End Zone (11 page)

With so much pressure on him, it was only a matter of time before the Rockets' quarterback made a mistake. Seeing that his other receivers were covered, he threw it to Ronde's man—something most teams had avoided doing all season, and with good reason.

Ronde, a step behind, easily made up the lost ground once the ball was in the air. He leaped at the last minute to make the interception, then avoided being brought down by the receiver.

With the ball in his hands, in the open backfield, it was like running back a kickoff. Once again, Ronde shifted into that extra gear he'd had ever since his growth spurt.

He was all over the field, running toward one sideline, then doubling back toward the other, only to spin back inside and dart down the center of the field, blazing all the way to the end zone.

He was going so fast that he had to keep going, right up the stairs of the bleachers. Some of the home crowd grabbed him so he could stop himself. They clapped him so hard on the back that he said, “Ow!”

The Eagles were rolling now, and they never looked
back. The final score was 45–17—a complete rout of the demoralized Rockets! The final ten minutes was a rollicking, loud celebration by the Eagles and their fans, cheering for the League Championship they so richly deserved.

•  •  •

Hayden and Ronde got game balls from Coach Wheeler. Ronde saw Hayden give his to Tiki, along with a big bear hug.

Ronde knew Tiki had said something to Hayden when the kid was falling apart in the first quarter. He didn't know what it was, but it sure had done the trick.

Whether Manny came back for their next game or not, the Eagles now had a quarterback they could rely on from here on in. Someone they could ride—hopefully—all the way to the State Championship!

TIKI HOISTED HIS BOOK BAG OVER HIS SHOULDER,
left his last-period math class, and headed down to football practice.

Tiki was happier than he'd been in a long time. For one thing, he'd done well on his big tests—which meant that he could take it easy for the rest of the term. All his teachers were in holiday mode too. The vacation was less than two weeks away, and most of the serious teaching was over until January.

But that wasn't the only reason Tiki was feeling light. The Eagles had won the League Championship, keeping their perfect record intact. Even if they lost in the Regionals, at least they would have accomplished something great—something no one could take away from them, ever.

He and Ronde would graduate and go on to Hidden Valley High, but they'd never be forgotten. Their photos would be on the wall outside the gym, holding up all those trophies and awards they'd won. Kids years from now would try to live up to their achievements.

It was a great feeling. But there was still much more to accomplish. And if they won their next three games, they would reach the greatest goal of all—a repeat State Championship, with not a single loss in the whole season to spoil the perfection of the achievement.

The cherry on top was, the Eagles now had Manny back the rest of the way. His scrambling ability, and his feel for the game, were better than any QB Tiki had played with so far. With Manny behind center, it would be a huge boost for the Eagles.

All this time, he'd had to worry about their chances. Now, at last, he felt good about things. That broken mirror, and those black cats, were just a thing of the past. The Eagles had weathered the storm, he was sure.

That is, until he arrived at practice, and heard what Coach Wheeler had to say.

“Okay, listen up, offense,” Wheeler began, putting one foot up on the bench and balancing his playbook on his knee. “Manny's back—but he still has to be treated carefully. That means he won't be practicing with us, except for noncontact drills. Nobody comes near him, got it?”

Tiki frowned. He got it, all right. But without real repetition, complete with the defense going after him, it would be hard for Manny to get back his rhythm.

“I'm going to give Hayden lots of reps,” Wheeler went on, “because if Manny gets hit during the game, and has to sit down, we're going to need Hayden to be ready.

“I'm also putting you offensive line guys on notice—you too, running backs—that your number one job on pass plays is to keep your quarterback from getting hit. Now, let's go over the plays for our game with Loudon. . . .”

Tiki could barely focus on the rest of Coach Wheeler's talk. The thought of Manny hitting his head on the turf again gave him the shivers. The Eagle defense might take it easy on him in practice, but it was up to Tiki and the offensive line to protect Manny against Loudon's pass rush. And that, he knew, was not going to be any picnic.

•  •  •

The Loudon Giants were 13–1, counting the play-offs in their league. They were as fast as the Eagles, even if they weren't quite as big. And they had home-field advantage, because this year it was their league's turn to host the regional play-off.

This was the Eagles' first away game in five weeks. They'd gotten used to having the home crowd behind them. So it was weird to run out onto the field, yelling at the top of their lungs, and not hear the crowd roaring with them.

That roar was reserved for the Loudon Giants. When they came running out, fast as a stampede of horses, their fans went wild. Tiki winced, thinking how hard it would be to hear Manny's signal calling with all that racket.

“How're you feeling?” Tiki asked his quarterback as they paced around on the sideline. “You ready for this?”

“Ready as I'll ever be,” Manny replied, shrugging.
“Gotta get my feet wet first, then we'll see. Hopefully, I won't get hit too hard.”

“You're not going to get hit at
all
,” Tiki promised. “I've got your back, Manny. I'll be sticking to your blind side, just in case they come at you that way. Count on it.”

“Thanks, dude,” Manny said, clapping Tiki on the shoulder. “Hey, I'm not worried – as long as we've got you to carry the offense, my job's a breeze.”

They slapped five, and ran out onto the field for the coin toss. When it went up, Manny called heads—and heads it was.

A good start—but from there on, things didn't go so smoothly for the Eagles. Ronde gave them pretty good field position with his runback, and Tiki got them eight yards on first down. But on Manny's very first pass play, the ball sailed high, and right into the arms of the Giants' free safety!

“Don't worry, yo,” Tiki told Manny as they walked off the field together. “You're just a little rusty. Stay with it, and you'll find the range.”

The Eagle defense bent but didn't break. After eight plays, the Giants tried a long field goal—and missed.

“See?” Tiki told Manny as they strapped their helmets back on. “No harm done. Just put that throw behind you, and let's go get 'em!”

But on their second drive, the same thing happened. Manny threw a third-down screen pass, but the ball
floated too much, and the Loudon cornerback was able to get between the ball and the receiver. He came down with it, and this time, Loudon drove the ball into the end zone with a series of quick passes and a mad dash by their quarterback, for a 6–0 lead after the extra point.

On their next drive, Coach Wheeler had the Eagle offense go to the ground game—specifically, to Tiki. The Giants' defensive line was smaller than Pulaski's or North Side's. And fast as they were, they were no match for Tiki's hyperdrive speed and quick moves. He tore them up for fifty-two yards—and that was just on the ground. Manny also found him with a quick buttonhook pass in the end zone to nail the touchdown!

Adam's extra point tied the game, and that's the way it stayed until just before halftime. With a minute left on the clock, Tiki got the Eagles into the Giants' red zone with a long run, breaking away from two tackles along the way.

Then, on the last play of the half, the Eagles pulled a double reverse—Manny handed off to Tiki, who ran toward the sideline, then handed off to Luke, who was going in the opposite direction. Luke turned the corner and dove into the end zone, stretching the ball out in front of him—touchdown, Eagles!

The halftime score was 14–7, and things were looking good. Other than scoring off the interception, the Giants hadn't shown much offensive power, and they had yet to find a way to stop Tiki.

•  •  •

The second half began with surprises, and none of them was good. On the kickoff, Loudon's return man lateraled the ball to one of his teammates, just as he was getting tackled by Ronde. The second guy made it all the way to the Eagle thirty before he was brought down.

From there, the Giants pulled a stunt play on first down: a flea-flicker. It began the way the Eagles' double-reverse had in the first half. The quarterback handed off to the running back, who handed it to the fullback going the other way. But the Giants added another twist—the fullback lateraled it back to the QB, who launched a bomb into the end zone!

Ronde had been fooled by the reverse, and found himself chasing the fullback, bringing him to the ground just after he'd tossed the ball back to his quarterback.

The receiver in the end zone was free to make the grab for the touchdown. The extra point went up—and just like that, the score was tied again.

From there on, it was a tight game. Tiki kept on racking up the yards, and Manny found his passing rhythm again. The Eagle blockers were picking up the rush, just like Coach Wheeler had told them to, and Manny was not being hit—not at all.

Still, the Giants were able to keep the Eagles out of the end zone. Whenever Tiki and his teammates got into the red zone, the defense stiffened and got really stingy.

The Giants clogged up the middle, and had the speed to defend runs around end. Twice, the Eagles had to settle for short field goals. Once, they tried to run it in on fourth down, but Luke got stonewalled at the goal line.

On the other side of the ball, the Giants were moving the chains, but they weren't doing much scoring either. They notched one touchdown via the run, but Ronde stopped another long drive with an unbelievable interception in the end zone.

Late in the fourth quarter, with the Giants leading by one measly point, but driving again, Ronde made the play of the game. On third and long from the Eagle 40, the Giants had to pass. Ronde came on a corner blitz, hitting the quarterback just as he was about to let go a long bomb to a wide open receiver in the end zone.

The ball came loose, flew straight up, end over end, and Rob Fiorilla grabbed it! He lumbered toward the Giants' end zone, and Ronde got up in time to throw a key block, freeing Rob to make it all the way to the Giant twenty!

The clock was winding down. Only thirty seconds left in the game. But it was the Eagles who held the ball—and they were already in field goal range.

Tiki took the handoff from Manny on first down and drove to the eleven yard line. Now they were down to twenty seconds, and Coach Wheeler called the Eagles' second time-out.

“I want you to throw to the end zone on second down,”
he told Manny. “If it's incomplete, we go to Tiki on third down. If that doesn't work, we call our last time-out, and send Adam out to nail the winning field goal.”

The pass on second down was on target—but Felix Amadou let it bounce right off his chest. Felix went down on his knees and grabbed his head with both hands, roaring with frustration as the crowd's cheering drowned him out.

It was Tiki's turn on third down. He took the handoff and blasted through a hole in the line created by Paco, who bulled over the nose tackle like he was made out of paper.

Tiki streaked forward, willing himself into the end zone for the winning score. . . .

THUNK!

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, staring up at his teammates who were bent over him, their helmets in their hands.

“What happened?” he asked.

“You okay, Tiki?” Paco asked, looking worried.

“You got
hit
, dude,” Luke told him.

“What?”

Tiki suddenly realized he wasn't holding the ball.

“It's okay,” Luke told him. “We recovered the fumble at the fifteen.”

“But the clock—!”

“Coach called time,” Paco said. “There's one second left. Adam's gonna kick it through, don't worry. Here, let me get you up,” he added, thrusting out a hand for Tiki to grab.

“Don't touch him!” Coach Wheeler's voice cut through everything. He nudged Paco and Luke aside and knelt beside Tiki.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked.

Tiki squinted. He couldn't really tell. Was he seeing double?

“Uh, four?”

“That's it,” Coach said. Turning, he called over his shoulder, “Bring the stretcher!”

“What? No, I'm fine!” Tiki insisted, though his head was throbbing. He tried to sit up, but the whole field started spinning, and he laid back down.

As they carried him off the field, he could hear the polite applause of the Giant fans.

“I'm fine, I'm telling you!” Tiki kept saying as they brought him to the sideline. “Let me watch the kick!”

They stopped the stretcher long enough for Tiki to watch Adam put the game-winning field goal through the uprights.

“Yesss!” Tiki said, thrusting his fist into the air. “OWW!!” His head throbbed like mad, and he grabbed it with both hands.

“Okay, let's get you to the locker room,” said Coach Wheeler.

There, lying on the stretcher, surrounded by his happy, tired, but worried teammates, the doctor examined Tiki, who was already feeling a little better. His headache had
calmed down some, and he was no longer seeing double.

“It's a mild concussion,” the doctor told Coach Wheeler. “Not as bad as Manny's.”

“Oh, great,” said Coach Wheeler, letting out a relieved breath. “I thought—”