17 Scrimmage (17)

Two days later, it was a regular practice. The coaches were coaching the players, and everybody was doing as they were told when suddenly John made an announcement.

"Hey! Today, we're playing a scrimmage against a college team! Get ready, their gonna be here in 10 minutes!"

The team looked excited and arrogant, and that made John sneer and look at them with disappointment. Obviously they wouldn't be able to play against a college team. The main reason was because of puberty, most of the kids on this team were 13-16, while the college teams are full grown adults! The only people who would be able to even compete against them would be John, Henry, and Dwayne, and that's because of skill making up for the difference in strength, but it's not like they could carry the entire team!

He had scrimmaged this team because he noticed his players were getting arrogant, and in the future he wouldn't be able to smack some humbleness into them because they would be a top team!

10 minutes later, the opposing team came. When the Dominators saw the size of the opposing team, their arrogance faltered a little, but when they looked back at their team they were reassured.

John met up with their coach, and reminded him the purpose of this match.

"Hey, were doing this because my team is getting arrogant because of us winning all of the time. Make sure your team doesn't hurt my team alright?"

"Yeah, I told em, no worries" the coach said in a nonchalant manner. John was aggrieved with how the coach gave him no respect, but walked away to get ready for the game.

•••

Ten minutes later, the Dominators and the opposing college team had gotten in gear and warmed up. The captains were called, and a temporary referee was called to handle the game.

"Heads or tails?" The ref called, as he flipped the coin in the air.

"Heads." John called, when the coin landed it was heads.

"Offense." John called before the red even asked.

"Which way are you going?" The ref asked the college team.

Their captains pointed, and then the game started. The Dominators captain sent out their main offense, except John was switched out for a backup.

The QB was Henry, the two wide receivers were Mccaffery and David, and the tight end was Randy.

Mickey, aka Mccaffery, was on the outzone on the left side of the field. He was running a short post, while David was in the slot doing a flat and fly, where he went in before going up. Mickeys route was to get the middle safety away, while David would go into the safety's initial spot to get big yards. It seemed even the coaches were getting arrogant, which made John a little angry. After all, at least adults should know how to keep their heads straight and not in the clouds. They were going for such a risky play with big yard gains so early, what else could be said about this play except for it being extremely domineering?

Randy was a dump, or the last option to go for if the others weren't open. He would do a simple flat route to the middle.

"HIKE!" Henry called, and the play started. Mickey tried to beat the corner, but just like David got locked down. Randy was the only one who managed to break off of his defender because he improvised and went behind the corner that locked David down.

Henry threw the ball to him, and Randy got the ball but got absolutely bulldozered and fumbled the ball. A D lineman picked the ball up, and nobody was able to tackle him until two O linemen tackled his legs and he fell at the 10 yard line.

The defense also got pummeled, any anybody who tried to defend was pushed to the ground or beaten with speed. They scored a touchdown, as well as a two point conversion, and it went back to offense. John went out, and it seemed hope flashed into the eyes of the hopeless sideline when they saw him go in.

Johns route was a fly. Henry did a two count, before hiking the ball. Instantly, the corner found the difference between John and the backup. John sprinted, looking for a shift in the defenders hips to capitalize on and when he saw the defenders hips turn upwards thinking he would sprint all the way he stopped back looking for the ball. The defender panicked, and stepped back to get next to John but when he looked John wasn't there, and then he felt a shove from behind him making him fall.

John had broken the defenders ankles, but got locked down by the safety and Henry panicked from the D Linemen rushing him and bombed it to John.

Because of the height difference and pure physicality difference, the safety jumped up and intercepted the ball. John grabbed his leg and did a Jiu Jitsu move to tackle the safety down because that was the only way he would be able to get the student down.

The defense went on, and as expected were destroyed. The opposing team played with them, doing flys every route for huge yards and handing the ball of to the linemen to bulldoze over them.

Like that, the entire game went by. The score was 40-0, and it was the offense for the Dominators as well as the last drive for the game.

The coaches relied completely on John for yards, because the only reason John could even get past the defenders was with his route running skills.

Johns route was fly, and the coaches were trying to get him a 1 on 1 in the end zone by using the other receivers to get the safety's away.

"HIKE!"

John sprinted as fast as he could to the touchdown zone, beating the corner with pure speed.

He used his momentum to get past the safety, and he had a 4 step difference between him and the safety he had just passed.

The safety was catching up, and Henry threw the ball to John. John was in the end zone already, meaning Henry couldn't dome him and only pray John would get it.

The play was looking bad, with the safety in front of the ball. The safety jumped to catch the ball, but made a mistake of timing it wrong and tipped the ball. Coincidentally, the ball went right to John.

John saw the ball headed towards him, and he could practically feel time stop as it slowly headed towards him. He extended his hands out, and caught the ball.

The ref put his hands in the air, signaling a touchdown. The college team looked surprised, while the Dominators were cheering so loud that even if you were on the other side of the field you would hear.

The game ended, with a score of 7-40 because of a field goal the Dominators managed to get off.

The college team left, and soon the Dominators were huddled up. They thought John would criticize them, but surprisingly he asked a question.

"Who thought they would win this game?" John asked. The entire team raised their hand, except Henry.

"Henry, why did you think we would lose?"

"Coach, no matter how skilled we are the average age of our team is 13-16. We haven't even finished puberty, but the opposing team were all at least 18, practically meaning they had all finished puberty. Even a ordinary person who finished puberty would have been physically stronger then us in every way, not to mention a trained football team."

John smiled "Of course, that's correct. You all thought you would really win against a college team? The touchdown we got was pure luck, and the opposing team wasn't even trying. They played around with us for the entire game. Let this be a lesson, a lesson to never be arrogant. You all thought before the game 'Oh, were the best team out there. We can definitely win against these college kids.' Always know, their will be somebody better then you. Even if your the best at your position, that doesn't mean you are unstoppable does it? Always strive to be better, and never stop. Practice dismissed" John said, as he packed his bag up and headed to his car.

The team all stood still, thinking of his words. A few minutes later, they also packed up with sad but determined looks.