The Last to Flinch

'I'm sorry about the last drive,' Pete said in the huddle.

'Forget about it,' Kenny said, patting him on the back. 'It's a new drive. Everything before this one doesn't matter.'

'Right.' Lonnie nodded. 'Let's just … focus on scoring now. … We can win this.'

Rudy said nothing, staring at the goalposts.

'We're not in no-huddle, are we?' Vincent said, his smile hiding his worry.

'Not yet,' Pete said.

'Oh, good.' Vincent's smile widened.

Lonnie moved a fist into the middle of the huddle. 'Win on three.'

Ten fists joined the first.

'One … two … three—'

'Win!'

The Titans strode over to their positions. 'Why'd HE do the countdown?' Rudy muttered to himself.

Whilst the Titans weren't foregoing their huddles just yet, they still played with urgency. That's not to say they were in a rush either, Pete wasn't about to make the same mistakes and cost them another drive.

He first hit Lonnie on a short Hitch route for 6 yards. From the get-go, it was obvious the Titans weren't going to be running the ball. On the second play, Isaac even left the backfield and lined up next to Rudy as a Wideout.

He wasn't just a decoy either. Whilst Lonnie ran his same Hitch, Freddy and Isaac ran a mesh concept as they passed each other on Crosses. As Rudy and Kenny were covered downfield, Pete hit Isaac underneath in the open field, and he scrambled ahead for 8 yards.

Isaac alternated positions from next to Rudy, to back in the backfield.

Pete made sure to spread the ball around, hitting Freddy on an Out route next, stopping the clock for a moment on the 4-yard gain.

When Lonnie's hitch was covered, he could even scramble into an Out route of his own for another 5 yards.

Kenny was found on a quick Slant, and while weaving through traffic, was able to squeeze out 10 yards from the short catch.

With Isaac pushed out wide, Pete finally looked Rudy's way. Vincent snapped the ball; the O-Line had been working overtime to give Pete the cleanest pocket possible and keep all the defenders off him. Isaac skipped forward then burst outside. Rudy shoved Tiny back then slanted inside. Tiny looked to his inside help as he let Rudy go and followed Isaac out. Rudy turned upfield as soon as he had some space and Pete fired the ball in.

Rudy caught the pass in stride and sped away from the MLB chasing him. He angled towards the middle of the field and tried to squeeze through the collapsing Safeties. The Safeties banged into one another, but each grabbed a hold of Rudy's legs. He stretched out as they pulled him down, and his catch and run came to an end after 13 yards.

Rudy thumped the ground before standing. He could smell the painted grass of the endzone he was that close. The Titans were within 5 yards of a touchdown. Their victory was so close they could almost touch it.

At the goal line, Coach Otsen made some more adjustments. Rudy and Lonnie swapped places. Lonnie was left on an island. The Wildcats were confused, but Tiny ended up sticking to the outside with Lonnie.

The Titans quickly snapped the ball and Pete stared Lonnie down. A Safety began sprinting over. Pete lobbed the ball towards the corner of the endzone.

One of the smallest players on the field had no hope of stopping the tallest from catching such a pass. Lonnie didn't even need to jump. He made sure he kept his feet in bounds, and caught the ball high above his head. The Titans had the lead again.

'Yes! Yes! Yes!' Jackson jumped from his seat.

Tommy noticed that in all the excitement, Jackson wasn't troubled by his leg. Nonetheless, he gently tugged Jackson back into his seat. 'Hahaha, don't go celebrating just yet.'

'But they scored! They're gonna win!'

'We'll see. They've still gotta play defence after this, there's still plenty of time for another comeback, especially with how this game's gone.'

Jackson looked to the scoreboard. His fists clenched up. 'They'll stop them. I know they will.'

The Titans didn't try anything fancy after the touchdown, Coach Otsen had complete faith in Freddy's leg by this point, and the successful extra point pushed their lead out to 4. The clock ticked down to the final 2 minutes of the game.

Before the kick-off, Coach Otsen had one last pep talk with the team. 'You've all played great, every last one of you. Don't stop now. Don't worry about the clock, don't worry about the score, go out there, and play the way you have from the beginning. Lock them down, and get one more stop. That's all there is to it.'

He looked around at every player, they all had the same intense gaze.

'We've got some final adjustments,' Coach Carson announced. 'Rudy, keep locking down eighteen underneath, Lonnie, you'll be taking Freddy's place, cut off anything deep down that side. Freddy, you're taking Kenny's spot, and Kenny, you're where Lonnie was. Watch the middle and the sideline, you think you can do that?'

'One hundred percent.'

'Freddy, your priority is deep stuff as well, if your man goes deep, follow him, even if something short comes in front of you, worry about that after the catch. You just have to make the tackle.'

Freddy gulped. He wondered if Kenny wouldn't be better suited for such a job, but he didn't voice his concerns. 'G-Got it.'

The Titans were pumped up, and Freddy had his best kick-off yet. The Wildcats even let it bounce into the endzone for a touchback.

The crowd—now without an empty seat in sight—cheered and stomped madly as the Wildcats' offence marched onto the field for what seemed like their final drive of the season.

The Titans weren't going to cave under the immense pressure. Both Rudy and Aaron were so focused that neither said anything as they stood in front of each other, awaiting the snap.

As the QB took the ball, Aaron charged forward, pushing towards the outside. Kevin slipped out to the flat, and the QB found him quickly. Kevin turned upfield as soon as he caught the ball, no one was covering him.

Lonnie hurried down though he was fifteen yards away. Aaron was between Rudy and Kevin who came racing along the sideline, but at the last moment Rudy shoved Aaron back and he stumbled into Kevin, both of them stepping out of bounds.

The ball was stopped after 8 yards, but so was the clock.

Next, the Wildcats targeted the opposite flat, right under Freddy's nose. They gained another 6 yards, and stopped the clock by running out of bounds again.

Bit by bit, the Wildcats crawled down the field half a dozen or so yards at a time, stopping the clock whenever they could. Eventually, they reached the middle of the field.

Here, they tried to target the flat on Freddy's side again, but the QB underthrew the pass and it landed at the Receiver's feet.

A loud gasp came from just about every spectator in the stands. The clock was stopped with a little over a minute to go.

The Wildcats still had all of their timeouts. They still had time.

On the next play, Aaron shoved Rudy off and launched into a Slant, diving to make the catch which was a bit too far in front of him. He reeled it in, but was quickly downed for only a gain of 4 yards.

The Wildcats called timeout. They were clearly in the territory of going for it on fourth down if it came to that, but they still needed time to plan their next crucial step.

The Titans took the time to catch their breath. Coach Otsen and Carson didn't have much more to say to the boys, just reassurance that they were doing great. They were only a minute away from victory, but that final minute can feel like a lifetime on the gridiron.

The whole crowd was on the edge of their seats as play resumed. Aaron stood before Rudy, his hands flexing open and closed. 'I'm not losing to you,' he said.

'You already have,' Rudy said.

Aaron stared at Rudy, eyes narrowed. 'I'm not losing,' he repeated.

The ball was snapped. Aaron stuttered out of the gates and came forward. Rudy backed off. He was giving up the short ball, and he knew the Wildcats would take it, they had been all drive, and they only needed 6 more yards for a first down. But he was going to end things right now.

Aaron stamped hard, digging his cleats in as he whipped around. Rudy jumped forward, eyes darting to the QB. This was it, when he picked this off the game would be over. The ball wasn't coming, not yet anyway.

The QB threw the ball a moment later, just as Aaron turned back around and Rudy slammed into him, knocking him onto his ass.

The ball soared over them and Lonnie jogged over, catching it on his chest before he slowly dropped to a knee.

The air was sucked out of the stands. Jackson could hear the hearts shattering … the hearts of Titans fans, as the flag hit the grass.

Rudy stared at the flag in disbelief. Aaron laughed, waiting until his teammates helped him up. 'Thanks for all your help,' he said, staring Rudy down.

Lonnie quickly pulled Rudy away, dragging him back to the huddle. 'Don't worry. … We'll still win.'

Rudy didn't say anything.

The head official ruled it was DPI on Rudy for his illegal contact against Aaron, stating it happened after the ball was in the air. The Wildcats were moved up to the spot where the foul had occurred, and new life was breathed into their drive.

In the huddle, Kenny watched Rudy. He thought about speaking up, telling him that he'd cover 18, but he bit his tongue instead.

Rudy lined up against Aaron who still had a shit-eating grin. 'Ain't talking now, are you?'

Rudy bit down on his mouthguard.

'You scared now?'

Rudy shook his head.

'You should be.'

The majority of the crowd held their breath, the few Titans supporters screamed disjointed chants of "dee-fence" until the ball was snapped.

Aaron came forward, Rudy backed off. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He wouldn't cost them this game. He wouldn't lose! He kept his head forward, and kept backpedalling. He just had to worry about passes underneath.

Aaron grinned as he passed Rudy. 'Gotcha.'

Rudy's head whipped around. He saw more Wildcats streaking down the field. Kevin had slanted towards the middle with a Post route, pulling Lonnie towards the centre. Kenny had been pulled towards the opposite corner of the endzone by the other TE. Every Wildcat was going across the field to the right. All except Aaron.

Rudy turned and sprinted after Aaron as he drifted towards the back corner of the endzone. Aaron looked back over his shoulder, and Rudy followed suit. The ball spiralled towards them from the heavens.

Rudy pushed harder, but he already knew he wasn't going to make it. He looked forward. "It's too far. He overthrew it. Please tell me he overthrew it."

He watched the ball plummet. He watched Aaron slide to the ground. He watched Aaron wrap his hands around the ball. He watched the official signal the touchdown.

Rudy ran out the back of the endzone, stuttering to a stop. He sagged over, hands on his knees. He wanted to puke. He heard the Wildcats celebrating behind him as they piled on top of the triumphant Aaron.

Everything but the cheering faded. Everything went dark. Rudy was alone, surrounded by the victorious team, and their ecstatic fans.

He bolted upright when he felt a hand on his back. He whirled around, panting hard, and found Freddy standing beside him.

Freddy strained a smile. 'Come on, there's still some time.'

Rudy was confused, but followed Freddy back to the huddle. Lonnie came over and grabbed Rudy's shoulder. All he said was, 'Sorry.'

Rudy stood back as the rest of the team lined up to defend the extra point kick. It sailed through without issue, pushing the score out to 51–48 … but looking at the scoreboard, there was still half a minute to go.

There was still time.

Coach Otsen reinforced this in his message before kick-off and some energy started to fill the husk that passed for Rudy.

The Wildcats sent the kick HIGH into the twilight sky. Kenny caught it closer to the 10-yard line than his endzone and brought it out as far as he could, to the 38-yard line before he was taken down.

A few more seconds had been shaved off the clock, but the Titans still had time for one more roll of the dice… they just had to get in range for a field goal, and they still had one more timeout.

Rudy woke up in the huddle. 'Guys. I fucked up. I'm sorry for letting them score. But we're still gonna win this. I'll make up for it. I promise I'll make up for it.'

'Hey, it's not your fault.' Pete placed a hand on Rudy's shoulder. 'It's a team effort … and we're gonna win this as a team … amigo.'

The huddle broke away with one last cry of "WIN!" and the Titans took their positions.

Immediately, they saw that Rudy was being double-teamed, by two new DBs as well. They were tall, and played off him, but they were blatantly doubling him. Tiny was far back in the middle of the field, four other Wildcats were spread deep from sideline to sideline, and Kevin still marked Kenny closely.

Pete took the snap, and only two Wildcats were trying to come after him. He had all the time in the world to find a target, but he needed the right one. He needed a lot of yards, and he wanted to keep that timeout for as long as possible.

There was no hope of Rudy getting open. Freddy went TOO deep into that impenetrable wall of Wildcats, Lonnie was covered over the middle, and Isaac was too short of a route. He had to go to Kenny.

At the snap, Kenny raced forward. He had to be fast, he had to be precise, he had to win. Kevin wasn't as aggressive as usual, though he shielded off the sideline. He knew that's where Kenny wanted to go. Kenny knew Kevin knew … but he was still going to get outside.

He shimmied into Kevin, pushing him back a little bit before he broke away to the inside. He was open, but he wouldn't be able to get outside and stop the clock, they'd have to burn a timeout. Then they wouldn't be able to rely on getting out to stop the clock on the next play, and they'd never be able to set up their kick. Still, he ran inside. Kevin needed to take the bait.

And he did. Kevin lunged after him. He didn't know how far Kenny might be able to run after the catch with Freddy drawing the other defenders further upfield. He was suckered in. That's when Kenny swept back around and returned to the outside.

Pete leaned into the throw, whipping it in low and hard.

Kenny held up just a step inside the sideline. The ball was coming straight to him. It'd hit him right on the numbers.

Kevin dove across, hands outstretched, and plucked the ball from the air.

He crashed to the ground, curling around the ball.

The official on the sideline stepped in. Kenny signalled Kevin was out of bounds, he pleaded with the line judge that he was out. He had to be.

The line judge disagreed and ruled the play an interception.

The Wildcats ran out the rest of the clock. The Titans lost.