'¡Maldita sea!' Despite his cursing, JJ held his head high as he led the defence back to the bench. He turned to his teammates, frowning. 'That one's on me.'
'It's on all of us. Always,' Donte said, patting JJ on the shoulder.
'Of course it is,' Coach Hoang said. 'Burns, come here.'
Donte and Coach Hoang moved aside as the rest of the defence took a seat. The Eagles' extra point was successful, pushing the score to 0–7. Though he'd only seen three plays from the Eagles' offence, Coach Hoang was already concerned.
'Burns, you need to line up beside Jones next time you're out there.'
'I can do that, Coach.'
Coach Hoang nodded. Like how Benny wasn't directly assigned to Fale but was still there to chip in and delay him, Donte could provide the same sort of relief on the opposite side of the ball. At least that was the theory, but Coach Hoang wondered if it'd be enough. He was unsure it'd be the definitive answer to stopping a TE who was both like an extra Lineman in the run game, and an extra WR in the passing game.
Watching the teams set up for another kickoff, Ty played around with the same question in his head. To him, the answer was obvious—he'd deal with such a TE. He'd just have to trust he could hold him up enough in the run game that the other Dons could stop the ball.
Another touchback started the Dons at their 25.
Fale was calm and focused as he lined up opposite Benny; you'd have never known he'd just got a strip-sack AND a Receiving touchdown in the past two minutes.
Benny couldn't let that happen again. The Dons could answer that touchdown with one of their own, as long as he gave Jay enough time to find the open target.
'Set…'
The crowd was even more excited. They wanted more violence, more Eagles dominance—it was like they were in Philly rather than Vegas. Benny couldn't even hear his own heartbeat they were that loud.
He lunged forward, desperate to keep Fale back. Benny slammed into Fale and pushed him back just as whistles pierced the cries, and everyone faltered. The play was dead before it began.
Benny looked around. Dozens of eyes were on him, all full of disappointment. Jay walked over and patted him on the back. 'Breathe, dude. Keep it tranquilo.'
The head official's voice boomed through various speakers around the stadium. 'False Start, offence number eighty-nine, five yard penalty, replay first down.'
Benny groaned, head hanging back. 'Fuck…'
As the crowd celebrated the news, the Dons huddled back up. Despite everyone assuring Benny it was okay, and his mistake wasn't that bad, the foul taste in the back of his mouth didn't dissipate.
Pushed back to First and Fifteen, the Dons tried to catch the Eagles off guard with a Draw. Whilst Fale was sent wide on his blitz, Elias still held the middle of the Eagles' D-Line in check, and Chris could only squeeze a yard out of the play before being ground into the turf.
One yard did nothing to cut into the deficit the Dons found themselves in, nor did it dampen the crowd's spirits. The next play was an improvement, but only enough to get them back to square one.
Jay found Stephen off a quick Slant, which gained 4 yards and brought the Dons back to their 25. Two plays after their drive started, they hadn't gone anywhere. … It was better than what had happened after two plays on their first drive.
Needing 10 yards on third down, the Dons went for another pass, something deeper and longer. Even with Benny chipping in, Fale was around the blocks quickly after Jay dropped back. Chris was hardly a bump in the road, and before Jay could be sacked again, he threw the ball away, still getting knocked on his ass by the rampaging Samoan for his troubles.
Fale offered a hand to Jay to help him up, but Jay was content to lay on the ground until Chris came to assist. Fale made no comment about the slight, and walked towards the Eagles' bench for his short respite. Jay watched him go, even as he and the Dons retreated to the opposite sideline.
'You good, Jay?' Chris asked, wiping off Jay's back.
'Right as rain,' Jay lied. A punt instead of a turnover was technically an improvement, but at the rate they were going, the Dons might need one-hundred drives to score a touchdown. Jay had to be faster, had to help his Line and get the ball out before Fale crushed him.
The punt was returned by the Eagles' Hawk for 8 yards, starting them at their own 30. If the Dons wanted a comeback, they'd need to keep the game close, they'd need to stop the Eagles. Barely more than five minutes had passed, yet the Eagles were threatening to push the game out of reach.
As Coach Hoang promised, Donte was positioned alongside JJ, now on the outside shoulder of Fale. His shift didn't go unnoticed by the Eagles, though there was calm instead of panic. The QB stood, addressing his teammates; the crowd was as quiet as a mouse.
'Pendulum, pendulum. Pendulum, pendulum!'
After making sure everyone had heard him, he settled back into his stance under Center, and both teams stood taut, poised for the snap.
Fale shot towards Donte rather than away from him when the ball was snapped, pushing him wide before bouncing back towards JJ. It was a run, and the ball was heading away from them towards Elias and the right side of the O-Line.
JJ tried to cut across the field, but found it especially hard to cut through the bodies blocking him with Fale banging against his hip. The Eagles stampeded forward for 7 yards before the RB was finally brought down.
The Dons picked themselves up, and reset their wall 7 yards further downfield. Another run to the right side on the next play gained 6 more yards.
Coach Hoang didn't shift Donte back to the right side to go against Elias. He shifted the Secondary around, however, switching to a single high-Safety look as Zayden moved down to fill the box and help against the run. Even with this change, the Eagles continued to dominate. They rumbled along the field, and churned through yards, crossing half-field.
Coach Hoang scowled in his chair. He didn't dare move Donte away from Fale. The Eagles had put them in an uncomfortable position, stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to pick one or the other. Working together, Donte could stunt Fale's release and then JJ could contain him. If the Eagles tried a run that way, the two Dons would easily overpower even Fale and shut down anything on the ground … but that exposed their right side, and the Eagles were more than happy to exploit that weakness.
Coach Hoang decided letting the Eagles run all over them was the preferable way to go. Stopping the run was a battle of wills—trench warfare in which the outcome could be altered by digging deep and finding a second wind … or a subtle shift in tactics. If JJ lined up against Fale, but bolted to the opposite side of the Line at the snap, he could shut the run down.
The ball was snapped, the RB cut to the right, and JJ rushed across the other side of the Line. It was a race to the gap, and it was a race JJ would win. If JJ could lay a hard hit—if he could knock the ball loose—then the Dons could shift the momentum enough to take control of the game. But the collision never came.
Somehow, the Eagles had known. Either it was the luckiest guess Coach Hoang had ever seen, or his thought process was more transparent than he knew. The Counter came at the perfect time, and left the Dons in disarray.
The RB cut back to Fale's side, just as Fale was bulldozing through Donte. The RB broke free, leaving the entire defence going the wrong way … almost the entire defence. If it weren't for Ty, the RB could've gone all the way to the end-zone. Instead, he was slammed into the turf 11 yards downfield. Even so, the Eagles were back in the red-zone, ready to tack on another touchdown to their lead.
The Dons knew Ty had just saved their asses, and let him know it too when they picked him up. Their words of praise did nothing to ease the rage building within him. That tackle had been the first thing he'd done since the game began. He'd just been watching, and waiting. Waiting for Coach Hoang to make the call. But realising JJ—their star and captain—couldn't handle Joseph Fale was a hard pill to swallow.
Maybe Ty was being too pessimistic. Maybe his judgement was clouded by selfishness. Of course he had an easy time admitting JJ had failed, maybe too easy, because he wanted to be the star, be the one who stopped the unstoppable Joseph Fale.
He took his position opposite 87 once more, looking towards JJ. "Come on. Prove me wrong."
Coach Hoang was trying to help out however he could. He was desperate for JJ to succeed as well, he had to. There had to be a scheme that could give them the answer. Another Lineman was added to the defence, stacking the D-Line further. Another part of trench warfare was that the side who could throw more bodies into the grinder usually won.
The Eagles seemed ready to prove Hoang wrong, or maybe they were incensed by the challenge, either way, another run headed towards the right side. Fale engaged Donte again, pushing him wide and out of the way. JJ backed off, though hesitated—what if it was another Counter?
Worse, it was Play-Action. Whilst JJ was frozen by indecision, the QB pulled back and whirled around. Fale rushed ahead, already well past JJ. JJ almost fell in his hurry to turn and chase. Fale cut through the middle of the field with a Post, rushing beyond anyone, leaving JJ trailing behind. Only a single Safety stood in his way.
The ball was lobbed over, a beautiful rainbow as it arched towards Fale and the corner of the end-zone. Both Don and Eagle rose towards it, and even with a defender draped over him, pulling at his arms, Fale caught the ball in his heavy mitts, and tapped his feet on the ground like he was in the ballet before falling out of the end-zone. It was a beautiful touchdown, but the Dons had no time to admire it.
'¡Mierda!' JJ helped the Safety to his feet, apologising to him.
Fale looked at them impassively before looking up. He didn't celebrate, only crossed himself before pointing to the dome-covered sky.
As the Dons returned to the bench, dejected, the crowds' jeers showered them. Ty looked up at them as JJ doled out another round of apologies for his mistake. Behind them, the extra point was converted, and the Eagles took a two touchdown lead at 0–14, still with a little under a minute left in the quarter.
Ty knew those looks on the faces in the crowd, and what motivated their comments. It wasn't anger like their haters would have you believe. Sure, they wanted to see HIM fail, but it wasn't because of any sense of justice sparked by his arrogance or whatever had happened at the gala. It was jealousy. They were jealous of him, those miserable fucks. Who were they? Nobodies, stuck in dead-end jobs. Quite a few probably had failed football careers of their own, so they took out their anger on a bunch of teenagers, a fourteen-year-old in particular, who was already better than they ever had been.
He listened close to their shouts, boos, and insults, soaked them in. When they were forced into silence by his greatness, that would be such a sweet moment.
Ty looked at Coach Hoang. He was ready to argue with the man, convince him it was time he got the Joseph Fale assignment, but he didn't need to. Coach Hoang had already accepted such an outcome was necessary.
Ty took his seat as Chris caught a kick barely within their end-zone, and ran it out to the 28-yard line.
'Julian!' Coach Long shouted. 'I know you're frustrated, and rightfully so, but I need you to use that and go smash a path open for Christian.'
Whatever anger JJ might've had boiling under the surface, he didn't let it show as he pulled his helmet back on and marched out with the offence for the last play of the first quarter. If Chris couldn't find an opening in the Eagles' D-Line, JJ would create one for him.
However, the Eagles' formation changed in reaction to the new development. Fale backed off the Line and centred himself. The three Linemen remaining spread out to fill the void.
Undeterred, the Dons pressed onward, snapping the ball. Jay handed it off to Chris, who followed JJ as he crashed through the Line, fending off Elias. A hole was opened, and Chris started through it, just as Fale speared into him. The ball was pinned to Chris's gut in the tackle as they slammed into the ground, preventing another fumble. While the play was the Dons' best run that day, it only resulted in a gain of 2 yards.
With that bombshell, the first quarter ended, leaving the Dons feeling as if they were rapidly running out of options. The boys left the field. Even though it was only the end of the first quarter, they looked more like they'd just finished a sixty-minute war.
Something would have to change if the Dons wanted to stand any chance.
Coach Long and Norman put their heads together, brainstorming what they could do to break through that stout defence.
'We need Julian out there,' Coach Long said, 'but it's obvious they know how we like to use him as a lead blocker.'
'Could we give JJ the ball?' Coach Norman asked.
Coach Long shook his head. 'No. I think … if we keep him as a blocker, we could buy more time for Jay to find a target downfield.'
The boys were left alone to catch their breath and lick their wounds, but Bella approached Coach Hoang for their own conference. 'Ty has to face their Tight End, doesn't he?' she said.
'He will, but that can't be the only change we make. They'll be prepared for that, I'm sure, we need to figure out what other tricks they'll have up their sleeves.'
Bella sat by his side, staring across the field at the Eagles. 'Do you think they'll use him as a Fullback like we do with JJ?'
'They could, but I'm confident if we don't have to worry about Fale as a Receiver, their run game will collapse. If Jones is there, nobody can run us over; we proved that against Kingston and the Bears.'
'So it'll be something to do with their passes? But if it's not Fale, who?'
'It might be someone else, but they might have another way to give Fale the upper hand against Samuels … that's what we have to prevent at all costs.'
Bella bit her lip, turning her attention to Ty. He was distant, even whilst sitting amongst his teammates on the bench he always felt far away. But it was just "regular" distant, not that otherworldly feeling he had before he did something special to save the day.
Ty stared at Fale. He'd stop the Eagles. He had to. How challenging could it truly be? Fale was an All-American because of his defence. There were four Receivers on the offensive eleven. Ty couldn't fall before facing even one of them.
The Dons strode back onto the field after the break, determined to start the second quarter better than the first.
JJ was still in the backfield, and Fale hadn't come back to the end of the Line. The crowd was just as energetic as the first quarter but the snap went off without a hitch. Jay didn't turn towards Chris, but if the Eagles were surprised by a pass coming out of that formation, they didn't show it.
While Benny cut across the field, JJ and Chris hung back to offer Jay protection. However, with the Dons only running three routes, the Eagles smothered everything. Even with the Line holding up for longer, Jay still had to throw the ball away before any target got open.
The Eagles defence still seemed impenetrable. The Dons lined up on third down, this time with Cole and Stephen's routes scissoring across one another. Jay didn't pull the trigger on either deep ball, knowing Hawk was waiting in the wings, ready to pick off any ill-advised bomb.
Chris leaked out of the backfield, offering a check-down which Jay took, and though he scrambled forward five yards, it wasn't enough to pick up a first down, and once more the Dons were faced with fourth down.
Going for it wasn't even a question. The punting unit was sent out. As the offence came off the field, Coach Long and Norman had a lot more to think about.
The punt ended with a fair catch at the Eagles' 23, and their offence took over. When the huddle broke, and Fale took his position, he didn't find JJ waiting for him like usual. Instead, Ty stepped in front of him, embers flickering in his eyes.
A hush consumed the stadium as more spectators noticed the change. A new energy filled the emptiness, a much more bloodthirsty yearning. Surely someone like Fale would crush an arrogant twerp like Tyrese.
Fale met Ty's grin with a blank stare. Then he spoke to a Don for the first time since the coin toss.
He said: 'This won't save you.'