One more in just a few minutes.
He looked over at me, surprised before a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he focused his attention back on the road. He didn’t say anything for a minute or two as he maneuvered the Yukon out of the parking lot and down the road toward the light.“How did you know?” He finally asked me, confirming without coming right out and saying it.“It wasn’t the same team out there. It just felt off. It felt like you all were going through the motions so that it appeared like you were trying but I could tell that either your hearts weren’t in it or you were putting on the act of trying your best but not executing.”“Do you think it was obvious to the fans in the stands?”“No, I don’t. I don’t think it would have been obvious to me if I hadn’t already spent dozens of hours analyzing your play and snapping picture after picture. If you were trying to throw the game without being blatantly obvious that you were throwing the game, I think you pulled it off without a hitch. My question is ‘w
I slowly gathered up the camera equipment before walking to join the girls as they gathered up their gear. Courtney and Bethany were leaving together, planning to meet Jonathan and Gary at Gary’s house for the party. They would be some of the first to arrive so per his usual practices, he had given Bethany the key to the pool house where the party was being held so they could go ahead and leave and get everything set up once they got there.As I was waiting on Vanessa to finish talking with one of the younger cheerleaders, I took a moment to look up toward the crowd still remaining in the stands. The spot where Phil, Sherry and Nate had sat was empty as I expected. They might have even left before the game was completely over as Nate would have been getting tired and sleepy resulting in whining and possible atypical behavior.As my eyes swept the stands, they came to rest on a man and woman that I recognized and remembered as the parents of Alexis Parker. Her mother was crying but she
From the moment the game started, something just felt off. I knew Owen well enough, I knew this team well enough to have my suspicions as to what was happening but I would not be able to confirm it until later, when I was actually able to talk with Owen.The pace was slower than normal or maybe it was just my imagination. The first drive down the field, Owen didn’t even look to throw it. Each and every play was immediately passed off to the running back and driven right up the middle into the biggest wad of defensive traffic. We used all of our first three tries four times in a row just to get the first down each time. On the fifth try, we made the first down in just two attempts but then the next two were back to using all three again until we managed to score our first touchdown. The kicker followed with the extra point and we had an early lead but it had taken half of the quarter just to finally score.On the kickoff, our kicker made what looked like the biggest half assed attempt
While we stayed in the comfort of the air conditioning in the photography room, Mecan and Manauwa battled it out on the field. By halftime, I had the photos transferred and the SD card cleared and we had an update that the score was currently twenty-one to three in favor of Mecan.Coach Boone sent for our fellas just after the second half started, leaving us girls to sit and chat for a few more minutes before Vanessa had to go round up the rest of the cheerleading squad so that they could all prepare to take the field again and the girls joined her, being part of that squad.I received a text from an unknown number a few minutes after the girls left. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw that it was Sherry and quickly saved her number in my contacts. She was asking the score and the time left on the current game. She said that they wanted to bring Nate to the game but wanted to wait until the final game of the tournament and didn’t want to get there too early and have to wait for the Me
Just when I was feeling good about the possible outcome of the game, Owen was sacked again and there was a loss of five yards. This hit wasn’t as hard or as detrimental as the first one but it was still a pivotal moment that seemed to deflate the crowd. The second down only resulted in a gain of five to get back to the original line of scrimmage.Thankfully, the line protecting Gary and Owen came alive as the ball was snapped on the third down and Owen was able to get a clear line of sight to throw the ball down field to Jonathan. Jonathan made an amazing catch to secure the first down but was only able to run less than five yards before he was tackled to the ground.We were now on the thirty yard line, well within field goal range but still had thirty-seven seconds left on the clock. The team rushed into place and Gary handed the ball off solidly to Owen with the snap. He only hesitated for half a second before he blasted the ball down field to Jonathan again, who caught it and secure
Saturday dawned bright and clear once we finally made it out of bed. We may or may not have turned the alarm off and slept in later than intended but without any plans, we weren’t hurting anyone and the way I figured it, the more rest Owen was able to get, the better his performance would be tonight knowing that he was more than likely playing two games this evening.It was going to be an extremely long day. The first game started at two and pitted us, the defending champions against Broken Falls. Once our game was finished, the losing team was free to go but as we were the hosting team, students and staff from Wood Haven would have to remain the entire time, anyhow.After our game, Mecan would face off with Manauwa to determine who advanced to the championship game. That game was scheduled to start around five in the afternoon. The final game for the winner of this year’s tournament would start around eight o'clock tonight.It had rained sometime after midnight and a cold front moved