The next day, Dillon was playing Dunston Valley in their second playoff game. It was a very chippy game, with Dunston Valley getting away with multiple obvious penalties. In the fourth quarter, the game finally had to be called because it was getting so out of control. As Dillon had a commanding lead at the time, they were declared the winner. Their next playoff game would be against Royal Rock on December 1st.
"Can you believe that Dillon ended up winning their region after I got injured?" said Jason.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Lyla agreed.
"Saracen has sure stepped up, that's for sure," Jason continued. "I've always had good vibes on him."
"I can see why," said Lyla, grinning.
"It's almost Maddie's first Christmas," Jason said, changing the subject. "Do you think she'll understand what's going on?"
"Not a chance," said Lyla.
"But we'll still make it fun for her anyway," said Jason. "And my parents will be getting the Christmas tree tomorrow. We always get our tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving."
"We usually wait until December to do that," said Lyla.
Just then, Maddie started fussing.
"Must be time for a feeding," said Jason. "That's definitely her hungry cry."
"I'll handle this one," said Lyla, getting a bottle out of the fridge and going to Maddie to feed her.
***
Dillon won their playoff game against Royal Rock and soon learned that their opponent in the state semi-finals would be none other than Brant. It was a rematch of the previous year's state semi-finals.
Jason tried to give advice to Coach Taylor. He told him, "If you're ever in a short-yardage situation, you might want to try running Saracen on a quarterback sneak. He's smaller than me, but he's quicker. Maybe he might have gotten the first down last year."
"I'll keep that in mind," said Coach Taylor. "How's Madelyn doing?"
"She's great," said Jason. "She's four months old today."
"You're a rare breed," said Coach Taylor. "It's rare to find a man so young deciding to step up and be a father to his child."
"It was just the right thing to do," said Jason.
"You know, I was pretty young when Tami and I had Julie," said Coach Taylor. "Not quite as young as you are, but young nonetheless."
"Yeah," said Jason. "It was a shock, that's for sure, but it's become a happy one."
"Hey, it only gets better," said Coach Taylor.
***
The next day, Jason was reading Pat the Bunny to Maddie when Lyla walked in.
"Whoa!" said Jason. "You're home early! It's not after three!"
"I know," said Lyla. "Apparently, there was some kind of toxic train derailment by the football field, so they had to evacuate the school."
"That's crazy," said Jason.
With Dillon's field unplayable due to the derailment, the state semi-final game would have to be moved to a different location. They finally decided to construct a makeshift field on a cow pasture.
Soon it was the night of the state semi-final. Jason was invited to go to the game. Since his injury, he had become sort of an unofficial assistant coach, particularly to Matt.
"Are you ready for the game?" asked Lyla.
"Yep."
"Let's go get some revenge on those Vikings!"
As the game started, it became clear that Dillon was a different team then they had been the year before. However, during the game, it started raining, and the downpour turned the makeshift field into a quagmire.
"Isn't this great!" said Jason to Coach Taylor. "Good, old-fashioned, down-in-the-dirt football!"
"It sure is!"
The announcer noticed it, too, saying, "We are having ourselves a mud bowl, and the crowd is loving it!"
Due to the horrendous field conditions, players would often slip and slide after going to the ground. It didn't take long before Dillon's white jerseys turned brown. It became clear that a single score could be huge in those field conditions.
When Dillon took a six point lead late and subsequently held Brant to a three-and-out, it looked like Dillon would win for sure, especially when they were near the Brant end zone, ready to score the clinching touchdown.
"And it looks like Dillon has this game in hand, and you can make those reservations to Dallas."
Matt called the play in the huddle, which was a handoff to "Smash" to get into the end zone and hopefully put the game away.
"And 'Smash' gets the handoff...HE LOSES THE BALL! The ball slipped right out of hands! And a Brant player picks it up and has open space in front of him! What a dagger to Dillon! I don't think they're going to catch him! Wait, is that Saracen?"
Matt had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and quickly reached out and grabbed the defender by the ankle to trip him up.
"Matt Saracen appears out of nowhere to trip him up near midfield! That may have just saved not only the game, but Dillon's season as well! Hold everything, folks! This game is not over yet!"
As Matt came over to the sidelines after making the tackle, Jason said, "Way to go, Saracen! You play quarterback, and you play defense as well!"
"Now it's up to the defense to win this thing for us," said Matt, turning his face toward the field.
On first down, the Brant running back was stuffed for no gain.
"We have a second and ten with that clock ticking away! Second down...SACK! Benny Barnes is sacked for a seven-yard loss!"
"Bad call that, Bad-Call Benny!" yelled Jason.
"Third and seventeen...Barnes gets the snap, gets the pass off, pass complete but not nearly enough for a first down. Time out, Brant."
After the time out, Brant had one last chance to get a play off.
"Fourth and six at the Dillon forty-six yard line. This is the final chance for Brant. Do they have a miracle left in them?"
Matt muttered, "Come on, defense. One more stop. One more stop."
"IT"S A BAD SNAP! The ball squirted right out of the center's hands! Brant turns it over on downs! And all Dillon needs to do is kneel down!"
Matt and the offense came out on the field. "Come on, Saracen!" said Jason.
"Saracen takes a knee, and that's it! That's it! This game is over! Remake those reservations to Dallas, because the Panthers are going to state!"
As the celebration began, Jason took it all in. Despite his injury, the Panthers had made the state championship game. Dillon was going to state.