Gladiators of the Gridiron

‘Alright, I’m heading off to practice,’ Ty said with one foot already out the front door.

Megan rushed out of her room, her eyes bloodshot and dry behind her glasses. ‘Have fun, do your best!’ she called from the hallway, more than happy to interrupt her studying to wish her brother well.

Ty paused for a moment, but no other response came from the almost full house, so he slammed the door and stomped down the short driveway.

Before he could get much further, his phone began to ring. He stopped on the footpath just in front of his house and saw that it was Luke Hoang calling him.

Ty answered the phone. ‘Hey, Coach Hoang. What’s up?’

‘Hey, don’t head off to practice just yet, we’re coming to pick you up.’

‘What? Uhh…’ Ty looked around with a frown. ‘Look, I appreciate the gesture but you really don’t have to do that.’

‘Of course we do!’ Coach Long’s jovial voice came through the phone as well. ‘You’re on our way, and it’s better than having you walk to every session and game. Just sit tight, we’re right around the corner.’

‘Aren’t you coming a bit early just to pick me up?’ Ty mumbled.

‘Well, it’s not good if we’re ALWAYS getting shown up by our players,’ Luke said.

Ty sighed. ‘Fine, I’ll see you soon… thank you.’ He hung up.

He sat down on the curb out the front of his house and waited.

It was only five minutes later when the coach’s silver SUV rolled up in front of him and stopped. Ty jumped up and got into the back seat.

‘Thank you, again, but you really didn’t need to do this,’ he said.

‘Jesus, give it a rest, Tyrese.’ Bella’s voice startled Ty slightly, though he wasn’t sure why it was surprising, he should’ve known she’d be there in the backseat as well.

Bella looked him over and then through the window to his house as the car started to pull away. Ty shifted in his seat and glanced back to his family home, his lips curling into another frown.

‘Your weird sister not coming?’

‘She’s not weird.’ Ty glared at Bella. ‘And no, why would she come to practice?’

Bella shrugged. ‘Cheer you on or something, I don’t know, you two just seemed really close the other day.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean? Of course we’re close, we’re siblings…’ Ty looked away, keeping quiet. “Real siblings.”

Ty could feel Bella’s eyes boring a hole into the back of his head as he kept his gaze out the window while the quiet drive continued.

It was Coach Long who eventually broke the silence. ‘That was a great game you played the other night, Ty. That’s what all that hard practice has earned you.’

‘Thanks, Coach.’

‘He would’ve done even better if he stuck to the game plan,’ Bella stated.

Ty stared daggers at her, but Luke spoke up before he could say anything.

‘What’s done is done, and Samuels played well. He was a crucial part in our victory, and though maybe he could’ve played a cleaner game, in the end, I’m the one who allowed him to continue marking number 88, and with that, I’m sure he learnt some valuable lessons and grew as a player because of his troubles in handling such a large opponent.’

‘We could test if this stubborn boy learnt anything. Let’s have him go up against Stephen Day for most of today’s practice,’ Bella suggested.

‘I’ve already beaten that oaf plenty of times. What’s embarrassing him more gonna prove?’

Coach Long cleared his throat. ‘You should talk more kindly about your teammates, Tyrese.’

‘Yeah, Tyrese,’ Bella echoed. ‘And besides, now he’s seen how to beat you first-hand.’

Ty clenched his fists and grit his teeth, glaring at the smirking girl.

‘Hm, I’ll allow that, it’ll still let you practice what I want the DBs to focus on today. And we’ll see if the Monsoons did show us a flaw in your defence, it’ll be important for us to figure that out so we can fix it if there is one,’ Coach Hoang said.

‘I don’t have any flaws or weaknesses. I’ll prove it any way that you want.’

Bella kept smirking, though Luke’s expression held more concern in it as he looked Ty over.

When they got to the school and onto the field to start setting up for practice, Rabbit had, of course already, been dropped off. So he and Ty began to warm up together while they waited for everyone else to arrive.

Rabbit hurried over to Ty with a bounce in his step, oblivious to the annoyance on Ty’s face. ‘Hey! Dude, you were incredible the other night! I’ve never seen anything like those interceptions before.’ Rabbit’s loud, excited voice bounced around Ty’s skull. ‘It’s like you had the QB and Receiver on strings, moving them however you wanted.’

Ty tilted his head. ‘Hm… I guess. I don’t see it that way…’ He sighed. He never could shake this worthless little parasite during practice.

‘Well, how do you see it?’

‘I see it like… a crocodile, sitting beneath the surface of a river, watching his prey come and drink from the water’s edge. He’ll sit and wait, watch the prey drink hundreds, thousands of times, wait for them to lower their guard. Then, when they completely forget that there’s any danger, that’s when the crocodile pounces. That’s me.’

‘Whoa…’ Ty could see the gears working overtime in Rabbit’s head.

‘You, you’re the prey.’ Ty jabbed a finger towards Rabbit.

‘Ah… haha, y-yeah maybe I am right now… did you watch the JV game?’

Ty had forgotten all about it. ‘Did you win?’

‘I-It was a draw… I uh, I only played a few snaps near the end when the other team was getting really desperate. B-But they couldn’t get any long balls past me! I was too fast to get beat deep.’

‘Did you get any interceptions?’ Ty spoke as if they were the most routine part of the game, like every CB or DB should be getting multiple picks every game.

‘Ah… w-well no I didn’t…’

‘Of course you didn’t.’ Rabbit lowered his head. Ty got up from their stretching and started on his laps around the field. Rabbit stayed where he was, chewing on his bottom lip.

‘N-Next game! I’ll get one next game!’ Rabbit called, but Ty didn’t react.

Half an hour after Ty had arrived, the rest of the team had all shown up and practice could properly get underway. Though when he looked around, Ty was thankful to see that the bratty scout hadn’t shown up for once.

After their regular opening drills that involved a lot of running to focus on stamina and cardio, some more specialised practice began, and that’s when Ty and Stephen paired up to begin their one-on-one session.

Bella brought them together and looked at Ty. ‘Let’s see if you’re really as good as you think you are. Though either way, you better stick to the game plan in the future, or else.’

Ty scoffed. ‘Aye aye, Coach Short.’

‘DON’T call me that.’ She got right in his face, standing eye-to-eye with him.

Ty didn’t flinch or back down. ‘Whatever.’ Bella narrowed her eyes and blew her whistle before she moved back.

‘Line up, Tyrese.’ She turned away from him and stood in front of Stephen, who was snickering and grinning from ear to ear.

‘Oi, Samuels.’ Ty quietly groaned as Coach Hoang made his way over. ‘So, what I need you and all the other DBs to focus on in this drill is your press technique and stopping your man from getting to where he wants to go.’

Both Luke and Ty looked over to Stephen and Bella, Coach Short was giving the giant some final pointers. ‘Even against a bigger opponent, you have to use that height, get in low, right here,’ Luke said as he put a hand on Ty’s chest.

‘Hit him hard and use your explosive first step to put all your power into that first strike. Hit him first and you’ll control him, you can’t just let him do what he wants.’

Ty nodded. ‘Got it, yeah don’t worry, I’ll sit him down and show him that he’s still no match, no matter what “weakness” you all think you’ve found in me.’

Luke looked at him sternly. ‘Just focus and remember what I said.’

Stephen stepped over and talked with the QB Jay for a brief moment, before he came over to Ty and the two lined up face-to-face, staring each other down.

There were a few other pairs of CBs and Receivers lined up with one another, though Stephen and Ty were the only two who had a QB with them, the others really were honing in on their press technique, and how to beat it.

Every CB was pressed up close on their man, their hands antsy and at the ready to shoot out to try and hold the Receivers back. They were acting more like Linemen.

Ty took a deep breath, and then it began at the sound of Bella’s whistle. Stephen burst forward, and though Ty’s hands met his chest firmly, it did almost nothing to slow the much larger man down.

Stephen’s pushed back, but Ty was already backing off, abandoning his plan of trying to press and stop him.

Ty hung back and continued retreating, his hawk-like eyes watching both Stephen and Jay, waiting for either of them to make a move and let on when the pass was gonna be coming.

He expected a curl route to take advantage of Stephen’s much larger frame, and Ty’s retreating defence.

“There!” Ty thought as he saw Jay pull his arm back, beginning his motion to throw, and Stephen started to turn back towards the ball. Ty lunged but then stopped himself midway through—it was a feint.

Stephen turned forward again and rushed ahead, sprinting by Ty, who was scrambling to recover. A grin covered most of Stephen’s face.

He had been told to do a curl route by Bella, to use his strength and size to seal out Ty and get the easy reception. It’s what he usually did and had gotten him a lot of Red Zone (Refers to the area of the field between the 20-yard line and the goal line) touchdowns throughout his career.

It was also the same route that had given number 88 so much success against Ty during the game.

But Ty would be expecting something like that, after all, it was on a play just like that, where Ty had gotten a pick six. (Interception returned for a touchdown.)

So, if that’s what everyone was expecting, he’d fake it and pull a double move to go past Ty for the long touchdown in one go.

It’s the plan he’d told Jay about, and it had worked to perfection. He was in the clear and there was nothing stopping him from steamrolling to the endzone, all he had to do was make the catch; he could trust Jay to put the ball where it needed to be.

What he didn’t count on was Ty having such a quick recovery. When Stephen turned his head back to call for the ball, he found Ty nipping at his heels, not even a full step behind him.

Stephen’s eyes widened, but he shook his head and ploughed on regardless, his confidence unwavering. He was still in the better position, and he still had the size advantage.

Jay let the ball go—it was a beautiful rainbow of a pass, and it was going to fall right on the goal line. Stephen pushed himself to chase after it and make it on time.

He adjusted for the flight of the ball and put his hands out, it was going to be a catch, the ball was falling right into his lap.

It was in his grasp, he was holding his victory tight. But the moment the ball landed in his hands, a third came from out of nowhere and wrenched the ball away from him.

Ty had dove forward, throwing his body at the pass, and with a single, outstretched hand, he had been able to dislodge it from Stephen’s grip before the pass could be completed.

Both Stephen and Ty fell down, with Ty basically tackling Stephen to the ground as they skidded through the endzone and the ball bounced away from them.

Stephen angrily got up, shoving Ty away and dusting himself off. ‘Fuck, man! Goddamn long-armed freak. That’s pass interference, I had your ass and you know it.’

Ty gritted his teeth and picked himself up. ‘That shit was clean,’ he said, but as he was about to continue, he saw an angry-looking Coach Hoang wheeling over to them.

‘Samuels, what the hell was that? I told you to press up on him, not just back off and give him a free run to the end zone. Forget it, you’re not competing in the air.’ Coach Hoang turned around.

‘Breechwood! Go do some target practice!’ The easygoing Jay shrugged and gave Stephen an apologetic smile before moving away.

‘Day! No more of that, this is just press technique and how to overcome it. Samuels is here to stop you from getting five yards past him, and it’s your job to get by him as fast as possible.’

‘Fine by me. He’s too small to stop me.’ Stephen’s red eyes were full of arrogance.

Ty practically snarled, his sharp teeth showing as his own arrogant and prideful eyes met Stephen’s.

‘You hear that, Samuels? He thinks you’re pathetic, a puny punk who’s so far beneath him you can’t even slow him down. Now man up and do your job, instead of acting like a scared little freshy who’s running from a challenge.’ Coach Hoang sped away from Ty and went back to check in on how the others were faring.

Ty was clenching his fists so tight his nails were almost breaking the skin. He stomped over to Stephen and the two got underway with their drill, going at each other aggressively, letting out their animosity and frustration with each other.

Even though Ty followed Coach Hoang’s advice of aiming for Stephen’s chest and using his explosive legs to put his whole power and weight behind his attempt to hold Stephen back, it was hopeless.

Stephen would just ram his hands into Ty’s chest as well and shove him back with ease, like a sumo wrestler going up against a child. And Stephen wouldn’t stop until he’d carried Ty ten yards past the mark they were supposed to end at.

His grin only got wider, as he laughed in Ty’s face and continued to taunt him after every round. ‘What’s the matter, pipsqueak? You ain’t barking much now, you little chihuahua. You’re nothing but a little boy, ain’t fit to be playing with the real men.’

Ty’s frustration was only building. He gnashed his sharp teeth together so hard they almost broke, but he didn’t retaliate or respond to the jeers.

“Why the fuck can he touch me if I’ve got the longer arms?!” Ty picked himself up off the grass once again and stomped his way back over to their starting line, looking at his hands. His whole training uniform had been stained green with how many times he’d been shoved into the turf.

He looked around; practice would be over soon, and all he’d done was spend it getting knocked around by that giant asshole. No one else was working on press coverage like this anymore.

But his focus was grabbed by the Offensive Lineman as they practised against the edge rushers of the defence, trying to protect a dummy that represented the QB standing in the pocket. (Passing pocket)

He watched as the massive, beefy men would meet and their struggle would commence. It was like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, and he saw how that immovable object was so different to how he tried to go about it.

They didn’t throw themselves forward, they stood their ground and disabled the power of their opponent rather than go against it toe-to-toe.

Their arms were the key. They were spring-loaded precision missiles with all their power behind them. They disrupted the flow of the aggressor and pushed them back, even if they only knocked them off rhythm for a second, that was all that was needed to win the battle.

Ty eyed his own hands again before looking up at Stephen.

‘You bitching out? I haven’t got all fucking day,’ Stephen growled.

Ty got in front of him and took his stance, signalling that he was ready. Bella—who had watched over them the whole time—blew her whistle and Stephen charged forward.

Ty stayed right where he was, his eyes never leaving his target—Stephen’s chest. He thrust his arm out with blinding speed, twisting his body through the strike. He hit home and cracked Stephen right in the sternum with his palm.

The larger man staggered back, his feet slipping as he dropped to one knee, clutching at his chest and coughing heavily.

Ty stood over him, eying his own hand, his new weapon—a spear to the heart.