Down 20: To Half Time: The Endless Run

With the new Pounce 5, Joyner on the next play was caught again, cleanly this time by both Sena and Shin. The three blitzing line backers along with the four linemen created a shift over the Stampede line. It allowed two extra people to get through, every time. Seven on five meant out of Shin, Sena, or Doug, two were to get through quickly. On third down, Evan ran the ball up for 2 yards on a QB Sneak, tackled by the nose guard. Versaci, having seen Shin's power in the past few plays, neglected to block the nose guard enough. On fourth down, there was only 2 yards to go, and Joyner had been able to get two yards even through the Pounce 5, as he did with that play. He gained a first down right before being tackled by Doug and Shin.

Coach Finkle looked worried; it could be seen even by those in the stands. "Why does coach Finkle look so worried Dale?" asked Jan, having snuck her way into the announcer studio.

"Well Jan, if you look at the score, the Puma are down by a touchdown and even with this new defensive set, the Colts are slowly progressing," Dale responded.

The Colts went for it on first down. Joyner ran with the full back, adding in another blocker, but Shin and Sena were able to take Joyner down. However, he had gained the two yards needed for a first down. "With that, the Colts remain of offense," coach Dale announced.

After the first down, the Colts coach called a time out (after wasting another 20 seconds), seeing the progression was wasting time for the half. With the time out, coach Finkle was given time to speak to the defense, "The Pounce 5 is working perfectly Shin, nice imprecision. I suspect they will try and waste time by running the ball more, giving us less time for the half. If we fall into that trap, we'll have no time for this half, and they will get the ball back for the second half."

Over on the Colts bench, coach Havs was speaking to his offense, "Joyner how is he? That eyeshield guy? Him and the number 40 seem to be the fastest, but as long as Versaci and out full back work their way up, you should be able to get 2 or 3 yards on every play. Let's do that to waste time, this half."

"Yeah," Joyner agreed. "Eyeshield is pretty good coach, but him playing both sides will hamper him later on."

For several minutes, the Colts kept on driving it up the field, 3 or 4 yard increments. With each play, they took off 25 seconds of the clock. By the time they had reached the 10 yard line, there was only 4 minutes left in the half. After reaching this point, the Colts lined up in the shotgun, abandoning run.

"What do we do now Shin?" Doug asked.

"We continue blitzing. The Pounce 5 has reserves for pass defense," Shin responded. With the snap, Sena and Shin broke through the Stampede line, being the extra men of the 7 to 5, forcing Evan to throw a short pass to a receiver other than his intended target, Caldwell. It was a 2 yard gain. The next pass however, Evan dodged both Sena and Shin, throwing it to Caldwell. Wakeen saw the ball, being on Caldwell like glue, he had to intercept it.

Caldwell vs. Wakeen

Caldwell had several inches on Wakeen, and a longer reach, the ball being passed to take advantage of this reach. Wakeen had to speed up to get the ball. The ball was within sight, he could see Caldwell's fingers touch the ball. His heart sank. He thought he had failed. Then a thought occurred to him. Once the ball touches the player, all interference is lost, and you can do anything to the receiver. Having remembered this, he grabbed Caldwell, just as he was about to catch the ball. Caldwell used a stiff arm to further his distance, but Wakeen was stronger, pulling him inwards, forcing the ball out of his hands, grabbing it in the process.

Victory: Wakeen, Interception

Wakeen, noticing the time, bolted out of bounds as fast as he could. The Pumas needed to go 85 yards in only 3 minutes and 40 seconds. It would be a tough challenge. Coach Finkle spared his time out, seeing the clock had stopped. "Well, running is out of the question this time. But if they know we are going to pass, they'll use their spy set, which will have the field on pass lockdown. We have to use the Wild Cat, keeping them on their toes to what we will do," Coach Finkle said.

Using the Wild Cat forced Greg off the field and Sena into the driving seat. Toby, the backup running back, went in for him. As expected, the Colts were in a 4-3 set up, utilizing four cover backs. Sena took the snap, finding the middle wide open. He burst through it with all his speed, using Shin and Toby as his shields. Number 63 was sectioned on the left, where Shin blocked him long enough for Sena to move forward. Toby attempted to take care of Visca, but he was too much, throwing Toby aside. When Shin and Sena got the Visca, he was already 5 yards up, having backpedaled due to the play, yet realizing quick enough it was a run. Shin and Visca hit each other low, Visca using his size to hit lower. He drove Shin upwards, twisting him around, forcing Sena to go the other way, where another line backer, number 56, had already lowered his shoulders, driving into Sena. This is where the training went towards, as Sena used this hit as a lever, spinning out and using his hand to push 56 down. Sena would get tackled by the safeties up the field as they double teamed him. It was a 24 yard gain, with still 3 minutes and 10 seconds remaining as the clock continued to drop.

"Quick, no huddle!" yelled Finkle. As told, Sena got into position as everyone else struggled to get into position, including the defense. Sena, being the only one seeing the whole field, could see a mismatch, Wakeen was not covered by Caldwell, as Caldwell at the end of the play was not in that area. He was going to toss it up for Wakeen, trusting him. With the snapped ball in hand, Sena waiting for Wakeen to get in distance, but the pocket was already closing in. Number 63 had gotten the edge on the lineman in front of him, using his speed moves to get past. He was within sacking distance. Sena lobbed the ball up as he got hit, feeling the full force of the hit. 'Unlike the hit from Visca' he thought, 'this hit has true pain.'

Wakeen saw the ball passed. He felt it would fall short, cutting back to get into position. Not having Caldwell in distance was a good feeling, but remembering before, he can come out of anywhere. With this knowledge, Wakeen jumped up to get the ball, catching it in the air, before being driven down by Caldwell as he appeared from the distance. It was another first down, with 40 more yards till a touchdown, and 2 minutes 47 seconds remaining as the clock twiddled down.

After several more plays, each one gaining progressively less ground, it seemed obvious the Puma could not score a touchdown in time. Only 30 seconds were left, with 20 yards to go until the end zone. The Colts defense had gotten wise to what was going on, having a line backer blitz, and forcing Sena to only gain at most 4 yards each play. There wasn't enough time, so Finkle called a time out with only 5 seconds remaining in the half, setting up for a field goal. From this short a distance (10 yard line), the kicker, Danny Lobel, had no trouble getting the field goal, setting the half over with a 7-3 score.