Tim stood with his hands on the sink looking at his reflection in the mirror. He was pretty sure he was going to puke otherwise he wouldn't be hanging out by the toilets. State. They'd made it, barely. He couldn't believe they were back here, nobody believed they could do it. Hell, if he was 100 honest with himself he didn't think they could either. He'd never admit that to anyone and now he'd never have to. Nerves were frayed and tempers short in the locker room. It hadn't been this bad last year, they had been too green to know better. In ten minutes he was going to take the field at the University of Texas and play for another State Championship.

"Oh, fu..." was all he could manage before having to lose his breakfast in the nearest stall. He cleaned himself up and made his way over to the water table. Coach called everyone in and told them to take a knee.

"Well, gentlemen...the day has come. You know what you have to do. We've drilled, practiced and ran your asses off all we could to prepare for this game. THIS GAME!" Coach Taylor barked. "Now I've heard all about how 'the experts' say we shouldn't even be on the same playing field as Midland, that if it hadn't been for some key injuries our opponents suffered we'd be watching the game the way they are. I think you know what I have to say to that."

Coach stopped and looked at each of the players. "They. Are. Wrong! This is football and on any given day when any given team takes the field, the team that plays the hardest and fights the longest wins! So what's it going to be?"

The guys yelled "Win!" in unison.

"I can not hear you!" Coach screamed back.

"WIN!!" Yelling and jumping ensued.

"Smash! Start it off." Coach ordered.

Smash stood at the middle of the locker room. Tim could tell he was nervous, but the senior running back started clapping his hands and others soon started in. Before long the sound of the claps were deafening.

Smash called out, "Clear eyes! Full hearts!"

The team responded, "Can't lose!"

"What?!" Smash demanded.

"CAN'T LOSE!"

The chant was repeated several times until Coach motioned everyone to put their hands in. "On three."

"PANTHERS!"

Tim and Smash led the team out of the locker room and down the tunnel. The Dillon fans erupted in wild cheers upon seeing the team take the field. 'Whoa,' Tim thought, 'this place is pretty big.' He told himself to get his head in the game but before he could he did a quick scan. He just needed to see her.

Tim felt like a pussy, it had only been two days ago they said their goodbyes and he gave her his jersey. He'd never done that before, she would be the first and only girl to ever wear his Dillon Panther jersey, that is if she wore it. They both knew they wouldn't be able to keep their secret anymore anyway so Tim thought why not announce it in a big way, rip the band-aid off. He was actually a little worried he would need more than band-aids to repair the damage Coach would do to him, but he knew he had to do this. He was in love with Julie Taylor.

With two minutes to go in the 2nd half and Dillon was down by 10. Tim was sitting on the bench next to Landry. He kept looking over his shoulder to scan the crowd. Landry looked at Tim with a look of concern on his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Landry asked.

"What? Nothing," Tim scoffed, "just checking things out."

"You're looking for her, aren't you?"

"For who?" Tim played dumb.

"You know 'who'. Julie Taylor."

"Now why would I be looking for Julie Taylor?" he laughed, trying to play it off.

"Because, idiot, you like her. I date Tyra remember? You think I don't hear about how Julie is going to get her heart pulverized by you at least once a day?"

Tim looked at Landry and then looked around to see who might have heard him. He leaned in closer.

"Have long have you known?" He asked a little nervously.

"Don't worry, dude. Nobody else knows, although I did see you and Miss Taylor duck into a utility closet a few weeks ago when you should have been in 6th period, so don't quote me on that. Matt thinks something is up, but I haven't said anything. It's not my place."

"Thanks, Landry. I appreciate that." Tim said with a nod and a slap on the shoulder. "So, uh...you know where she's sitting?"

Landry laughed and shook his head. "Yeah. She's sitting with Tyra and her mom. Behind you, about halfway up, middle of the row. She's got a pink jacket on."

Those words hit Tim right in the gut. He slowly turned around and looked up. There she was and she was indeed wearing a pink jacket.

"Riggins!!"

Tim quickly turned to see Coach Taylor standing in front of him. "You want to go out on the field with the rest of the offense or would you rather look at all your fans? I know there are only 45 seconds left in the half so maybe you want to just go ahead and get in the locker room early to get a good seat?"

Tim picked up his helmet, apologized and ran out onto the field to join his teammates.

"Nice of you to join us, Riggs." Smash kidded.

"Sorry about that guys."

Matt barked at them. "Forget it! Come on guys, we need to concentrate. Flash 4 on 3."

Tim got ready on the line of scrimmage and when the ball was snapped he took off on his running route, turning 15 yards down the field he prepared to catch the ball and just as he felt it reach his fingers he was hit with a solid tackle that drove him to the ground. Incomplete pass. The next play resulted in a sack for a loss of 8 yards. With only 25 seconds left and the ball on their own 12, Tim knew it didn't look good.

Smash was able to get a 7 yard rush on 3rd down, but they had to go for it on 4th down. Matt got the guys back in the huddle and looked at Tim. "You gotta break free, Tim, it's all or nothing. Rodeo 6 on a short 3."

Tim heard the snap count and broke down the sidelines, getting to the designated yard maker he turned to catch the ball he knew would be there only to see a pile back at the line of scrimmage. Matt had been sacked again. The gun fired, ending the half with Dillon still down by 10.

As Tim took the field for the 2nd half he didn't look up to see Julie, he was too focused. He and the rest of the team had just had their assholes reamed by her dad, so he was a little preoccupied with getting Dillon back into this game. Looking like a bunch of ass hats in front of the entire state of Texas was something he was hoping to avoid. He began taking pleasure in his hits, feeding off the pain he was feeling and causing. There was a renewed sense of urgency in the Panthers on both sides of the ball and with three minutes left in the 4th quarter Dillon was only down by 3.

Tim was a machine, his mind and body were running on autopilot. They had fought their way down into the red zone and he knew he was going to score a touchdown on the next play.

"QB1, I want the ball." He told Matt as he came to the huddle.

Matt looked at him and could see there was something going on that he had to trust in. He checked the sidelines and saw the play come in for Smash to run it.

"You better catch this or it's my ass." Matt stated. "Alright guys, I just misread the call and we're going with Riggins on this."

The rest of the team nodded their agreement and broke from the huddle. Tim didn't see Coach Taylor start to lose his shit on the sideline when they set up the wrong formation, but five seconds later when Tim felt the ball land solidly in his hands as he stretched across the end zone he knew it wouldn't be an issue.

Tim made his way to the sidelines through all the guys patting him on the back and he threw a cup of Gatorade down his throat. He heard the crowd cheer for the made extra point. Dillon was now up by 4.

"You gentlemen care to explain that?"

Tim looked up to see Coach Taylor standing in front of him and Matt on the bench. He didn't exactly look pleased.

"I, uh, guess I saw the wrong signal." Matt tried to explain.

"Save it," Coach barked, "it worked this time, so you're lucky, but either of you ever do something like that again and I'll bench your asses."

"It was me, Coach." Tim owned up.

"You think I don't know that, Riggins, but I get paid to call the plays, understand?"

"Yes, sir, but...it was a pretty awesome play though, right?" Tim smirked.

He could see Coach having a really hard time keeping his 'hard ass face' on. Coach took off his cap and ran his hand through his hair. Chuckling, he smiled at the boys.

"Yeah, it was." He quickly resumed his angry posture, but Tim knew he was impressed, "Just remember what I said."

All of a sudden they heard a roar from the crowd. Hurrying over to the side line they saw a Midland player running the ball down the sideline and entering the end zone without a Panther in sight. Tim hung his head in frustration. Their lead had been short lived and there was now only two minutes left in the game. Midland decided to go for the two point conversion, which they easily made, and now they were up by 4.

Coach looked at Tim and Matt and put his hands on their shoulders and simply said, "Go fix this."

Two giant passes later and Dillon had moved the ball into Midland territory. Time continued to tick off the clock as the Panthers pushed their way down to the field. Tim was drained. They had just been stopped twice from gaining any significant yardage. It was 3rd and goal on the 9. With only 30 seconds left on the clock Matt tried one more time to get the ball into the end zone. After the snap Tim could see that his quarterback had no open receivers to throw to so Matt dove forward and was pummeled as the Midland defensive line dove for him.

Fourth and goal on the 8 yard line. This is it, Tim thought as he looked at the faces around the huddle, the last play I'll ever have with all of these guys. He felt an odd sense of calm come over him.

"Smash gets the ball," Matt declared. The guys all nodded.

"I got this one, baby." Smash said, "I'm taking it all the way. We got this. Y'all hear me? We got this."

Matt snapped the ball and handed off to Smash. Tim brought a leveling blow down on the guy in front of him clearing the path for Smash to cut through. He watched as the running back flew toward the end zone. All of a sudden Tim saw a Midland player dive toward Smash and grab his arm that was wrapped firmly around the ball and hit it out of his hands. Tim watched as the ball flew through the air. It bounced on the turf and as players scrambled it was picked up by some lumbering Midland linebacker.

'We're finished,' Tim thought, but instead of falling on the ball, thus ending the game and giving Midland the win, the kid started running. What the hell was the idiot thinking? He saw the player try to break for the open field and Tim knew it came down to him to stop this. He summoned up all the hurt and rage he had ever felt in his life and ran like demons were on his tail. Tim saw the kids eyes go wide with terror as he launched right for him, directing his helmet toward the ball. 'Pop loose, you fucker,' was the last thought he remembered before things went dark.

Tim rolled over and tried to stand up.

He was disorientated and couldn't hear anything but an odd buzzing sound.

He tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head.

Tim made it to his feet and looked down the field just in time to see Matt Saracen run the ball into the end zone untouched.

All hell broke loose.

As Tim stepped away from the mass of players' bodies in the end zone he turned a 360 to survey the scene. The field was pandemonium. This was amazing, they had done it! Back to back State Champs! He threw his arms in the air and shook his helmet in celebration. Throwing back his head he roared in jubilation. He started to head over to hug Matt when out of the corner of his eye he saw her blond hair streaming out from behind her. Julie was running up to her dad with Tami holding Gracie Belle. He watched as she ran past her dad and headed right toward him. His heart stopped, he couldn't believe what he saw. Her beautiful smile glowed and he could see tears streaming down her face, but what really got Tim chocked up was seeing her wearing his jersey. She'd done it, she wore it. Tim knew that meant she was his and she didn't care who knew. It meant she loved him too.

It happened so quickly Tim didn't even think, he just reacted. He swept her up into his arms and kissed her with a passion he hadn't know was inside of him. Her soft lips returned his kisses with urgency and desire. She ran her hands through his hair and feeling her wrap her legs around his waist Tim began turning her around in circles as they kissed for what felt like hours, stopping only when he saw their image being projected on the stadium's big screen.

AN: I know this chapter focused on football a little too much, please forgive me. I just wanted to go there since we didn't get to this year with the show. If you stuck with it, I hope the payoff was worth it! SL:)