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“I want you to defend, slip your man, spin, receive, and run. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Repeat it back.”
“Defend, slip, spin, receive, and run,” he confirmed.
I was impressed. These weren’t instructions offensive linemen often received.
“And then you’ll fake the pass to him and find me, right?” Nero asked.
I pointed at him. “Decoy.”
“You’re kidding?” Nero challenged.
“Decoy! Repeat it back.”
Nero sighed. “Decoy.”
“Break,” I ordered, sending everyone to their positions.
“Hut,” I yelled before watching the play unfold.
Titus defended, overpowered his man, ran, spun, and waited. It had been close enough. Because with Cage sending both deep defenders after Nero, Titus was wide open. Hitting him with a bullet pass, he locked his hands around the ball and chugged his way to the end zone.
“Touchdown!” Nero yelled as Titus collapsed desperately out of breath.
Cage and I met gazes. He was impressed, having not seen the play coming. That was when he dug in, drawing up plays like it was a championship game.
Using all four downs and our weak defense, Cage eventually scored. But I had just began. Designing a play for Cali to score, we set it up and ran it.
“Touchdown! Did you see that, bro? Every person on our team is gonna score on you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it,” Nero said riding a high.
Although I hadn’t said it, Nero had figured out my plan. I was going to design a play for each of my players so that they all got a chance to score. Nero hadn’t made it any easier by announcing it to their defenders, but harder was better.
With the four high school students looking at me nervously, I showed them my clenched fist. Turning to the first of them, I asked,
“Have you ever scored in a game before?”
“I play defensive line and warm the bench,” he said practically shaking.
“If you run, can you make it to the end zone?”
Without a word, he took off running. I had to call him back.
Nero snickered. “Good thing they won’t know who you’re going to throw to next.”
“They won’t if you’re the quarterback. Do you know how to do a handoff?”
Lining up on the line of scrimmage to the left of Titus, everyone on Cage’s team looked at me, confused.
“Down, set, hut,” Nero shouted before they knew what was happening.
Curling behind him, I took the ball and ran. Still not knowing what was going on, the defense collapsed towards me. Dragging them to the other side of the field, I yelled, “Hey!”
It was enough to get my benched defensive lineman to turn around. Firing the ball cross-field, I hit him in the hands. I thought it was too hard, but he held onto it. The look on his face was delightful. I had never seen someone beam with more joy.
“Touchdown!” Nero yelled, running over and grabbing me around the neck.
