章 55: Unstoppable Onslaught
The ball was snapped, and as Ty moved to start making his way across the field, the new Receiver in front of him blocked his path and shoved him back.
Denzel took the ball for another rush, sprinting around to the outside, once again heading away from where Ty was positioned.
Thankfully, he was pushed out of bounds before scoring another touchdown, but not before he'd shoved Deshaun to the ground once again, and picked up a dozen more yards.
Deshaun was helped up by the rest of the already battered team and brushed himself off, cursing under his breath and glaring at the back of Denzel's head.
Ty's frustration would only grow as he struggled to make it past the relentless blocking of his opponent, let alone make it across to influence any plays in the drive as the Bears continued to feed Denzel the ball until he bulldozed his way into the endzone for his second touchdown of the game.
The successful extra point secured the Bears a lead of 14–7, and after the kickoff, the Dons' offence vowed to even up the scores again.
However, they'd be beaten back for a second time. The Bears' defence dealt with them quickly, though the Dons did get at least one first down this drive, lasting a bit longer than their first attempt.
Chris was still kept entirely in check, after his first five rushing attempts, he had only a gain of a single yard to show for his efforts.
Stephen didn't fare much better, of the three passes that had targeted him, he'd only managed to catch one for a gain of 6 yards.
As the embarrassed and angered offence stomped back over to the bench, Coach Long watched with concern, speaking with Coach Norman. 'That boy Denzel has improved on defence.'
'The whole team has,' Coach Norman commented. 'We can't get anything past the big fellas up front.'
As the defence readied themselves to take to the field, Coach Hoang moved over, a whiteboard sat in his lap.
He quickly scribbled up a rough formation of both teams. 'Look, we can't let them just do what they want. This battle will be won up front. We're only down one touchdown. We can stop them now and bring things back. So, to do that, we're going to have to create our own gaps in the line, funnel him through, and hit him hard when he's coming through the hole.'
He drew arrows jutting from some of the circles that represented the players on the whiteboard, underlined others as he indicated where he wanted his defenders to focus their efforts.
'Shut down the lanes they want, but leave open a trap. Then when he takes the bait and runs through, that's when Jones hits him hard!'
Their resolve was set. They nodded, and when the punt was over, the defence stormed out, ready to execute Coach Hoang's adjusted plan.
Ty still hoped for his chance. He'd have to deal with the pesky blocker in front of him first, but he wouldn't let that stop him from getting to the ball.
He said nothing as he lined up opposite the thick, brick wall of a Receiver, barely even acknowledging him. And the Receiver spoke as little as a brick wall.
JJ was lined up much closer to the line of scrimmage, along with just about everyone else on the defence—all of them were ready to pounce.
The ball was snapped again, and the Dons' Linemen and LBs swarmed, cutting off all routes for the run, save for one hole on the left side.
JJ was already on his way into the open gap, making it in to the narrow lane first, but Denzel was soon there to meet him.
The two collided head on once more, this time in a tight corridor rather than the open field. There would be no way to get around JJ, only go through him, he had no reason to hesitate.
Even so, the result was the same. JJ ended up flat on his back, staring up at the sky as Denzel rolled right over him.
Sometimes people had to learn the same lesson twice before it fully sunk it—NO ONE could stand before The King.
The Bears marched down the field, the Dons only able to slow their progress, but a touchdown was inevitable. This time, when they got down to the goalline, the Bears made a short toss to their TE for the score.
The first quarter came to a close soon after, and the scoreline of 21–7 was grim for the Dons.
Ty was still a bundle of nervous energy as he sat on the sidelines during the short break between quarters. Outside of the pick-six, he hadn't been involved in the game at all, he'd never had the chance to do anything else.
Even on the few passes they'd thrown after that interception, they'd only ever been short things to a TE or to the FB who had slipped out of the backfield.
Coach Hoang sat alone, far away from the bench, staring out across the empty field as he tried to come up with another solution to the problem. But he was having trouble thinking of another. If Denzel could beat even JJ one on one in such a favourable position, he wasn't sure there was anything they could do to stop him.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Dons were stumped as well. The run game would have to be abandoned at this rate.
Maybe they could incorporate Chris in the passing attack more, with screens and short outlet routes. At least that's what Coach Long and Norman hoped would help.
The Dons would start the second quarter with the ball, and the "new plan" worked marginally better as they got their longest drive of the day, but in the end were still stopped just short of field goal range.
The second quarter turned out to be even more one-sided than the first—in a way—as the Dons were unable to score at all. They did at least stop the Bears from getting any long, explosive touchdowns, and held them to a lower score for the quarter.
With the Dons' offence lasting longer on the field, the Bears were only able to tack on ten more points before the half, thanks to a touchdown run from Derrick where the defence was completely sucked in by another fake handoff to Denzel that left Derrick free to run in untouched.
Then, the Bears were also able to kick through a field goal just before time expired in the first half.
Ty had yet to get close to Denzel on the field. No run ever coming his way, nor did any other pass come near enough for him to intercept it or even deflect it.
As the dejected Dons entered their locker room for the major break, the scoreboard read 31–7, and even the ever optimistic JJ's head was hung low.
Coach Long went around to the defensive players, slapping them on either their back or shoulder, telling each one to "keep their head up" and that the real game started now.
'This is when champions prove themselves,' he said. 'When the men are separated from the boys.' He looked around the room. Each boy was looking at him, but only a few of them had any life behind their eyes at all.
He sighed. 'Listen, even if we don't come back, and we can't win… well, you can't win EVERY game, and this will still be a good learning experience. Just because we lose, doesn't mean we'll be defeated. The only way we can be defeated is if we ourselves give up. As long as you continue to give it your all, no matter what happens, you'll be able to hold your head up high and remain proud of yourselves.'
'Yeah. He's right, boys. Don't give up. We're not beat yet,' JJ said, trying to further rally the players.
After his speech, Coach Long moved aside with Coach Norman, and the two men spoke with Stephen, explaining their suggestion of how to beat Denzel on the offensive side of the ball at least.
'Double moves. He's fast, and strong, but he's not a coverage guy. He can't keep up with an intricate route or stick with you if you hit him with feints and double moves.'
Stephen listened, his jaw set tightly as he nodded. He still had to make up for his sorry performance in the first half as well.
Coach Hoang, however, was awfully quiet during the break. Through his silence, he felt expectant eyes on him. He clicked his tongue and then grit his teeth, looking around at the defenders.
'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I don't really have anything to say. I've let you all down. I don't see what we can do other than throwing everything we have at stopping the run, and leave ourselves open to passes over the top.'
JJ stood up. 'No, I'm sorry. It's my fault. If I was stronger, if I could come out here and say that I'll stop him… then there wouldn't be a problem. But I can't. He's stronger than me. I can't do it on my own. That doesn't mean I'm gonna stop trying, though. I'm a shit leader right now, but if I have you supporting me, I know we can do this, hermanos.'
'I'm with you, dawg. Always.' Deshaun stood up, dapping up JJ and hugging him.
Ty ground his teeth, he could feel the game slipping away from him, like the world was falling out from under his feet. He stood up. 'I'll stop him.'
Everyone nearby turned to look at him. 'Don't be fucking stupid, freshy,' Deshaun said.
'Hold on, Banks, let Samuels talk.' Coach Hoang stared at Ty. 'What do you mean?'
Ty took a breath, slowly unclenching his jaw. 'I just mean, if you can send him my way, on a stretch to my side, if you shut down every other lane so it's the ONLY possible place he could run… I'll bring him down. No matter what.'
Coach Hoang and Ty stared at one another for what felt like a full minute before either of them said anything.
It was Coach Hoang who broke the silence. 'Alright. We'll give you your shot. It's not like things could get any worse.'
Ty nodded. The team gathered together in the middle of the room, fists raised together.
'Never give up, on three. One, two, three.'
'NEVER GIVE UP!'
The Dons would be receiving the kickoff to begin the second half, and Chris—determined to do SOMETHING positive for the team—gave them their best starting field position of the day after his return brought the ball to the 36-yard line.
After that, it was time to implement their new plan of attack, and with Chris staying in the backfield as an extra blocker to buy time for Stephen's routes to develop, they were able to march forward chunk by chunk.
They had already passed halffield by the time the Bears were able to adjust, switching to a focus on zone defence, so that Denzel wasn't having to deal with Stephen one on one.
Soon after, the Dons were held up, and brought to fourth down. The field goal unit was sent out onto the field.
Annoyed that they had come so far, only to be held up near their goal, the offence came off the field, but at least the first set of points they were responsible for were put on the board as the kick's aim was true.
The score was 31–10, and while three points weren't much, it was at least the beginning of what they hoped would be a comeback.
After another touchback on the following kickoff, Ty took to the field, grinding his teeth constantly, his nails digging into his palms. It felt like the entire game rested on this next play.
#14 for the Bears was back out on the field as well, glaring down at Ty. 'They benched me 'cause of you. Happy? What a shit fucking game. They're not even doing anything with me and then they fucking bench me.'
Ty blocked out his complaining, he had more important things to be focusing on.
The Dons crept closer to the line of scrimmage before the snap, making it clear that they intended to stop the run at all costs.
It was a challenge that The King couldn't simply ignore.
Everyone knew where the ball was going after it was snapped.
'Blueee fourty-two… hut!' The QB took the ball, shoving it directly towards Denzel who quickly scanned the field. The Dons were throwing themselves against his blockers, barring all paths except for one. The one that led far out to the left, where Ty was waiting.
Of course, Ty still had #14 to deal with, who seemed quite upset after having to sit out the majority of the first half, and ferociously launched himself at Ty to push him back.
Ty stood his ground, his long arms kept the aggressive boy at bay, and even still, his eyes were locked on Denzel.
Though, as Denzel came charging over, #14 turned his head. Upon seeing the unstoppable King coming closer, the Receiver stopped trying to prevent Ty from getting to him, almost shoving Ty towards him instead.
Ty gladly rushed forward to meet Denzel, sinking low in his stance as he spread his long arms wide. "Low is the key, the legs are the key. The legs!"
Denzel wasn't surprised. How else could someone so small and skinny hope to stop him if not by tripping him up? He knew Ty would sink so low, and it would've been easy for The King to hurdle over him … but he had a point to prove.
Denzel lowered his shoulder as well, wrapping the ball up tightly in both arms as he lined Ty up.
Ty was lower, and he lunged forward, aiming for Denzel's knees and ankles.
Denzel slammed into Ty, getting his arms and chest in the way of the tackle.
Ty grunted, wrapping his arms around whatever he could. "Did a car just hit me?"
Before he could even comprehend what was happening, Ty was crushed onto his back. His hands groped at Denzel's legs and feet as they churned over him and continued forward as if he wasn't there. Even when he latched onto Denzel's foot, The King ripped away from his grasp with ease, and was barely even slowed down.
Ty could only lay on his back, staring up at the spinning, starry sky as Denzel rumbled onwards. The cheers and chanting of the massive crowd let Ty know that another touchdown had been scored.
'Hah. Pathetic. And I thought you guys could've been at least a little exciting.' #14 shook his head, walking away from Ty.
Ty rejected the hands offered to help him up, slowly sitting up on his own accord, wincing and feeling at his ribs.
When he stood up, Denzel had returned, a large grin on his face. 'Looks like even a bird becomes worm food if you clip its wings,' he said.
As JJ got between the pair, Denzel was already moving away. Though Ty had said nothing. He turned away, shambling back over to the bench.
This game was over.
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