The Champion (62 page)

An 86-yard strike.

Ionath 30, OS1 10, with just under five minutes to play in the game.

Not only had Quentin knocked the living snot out of the game’s deadliest player, he’d thrown the ball in the one place the defender couldn’t get it, knowing his receiver and trusting her to make a spectacular catch. That play and that pass would be on highlight reels for decades to come.

Damn
 ...
sometimes I amaze even myself
.

Put it in the books, baby, this one was over. The Death defense hadn’t been able to stop Quentin, while John, Mum-O, Virak, Bumberpuff and the other Krakens defenders had shut down the much-hyped attack of rookie Danté Diener and veteran Condor Adrienne. Tonight, at least, there was no question as to which team had the better quarterback.

Quentin smiled. He knelt to one knee, plucked a few blades of black grass from the field, held them to his nose and sniffed.

Later, he’d wonder if he heard a step or two before the truck ran him over. He had a moment of consciousness to think,
smells like chocolate
, and then his thoughts were as black as the field beneath him.

GFL WEEK TEN ROUNDUP

Courtesy of Galaxy Sports Network

That’s the nature of the GFL: in just one week, everything can change.

Vik came into this week in first place in the Solar, with Bartel and Jupiter both just one game behind. A Bartel win along with Jupiter’s 10-7 defeat of Vik leaves all three teams at 7-2 and in a complex tie for first. The head-to-head tiebreakers among the three are meaningless, as earlier this season Bartel beat Jupiter and Vik beat Bartel.

Texas (5-4) and Neptune (5-4) are tied for the fourth and final Solar Division playoff spot.

The Water Bugs hung a 35-14 drubbing on the Earthlings. Bugs QB Andre “Death Ray” Ridley threw poorly, going 10-for-31, but rushed for 56 yards and three scores.

Jupiter’s single touchdown was enough to beat Vik. It came from a rare source: a rushing TD from veteran quarterback Don Pine, who scored from two yards out on a naked boot. Pine went in untouched, as the Vanguard defense had keyed in on running back CJ Wellman. It was Pine’s first rushing touchdown in six seasons.

“These old wheels still have power,” Pine joked after the game. “Someone tell (Ionath quarterback Quentin) Barnes and (Bartel quarterback Andre) Ridley I challenge them to a forty-yard dash. I’m not just twice as old as they are, I’m obviously twice as fast.”

Barnes’s performance against the Orbiting Death (8-1) might cast some doubt on Pine’s claim. In addition to throwing for 312 yards and two TDs, the Ionath signal-caller rushed for 113 yards. The 31-10 Ionath victory sealed up a playoff berth and at least one home playoff game for the Krakens (9-0).

The contest was expected to be close, but Ionath got off to an early 14-0 lead and never trailed. Krakens running back Ju Tweedy put in a banner day, racking up 134 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.

Ionath is the only undefeated team remaining in Tier One.

While the win is good news for the Krakens, it may have come at a cost. The status of Barnes remains in question after the Krakens slinger was carted off the field following a late hit from OS1 linebacker Yalla the Biter. Barnes was hit from behind following an 86-yard touchdown pass to Denver. Reports were he regained consciousness in the locker room, but there is no word if the hit will impact his ability to play against Buddha City next week. Barnes has a history of concussions and will need to be cleared by league doctors before being allowed on the field.

The blatant late hit drew sharp criticism from GFL Commissioner Rob Froese.

“The game is dangerous enough without thug tactics like that,” Froese said. “I’m suspending Yalla for two games, at least, and then basing the punishment on Barnes’s recovery. If Barnes is out for the season, so is Yalla. If Barnes’s career is over, so is Yalla’s.”

Death owner Anna Villani is already appealing the suspension.

“This isn’t touch football,” she said. “I pay my players to be aggressive.”

Krakens backup quarterback Trevor Haney finished the game, throwing only two passes, completing one for 7 yards. If Barnes cannot play on Sunday, it is unknown if Haney will get the Week 11 start against the Buddha City Elite or if coach Hokor the Hookchest will once again move All-Pro fullback Rebecca Montagne to quarterback.

The Yall Criminals’ hot streak continued with a 24-14 win over D’Oni (0-9). Yall (7-2) has sole possession of third place in the Planet.

Fourth place in the Planet is now a four-way tie between Wabash, To, Buddha City and Isis, all with identical 5-4 records. Isis defensive end Ryan Nossek blocked a last-second field goal attempt by Wabash to give the Ice Storm a 21 - 10 win and rekindle the team’s playoff hopes.

“Our destiny is now in our hands,” Nossek said. “If we win our last three games, we’re in the playoffs.”

Relegation Watch

In the Planet, Coranadillana (1-8) edged off the bottom with a 21-17 upset over Shorah (3-6), all but eliminating the Warlords from playoff contention.

With three games remaining in the season, the Cloud Killers are now one game up on winless D’Oni. The two teams will meet in Week 13.

McMurdo (1-8) had a season-high offensive output with five touchdowns, but still fell 37-35 to D’Kow (4-5). The Murderers remain in last place in the Solar Division, one game behind Jang (2-7). Should the teams finish with the same record, McMurdo has the head-to-head tiebreaker over Jang.

Deaths

No deaths reported this week.

Offensive Player of the Week

Ionath receiver Denver, who caught touchdown passes of 86 and 54 yards in a Game of the Week matchup against OS1. Denver finished with five catches for 232 yards.

Defensive Player of the Week

Wabash safety Mississauga, who had two interceptions and six tackles in a 21-20 loss to the Isis Ice Storm.

44

Week Eleven:
Buddha City Elite at
Ionath Krakens

x = playoffs, y = division title, * = team has been relegated

“I WILL NOT CLEAR HIM TO PLAY.”

The cultured voice of a Harrah doctor. This time, a female.

Quentin tried to stay focused, to concentrate
through
the dull mud that made it hurt to even blink. All the self-control skills he’d picked up over the years, he needed them now — both to pretend he wasn’t hurting at all, and to stop himself from grabbing the GFL doctor by her wing-flaps and snapping her little body over one knee.

He and his teammates had returned home to Ionath two days earlier. Two
days
of this agony. He hadn’t taken any pain meds or accepted nerve blocks, because those things slowed reaction time and dulled thoughts. Cognitive tests were part of the concussion analysis, so he needed to be as sharp as he could — which wasn’t very sharp at all.

They were in the full medical facility below Ionath Stadium. Quentin sat on a med table, dressed in only an orange hospital gown. The anti-bac tile felt cold beneath his feet.

Doc Patah was there, of course, wearing his orange and black backpack, as always. But he wasn’t the only Harrah this time: two others accompanied him, a large gray-skinned male and a smaller female with a bluish-gray hue. They both wore white backpacks emblazoned with the GFL logo.

And with the Harrah, rarity of rarities: a Human doctor. You didn’t see those very often.

Patah, the three league docs, Gredok the Splithead and his shadow, Virak the Mean, Coach Hokor and — oddly enough — Leiba the Gorgeous. Leiba wasn’t here protecting Froese this time; Quentin assumed he was there to protect the league doctors, because they were the ones delivering bad news.

Gredok the Splithead did not like bad news.

“Absurd,” the gangster said to the female Harrah. “You
will
clear Barnes to play. Our own team doctor has examined him and said he is fit enough to function safely.”