Brooks Berry In The Case Of The Stolen Season Read online

  Chapter 3 - Game 1

  Tosa East opened up their football season against a smaller school, Eisenhower. Brooks and Brad hopped on their bikes and headed out into the Friday night to watch the game. They had high hopes that the Tosa East Raiders would open up with a big victory against a weaker rival. The ride lasted about 10 minutes and when they got to the school, they locked up their bikes in the bike rack and walked towards the field.

  The two friends stopped at the concession stand where Brooks got some popcorn and a soda and Brad got a pack of Red Vines and a Gatorade. As they turned away from the concession stand a man with long hair and a baseball hat was walking quickly towards the parking lot. He looked like he was in a real hurry, as he walked by the boys, his left arm accidently banged into Brooks, sending the popcorn bucket to the ground, “Hey!” yelled Brooks.

  The man kept on walking quickly out of the area and headed towards the parking lot. Brad started to chase after the man, but Brooks stopped him – “Just let him go, I wasn’t that hungry anyways.” Quick-tempered Brad was flushed red, “I’ll make him buy you a new bucket of popcorn!” “Don’t worry about it, it’s not worth it,” said Brooks. “Well you can have some of my Red Vines if you want,” offered Brad.

  They walked into the field and took their seats in the bleachers with the rest of their classmates, parents and the high school kids. Brooks was excited that soon he would be one of them. A lot of the kids were dressed in red and white, Tosa East’s school colors.

  Eisenhower had a losing record last season and really no great improvement to the team this year. A rout was fully expected as this was going to be Jeff Kopish's big debut as a senior quarterback. Brad said, "I wonder if we'll see any of the trick plays that Coach was talking about." Brooks shook his head, "I doubt it, they probably won't need them in this game - but I'm sure we'll see some when they play the Trojans." The Trojans were the team name of the Tosa West football team - their big rival.

  The whistle blew and the game started. The Raiders had lost the coin flip and headed to their positions. Eisenhower returned the kickoff to about the 25. On the first play, the Raiders blitzed the Eisenhower Lion's Quarterback who quickly dumped the ball over the oncoming rushers for a 25-yard completion. The Raiders appeared to be a bit stunned that the Lion's had so easily read the blitz and gotten the completion.

  The next play was a 15-yard run up the middle. The 3rd play of the drive was a long pass to the wide receiver lined up on the left side. When the pass left the Lion's quarterback's hand, Brooks shouted, "This will be a pick! You don't throw to Joe Lofy's side of the field!" Joe was the Senior All State cornerback. There was a lot of talk of him going to a big NCAA school next year on a scholarship. Somehow the Lion receiver had two steps on Joe and the ball glided right over his shoulder into his outstretched arms and the receiver made the gap 3 steps, then 4, then 5 - then a touchdown. "I've never seen Joe get beaten so badly," sighed Brad. Joe was dejected as he walked to the sidelines. Brooks noticed a slight limp, hardly noticeable, but noticeable to an eye for details like Brooks. The trainer ran over to Joe on the sidelines and Coach Vitrano sent Jeff Kopish into the game to start the offensive drive. They had run the kick back to the 35-yard line, so he had good field position.

  Coach V and the offense had been going over the first set of plays very thoroughly all week in preparation for this game. The first 10 were all scripted, so Jeff felt very prepared as he ran onto the field and strapped on his helmet. The first play was a short pass to the tight end - Jeff called out the play "BLUE, XRAY, 17, LEFT...HUT..HUT..HIKE!" The ball was snapped into Jeff’s hands and he took a few steps backwards "Shoot" he thought, "Tight end covered by 2 guys, I can't pass there." He calmly looked for his second choice a quick dump out to the running back "What the? He's covered too!" Jeff looked downfield to see if one of his wide receivers was open...

  CRUSH! Jeff didn't see the defender that was about to hit him from behind. 250 pounds of what felt like a 30 year old man was lying on top of him. "How does a high school kid weigh this much?" Jeff thought. He had been sacked for a 10-yard loss. Brooks looked at Brad and groaned. The second play was supposed to be a double reverse. Jeff would take the snap and hand it off to a player streaking to the left who would then hand it off to a player streaking to the right. He got to the line of scrimmage and called the play "RED DOG, XRAY, 3 BLACK...HUT...HIKE”

  The ball was slammed into his hands; he took two steps back and handed off to the player streaking left - perfect handoff, just like in practice. The ball was handed off for the second time perfectly to the runner streaking to the right THUD. Eisenhower's defenders had read the play and didn't bite on the original direction of the play. Instead they held back and moved over to the right anticipating the reverse and easily tackled the player with the ball - loss of 2 yards.

  "Whoa" sighed Brad. Coach Vitrano stood on the sidelines looking like a man who had seen a ghost. Two plays in a row that were smelled from a mile away.

  The third play was supposed to be a medium pass route. "HIKE" yelled Jeff. A second later the ball was in his hands and he was stepping backwards quickly. Jeff started his receiver check off - Option 1 was covered. Quick scan to option 2 - covered. Quick scan to option 3 - covered. Jeff couldn't believe it. He ran to the left where he saw an opening and was able to get about 5 yards before being tackled. It was fourth down and Jeff headed to the sidelines as the punting crew ran onto the field. He walked over to Coach and said, "I don't know what's going on....nothing worked out there." Coach Vitrano was over his initial shock and back to his calm self. "No big deal, Jeff. It happens. Stick to the play, we'll get them next time."

  The Lions made some progress downfield but then had to punt. Jeff strapped on his white helmet and headed back out. In the stands Brooks and Brad had a renewed sense of optimism. "Here we go," yelled Brad as he and Brooks bumped fists.

  The first play was a run up the middle for short yardage. The next play was an incomplete pass.

  In the huddle Jeff’s frustration was showing. "We need to make a big play here. Who is going to step up?" he barked. He looked over at the sidelines. Coach Vitrano signaled for one of the new trick plays - the Statue of Liberty play with a twist - the running back would have the option to throw it or run it based on what would result in more yardage.

  They had worked extensively on it over the summer and they had it disguised so well that nobody ever caught on; it even fooled their own defense during practice. It always resulted in big yardage.

  CLAP, the team clapped their hands in unison and broke the huddle running to their positions. "GREEN GOBLIN, BLACK LEFT, 24 GO, HIKE!" Jeff received the snap and dropped back 5 steps. The running back that had lined up wide streaked behind Jeff. Jeff raised the ball as if to throw it downfield and heard the running back's footsteps approaching behind him from his left, suddenly he heard a second set of footsteps to his right. Then he felt the impact at the precise moment the ball was being grabbed out of his hand by the running back to start the second part of the play.

  A safety had broken through the line and hit not only Jeff, but also the running back. Since the ball was unprotected at the point during the handoff, the ball flew about 10 feet in the air and 10 feet backwards. Jeff and the running back lay on the ground stunned. The safety scrambled to his feet and ran the ball into the end zone to score a touchdown. Coach Vitrano threw his clipboard to the ground, "How is this happening? That play is foolproof!" Brooks and Brad were crestfallen in the stands. But also bewildered. Eisenhower just wasn't this good. Brooks looked over at the Eisenhower sideline and their Coach Johnson was standing with his arms folded on his chest, a small smile on his face.

  By halftime the huge new scoreboard announced the score as 35-7 with Eisenhower firmly in control. As the teams ran off the field to the locker rooms, Brad & Brooks just stared at each other. "I don't understand this," said Broo
ks. "I can't either," said Brad, "It's not as if they are playing badly, they are just being beaten badly." "Let's go, I've seen enough," said Brooks.

  To make matters worse, the scoreboard announced the half time score of the other games being played around the town. Brookfield East was getting demolished by Tosa West 42-10. The boys groaned in unison and headed towards their bikes.