Long Arm Quarterback

by Matt Christopher

  Sure enough, two Cobra defenders raced back to cover the pass that never came while Ben and Vince laid solid blocks to clear a path for Fritz. This time Cap stayed alert, and when another Cobra tried to cut across and tackle the runner, Cap hit him low and brought the man down. Fritz picked up ten yards. Gabe, Candy, and Bobby Jo yelled encouragement and Tully had a big grin on his face.

  Vince stayed in the lineup and Cap called for the long pass. He found himself running for his life as a Cobra got through Vince's block and chased him to his right. He saw that Sam had a step on his man, stopped, and unleashed a perfect spiral. Running flat out, Sam made a desperate dive, but the ball was a foot out of his reach.

  Cap noticed that the Cobra who had covered Sam Dracus, and almost matched him step for step, was Vernon Dewey. He was probably their deep threat on offense, as well as a good pass defender. As Sam trotted back to the huddle, Cap said, “Sorry, that would have been six if it'd been just a bit shorter.”

  He was thinking about what he'd call next when he felt a tap on his shoulder, turned, and saw Jimmy standing there.

  “Coach wants me in,” said the other boy.

  Cap nodded wordlessly and ran off the field. He only let me run four plays, that's not fair, he thought. When he got to the sidelines, he thought Tully might explain, but his grandfather said nothing, just patted his shoulder and kept his eyes on the field. Sable Cash ignored him completely.

  Candy came over and said, “You looked pretty good in there.”

  Cap snorted. “Yeah? Then how come I'm over here? After four plays!”

  “Well…” Candy hesitated. “Maybe it was calling the long pass. I know Mr. Cash gave Grandpa an earful about it.”

  On the field, Jimmy tried a short sideline pass that Mick caught for a six-yard gain. Steve Flynn went in for Fritz and caught an eight-yard pass out of the backfield.

  “Way to go, boy!” boomed Sable Cash. “He's making good play selections,” he said to Tully. “He's got a quarterback's mind.”

  Tully nodded and leaned closer to Cap. “Sable has a point, son. Jimmy's good at mixing his calls, and. you still have to remember that those long bombs aren't the kind of play you can call too often. They can really destroy a team's momentum.”

  Sure enough, Jimmy picked up another twelve yards on his next two plays: a pass play to Ben at center, with Ben carrying two tacklers ahead for four yards, and a run by Vince around right end, with Hoot making a great block.

  But on his next play, Jimmy's pitchout was wild, and Hoot couldn't reach it before a Cobra defensive player fell on the ball.

  Jimmy glanced over at the sidelines, clearly upset, and Tully clapped and hollered, “It's all right, don't let it get to you!”

  After Jimmy gained six yards with a pass over the middle, Tully sent Cap and Fritz back in. “You have four more plays,” he told Cap, “make 'em count!”

  On the next play, Cap hit Mick with a down-and-out pattern for ten yards, putting the Panthers on the Cobra ten-yard line. He sent Sam into the corner of the end zone and Mick to the other side of the field, then shoveled an underhand pass to Ben. Ben plowed straight ahead for six yards to the four. A running play, Fritz carrying up the middle with Cap making a block, picked up only one yard.

  Cap had one more play and wanted to score now. He sent three receivers into the end zone, but as he looked the field over, there were Cobras too close to all of them to risk a pass. On the other hand, there was nobody on the line.

  Cap flipped the ball to Fritz, who was back to block, then slammed into the first Cobra defender to get close. Fritz lowered his head and bulled forward, carrying the ball over the goal line.

  The referee held his hands straight up, signifying a touchdown, and the other Panthers surrounded Fritz, cheering and pounding him on the back.

  Cap had made the four plays count, he had called the plays that brought the Panthers their first touchdown. Sure, it was only a scrimmage, but he felt good about it anyway. And, he thought, maybe even Mr. Cash would be impressed. He, Cap, could play this game too.

  9

  Baird Hoskins blew his whistle. “Take two minutes, and Bee Town goes on offense.”

  On the sidelines, the Panthers milled around, giving each other high fives, feeling good. The practice squadders joined in until Tully called for everyone's attention.

  “Let's not celebrate too soon,” he said. “Time to show what we can do defensively. I'm going to start the same team as on offense and I'll substitute a lot so you'll get playing time. Remember, you play defense with your eyes and brains too. Stay alert, know where the ball is, and never forget your job on every play. Don't try to be a hero and do it all yourself.”

  “Right!” Sable Cash agreed. “If you're on the line of scrimmage, make sure you don't get faked out of position, don't leave big holes to run through. If you're on a receiver, look for feints and don't get beaten deep. Talk to each other! Don't get your signals crossed.”

  As they ran on the field, Cap said to Sam, “Watch out for the tall blond guy, Vernon, I think his name is. He can fly.”

  Sam nodded. “He was covering me before. I'll give him room but not too much.”

  As the Cobras came to the line of scrimmage, their quarterback looked at the Panther defense, which wasn't giving him any clues. They had Ben and Fritz on the line, on either side of the center. Hoot and Mick were the linebackers, a few yards deep, with Sam and Cap in the secondary.

  As the ball was snapped, Cap stayed in place and saw a receiver break toward him. He held back until he saw the quarterback flip a lateral to a running back and realized the end coming at him was a blocker. The Cobra lunged but Cap shoved him aside and ran to his left, in the direction of the play. He saw Ben double-teamed and Fritz chasing the runner from behind. Hoot got a hand on the runner's arm and slowed him down. Cap hurled himself forward and dragged the man down after a three-yard gain.

  Sam patted Cap on the back. “Way to hustle!”

  On the next play, the quarterback dropped back. Ben put pressure on him, and Cap saw Sam going deep, covering speedy Vernon Dewey. His man raced toward him, stopped abruptly, and pivoted toward the center of the field. Cap reacted quickly, but the receiver was open for a second, long enough for the passer to hit him with a bullet pass. Cap slammed into the man, but the pass was good for eight yards.

  There was cheering from a handful of rooters in the bleachers. Cap stood up and brushed himself off. Hoot grinned at him.

  “Good recovery, man. You dropped him before he could turn it into a big gain.”

  On the next play, the Panthers stonewalled an attempted run up the middle, with Ben plugging the hole and making the first hit and Mick and Fritz finishing it off.

  Between plays, Sam whispered to Cap, “Watch for a pass. I have a hunch.”

  Sam and Cap dropped back a few steps as the Cobras came to the line. Cap saw that Vernon Dewey was on his side of the field.

  “Don't let him get behind you,” Sam called. “I'll help if I'm not too busy over here.”

  On the snap, Vernon turned on the afterburners and sprinted straight toward Cap. Cap backpedaled, then pivoted and ran as hard as he could, trying to stay between the receiver and the goal line. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam racing hard, looking to help out.

  The ball soared toward Vernon, who saw it at the same time Cap did. Both tried to get under it. Incredibly, the Cobra put on an extra burst of speed and got a step on Cap, who thought for a second that Vernon would make the catch. But a hurtling figure in blue and gold launched itself at the ball and tipped it with one outstretched hand. Sam crashed to the ground and Vernon made a grab for the ball, but Sam had deflected it so that it hit the ground, incomplete.

  Cap helped pull Sam to his feet. “What a play! You saved six points, for sure.”

  Sam stood up and brushed himself off. “I thought Hoot said this guy was helpless.”

  Cap chuckled. “Now we know better.”

  The Cobras stayed away from long
passes, but their short passing game, mixed in with a few runs, got them good yardage. On their ninth play they scored a touchdown. Cap was on the sidelines at the time, replaced by Jimmy two plays before.

  Jimmy was a good tackler and played well against the run, but he wasn't as good at covering receivers as Cap. Vernon beat him badly on one pass play, faking him and getting past him for a twenty-yard run after a catch.

  Cap overheard Sable mutter, “I told that boy to watch out. That skinny kid has good moves.” Sable went to Tully. “We ought to double-team that kid on pass plays.”

  Tully shook his head. “We double-team him and we leave someone open. Maybe I'd do it in a game situation, but not here.”

  “You're the coach,” snapped Sable, clearly not happy about the fact.

  Jimmy subbed back in moments later. On their next-to-last play, the Cobras pulled a stunt play, with the quarterback lateraling to a halfback. Then, as the Panther defense rushed in to stop the run, the halfback pitched back to the quarterback. Cap looked over his shoulder to see a Cobra end, all alone, going deep. He took off after the receiver, knowing he wouldn't catch him in time.

  The pass, however, was underthrown, forcing the end to wait for it and allowing Cap to make a touchdown-saving tackle. The Cobras were now twelve yards from the end zone and called a pass play, but Cap and Sam had both deep receivers tightly covered.

  A safety-valve pass to a halfback was complete but Hoot and Steve brought the runner down six yards short of a score.

  The unofficial score was tied.

  The ref called both coaches over to confer and then announced, “We have time for each team to run six plays. Let's take five minutes and then it'll be Cowpen on offense.”

  Tully got the Panthers together. “Let's see if we can score again. Play as if we were in the last two minutes of a tie game.” He paused for a moment. “Jimmy, you start, and the rest of the starting lineup is Hoot, Fritz, Mick, Ben, and Sam. We have six plays, so make 'em count!”

  Cap called out encouragement to his teammates, hoping he didn't look as bothered by Tully's decision as he felt. Sable grabbed Jimmy by the arm and whispered a few last words before the teams took the field. Tully came over to Cap.

  “Now don't worry—I'll send you in.”

  Cap smiled as convincingly as he could. He thought that he had played as well as Jimmy—better on defense, for sure.

  Candy must have noticed that Cap wasn't happy. She and Bobby Jo joined Cap. Candy punched her brother lightly on the shoulder.

  “You're still the man,” she said, “and everyone here knows it, except for Mr. Cash, I guess. Don't let it get you down, bro.”

  Jimmy's first play was a short pass to Hoot that got the Panthers five yards.

  “See?” Candy whispered to Cap. “Too short. That's a good play if you want to eat up the clock, but that's not what we need to do now.”

  “Right,” said Bobby Jo. “We need a big play, and you're the big-play man.”

  Cap felt better.

  Jimmy's next two plays, a run and another short pass, gained a total of ten more yards. Tully beckoned to Cap.

  “Go in and open it up,” he ordered.

  Cap saw Sable Cash scowling in the background as he ran on and gathered the team together. The Panthers were forty yards from a touchdown and had three plays.

  He started with an underhand shovel pass to Ben at center, using his wide receivers to draw the secondary deep and out of position. Ben powered ahead, carrying a Cobra tackler the last few yards, and picking up twelve.

  Cap then called a deep sideline pass, throwing to Mick for another fifteen yards and putting the Panthers on the thirteen-yard line.

  He sent Mick into the.left corner of the end zone. Sam put on a burst of speed that forced his defender to accelerate to keep up. But Sam hooked in toward the goalposts, getting free for Cap's pass. Cap's throw was high, but Sam leapt up to bring it down.

  Touchdown, Panthers! Cap wasn't pleased with his accuracy but celebrated with his teammates anyway.

  With the Panthers on defense, Cap stayed in the game for the first three plays, during which they held Bee Town to only twelve yards. It seemed like they would keep the Cobras from scoring.

  However, Tully sent in Jimmy, Steve, and Vince for Cap, Hoot, and Sam, and things suddenly changed. Steve blew an open-field tackle on a Cobra runner that allowed the runner to gain fifteen yards. On the next play, Vernon Dewey took off downfield, covered by Jimmy.

  “Uh-oh,” Sam muttered, just loud enough for Cap to hear. “Jimmy can't keep up with that guy.”

  Sure enough, Vernon sailed past Jimmy, who could only watch as Dewey caught the well-thrown pass in full stride and trotted over the goal line for six points.

  Cap turned to Hoot, who was watching with his mouth hanging open.

  “Great scouting report you gave us on that guy Dewey”

  Hoot shrugged. “What can I say? He used to be helpless.”

  Candy leaned in over Cap's shoulder. “If Grandpa had left you and Sam in, they'd never have scored.”

  Recalling how Vernon had beaten him a while before, Cap replied, “Don't be so sure of that. Anyway, this is a scrimmage, and Grandpa needed to see what we could do—all of us.”

  But in his own mind he agreed with Candy that all in all he was the better of the two quarterbacks.

  The two teams came together to shake hands and congratulate each other. As Vernon Dewey shook Cap's hand, Hoot stepped between the two and faced the gangly blond boy.

  “Great game! Hey, you used to play with us when you were little, remember? You were pretty bad.”

  Vernon smiled. “Yeah, I guess I was, wasn't I.”

  “Not anymore,” said Cap. “You almost beat us single-handed.”

  “We would've beat you, except that fellow Sam can really motor. Good game, guys.”

  “Panthers, let's head home,” called Tully. “Good work, everybody. See you tomorrow afternoon—and be ready to work.”

  10

  Tully,” said Sable Cash, cutting Tully off on the way to the station wagon. “We need to talk. How about tonight?”

  Tully nodded, not smiling. “Call me or come over, whatever you want.”

  In Tully's station wagon for the trip home were Cap, Candy, Bobby Jo, Ben, Hoot, and Gabe. Everyone was in a mood to celebrate except Tully, who drove without contributing to the happy chatter.

  “You guys looked real tough out there today,” Gabe said. “I think you outplayed the Cobras, and they have a deeper bench, with a twelve-man roster.”

  “Nine good players can beat twelve not-so-good players,” Candy pointed out, echoing her brother's pregame thoughts.

  “Some of those Cobras are plenty good,” Ben observed. “I'd take Vernon Dewey for my team any day”

  “And their quarterback can throw,” Cap pointed out. “But we did all right, huh, Grandpa?”

  “You did fine,” Tully replied. “All of you did real well.”

  “Cap, you can throw too,” said Bobby Jo. “You were the best quarterback I saw today.”

  “Right!” echoed Candy. “When you don't get bomb-crazy, anyway.”

  Cap glared at his sister. “What's that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh, come on, bro, you love those long, long passes! And they tend to be too long for human beings to get to, sometimes.”

  “Hey, I got us both touchdowns today! And neither of them was on a long pass!” Cap was angry.

  Candy held up a hand. “Chill out, Cap.”

  “Don't tell me to chill out! And when I want you to tell me what I do wrong, I'll ask. If I don't ask, keep your opinions to yourself!”

  Candy was startled at her brother's anger. “All I meant was—”

  “I don't care what you meant,” Cap broke in. “And I don't care what you think, either!”

  Candy settled back in her seat, and no one spoke for several miles. Ben broke the silence.

  “Well, I think Candy was right about one thing. Cap was the bes
t quarterback out there today. Jimmy doesn't have the arm.”

  “And he doesn't play much defense,” Hoot added. “Whatever that Mr. Cash says.”

  Tully slapped the steering wheel. “Cut it out, right now, all of you! I don't like hearing teammates knocking other teammates, and I don't want to hear it again, is that clear?”

  “Yes sir,” said Hoot, looking down at his shoes.

  “Sorry,” Ben muttered, his face flushed.

  “That goes for you, too, Candy, Bobby Jo,” Tully continued. “You ought to have better sense, especially with your coach sitting right here listening to it all.”

  “Sorry, Grandpa,” said Candy.

  “As for you, Cap, you should know better than to talk to your sister like that. The fact is that she has as good a head for football as you do. Maybe better.”

  Cap nodded and muttered an apology.

  “Now, for the rest of this trip, I don't want to hear any more arguing,” Tully said, “and I never want to hear any member of this team sniping at a teammate. In fact, I don't even want you to think bad thoughts about your teammates. It's a sure way for a team to fall apart.”

  There wasn't much talk at all for the rest of the trip back to Cowpen.

  Dinner at the Wadell house was quiet too, with Candy and Cap refusing to speak to each other and Tully not wanting conversation either. Sable had called and was due to come by after the meal.

  “Excuse me,” said Tully, getting up with his coffee cup and walking away from the table.

  “Huh,” said Cap, watching his grandfather leave the room. “Guess he's not looking forward to Mr. Cash coming over, is he.”

  Candy looked straight ahead and didn't reply.

  “Oh, I guess you're not talking to me, is that it?” said Cap.

  She turned to give Cap a cool look. “I thought you weren't interested in my opinions.”

  Cap turned red. “I didn't mean … that is, I wasn't… I asked for your opinion just now, didn't I?”

  “Oh, I see,” Candy said, still frosty. “It's only about football that you don't want to hear my opinions. But now you're willing to hear what I have to say?”