August 30, 2014. Mission Viejo, CA.
Although the team needed Derek badly, Jackson Ellis covered up that problem with a spectacular passing display for the first three quarters. But then came the fourth quarter. Crenshaw's offensive line could not block anything in the last quarter, and it caused Jackson to get sacked five times after not getting sacked once before the start of the fourth. Another thing that hurt us was that Jackson threw two interceptions in a row which caused Long Beach Poly to make a comeback. With our offense was completely shut down in the fourth, the defense was not helping at all with all these wide open passes they're giving up.
It came to the point that Long Beach Poly tied the game at 42 with only about 2 minutes, and offense continued to struggle on getting anywhere. Because DeShaun didn't help that much with the ground game, the whole team had to depend on Jackson to make some magic happen. Well I understand that Crenshaw is facing the fifth best team in California but that doesn't change the fact that the team choked the lead away. All of the receivers were being covered, and Jackson was forced to either pass or get sacked because he wasn't fast enough to run with the ball.
I stopped the clock after Crenshaw called their second timeout of the half. "Hey water boy," I called out to Jamal as I started stretching, "can you get me a drink?"
"Do I have to give water to the scorekeeper?"
"Come on we're friends right? Please?"
"Fine, fine. You want Gatorade or water?"
"Get me a Gatorade man."
Jamal passes me a Gatorade bottle before getting drinks for the offensive players during the timeout. As the timeout ended, I take a sip of the Gatorade and got ready to start the clock. There's only ten seconds left in the game, and Crenshaw is only on our thirty yard line. I'm sure that Crenshaw is doing a pass play but will the pass connect is the question. Unless the line blocks for once, there won't be any passes flying in the air. The players get set, and Jared Townley snaps the ball to Jackson. Jackson surveyed around the field and threw the ball in Blake Bannan's direction. Blake outran the safety and caught the ball. He kept running and running like there was no tomorrow. He's at the thirty. At the twenty. At the ten. Touchdown! Game over and we somehow upsetted the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits.
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After putting all the equipment and jugs on the bus, I got inside and sat near the front. I never liked sitting in the front of a bus, but it's not like I have a choice when the whole football team is on here too. All of the coaches and players got on the bus, and Vincent Jackson, one of the offensive linemen and the older brother of my sister's boyfriend, sat next to me.
"What's up, Ui? So you doing scoreboard for us this season?" Vincent asked as he patted me on the back.
"I volunteered for today's game because I heard there would be money involved."
Vincent let out a laugh.
"Need to support Yui right? She's something else. You know she's on a date with Alex right now?"
"Yeah," I sighed, "your brother is an a**hole you know that?"
"We all know that. It's not my fault he's still breathing. I tried to kill him by pushing him out of the car during a gang fight, but then some f*cking hero saved him. I'm like come on n*gga seriously?" Vincent paused for a minute and said, "So you playing volleyball?"
"F*ck no. I hate volleyball."
"How about cross country?"
"Nah, not my thing."
"You're not doing any sports this season?"
"Nope. I'll just wait until basketball season comes."
"So you're not going to do any fall sports this year or the next three years?"
I responded by shaking my head. I played volleyball in middle school, but it never interested me. I always preferred basketball and soccer or fútbol or whatever people want to call it over volleyball. Many say that I'm actually better than most of the guys on the boys basketball varsity team, but does anybody really care about women's basketball? People care more about the Bucks and Sixers than any WNBA team. Playing basketball is nice but because there's no soccer team in this school, there's nothing to do for the other season sports. I would love to play football, but it wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for one thing - I'm a girl. A girls football team doesn't exist. I know there's something called the lingerie- I mean Legends Football League, but everything about it is just completely stupid and weird. But if I could play, I would probably be a running back or a wide receiver. I always liked to run no matter what sport it was. When I get a rebound, I run down the court to get two easy points before anybody can catch up. When there's a counterattack, I would be the one running with the ball. I've also won several awards in track and swimming.
"Okay then. I understand you're busy with taking care of your older sister, school, and jobs," Vincent said, "but you shouldn't waste your four years of high school doing nothing. There's no do-overs in life."
"Yeah, I know that."