A Few Yards Shy of Heaven

As soon as the clock dragged to the half minute mark, Young Robinson took the second down snap and rolled past the tackle box to his right.

“Ah Lord, here we go,” chimed Old Man Schmidt.

Squaring his shoulders to the line of scrimmage, with Knause only steps away, Young Robinson fired toward the back of the end zone.

A collective gasp from the South Heaven faithful shook the Summit, as the pass sailed over its target. South Heaven was still alive…and I was near wearing out my welcome.

"Wally, I knew this two and naught record was too good to be true.”

The ruckus resumed as Young Robinson brought the Monarchs to the line on third down. He surveyed a 4-4 defense, and appeared to begin an audible.

I suggested play options to Young Robinson.

Knause and his men held their ground, failing to bite on the quarterback's change of plans. Robinson took the snap and darted for right end; a sprint option with Rust as his pitch man. A seam appeared at the void, granted by the Ranger defensive backer, and the quarterback assumed the advantage, planting a cleat and tucking the ball.

We lost sight of Young Robinson and the ball. Our eyes shot to the line judge…no touchdown signal. Fourth down.

For those of us whose heart, mind, and soul had been punished by the pounding waves of emotion, Coach Brewer signaled for a stoppage of the clock. His staff attempted frantically to retrieve the Monarch players who had stormed the field in anticipation of raised arms by the referee.

Ten headache engendering seconds remained in a game of two separate halves. South Heaven, the team that the second half had abandoned, had boots in the seawater, protecting precarious inches of beachhead they called home. Dexter, with either a make-up change or butt-chewing under their belt, charged out of the locker room and was one yard away from not only completely owning the second half but winning the battle and justifying Old Man Schmidt's belief in the curse.

No one sat.

Young Robinson brought to the line two tight ends and a full house backfield. He faced an odd eight man front harboring three linebackers within feet of the line of scrimmage. Two bruising formations of football years past were set to do battle; two foes whose participants dug their cleats deeper and deeper into the chewed turf of the trenches. Staring down the defense, Young Robinson's head bobbed with the cadence calls.

I could feel the overwhelming thud of my heart rattle its cage.

The noise bursting from the home stands had grown atrocious and overbearing, as hundreds of feet thumped the concrete and cowbells poisoned the air.

Suddenly, a commotion stirred in the center of the line. Young Robinson scoured the turf in search of a loose football, as the ends of the lines collapsed into a heap. The pigskin became lost, until out of nowhere emerged the boy who would become the hero of the night for the Rangers.

Like a devastating earthquake, a roar vibrated Gottmann Field.

Chugging and churning, bumbling and stumbling, Blaine `Teddy Bear' Manning, the largest member of Coach Waddell's team, had a pair of blockers with him and turned the entire sidelines and grandstands into one lump of mass hysteria. Without height and at two hundred and sixty-five pounds, Manning had the physique of a swollen water balloon. He carried the ball like a ticking bomb, and had to be pushed along by teammates.

"Good God Almighty, Bear's got the ball!”

By the time any Monarch sensed his surrounding, it was far too late.

"We're gonna win! We're gonna win! Teddy Bear stole the ball!”

I was certain Blaine had never run farther than the length of the diving board to complete a cannon ball. By the time he reached the Dexter thirty, Manning was being held up by his lead blockers.

"He's at the twenty!”

Once he reached the fifteen, Manning's only pursuers had relented, but his teammates on the bench were streaming down the sidelines with helmets swinging in the air.

"He's at the ten! He's…at the five! Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown Manning!” Wally was done.

The moment Manning crossed the goal line, he fell to the turf. The entire South Heaven team leaped on the big boy in celebration. From every corner of the stadium, fans flooded the field.