There was a pep in Ty's step as he returned to the bench, sitting comfortably as he looked around. In the crowd, slight cheers were interspersed with few boos; more of a disappointed silence broke the stands into little pockets of noise. Good. The people of Vegas were beginning to understand this was Ty's tournament; it'd be the same for those watching at home.
The Dons' offence took over, already in prime position to score, which was helpful seeing as their first drive didn't get far.
Stephen had a hard time getting open even in a one-on-one. He still had a height advantage, but for once he wasn't towering over his opponent.
Running was going to be hard with the size of the Warriors' D-Line. Breaking through the middle would be impossible, but even stretching outside of the Tackles was difficult as the Warriors won the battle on the edge.
And without Benny to provide any relief, the rest of the Receivers couldn't find space to work with for any meaningful game.
The Dons only gained a couple of yards before having to bring the kicking unit out and go for the field goal. Thankfully, there weren't any problems on the kick, and the Dons took an early 3–0 lead.
The following kickoff was returned to the Warriors' 22-yard line. Ty looked at the scoreboard as he walked onto the field. Three points or seven, it didn't matter. The game was over; he'd protect that lead until the final whistle.
He didn't expect to see much action—anyone could guess the Warriors would use their physical prowess and try to overpower the Dons with their run-game. They should've done so from the start, but they wanted to make a statement by targeting Ty on the first play. That had backfired.
The first play of their second drive was just as expected—a powerful run where their RB surged behind their Line. Even with the Dons knowing what was coming, they couldn't fill every gap, and holes were forced open for the RB; the Warriors had the advantage in the trenches. But JJ was the man who tipped the scales.
He raced into the hole, meeting the RB head-on, crushing him and stopping him after a gain of only a yard.
A second run on the next play met similar results, gaining only another yard. The Warriors would have to succeed through the air if they wanted any chance of moving the ball.
Obviously Eighty was out of the equation with Ty clinging to him like a second layer of skin, so the Warriors had to look elsewhere for their redeemer.
Targeting the opposite side of the field, the Warriors challenged Deshaun. He didn't back down, and was all over his Receiver as the Warriors tried another back-shoulder toss along the sideline. Deshaun swatted it aside, and just like that, the Warriors had to punt.
That set the tone for the first quarter. It was a defensive slog, with neither offence getting going. Before the end of the quarter, however, the Dons figured out enough to push deeper.
The Warriors were good on the ground, but susceptible to Counters, and even a Sweep using Cole—suggested by Bella. Though the Dons still struggled through the air, and once the Warriors stopped over-committing, they held the Dons down again, keeping them to another field goal.
At the first break, the Dons held a 6–0 lead, and the Warriors had yet to earn a first down.
Ty sat back during the break, staring up at the stadium's lights. The crowd was quiet, discontent, some people were already leaving. It wasn't a pretty game, not one that would entertain a casual audience. People didn't appreciate defensive masterpieces, and whilst the Dons might've been struggling offensively without Benny, it's not like they were playing sloppy football, the Warriors just had a strong defence. There was a reason they'd made it so far.
"But their road ends here. Who knows how far they could've gone if they didn't run into me."
Playing pretty wasn't important. Those who got it, got it. Ty got it. He understood the essence of the battle. Not every fight was going to be a blood-bath like the previous week. Sometimes both sides lost their weapons early on, fought with their bare hands instead of dull swords, and it became a mud fight—gritty, slow, raw. Sometimes there wasn't blood at all, and the fight only ended after one side wrestled away full control, and slowly, consciously, strangled the life from their opponent.
The Warriors opened the second quarter on offence, and whilst they managed to get a first down—utilising shorter, quicker passes to their large Receivers—their woes still continued and they were stopped soon after. The Dons fought hard, making up for what they lacked in size with grit, clawing and fighting for every yard.
On the opposite side of the ball, the Dons continued to prod and poke at the Warriors' defence. They worked through the air, finding that Cole was their most important Receiver. His quickness and agility gave him the edge in his contests, though the Warriors slowly closed off the space he had to work with, and the Dons had to settle for another field goal.
But that set the Dons up for success on their next drive. After the Warriors had another offensive struggle, and quickly punted the ball back, the Dons went on the attack once more.
They used a combined effort of Stretch runs and HB Tosses, as well as quick Slants and Drags from Cole to suck the Warriors in before exploiting them over the top with Stephen.
His Post route slashed across the field, getting behind the defence, leaving him in a one-on-one, Whilst the Warriors could hold him down with a single defender in shorter situations, Stephen excelled with deep balls, where he could jump up and beat his man in the air. Especially if there wasn't a Safety to worry about, he was near-unstoppable. The Warriors found that out the hard way as he hauled in Jay's long bomb, shrugged off his defender, and ran the ball in for a 50-yard touchdown.
The Dons stretched their lead to 16–0 and that was the last score for either side that half.
'Good work, everybody,' Coach Long said, patting everyone on the head as he went along the sideline. 'That's exactly what I want to see. Keep it up in the second half.'
Even saying so, the Dons still had some things to figure out in the break. The biggest challenge would be adjusting to the Warriors' changes. They could speculate on what those changes would be, and try to preemptively counter them, but until they actually saw what the Warriors would do, they'd be in the dark.
Defensively, Coach Hoang had little to remark upon. 'Don't let it go to your head. Keep to your assignments, and finish the game strong. Make sure that's still at zero by the time the second half's over,' he said the last part pointing at the Warriors' score.
Ty looked around again. He hadn't been thrown at since the first play. Being targeted only once, and having that end in an interception was a good statline to look at for a DB. Though he was sad that, unless things changed, he wouldn't get a pick-six that game.
Others had noticed Ty wasn't involved in the game other than to do some cardio. He was still doing his job in eliminating Eighty, and none of the other Receivers looked threatening, but still, the star player not being involved in the game wasn't good for the game's attendance. Surprisingly, even Kentavious Junior and Senior had left.
Ty laughed. He hoped the interception was enough to make their trip worthwhile. His attention soon fell from the stands to the opposite sideline.
The Warriors looked exhausted. They weren't yet defeated, but he could see they were on the verge as they desperately brainstormed for any sort of winning plan. Ty could almost pity them. Surely they should've known it was over as soon as they gave up even a single point.
The halftime break ended, and the Dons offence marched onto the field after the kickoff resulted in a touchback. The Warriors' defensive adjustments would be the trickiest challenge in the second half, and with their lead the Dons were willing to use their first drive of the second half to test those changes.
The Warriors had less players in their D-Line, now only having three players spread wide across the line, and their LBs were positioned deeper in the field, clearly they were inviting the Dons to run, so the Dons took them up on such an invitation.
A run to the outside went nowhere. The edge was shut off easily, and when Chris tried to look inside, the LBs had already swarmed down to reinforce the Warriors' Line, keeping him contained.
The Dons kept to ground on the next play, trying a run up the middle, but the Warriors could squeeze their Line to block off the inside at a moment's notice, and even that was shut off for Chris. The LBs instead reinforced the edges, once again keeping Chris contained for a minimal gain.
On third down, Jay had to throw the ball away. The Warriors zone was too expansive with their LBs back in coverage. Every outlet was shut down, and the Dons were forced into a quick three-and-out.
Defensively, the Warriors were on the right path. Unfortunately for them, their offence still couldn't break through the Dons.
They brought in a FB, hoping to break through on the ground, however the Dons stacked the box, holding them back. It was ironic. On one side, the Warriors were begging the Dons to beat them on the ground, and the Dons failed to do so. And on the flip side, the opposite was true.
No team broke through the other's defence during the third quarter, and the score remained at 16–0 in the Dons' favour.
During the final break, both offences scrambled to come up with a plan to break the stalemate.
You'd have thought it'd be a rather boring game for Ty, and he'd be falling asleep during the breaks right beside Jay. That couldn't have been further from the truth. It didn't satisfy his urge to be challenged, but it did scratch a different itch within Ty—to be seen. He craved fear more than respect, and what greater sign could there be that one team feared you, than them avoiding you for an entire game?
He kept glancing at the cameras around the stadium. He hoped everyone in the tournament was watching. It was a perfect example of the fate awaiting whatever team got in the Dons' path next—submission and surrender.
The Dons opened the final quarter, and tested the plan devised by the think tank of Coach Long, Bella, and Coach Norman during the break. Instead of their usual one TE, three WR, and one RB formation, both Chris and Cameron stood in the backfield, either side of Jay who was in Shotgun. There wasn't a TE on the field at all, and instead Stephen, Cole, and Amon flanked both sides of the formation.
The Warriors were curious, and cautious, though stuck to their prior formation. A hand-off to Cameron up the middle earned the Dons 4 yards. Play-Action followed. Faking the hand-off to Cameron, Jay hit Cole on an In route over the LBs who had crept up.
After that, the Dons kept the ball rolling. They could run with Chris out of that formation too, proving so when Cameron led the way as a lead blocker on an Off-Tackle run which earned 7 yards. But that wasn't Chris's only use. On another Play-Action, Chris shot out of the backfield and went into an Angle route over the middle, slipping in between the cracks of the LBs.
It was a death by a thousand cuts, and even Amon and Stephen contributed. They attacked both sidelines deep, keeping multiple DBs occupied every play. And when the Dons got to the goal-line, JJ was brought in to lead the way for Cameron who punched the ball into the end-zone for the Dons' second touchdown of the game.
With the score reading 23–0, the Dons took their foot off the gas for the remainder of the fourth quarter. At least their offence did. Their defence, led by Ty's continuous effort against Eighty, continued to choke the life out of the Warriors on every drive.
The game ended with the scoreboard still at 23–0. Little fanfare met the Dons when the final whistle blew, however their faithful supporters still rallied, and the boys were still ecstatic. Another victory meant they were one step closer to the ultimate trophy, and perhaps more importantly, the family stayed together for another week.
Ty was overjoyed. To him, it was almost the sweetest victory they'd had that season—getting revenge against both Downey and Warren had been sweeter. Seeing that zero underneath the Warriors was perfection. They'd taken a State championship team, one that'd made it to the second round of the National championship, and shut them out for sixty minutes.
It wasn't just a victory, it was a statement. Nationals was as good as theirs.