Tom's Treasure

by Henry Givens

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Championship Saturday came and everybody was as excited as they could be. Game time was at 9 a.m., but by 8:30, the Summerville side was all filled up. The fans were cranked for another fairly easy victory and another chance to declare their team the undisputed champs.

  However, an equally excited throng of Bartlett Middle School Wildcat fans kept pouring into the stands. By the time the game started, there was so much noise that things were just about even.

  There were so many reporters looking for stories that they were hounding the workers in the concession stand and the ticket takers at the gates. Everybody wanted to know. Did the Wildcats have something special up their sleeves? Were there any top secret plays?

  Everybody was interviewed, even Arthur Hollis. What was his standard answer? Just like his grandpa, he played it cool. He would just look up at them with his big eleven-year old eyes and say, "Why, I'm just a water boy. What could I know?" And then, he would walk away and snicker loud enough for them to hear him.

  For the first half, nobody had a clear cut advantage. When Summerville scored, the Wildcats would march right down the field and score right behind them. When the Wildcat defense would stop Summerville, Summerville's defense would crank up, too.

  Was there any noise? Ho-o-o-o-o-o boy. Elmhurst Christian Church was going to have one of the quietest services they had ever had the next day. Rev. Jim Wallace had lost his voice before the first half ended. And, not too far behind him was about half the choir. Although some of them still had a little voice left by the half-way point of the fourth quarter.

  The fourth quarter? Everybody wished that they had saved their voices for what happened. However, when it happened the almost voiceless crowd found many ways of making noise. Feet, hands, chairs, popcorn boxes, seat cushions, anything that would rattle or slap was used.

  The score was 27-24 in Summerville's favor with only a couple of minutes remaining. Ramon had racked up so many yards, that he was being double and triple teamed on just about every play. Unfortunately, the Wildcats had already used every play in their play book. What they needed was one good play that they had never seen before. One play that would let Ramon slip by the three guys assigned to stop him and they would win the championship.

  Ladies and gentlemen, that's where the genius genes handed down from Tom Dandridge began to warm up in his great-grandson. Arthur slipped up and down the sidelines talking with every one of the offensive players about a hair-brained plan. It was so-o-o-o crazy that it would only work ONCE. Of course, ONCE was all that they needed it to work.

  Why did he have to walk up and down the sidelines and talk with the offense about it? We-e-e-l-l-l, because the coach would have told him what a dumb idea it was. Yeah, it was dumb alright. But, it might just be dumb enough to fool the Summerville players.

  There was less than two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats had the ball on the Summerville's 38 yard line. It was third down and nine yards to go to make a first down. It was too far for a field goal and too close for a punt. Nobody wanted to let Summerville have the ball back and let them run out the clock.

  Ramon had been limited to just two yards apiece on his last three carries. Now, it DID take two and three guys to corner him and put him down, but they had learned how to trap him.

  When they got into the huddle, Jason Dykes spoke, "OK guys, whatcha say we try the Arthur Hollis special? The coach called for a run to the right and pitch out to Ramon. It's absolutely perfect for Arthur's plan. Are you with me? We can't let Summerville get another chance to score. If we can pull this off WE WIN, HANDS DOWN!" Then without waiting for an answer he added, "OK. On the FOURTH hike. Let's go." Then, they all clapped their hands once as they broke the huddle and took their positions at the line. Everybody knew what they had to do.

  Ramon got set at Jason's right. The defense had been looking for it and two extra backfield guys shifted to take on Ramon. Before Jason started his cadence, the defensive backfield pointed and grinned at Ramon. "That's OK, you pea brains," bragged Ramon, "I'm gonna blow by you guys like a freight train."

  When Jason called out the fourth hike, the center snapped the ball. The tight ends and the fullback on the left side of Jason took off toward the goal line on the left side of the field. Jason and Ramon ran toward the right while Randy, the tight end ran ahead to run interference for Ramon. Jason got ready to 'shovel' the ball him.

  Suddenly, Ramon fell towards his right and yelled above the crowd, "O-w-w-w! My ankle." Randy stopped in his tracks, grabbed his helmet in shock and ran back to catch Ramon to keep him from falling. To the horror of the crowd he hopped a couple of times and almost fell into Randy's arms. As he cried out in pain again, the crowd could see his ankle dangling at an awkward angle.

  Jason put on the brakes and reversed his momentum. Two of Summerville’s lineman chased him. As he ran to his left, he yelled, "Broken play, broken play, Steve, St-e-e-e-v-e." The backfield that had come rushing towards Ramon immediately took off after Jason. They just knew they had him and the game would virtually be over.

  Then it happened. Above the noise of the crowd came the human voice imitating the sound of a freight train. Instantly, Jason whirled back to the right and threw the football to the far corner of the end zone.

  As the astonished Summerville defense looked on, Ramon indeed played the part of a freight train. His long legs were stretched out and he was gobbling up the yardage. At the ten yard line, he lifted one arm up in the air and pulled it down as if he were a conductor on a freight train. Loud enough to be heard over the noise, Ramon let out another, "W-o-o-o-o-o-o, w-o-o-o-o-o" and calmly let the spiraling football fall into his outstretched arms. Touchdown, Wildcats!!!!!!

  When Ramon caught the ball in the end zone, Coach Wimberly looked over at Arthur. Now, I don't know if Arthur had any Indian blood in him or not but he was doing some kind of victory dance with reckless abandon. That is, until he saw the coach watching him with a frown on his face and his arms crossed. That's when Arthur stopped dancing and just went to clapping his hands and yelling "Way to go guys." He tried to look out of the corner of his eyes to see if the coach was going to chase him or not.

  Well, I CAN'T say that the crowd was excited. However, I CAN say that Summerville FINALLY got quiet. Yep, the wind was all out of their sails as they saw that their great team had been hoodooed by an almost nobody team. As for the Wildcat fans, God's miraculous healing power had to have touched almost everyone there because a great shout arose that even caused the ice in the concession area to shake. And, it didn't stop for the remainder of the game. Uh……..and then some.

  Of course, it didn't stop after for the extra point was kicked, either. Did I already say that the wind was out of the sails of the folks from Summerville? AND, it completely discombobulated their offense.

  After the Wildcats kicked off to them, they tried their three best power plays. With adrenaline running high, the Bartlett Middle School Wildcat defense stopped them cold. The Wildcats took over on downs and ran out the clock. A completely disgruntled Summerville beat a hasty retreat.

  Yes, sir. Bartlett Middle School beating Summerville Middle School for the championship was a big surprise even to the home crowd. However, the day was just beginning to bring more than its share of surprises.