The Titans had issues to solve during the half-time break. Coach Otsen's primary concern was the offence. 10 points in a half was unacceptable. Wesley was incensed, believing everyone lay all the blame on him.
'It's not like it matters if the defence is giving up twice that,' Wesley said, drawing some scowls from the other side of the room. 'I've gotta score three touchdowns just to keep up with them? Get them to make a stop and then we can do something.'
'You worry about your own shit, Walker,' Coach Carson responded. She was one of several who had overheard Wesley's complaints and didn't take kindly to them.
Coach Otsen looked back at her, then stood tall. 'Good advice, Coach Carson. I need EVERYONE to remember that. It's no good worrying about what other people need to do better. You should only focus on yourself because you can only control yourself.'
'Maximum improvement!' Coach Vasquez cried. Grinning, he turned back to the group of Receivers sitting before him.
Wesley was still grumbling. Coach Otsen caught the words "my fault" amidst the growled remarks. 'Look,' Coach Otsen said, grabbing his attention, 'they're doing a good job of shutting down Shane, he needs to work on that, but the other Receivers will have to pick up the slack and help him out. And YOU need to trust that they can get open. We can't force it into Shane and let him do everything.'
'Yeah, but they ain't getting open.'
'They will! Trust your teammates, Wesley. Whether we win or lose comes down to that. Trust.'
Coach Otsen walked away, leaving a pouting Wesley behind. Coach Otsen sighed. The boy had a lot of growing to do if they were to take a serious shot at the State championship this year. But for now, he had to focus on this defence. Allowing 20 points was an issue, regardless of what was happening with their own offence. The Red Raiders kept bullying them through the middle, and that had to stop.
Whilst Shane was nullified offensively, defensively, he was the key. It was time for him to stop playing horizontally, trying to cover the field from sideline to sideline. That wasn't the issue, that wasn't how the Red Raiders had put up 20. He needed to start playing vertically, get him running north and south and he could blow up their offence before it got rolling.
The Titans came out of the break fired-up, though the Red Raiders weren't using their lead as an excuse to ease up, and matched that energy as they emerged from their locker room.
Kenny and Jackson joined Jasmine in her fruitless endeavour to combat any cheers the Red Raiders got.
The Red Raiders had adapted better in the first half, but the second half was like a new game—Jackson told Jasmine as much—no half-time lead was safe.
But the comeback would have to start with a defensive stand. As Wesley sat on the bench, watching the defence march onto the field, he stared at their 10-point deficit. If they really had lost the coin toss, at least he wouldn't be feeling this shit about the situation.
The Red Raiders started their drive strongly, attacking the outside of the field. The gains weren't explosive, but they were steady.
And then they steadily lost steam. Gains of 5 turned to 4, then to 3. When they resorted to attacking the middle of the field—the switch up that had brought them so much success in the first half—their issues compounded.
They were stopped before they crossed half-field.
'Woo! Now we're getting somewhere. Let's go, Titans!' Jasmine shouted. 'This is the start of the comeback, right?'
'We'll see,' Tommy said. 'The offence has to capitalise. If both teams can't crack through each other's defence, the game'll get real ugly real fast.'
'But they'll score, won't they? It's like a new game.' She turned from Tommy to the field. 'C'mon Titans, it's a new game! Who cares about what happened in the first half!'
'Just because it's a new game doesn't mean they'll do any better,' Kenny said, sneering down at Grant as he and his jackals emerged.
'But they'll win. They have to, right?' Jasmine said, looking at Jackson.
'Of course they will,' Jackson said. 'They're gonna win State. They can't fall here.' He tried not to notice her smile, or how expectantly she was looking at him, like he was the one who controlled whether or not they lost. He'd been acting like he was.
The offence proved him right. Wesley had taken Coach Otsen's words to heart, and didn't force anything into Shane, who was still being closely watched by two Red Raiders. The rest of the Receivers must've been inspired by Coach Vasquez's speeches as well. They started finding the gaps doubling Shane left in the defence, and Wesley rewarded them when they did.
They scored on their first drive in the second half, on a drive where Shane didn't touch the ball. It was Grant who caught the touchdown pass, and a successful extra point knocked the lead back down to 3 at 20–17.
'Yes! See! I told you they'd score!' Jasmine said, grinning as she jostled Kenny's arm.
'Yeah yeah, it's not like we bet on it.' He laughed and returned her smile. Jackson noticed it didn't reach his eyes. Jackson thought he understood the feeling. Even though it was great to see the Titans score, to see them move one step closer to winning, there was still a rotten, bitter taste underneath that joy.
Grant hadn't been the only Receiver to step up and get involved. Demetrius and Daniel had each caught a couple of passes on the drive as well.
He knew he shouldn't be upset at all. Any success was something to be celebrated … but he still couldn't wash that bitter taste from his mouth, like his tongue itself was the thing rotting with jealousy.
The touchdown opened the floodgates, as both teams scored again before the quarter was done—It was Wesley who ran in the Titans' second touchdown of the quarter. When it was time for the final break, the Red Raiders looked on their way to another touchdown.
The lead remained only 3 points—only a field goal—now at 27–24 going into the final quarter.
Jasmine was still in high spirits, certain the Titans would stop the Red Raiders and complete their comeback.
Jackson added his voice to the chants she started. 'Let's go, Titans!' they screamed throughout the break.
But the Titans had to make another change if they were going to break this new, score-heavy stalemate the game was heading towards. If both teams kept trading touchdowns, they'd never catch up.
Coach Otsen sat beside Shane, a hand on the boy's shoulder. 'You're doing great, Shane. Just one more quarter, and then we're done. All we need is one stop, and the game's ours.'
'Thanks, Coach.' Shane sat, stiff-backed, staring at Coach Otsen.
'They're quick thinkers, but we've got them right where we want them now. You've seen what they can do. They can go outside, but they run out of steam; they're not built for speed. They can blast up the middle—they're strong and explosive there—but you can shut them down if you match them. And now, they can be deceptive. They draw us in and hit us over the top. But you've seen that too. You don't need to get in so close to stop their power game. Don't over commit to anything. No one can read the game like you can, Shane. Watch, anticipate, react. Lead your team to victory.'
Shane listened intently, hanging off of every word like he was hearing the gospel. He breathed steadily and nodded. The defence was his responsibility, the offence too, but his presence alone was distorting the Red Raiders, allowing his teammates to succeed where he couldn't. So on the other side of the ball, that's where his energy had to go, where he had to make his impact.
'You can count on me, Coach. I'll get the job done.'
Coach Otsen patted him on the back. Shane was a good kid. He was glad the boy had found football. He would've been too good a soldier otherwise.
Kenny watched the Titans closely during the break, though with the warring chants filling the crowd, he had no hope of hearing any of the advice given out to the players, no matter how intense or passionately it was distributed.
'Makes you wish you were down there, like a fly on the wall,' Tommy said, leaning forward with him.
Kenny nodded. 'Yeah. It'd be valuable stuff to hear. Coach's advice always carries over to a lot of different situations.'
'You could've gone into their locker room during half-time.'
'I could've but …' He looked at Jackson and Jasmine, grins spread across their faces as they kept up their chant. It wouldn't have been the same going without him. It was strange. Even though the group sat together, there were times like right then when Kenny felt like they were sitting on different sides of the stands. Jasmine and Jackson were off in their own world. He imagined it'd only get worse once Jackson worked up the courage to actually ask her out.
The fourth quarter started with the Red Raiders already at the edge of the red-zone—already within field goal range. But that was okay. Even a field goal would keep the Titans in it. A touchdown could still take the lead after a field goal.
But Shane wouldn't settle for giving up a field goal. He knew Coach Otsen and Coach Carson wouldn't either.
The Red Raiders looked to run the ball again, another Dive up the middle. Shane started forward, remembered Coach Otsen's advice, and backed off. It was a fake, and they'd almost suckered him in again.
He drifted back, scanning his peripherals for the Receiver he knew would flash across the middle of the field, looking to attack the void he'd left behind in his haste to stop the ball-carrier. Only there was no void to fill.
The Red Raiders didn't see that, however. As Shane drifted back into the Receiver's path, the QB loosed the ball, and it came straight to Shane.
He barely had to jump to reach it and snag it down to his chest. He clamped his hands around the ball and fell on top of it, curling around it as he secured the interception.
'Oh my god! That's our ball, isn't it?!' Jasmine said, uncertainty the only thing containing her excitement. When Jackson confirmed it was an interception and the Titans would take the ball, she nearly exploded.
Tommy doubled over with laughter. 'So much for defence being boring.'
'Hey, if that happened every time I'd be a lot more excited to watch defence,' she said.
'We told you watching Shane was fun,' Kenny said.
She plopped back into her seat. 'Mmm, yeah, but I'd still rather watch one of you guys play.' She smiled at Jackson. He smiled back with red cheeks. Talk about motivation to make it into varsity.
Shane's interception sparked the final step of the Titans' comeback. They shut out the Red Raiders in the final quarter, and contain them to their 27 points. Whilst the offence put on two more touchdowns, with the second attempting a two-point conversion and failing, giving them a lead of 10 points, which they held until the end of the game.
Daniel scored the first of the Titans' touchdowns, after which the Red Raiders stopped doubling Shane, trying to contain the other Receivers. Doing so meant it was Shane himself who put the final nail in the Red Raiders' coffin with the last score of the game.
When the clock struck zero, and Jasmine erupted from her seat from the last time with an overjoyed shriek, the score read: 27–37.
Jasmine was still giddy as they piled back into Tommy's car. She was singing all the way back to her home. Jackson watched her, thinking the whole time that she should be the singer of whatever band she eventually made.
When they stopped in the driveway of Jasmine's parents' house, she hopped out of the car, though lingered near it, stretching after the long drive. It took both Kenny and Tommy staring at Jackson and gesturing to Jasmine for him to get the hint that he needed to get out with her.
When he did, she smiled at him and walked around to his side, massaging her throat. 'I'm definitely gonna sound like shit tomorrow, but it was SO worth it.'
He chuckled, walking beside her. 'It was a great game. Maybe the best of the season.'
'Oh my god, that comeback was so cool! Like, way better than if they just smashed them from the beginning.'
'Right? I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.'
'And being there with you only makes it better.'
She kept smiling at him. His heart kept fluttering. She was so beautiful. Neither of them noticed how long the short walk was taking them. Nor did they notice one of the front curtains shift.
Eventually, they came to the door. Jasmine sighed as she came to a stop. 'Hey, 'cause they won, they've got another game next week, right?' she asked.
'Yeah, that's right,' Jackson answered. 'Do you want to come to that one too?'
Her grin widened. 'I was just about to ask. I'd love to if I'm not too much of a pain for your big bro.'
'Oh, no. I'm sure he's fine bringing you along. It's no big deal.'
'Alright cool. …'
Silence stretched between them. It lingered, like they were scared to break it, scared to end the moment and walk away from one another. Jasmine found a question to fill the awkwardness and keep them together.
'How many more times do they have to win before the State championship?'
'Uh, I think they only have to win two more times, then they'll be in the final.'
'Oh. Neat.' She sounded a little disappointed that there were only so few games left, so few weekends with him.
'But, if they win State, then there's the National tournament this year … though I've no idea how that'll work.'
'A National tournament?'
'Yeah, the fifty state champions will all face off to determine the best team in the country. They haven't done one in years. I don't know if we'll be able to watch the games if they're interstate …'
'Ah. Yeah, that makes sense.' Her smile wavered slightly.
Again, another stretch of silence spread between them. Again Jasmine broke it, but this time it was with acceptance.
'I should head inside. I don't want to keep you guys. Kenny's parents are probably worrying he's been kidnapped.' She chuckled, only slightly.
Jackson looked back at the car. Tommy and Kenny quickly looked away, acting like they hadn't been watching. The windows facing Jasmine and Jackson were down a couple of inches.
'Thanks for bringing me along … Jackie.'
'You're wel—'
Jackson's tongue seized up as he felt Jasmine's lips on his cheek. The world stood still for a moment. The closing of Jasmine's front door shocked everything back into motion.
Jackson felt his cheek, so warm it was almost burning hot. He didn't think he'd wash that cheek again.
He heard voices from inside, muffled, but still loud. Three voices—two shouting, one squeaking—as Jasmine tried to explain herself.
Jackson hurried away from the door and back into Tommy's car. Tommy and Kenny were laughing. They congratulated him as he entered, though he didn't hear them. His hand was still on his cheek, his mind still trapped in the moment she'd kissed him.
She'd really kissed him.