บท 32: The Last Stand
The Pirates' offence shambled off the field; shoulders were slumped, heads were hung, eyes were glued to the grass, and they walked as if they were trudging through mud.
They all slowly made their way off the field, aside from Patty, Bastion, and Kyle. Those three were still staring at Ty's back, sunken into place on the grass.
The special teams unit had to push the trio towards the sideline to finally get them moving, though Bastion needed Patty to guide him over to the bench personally, and even then, Bastion still seemed as if he was sleepwalking.
The extra point for the Dons was good, pushing the score out to 23–10.
Ty sat on the bench, leaning forward and eagerly watching the Pirates' players. His eyes betrayed the sadistic grin he hid behind one hand. His overwhelming dominance could be felt even when he wasn't out there, and the Pirates' offence weren't the only ones losing hope.
The short kick return—which only got them out to the 18-yard line—was proof that even the return team for the Pirates was feeling the pressure too.
Ty strutted back out onto the field, though didn't verbally taunt either Bastion or Patty. He let his sharp grin do the talking for him.
Deshaun didn't say anything either. He was both amazed and angered by Ty's display, and he couldn't talk shit about accomplishments that weren't his own… he needed to put his own stamp on this game.
Kyle never once looked at Bastion and Patty, he didn't even seem confident in his throwing anymore as he only handed the ball off to the RB three times in a row, just for the runner to get smashed each time for minimal or no gains at all.
It wasn't long before the Pirates had to punt the ball away.
Ty made his way back to the bench, a bit disappointed that the game had entered the boring stage, where the other team would completely ignore him now, but he was used to it and had expected it'd come to this at one point.
The Dons' offence hurried out onto the field, full of energy and not wanting to be outdone by their defence.
'Come on! Don't let anyone forget about us! We can't let the fucking defence outscore us,' Stephen said, most of the other players out there yelling along with him.
Jay laughed and tried to keep things settled and focused, he seemed to be the only one out there unaffected by the raucous atmosphere that had taken over the Dons.
Back on the bench again, Ty had his attention fixed on the Pirates, and he noticed that while most of his enemies seemed to have given up already, the opposite had happened to the defence.
It was this desire to pick up the slack from the Pirates' defence, and perhaps the overconfidence of the Dons' offence, that led to a very short drive as the Dons struggled to get any momentum going, and soon had to punt it away themselves.
'Hey! I'm loving the energy out there boys, but you gotta stay locked in. The game's not over yet. They're still out there giving it their all, you can't take it easy,' Coach Long said as the disappointed offence jogged back to the bench and took their seats.
'Sorry man,' Stephen said to Jay. 'We'll grind 'em down on the next one.'
'Don't worry about it, dude. We got this, just take it easy and do it like we always do,' Jay replied, offering a fist bump.
After the punt, Ty was back out there, and Deshaun was getting more irritated with his lack of involvement.
'Hey! Tell that fucking bitch QB of yours to throw the ball this way. The pussy too fucking scared to get picked again?' Deshaun barked at Patty and Bastion.
Bastion kept his head down, and Patty looked away, frowning. 'Shut up. You ain't even done shit,' Patty said.
But again, the QB never even looked their way—though that didn't stop Patty and Deshaun from butting heads each and every snap—and again, it was another quick three-and-out, with the Pirates failing to get a first down before having to punt it away again.
After a quick punt return from Chris, where he picked up an extra seven yards for the Dons to work with, the third quarter came to a close.
The Dons' coaching staff reinforced the importance of "keeping their foot on the gas" and not letting up. Anything could happen and they didn't want the Pirates getting back into the game.
Over on the Pirates' bench, the coaches tried to reinvigorate the team.
'Don't let it get to your head,' the head coach of the Pirates said. 'It's alright, we ain't down by much. Defence, I'm loving it, keep it up, I know you can do it. And offence, it's fine, it's just a setback, guys. We're the better team, c'mon now. We were the better team in the first half and we'll be the better team in this last quarter too. One bad quarter doesn't mean we're gonna lose the game. Bring it in.'
The team slowly closed in around their coach, bringing their hands into the middle of the circle, and placing them over the coach's.
'Don't panic, bring it back to the fundamentals. Pirates on three.' The coach looked around at the faces of his players, even during their blowout loss last week the offence hadn't looked THIS sorry at any point in the game.
'1, 2, 3, Pirates!' The echoing roar wasn't nearly as loud as he had hoped it would've been, and he knew his speech hadn't had the desired result, but he didn't know what else he could do for them at that moment, it was in their hands now.
The last quarter started with the Dons' offence taking to the field at their 43-yard line, a very favourable position.
The Pirates' defence stormed out defiantly, full of energy and hoping to spark a comeback. They felt like they needed to after all.
But the Dons wouldn't give them that chance. They now knew this wasn't going to be a cakewalk, where their opposition would roll over and die without a fight; they'd have to stomp the life right out of them.
It was a hard and fierce struggle, but one that was edging in the Dons' favour. The Pirates' defence tightened their zones, covering their gaps better.
They were physical when it came to the run, always first to react and reach the important holes, they hit harder, they wanted it more.
But the key factor that gave the edge to the Dons, was Stephen. The Pirates didn't seem to have an answer for him, or more specifically, the way Jay used the giant WR.
The Pirates were crafty with their defensive schemes, and they would hide their hand before the snap. They'd made it look like they weren't going to double Stephen, but then when the ball was snapped, two guys would instantly rush over to cover him, or maybe they wouldn't.
Then there was the opposite, where they'd make it look like they were going to be pressing him hard in a 2-on-1, but after the snap one or both defenders would peel away from Stephen and cover other options, or sometimes they'd both actually stick with him.
Either way, however, Jay wasn't falling for their tricks, and instead, the cool-headed QB was manipulating the defence however he saw fit.
He'd wait patiently behind his line, having full confidence that their blocks would hold and they'd give him enough time, and then he'd see what the defence was really up to.
If they were actually doubling Stephen, he'd use that giant target as a decoy and let everyone's attention fall to him, before dumping the ball off to something underneath, where Stephen's gravity had created a huge gap.
Or if they had peeled off of Stephen and left him alone with one defender, he'd trust the big guy in the 1-on-1 and throw it up high for him to come down with.
It was working so well, and then the Dons reached the goalline. With only a shortened field to work with, the Pirates could get away with doubling Stephen and focusing so hard on him without leaving any other gaps.
And they bulked up their defensive line too, not letting the Dons run it in either.
Though on third down and with only a few yards to go before they reached the endzone, the Dons still tried to smash the ball in with Chris.
Even JJ was called up by Coach Long and directed out onto the field to act as the lead blocker for Chris, positioned as the FB behind Jay.
The Dons surged forward. JJ roared out "PUSH!" after he slammed into a thick wall of bodies. Chris rammed into JJ's back, and even Jay got on the end of the line, helping propel them forward.
The pile soon collapsed though, and Chris fell to the ground, stretching out the ball and thrusting it across the endzone.
No signal was made as whistles blared from all around, and the officials converged on the pile, bodies peeling away from it as the team of umpires debated amongst themselves what had happened and whether or not the Dons had made it in for a touchdown.
On the Dons' sideline, Coach Norman turned to Coach Long. 'Do you think he made it in?'
'I'm not sure… you can never tell from over here,' Coach Long replied.
'What do we do if they didn't make it? Are we going for it again on 4th down?'
'Hmmm… we could. Getting the extra three from a field goal doesn't change much, they'll still only need the two touchdowns to catch up…' Coach Long stroked his hairless chin.
'Just take the points,' Coach Hoang interjected. The other two looked over to him and he continued, 'Trust the defence. The Pirates won't score enough to come back, so just take the points.'
'Hm… alright, but that's only if we don't have a touchdown right now. Speaking of, looks like those zebras are finally ready to make their decision,' Coach Long said, drawing the attention back to the officials on the field, as the leader of the crew broke away from their meeting to announce their decision.
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