. I don’t even see where you played back in Georgia. Not that we have much respect for football coming out of Georgia around these parts.”

Coach Dane’s bright red trousers cut into the overhung belly of the seasoned high school football coach. He had seen it all in his twenty years and his gut told him that two walk-on sophomores weren’t worth his time. The tobacco stuffed into his jaw was problematic for the boys, as they struggled to understand the words coming from his mouth.

“But coach, we found out that you still have four open spots that freshmen are filling. I promise we are worth more than some fifteen-year-olds.”

The coach looked the boys over again, impressed by Connor’s build, and asked, “So what positions are you trying out for?”

Connor responded, “My brother here is a trailer and I’m a tosser.”

Matthew’s eyes grew to the size of grapefruits. “He means that I would like to try out as a cornerback and he’s a quarterback.”

Coach grabbed a clipboard and chuckled “Let me get this straight; you think you can cover and tackle my boys in the open field, and you think you’re better than Trey Wilson.”

Both shook their heads in the affirmative and said, “Yes, sir.”

The coach pointed to the locker room and said, “Just for pure curiosity’s sake, I’ll give you a shot. There are extra uniforms, pads, and helmets in the locker room. Go find some that fit and be on the practice field at four and we’ll see what you got. Don’t blame me if you both have to go to the nurse’s station when we’re done.”

The boys only had an hour to get their gear on and figure out a way to impress the coach. Luckily, there was a picture of a football player hanging up in the locker room, so the boys positioned all of their pads in the correct orientation. For someone who had never suited up for a football game it could be a confusing proposition.

Matthew and Connor discussed their strategy. “Connor, we have to make you look good, so let’s try to set it up so you throw to me as much as possible. The guys on the team will probably drop passes on purpose just to make you look bad.”

Connor responded, “I’m a little worried about the plays these guys run. I don’t know any of them.”

Matthew stood up from the bench and ran through some things that he had picked up on Sunday. “Remember what we saw on the television. You take the snap from the player in front of you, drop back four or five steps, find the open receiver, and throw it.”

Connor looked at the clock on the wall of the locker room. “It’s 3:55, we better get to the field.” They grabbed the helmets that they found in a locker that could best be described as disgusting and walked to the practice field behind the school.

The rest of the team had already practiced for over an hour, and the first-team offense was running plays. The boys walked up to the coach and noticed a small crowd gathered around the fence surrounding the field. On the other side of the fence resided the majority of the school’s cheerleaders, including Amanda Curry. There were also faces not normally interested in the football team, Cassie, Jack, and Pete among them. They were as interested as anyone to see if the two new guys could survive an audition with Coach Dane.

The boys sneaked up behind the coach and said, “We’re ready, coach. What do you want us to do?”

Before Coach Dane could answer, a shout came from the field from none other than Trey Wilson himself. “You gotta be kidding me, coach! What are those two losers doing out here?”

Coach snapped back, “You didn’t hear, Trey? These boys wanna be on the football team, so we’re gonna give ‘em a tryout.”

Coach Dane looked to the shorter of the brothers and asked, “Matthew, right? I want you to cover that receiver, number eighty-one. Don’t let him catch any passes. I’ll give you five chances to stop him.” Matthew ran out to the field while the coach lumbered out to the offensive huddle. Matthew and Connor couldn’t hear what he was saying.

“Look, boys, we have to let some of these kids try out every once in a while just to keep the parents and principal off my ass, so just run our plays, catch the ball, and run over this kid a few times and we’ll be done with it.”

Trey added to the coach’s comments. “Let’s run a couple of picks on this little prick. He won’t make it five plays.”

Matthew was still wearing his health Hathmec and took a position covering number eighty-one. Trey Wilson walked up to the line and barked out the plays. “Thirty-two, thirty-two, set, hut…hut.” All the players were in movement, along with number eighty-one, and Matthew tracked him closely. Number eighty-one was moving laterally across the field when Matthew felt a thunderous blow to his chest.

He had just run into another offensive player who had set an illegal pick on him to clear him out of the way. Number eighty-one easily caught the pass that Trey Wilson had thrown. Connor saw what happened and began to open his mouth, but the coach stopped him, “You have to deal with what’s thrown at you in this game.” He yelled to the field, “So, Mr. Chance, do you wanna try this four more times?”

Matthew bounced right up, looked to the sidelines, and said, “Let’s try it again.” The coach was surprised that the boy had gotten up so fast, but he was confident that another shot or two like that would get him off the field.

“Go ahead, run another one.” Again, Matthew was lured into an illegal block and knocked down, only to pop up again. This went on for four plays. The coach looked to Connor and said, “Well, he may not be a good ballplayer, but he can sure take a shot.” He yelled back to the field, “This is your last shot kid; make it count.”

Trey Wilson yelled out the final hut on Matthew’s last chance to make the team, and his receivers all started on their predetermined routes. This time, as Matthew tracked number eighty-one, he made a split-second decision to dodge the player who tried to block him. In doing so, he got farther behind the receiver than he anticipated so he had to make up the gap.

Trey Wilson threw the ball high into the air and it headed straight for number eighty-one. It looked as though he would make the catch in stride. Matthew saw the ball in the air, and his mind replayed the catch that he had made to save the beamball game just a few days earlier. He remembered the power that he felt in his legs and the speed that he had gained through the health charm, so he called upon it once again.

Within an instant, Matthew had made up the ground on the receiver and he leaped toward the ball with extended hands and caught it before it ever got to number eighty-one. He was lying on the ground with the ball, and as he got up, he extended it into the air for all to see. As if a firecracker had been detonated, the few students behind the fence started to cheer. Even the lovely Amanda Curry smiled in appreciation of the accomplishment.

On the sidelines, Connor peered up at Coach Dane and saw the look of astonishment on his face. The coach told his offense to run another play. Trey Wilson objected and said that it was just luck. “Then run another play and prove me wrong,” yelled the coach.

The offense ran ten more plays, and Matthew Chance either intercepted or knocked down every ball that was thrown his way. The crowd around the fence started to grow as they watched something that they had never seen before: Trey Wilson getting shown up.

“Ten out of ten isn’t luck. Connor, are you as good as your brother?”

A small glint pierced through Connor’s eyes as he overflowed with confidence and said, “I’m better.”

The coach turned his attention back to the field and called Trey and Matthew to the sideline. “Trey, you’re out. I want to see what the other brother can do.”

A look of panic and pure anger gripped Trey Wilson as he tensed up and verbalized his frustration. “You’re gonna let this little twerp take snaps from my team!”

Coach Dane was not deterred. “I make the decisions on who steps on that field, son, and don’t you forget it!”

Trey threw his helmet to the ground and stared a hole through Connor as he made his way to the bench. “Can I work with Connor at wide receiver, coach?” asked Matthew. Coach agreed and pulled one of the other players off the field. Connor and Matthew hustled to an unpleasant huddle.

The boys in the huddle looked grudgingly at the sophomore who now ran their practice. “OK, guys, I don’t really know any of the plays that you run here, so let’s just run the same play Matthew’s been whippin’ you on.” Connor pointed to Matthew. “You run straight down the field and cut in at about thirty yards.”

The rest of the guys in the huddle started to laugh and Connor asked what the problem was. One of Trey’s best buddies, Austin, said, “That would be like a fifty-yard out pattern. There is no way you got the arm for that.”

Connor replied, “You just block for me.” As the boys broke the huddle, Connor walked with Matthew to his spot on the line and said, “Don’t you dare drop this ball.” Matthew grinned at his brother and flashed him a thumbs up.

Connor leaned down and placed his hands between the center’s legs to receive the oddly shaped football. He barked out the same calls that he had heard Trey use a few minutes before. Connor pulled back from the offensive line and squeezed the oblong football in his right hand. The football was easier to hold than a beamball, so it should be easier to throw.

Three rather large upper classmen were bearing down on him. It seemed the offensive line hadn’t done a very good job blocking for Connor. Now half of the defensive line was about to pile-drive him into the ground.

Connor wasn’t fazed, as he spun out of the clutches of the first defender, darted to the right to avoid the second, and stiff-armed the third to the ground. He dashed to the right side of the field and spotted his brother. Matthew had reached the point in his route where he broke off to the center of the field. Connor reared back and unleashed the football. Coach Dane marveled at the young boy’s arm strength as he watched Matthew coral the ball into his arms, right in stride. “Run it again,” yelled the coach.

The team ran back to the line and started another play. This time a few of the offensive linemen actually blocked for Connor. Connor dropped back and saw an opening to number eighty-one and fired the ball on a rope right into his hands. Coach Dane yelled out, “Run it again!” Again, the team ran to the line and Connor fired another strike, this time to the tight end.

This played out ten more cycles, with a similar result each time. Coach Dane called the boys back over to the sideline. “Well, boys, that was one the best displays of football skill that I have seen on this field in quite some time.”

Connor thanked the coach and asked the obvious question. “So, are we on the team?”

“On the team? You want to know if you made the team? Of course you made the team!”

He went on to explain that if Connor and Matthew knew the playbook, they would both be starting next week. “You can’t officially start joining us for practices until next week, so just start learning the playbook for the rest of the week and we’ll see you on the practice field starting next Monday.”

The news of the coach’s excitement didn’t sit well with Trey Wilson.

“Coach, are you out of your mind? You wanna start these two sophomores over me?” Trey continued his tirade as the coach made his way to the locker room. “I’m a third-year starter and I made the All District team last year.”

Coach put his arm around his star quarterback and explained, “Look, son, you’re a good quarterback, but that boy has the best arm I have ever seen on a high school kid. You’ll be the starting quarterback until we can get Connor up to speed on our playbook and then I’ll move you to linebacker. It’s about the team, son, and no one player is bigger than the team.”

The coach left the practice field and headed back to his office. Trey made his way back to the field where he ran into his cohorts Austin and Rick. “Come here, guys, I need to talk to you about something.”

On the other end of the field, Matthew and Connor headed to the fence to see how Amanda had reacted to their amazing play. Before they made it there, Matthew was stopped by Cassie and Jack. “That was unbelievable. How did you guys do that?”

Jack added, “Yeah, you took some pretty bad shots and got up like it was nothing.”

Matthew responded, “Well, Connor and I have played back home for a while, so we’re used to the pressure of the game.”

Connor was already making his way toward the group of cheerleaders at the end of the fence line and Matthew attempted to do the same, but Cassie had other plans.