Gladiators of the Gridiron

Even when the QB was finally uncovered, the ball still held tightly in his clutches, no one could tell if he’d made it across the first down marker or not.

So the measuring chains were brought out, two large rods connected by a 10-yard chain. The rear rod was stuck into the ground where the initial line of scrimmage had been for this set of downs, and everyone held their breath as the second official ran towards the ball with the second rod, the chain slowly growing more taut as its length was stretched out to the limit.

But when the second rod was jammed into the ground, the tip of the football was a few inches beyond it: it was a first down for the Pirates.

The Pirates players and bench erupted in cheers, while the home crowd booed loudly, and some of the more vocal fans rained down insults and complaints against the refs in regards to the spotting of the ball, thinking the officials had been rather favourable in where they judged the ball to have been downed on the field during the play.

Ty ignored it all and was already moving away to huddle up again as JJ rallied the troops.

‘Come on! It’s just one play, we can still get the stop. Focus on the next set.’ JJ specifically thumped Deshaun on the back as everyone moved back to the huddle.

The coaches yelled out for the defence to keep a cool head, like an echo to JJ’s words of encouragement.

They settled into their formation as the Pirates dispersed their huddle and came out to meet them again. The Dons were spread out wide at the line of scrimmage.

The three DL out there had the DT (Defensive Tackle) positioned right over the ball in front of the Center, whilst the edge rushers were planted just outside of the right and left Tackles.

A curtain of four LBs was right behind the line, creeping down closer towards it, ready to fill the obvious gaps in the middle that they were inviting the Pirates into.

And now there was only one Safety left deep downfield, covering the middle.

Ty and Deshaun were left on an even bigger island, now without any cover or help over the top, a clear message that they had to get their shit together or else.

On the next play, the Pirates didn’t accept the invitation to try a run up the middle, instead, they went for another stretch to the outside.

Bad decision.

There was nowhere to go, and the RB was stuffed in the backfield for a loss of yards.

Again they tried a run, this time up the middle like the Dons were offering, but there was no luck there either; as soon as the RB tried to squeeze through one of the gaps, a LB was there to meet him head-on and stop him dead in his tracks.

But just like that it was third down and time for the Pirates to forgo their huddle once more and go back to their trusty failsafe of Patty and Bastion.

‘Don’t let your team down, guys~’ Patty said, sneering at Deshaun and Ty.

Deshaun shot Ty a glare, but Ty had his eyes locked on Patty.

When the ball was snapped, Patty hesitated, Ty held his ground, not wanting to overcommit to jamming him up and losing him over the top.

Then Patty rushed forward and cut inside with perfect timing so that he would still obstruct Deshaun’s path just enough so Bastion could slip away to the outside.

Even while recognising this, Ty couldn’t disregard his duties against Patty and chase after Bastion, Patty wasn’t just trying to block him this time but was actively still seeking out his own route and trying to get open as well.

Ty leaned away, ready to pounce towards Bastion as he looked at Deshaun streaking by.

‘Switch! We need to switch!’ Ty shouted, but Deshaun ignored him and fruitlessly chased after Bastion like a dog chased after a car.

Bastion caught the pass easily, though Deshaun did eventually chase him down. By the time he was tripped up, Bastion had already made it past the first down marker.

Deshaun thudded back towards the huddle and Ty went over to talk to him on his way.

‘Don’t you fucking bark at me again, freshy,’ Deshaun snarled at him, and Ty bit his tongue, saying nothing.

“You arrogant fuck. You think you’re better just cause you’re older? You’re fucking nothing!”

Ty exhaled slowly. ‘Fine,’ he said, ‘I’ll do it without you.’

Deshaun shot him another glare, but neither of them said anything after that.

The next set of downs started, and again the Pirates’ offence tested the Dons’ defence for ways other than the bubble screens with Patty and Bastion to gain yards.

They tried a screen to the HB, but the defence was all over it, swarming after the ball like a flood as they stopped the play for little to no gain.

Even a short screen to the TE didn’t work, the TE couldn’t even get open with how congested the middle of the field was, and the QB was forced to throw the pass into the turf, just so there was no chance of it being intercepted within the sea of bodies.

But there was always Patty and Bastion, together those two couldn’t fail, and they always dragged their team further and further down the field.

It worked, every. single. time.

Ty tried to keep his cool, but with how stubborn Deshaun was being, when they should’ve been working together, he couldn’t help but get frustrated to the point of committing a penalty.

He’d tried to remember how he’d overcome Patty’s block earlier, how he stopped them before and got a fingertip on one pass and turned a touchdown into an incompletion, if only for one play.

But… was that really because of something he did? Or was it just a misstep from the offence? An errant pass which if it was just an inch higher would’ve glided out of his reach, or a slip from Patty which led to him being overpowered for once and allowed Ty to break away.

He was beginning to think he was helpless, and it was that feeling of helplessness that led to him lashing out again.

He jammed his hand up under Patty’s face mask and shoved his head back, pushing away from him and breaking free to easily swat down the pass intended for Bastion.

But he’d already seen the flag fly out an official’s hand, he knew the play didn’t count and he’d been caught in the act and was about to be penalised.

For Ty’s carelessness, the offence was rewarded with 5 yards for free, and an automatic first down.

It really seemed like there was nothing Ty could do. The Pirates were within field goal range again, and he still couldn’t get a stop.

“Bullshit. I’ll fucking stop them. I can stop ANYONE.”

The Pirates were confident that they could get a first down whenever they wanted with Bastion and Patty, so they were content to use the first two downs probing the defence in other ways, they needed to figure out more ways of gaining yards, it wouldn’t do them well in the long run if they kept relying on JUST Bastion and Patty.

They switched things up, subbing out one WR and bringing in their FB to better help with the inside runs, which did get them a couple yards, but the Dons still had the advantage there with JJ bypassing the lead block from the FB and blowing up the run quickly.

And with an extra body in the middle for blocking, they tried another TE screen, and while they were able to connect, it still didn’t get them far and only resulted in a couple of yards again.

It just felt like the defence was always a step ahead, like they had more bodies out on the field, and they were able to contain or shut down anything the Pirates tried.

They still had half the distance to go for a first down when they went back to Patty and Bastion on third down.

“I HAVE to stop them,” Ty thought, clenching his fists. He glared around at the three other players surrounding him; Bastion shuddered.

Deshaun lunged forward to jam Bastion up at the snap of the ball, but Bastion slapped his hands away and broke off down the field.

Ty grabbed Deshaun and practically threw him into Patty’s path, freeing himself up to chase after Bastion.

‘If you won’t fucking switch I’ll MAKE you!’ Ty growled.

Ty was just a step behind Bastion when the QB let the ball go. Bastion turned his head back to find the spiralling ball, and his eyes widened as he saw Ty in the perfect spot to intercept the pass.

Bastion stopped on a dime and when Ty leapt up to grab the ball, Bastion threw himself at his opponent.

Moments before the ball hit Ty’s hands, Bastion’s shoulder rammed him in the small of his back and bent him backwards.

The ball bounced off of Ty’s fingers and the two crashed to the ground. The pass was incomplete and the play was over, it was fourth down and the Dons had gotten a stop finally, though Ty knew it could’ve been so much more.

Ty shoved Bastion off, giving him an elbow in the ribs as he did so before he scrambled to his feet.

Bastion gingerly picked himself up, and Patty rushed over, getting in between his best friend and Ty.

Ty grinned. ‘Hahaha! You knew I was gonna catch that, you knew and you had to foul me, you dirty fucking rat.’

‘You’re one to talk! You’ve been fouling us all game, shithead,’ Patty snapped, directing Bastion away from the conflict, still shielding him from Ty.

Ty kept grinning as he made his way back to the sideline, and Bastion finally breathed easy again.

Ty made it back to the bench, and he was just about to sit down when he was almost pushed right over it by Deshaun, who got in his face.

‘Don’t you EVER pull that shit with me again, Tyrese!’

Ty looked down his nose at the taller boy. His frustrations were gone, he knew he could win on his own.

‘You saw it. I would’ve gotten a pick if that prick didn’t foul me. That was Offensive Pass Interference and everyone knows it.’

Deshaun grabbed Ty by the collar with both hands and snarled at him.

‘If you ever yank me aga—’

‘Banks! Go sit down, dammit!’ Coach Hoang barked.

Deshaun looked over and then slowly let Ty go, pushing him down onto the bench before stomping off and taking his own seat further away.

Coach Hoang watched him go, and then looked back to Ty as well, frowning deeply.

“They’re clearly not getting along… this shouldn’t be working but… how could he stop them by himself?” Coach Hoang thought.

‘You saw, right, Coach?’ Ty said. ‘I can beat them. I’m going to pay those fucking thieves back for every point they’ve stolen…’ Ty watched as the field goal attempt for the Pirates sailed through the uprights, pushing the score to 3–10. ‘…Twice over.’

Coach Hoang should’ve said something, all his practical experience as both a player and a DC was telling him to pull the plug and stop it before things got even worse between Ty and Deshaun, but something within him wanted to see just how far Ty could go in this desperate situation.

How much could Ty grow when faced with such disastrous odds in this unfavourable postion? So he said nothing and left things as they were, his curiosity getting the best of him.

After a decent return from the kickoff, the Dons’ offence took over at the 27-yard line.

Though the Receivers out there were still struggling with the Pirates’ zone, Stephen was still getting double teamed, and the Pirates defence had even sured up the gaps in their defensive line, making Chris’s runs harder and harder.

Again the message had been to try and chew up clock as well and give the defence a reprieve. And while they did that—not as successfully as their first drive—they were eventually suffocated by the defence and completely stopped at around the middle of the field, forced to punt the ball away and let the Pirates take control again after only a few minutes.

Ty jogged back out there, a sly smile on his lips, even though he could feel the hate oozing off of Deshaun as the older boy stared holes into the back of his head.

Bastion stuck close to Patty’s side as they lined up on their little “island” with the two CBs again.

‘I’ve got a bad feeling, Patty…’ Bastion muttered, glancing back to the rest of his teammates. They looked so much further away now.

‘Ah? Naaah. Don’t worry about it, B,’ Patty spoke loud enough for Deshaun and Ty to clearly hear him as well. ‘I mean, there’s nothing TO worry about, not when we’ve got this shitter dragging his whole team down.’ He gestured to Deshaun, blatantly poking a thumb towards him.

‘The fuck you say?’ Deshaun snapped, but Patty went quiet, just smirking at him.

‘Hut-hut!’ Deshaun leapt across and completely ignored Bastion, instead going for Patty. Ty was caught off-guard by this, by Patty had been expecting it. Before Ty could even think about switching onto Bastion, Deshaun had knocked him down in his haste to track Patty down.

Patty laughed and brought Deshaun far to the outside while Bastion got away scot-free and made the catch, though he was taken down just before the first down marker.

A second whistle blew after the play was already called dead, and Ty saw another yellow flag flutter to the turf to signal another penalty.

As he got up, he saw Deshaun standing over Patty, who was laid out on the ground near the sideline, still smiling up at the fuming CB.

‘Personal foul: Unnecessary roughness, defence number 24. Fifteen yards have been added to the end of the play,’ the head official announced. The ball was moved even further up the field thanks to Deshaun’s aggression.

Ty frowned, scowling at his teammate as he stalked back to the huddle. Just when he thought he was capable of beating Patty and Bastion, they threw another hurdle in his path: Deshaun.

“Two-on-one would’ve been fine… can I really beat all three of them working against me? These fucking assholes…”

As the Pirates marched down the field, they’d continuously go back to Patty and Bastion’s side of the field, the pair of Receivers now using Deshaun as another tool to get themselves open, manipulating the hot-headed senior into Ty’s path, using him as an obstacle to free themselves up with the one or two yards they needed to make a catch and get small gains which kept adding up into first downs.

They were just edging past half field, and on the cusp of field goal range again, when the whistles blew for the two-minute warning, and a timeout was called for both teams to recuperate and ready themselves for the final two-minute sprint of this first half.

Ty thudded onto the bench, his hands clasped together in front of his face as he stared across the field, steeling himself for the challenging two minutes ahead of him.