Down 26: The Manatee Flock and Manatee Piercer

A professional announcer, Mr. Daze, was the new announcer for the playoff games that would take place in the Tampa Bay area (area encompassing most of Western Florida). During warm-ups, he arrived in a stretch limo with his long black hair flowing down to his shoulders. "Daze has arrived everyone, no need to fear," he sputtered, walking into the announcing room. "We have a great match ahead of ourselves. This will be the first of many games for the great Daz. For the Plant Pumas and Manatees, it might not. These two teams are well known in the area, both having played each other before in the season. In that game, Plant Pumas won 17-14, but both teams have grown since that match. Let this rematch show which is the best."

"With the coin toss," he began his announcing, "Plant will be taking the field first, ready to bring the heat."

Coach Finkle was yelling from the sidelines as Plant took the field at the 35 after a successful return. To start off the game, they would run their regular form, testing the defense. As Sena stepped onto the field, a strange feeling hit him. Rush, wearing number 47, unlike during the season, was much larger than before, and had a much slimmer physique, looking in better shape. With Fred as a tight end, and Wakeen as a receiver, and Shin as a tight end, the play could not fail. 'With a run up the middle, this will fly,' Sena thought as he took the handoff from Greg. Fred pulled, becoming the lead blocker, while Shin pushed forward, opening up the middle, as the play was designed. There was a whole in the middle that Fred opened up, breaking through the massive Manatee line. It was small, but not something Sena couldn't get through.

"The hole, go through it," Fred said, pushing with all his might. Sena pushed his way through the two foot hole, squeezing with the ball clenched in both hands.

"Hey little guy," a voice said from above. "You remember me?" it asked as a body crashed on Sena from above. He had no time to use the Puma Dash to avoid the smash, trying to use speed to get extra distance. "No more distance for you like that," the voice finished, as the body pushed Sena back as he tried to sprint forward to gain a few extra yards. Sena got up, seeing Rush had worked his way past Fred's block, preventing progression. Rush stood firm above Sena, glaring down at him. His sharp physique contrasted his round one of the first game of the season.

"I got better, and slimmer," he said softly. "What have you done?"

"What do we do Greg?" Sena asked.

"We just mix it up a bit, try out the Ballista. With Shin's block, you should be able to bypass Rush." Sena looked ahead, eyeing the defense. He saw the new defense formation of the Manatees, with 6 linemen and three linebackers spaced out. Rush was the center linebacker, taking a zone step the last play. 'How did he get to the center so fast? I thought he took zone steps back, allowing me at least a second to react even if he stepped forward,' Sena thought. Sena took the handoff, finding a whole up the center behind Carson, who had pushed aside the line, along with Fred. Shin was the first to go through, but as he did, he stopped. Sena, seeing he couldn't go that way, tried to go to the outside, but seeing a linebacker on either side prevented this.

"Where the hell did you two come from?" he asked them, trying to run behind Shin's weak block, evading the tackles behind the line as he did so. Behind Shin, Sena could see he was struggling to move forward.

"Sena, jump up now" he calmly said, pushing to the right, opening up a 6 inch gap. Sena jumped up at the gap, gaining as much distance as possible. Shin, as suggested, blocked the path, opening it for Sena with enough time for the person he was blocking to be unable to pursuit. Shin was struggling to block Rush.

"You are a monster Shin, doing all you can to make such small progress," Rush said. "But, one thing is wrong with that. You might never underestimate, but you never overestimate, making you simply see everything with a clean slate. While this can be good, in this case, you should have overestimated me, then you could have blocked me better." Rush pulled down on Shin's jersey, breaking the wall Shin had set up for Sena. Rush crushed down on Sena, who was unable to react in time as the same with the last play.

"Another stop by the great Rush," Mr. Daze said. "Number 40's block was not long enough for number 21 to break through. According to Rise Magazine (Football Weekly's competitor), number 40 is named Seijuro Shin, while 21 is Sena Kobayakawa. Both come from Japan, and are considered the two best in the country as their positions. Shin simply wasn't strong enough to block Rush, who Rise says is a top competitor. Sena, as much as he could, jumped where Shin opened up a small hole, but Rush got there in time, to crush Sena for a second time."

Greg spoke in the huddle, "I'll try and pass it to Fred or Wakeen, the run seems to have no effect." Lined up in the regular set, Greg set up for a pass. Wakeen and Fred were going to go out, while Sena and the line would attempt to block. With the snap, Sena took a step up, faking a handoff. It was from here he could see how Rush was able to get there in time. Just as Sena took the handoff, Rush would quickly stop his zone steps, blitzing right in the line jumble. However, since it was a pass, the line was stationed differently, and as such, Rush took a false step forward.

"Pass!" he yelled. With his yell, the entire Manatee line bull rushed the man in front of them, instead of holding their gaps like during a run play. Quickly, the pocket closed, and Sena was head to head with 4 linemen who had gotten through. Carson and the tackle, number 73, were the only linemen to hold their man. With 4 linemen against him, Sena could only possibly take care of one. Greg noticed this, quickly looking around, but he had no time to throw. Sena blocked number 65, the left tackle, while number 64 got the sack.

"Three and out it seems. Rise says to expect nothing less from Manatee. This year they only lost twice, once to this Plant squad in the first week, and another against district rival Dade Dovers in week 4. Since then, they have improved greatly, introducing a perfected defensive line of 6 men, called the Manatee Flock. On offense, they have another play called the Manatee Pierce. Wonder how that will play out. Against all their opponents since the Dovers, they have demolished, allowing only 3 touchdowns, one to Polk Dragoos, and two to the Servid Gangs. In both games, their Piercer allowed them to make quick touchdowns.

Back on the Plant sidelines, coach Finkle took out a white board with a marker, "This Flock seems to respond to how we play. Their 6 man line, along with Rush, are able to stop runs and pass alike." He then took out a separate board, labeling it defense. "On defense, this piercer took everyone by surprise when they use it. Simply put, Rush gets behind the quarterback, who is under center. The center snaps it to the quarterback, who snaps it to Rush. Both the center and the quarterback are the largest players on the field, simply for them to act as a wedge, along with the rest of the Manatee line. To counter this, we will use our regular Pounce 5, attacking the wedge head on."

Having lined up in the Pounce 5, it was clear Manatee was going for the Piercer Wedge, as Rush was standing right next to the quarterback, in a ready stance. Sena, Shin, and Doug were stationed a yard behind the four man line the Pounce 5 uses. The snap went to the quarterback, where he handed it off to Rush. The three linebackers and the four linemen got the push, being slightly faster than the Manatee line. 'Piercer stopped' Sena thought.

"Hold your ground everyone" Shin said, trying his best to hold back the center, who was quickly growing harder to hold. Sena looked around, seeing the whole force, once having the upper hand, lost it to pure power and technique of the Manatee line. Rush started his burst, using the Pierce Wedge line to gain ground. The center, number 77, started to gain ground on Shin. The guards and tackles started to gain ground on the force of the Pounce 5. Rush got free of the mess inside, going for the end zone. With the blitz used, Sena is unable to get back in time.

"Not on my watch" called Wakeen, who had noticed the run and changed directions, reading it perfectly.

Wakeen vs. Rush

Rush lowered his shoulder, creating a massive bull like charge. Wakeen did the same, lowering his shoulders. Rush and Wakeen hit shoulders 8 yards from the line of scrimmage. Wakeen fell over from the pure force of Rush, while Rush merely span outwards, being slowed down. Wakeen took this chance to tug on his waist, able to hold him in time for another corner to make the tackle.

Victory: Rush, stopped

"An 8 yard gain from a team that normally holds back?" Daze commented. "It seems Rush's reputation does not lie, he is truly a monster, as is this Manatee line. They cleared up a path for Rush, creating the known Manatee Piercer, even with the power force of Seijuro Shin on the Puma's side. That number 77 must have practiced hard."

The next play was the same result. The Manatee Piercer claimed another victim, the Plant Pumas. "Number 77 pancakes Shin for a third time. What will Shin do to change this?" Daze the announcer asks.

"What a stop from Eyeshield 21, the name given to Sena Kobayakawa from Japan as listed in Rise. But Manatee gains another first down."

Mild exhaustion set in for Sena, something he hadn't experienced for some time. 'Why am I so tired so early in the game?' Sena asked himself. He turned around, seeing Shin and Doug were just as tired. 'Could this be due to attacking the Manatee line, their pure power draining our stamina?' Rush kept on progressing, being stopped after 4-8 yard gains. Rush used his move, what Mr. Daze called "Sea Bull Pierce". With such small and slow progression, time was winding down faster than imagined, with the first quarter almost up after only the one drive. Time is running down, and Plant still has not been able to stop the line and Rush.