A/N: Once again I want to give thanks to DaveTheWordsmith, KODfreak, and LegendaryWhiteBoy for reviewing and giving great feedback. Everyone you should check out and review their works because there is some great stuff there if you haven't already, especially "Choices" and "More than Friends" great fics by DaveTheWordsmith and KODfreak's "The Other Guy". Also check out and review "Life Goes On" by DaBlackGoku one of my favourite fics on the site and maybe we'll get the next update soon. Please review.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Boondocks, Aaron McGruder and Sony Pictures does.
Chapter 33 – Roosevelt First Quarter
Riley lined up under the ball and easily caught it before he started running. He barely got ten yards though before he slipped in the snow and the ball likewise slipped from his hands. Scrambling Riley tried to retrieve the fumbled ball but it bounced high and awkwardly on the frozen ground.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Riley screamed as the Roosevelt players descended on them. Huey had said they would be playing within the ten yard markers quite a bit this game but Riley never thought it would start on his first possession. When Caesar jumped on the ball, Riley let out a sigh of relief, at least they managed to recover the ball even if they were practically starting in their own end zone.
"What was that?" Jason said coming across the field looking at Riley through his amber visor.
"I slipped nigga," Riley returned glad he had his gold visor so no one could see his embarrassment. "It's da snow."
"Don't do it again," Huey said slapping his brother on the shoulder as he passed. "We have to get out of this hole fast."
"Give me da ball I'll run us out nigga," Riley said lining up behind Huey for the snap.
Huey looked back at him for a second. "Alright, but don't fall this time."
"Nigga I won't," Riley said as Caesar snapped the ball back and Huey handed if off to Riley. Almost immediately after he got a hold of the ball Rico who was blitzing from the safety position was bursting through his line heading straight for him. Riley ducked to the right before spinning in the snow to go left narrowly avoiding Rico and getting up passed the line of scrimmage. He dodged a defensive tackle and passed the Black Panther fifteen yard line, and then the twenty yard line before Zana cut him down from the side but it was enough for a first down.
Huey called his play while his team lined up avoiding the huddle. With a quick call he took the ball from Caesar, dropped back and tossed a short pass to Cindy who had moved to running back leaving Johnny as the tight end for the game. Cindy caught the ball just beyond the line of scrimmage and accepted the hit from a defensive end gaining three yards.
On his next play Huey went to Hiro who made a simple catch for four yards. As he had predicted Zana and Rico had focused all their attention of Riley and Jason and with Johnny also on the field the Revolver's defence was leaving Hiro and Cindy open for short passes while trying to back sure Huey could not connect with his big three for long yards. Huey accepted this and used the short passes to move the ball down the field slowly.
On the eight yard line Huey called a huddle for the first play in the game. "We have to get these points if we want to get an edge. We've blown almost two and a half minutes off the clock but it will all be worthless if we can't get these last eight yards."
"There won't be anyone open anymore," Jason added. "I can't draw Rico down the field so he'll be able to cover more area."
"We'll just have to grind our way in," Johnny said. "If we have me and Jay run routes on one side of the field we can draw Rico to the far corner of the end zone."
"We'll do better. I want everyone lined up on the long side," Huey said his mind working through a new play he did not have in his book. "After the snap Hiro and Cindy I want you two go straight out and slant to the right side of the field."
"Got it," Hiro said and Cindy simply nodded.
Huey broke his huddle with only a few seconds left on the play clock and quickly snapped the ball before it ran out. He faked a handoff to Riley who broke to the left as Jason and Johnny ran complicated routes designed to confuse their covers which included Zana and Rico deep into the end zone. Cindy and Hiro skirted the line and Hiro stayed shallow along the plane of the end zone while Cindy went deep. With a burst of speed she put distance between her and her cover and in that instance Huey made his decision and threw the ball to her.
Cindy twisted her body to get the ball as it came in but as she twisted she was completely focused on the ball and had no thought for her footing and like Riley she lost her footing in the icy snow and fell as the ball sailed over her head going incomplete.
"Can't anyone stay on their feet?" Huey asked once again in a huddle. "We can't use that play again. They'll be expecting it if we line so many of our stars to one side again."
"So we run den nigga," Riley suggested. "Give me da ball."
"We'll run with a cross fake HB dive," Huey decided before breaking the huddle. Riley and Cindy lined up on each side of him and a little behind him. Caesar snapped the ball back to Huey and Cindy and Riley crisscrossed in front of him as he held the ball out. They both bent a little like they were protecting the ball and made for openings in the line.
Once at the line Cindy dropped the facade as she hit the line and moved to plug up the hole. On the other side of the line Riley, holding the ball pushed through his own gap in the line only to meet Zana who lowered her shoulder into his torso and wrapped her arms around his back and brought him down on the line of scrimmage.
On his third down and last chance to get the six points Huey tried to rush the ball himself but once again Zana was there bringing him down after only two yards.
Faced with fourth down and five yards to the end zone Huey did not want to risk a turnover on downs and he signalled for Jazmine to come on the field from her place on the bench. On the bench Jazmine sat between Rummy who was still acting as their trainer and for the first time actually sitting in their normally empty bench area to keep Jazmine company rather than in the first row of the stands and Ed who they had listed on their roster as the water boy so he could be on the field as well.
"Go get em," Rummy called after Jazmine who rushed onto the field. She was excited to get on the field because even when she was simply running short routes with no hope of getting the ball she still at least felt like part of the team but now she felt distanced from them as she watched most the game from the sidelines. She understood though that Huey was removing her from the field to keep her safe and she accepted that she was being moved back to simply the kicker because against a team like the Revolver's Huey needed every passing option he could get. Besides that anyone would have traded her up for a player like Johnny in a heartbeat.
With all this in mind, Jazmine lined up for her kick and knocked the chip shot perfectly through the uprights. If the only way she could be on the field with the team was during kicking situations then she would do her best to make sure when Huey called on her she would not fail and this way when given the choose between kicking or trying for an impossible play to keep the ball he would not be afraid to hand the torch to her to carry.
"Way to go Jazzy," Ed said giving her a high five as she came back to the bench from the kickoff that the Johnson Huitcinq managed to return twenty yards. He was holding his iPhone in one hand and she could see her kick being replayed in slow motion. Her step was a little off; if that had been longer kick it would have fallen short.
"Ed can you record all my kicks today so I can see them right after their done?" she asked sweetly.
"Of course. Mah IPhone can do anything that's why the bitches love it," Ed said as play resumed back on the field.
Stacy received the snap from her centre in an 'I' formation and dropped back looking down field for Johnson who was being covered closely by Riley. She waited just a little too long and Caesar broke through her centre. Seeing him at the last second, she vacated her pocket running toward the side line. With nowhere to run and determined to make the play she put her trust in her receiver and hurled the ball down field.
Johnson dived forward to grab the ball that was overthrown in Stacy's desperation to get rid of the ball. His fingers clasped around the leather ball and pulled it in as he hit the ground with Riley on top of him. Jumping to his feet he did a back flip and tossed the ball to the nearest official.
"Nigga does a back flip for simply catching da ball," Riley said shaking his head. "Fool."
Stacy snapped the ball again and threw a quick pass to another of her receivers being followed by Hiro. Hiro caught the receiver before she caught the ball and knocked the ball from her hands by slamming her ground.
"Come on Ashley," Stacy said to her brown haired second receiver as they reset for her second down. She got the snap again and handed it off to her running back that got five yards before Huey tracked him down. On her next play she connected with Johnson again who caught the pass with Riley hanging off him.
Again Stacy tried to handoff to her running back but he was stone walled by the Black Panther offensive line that broke through the Revolver line and hit him for a loss of three yards. On her second down she looked for Johnson but he was covered by Riley so she turned her attention to Ashley who running against Cindy was slanting into the middle. She threw the ball this time connecting with her second receiver who picked up the first down and three extra yards before Cindy and Huey converged on her.
"They're too good," Hiro huffed as they waited for Stacy to break her huddle.
"We're letting Stacy have all the time she wants to make plays. We need some pressure on her," Huey said. "Caesar I need you to do your thing. Get us some sacks and try to separate Stacy from the ball."
"Will that be a problem?" Jason asked their centre.
"Not at all. This is a game and the win is all that matters," Caesar assured them as Stacy broke her huddle and she lined up her team along the line of scrimmage. "I'll get my job done."
Stacy snapped the ball and dropped back again as Caesar powered through the centre and into the pocket. His eyes were locked on Stacy as she tried once again to beat a retreat to the side of the field and by herself enough time to at least dispose of the ball safely. What she did not see was Hiro waiting on the edge of the line and when she vacated the pocket he exploded through his lineman right at Stacy. Stacy pulled up to avoid Hiro but in doing so put herself right in Caesar's path and the Black Panther middle guard stayed true to his word and ran through Stacy for a loss of eight yards. Popping back to his feet, Caesar howled to the sky and his other linemen replied with a howl of their own.
On the snow covered ground Stacy screamed and jumped to her feet staring daggers at Caesar. "You jerk!" she shouted at him fire in her eyes. "I'll make you pay!"
"Oh ya made her angry better watch out Caesar," Riley laughed as they lined up of the second down.
"She'll get over it," Caesar said raising two fingers from his three point stance as Stacy began her count. Just behind the right end of the line Hiro clapped his hands together twice. Stacy's centre snapped the ball back to the distraught girl and Caesar and Hiro charged forward again. Caesar pushed back the Revolver centre while Hiro cut inside the field behind his line and through the hole created by Caesar. Expecting him to come around the outside because of where he lined up No one was in position to stop Hiro and he forced Stacy to throw the ball away.
"What the hell?" Stacy stormed stomping her feet into the frozen ground. "Ugh! I hate you Michael Caesar."
Caesar looked around dumbfounded. "I didn't even hit her this time," he said to Riley who was bent over laughing.
"Just line up and give her a reason to hate you Caesar," Huey said.
Stacy received the snap on her third down and this time her line held up long enough for her to get a pass off toward Johnson who was heading within the Black Panther ten yard line. This time he left Riley in the middle of the field covering Ashley because of a clever stutter step and a few fake cuts and slants, but at the same time those moved left Johnson with Jason as his cover.
In her angered state Stacy lost some of her focus and threw her pass too high for Johnson to catch without leaving his feet. Johnson looked back at the ball trying to line up his route with the trajectory of the ball. Right on his heels Jason was also watching the ball and lining up his own jump.
Johnson leaped for the ball, but Jason having slowed to drop back a few steps jumped higher and pulled the ball out of the air for the interception. He was running before he landed returning the ball almost all the way back to the original line of scrimmage before being forced out of bounds.
Skipping the celebration Jason simply tossed the ball to the official sending the message to Stacy and her offensive squad that this was something he did often and easily.
"Let's get the TD this time around alright," Huey said in the huddle. "We've proven our defence is no longer something they can just walk all over so now let's show them what a true offensive team can do."
"Anything special in mind," Caesar asked said looking at Rico.
"I want to run the Kaizer," Huey said and everyone nodded before he broke the huddle.
Riley once again lined up behind and to the side of Huey in the shotgun formation while Cindy lined up behind the last lineman. Jason lined up by himself on the short side with Rico across from him while Hiro lined up on the long side near the sideline with Johnny. When Caesar snapped the ball back to Huey, Cindy ran back toward him while Riley took the handoff from Huey and ran left toward to the line on the long side of the field. As Cindy passed Huey Riley reached the breaking line and tossed the ball back to Cindy. Taking the ball Cindy ran to the short side as most the defenders were moving to the long side and Jason threw her a block on Rico. She gained nearly thirty yards before the closest safety got her and dragged her into the snow where they slid a couple more yards.
On his next play Huey tried to rush the ball but Zana caught him just beyond the line of scrimmage. He then tried to hit Hiro for a short pass, but he dropped the ball as a defensive end hit him in mid catch. On his third down play Huey looked for Jason down the field but Rico was nearly hanging off him and Zana was covering Johnny in the short field while Riley was helping the line keep the Revolver's defenders away from him. Without the long pass available for the sure first down he was forced to throw to Cindy who was running a short route only five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Cindy easily caught the ball moving across the field but she only managed to gain two more yards after the catch before being pulled to the ground by three of the Revolver defenders.
"Looks like you're up again," Rummy said to Jason as Huey called her on for a punt.
"You got your iPhone ready Ed," Jazmine asked doing up her helmet.
"Ready," Ed said holding up his phone.
Jazmine lined up as the clock counted down the last second of the quarter and when she ended her count with three seconds on the clock Caesar snapped the ball back to her and she took one step before booting the ball down the field where Johnson was waiting to return it.
Riley was the first one down the field but Johnson spun around him and slanted into the middle of the field to avoid Jason was not far behind. As he hit the wall of players fighting to either get to him or protect him his players began to form around him and throwing several blocks allowed him to get by nearly the entire Black Panther team. The only one standing between him and the end zone was Jasmine and much to Huey's dismay Jazmine tried to go for the tackle.
Johnson easily broke the tackle though and scored the touchdown for a 7-3 lead after the extra point. In the end zone he put the ball down and grabbed the orange marker at the end corner of the end zone and taking it off its peg he lined up a shot and putted the football across the end zone.
"Looks like he's got one up on you," Jason said to Riley as they watched Johnson's celebration from down the field.
"We'll see nigga," Riley said as they walked back to their bench for a drink and to wait the next quarter.
Can Huey rally is team to get a touchdown or will Rico's defence prove too much? What does Riley have up his sleeve for TD celebrations to match Johnson? And what was the celebration Jason says he has in store?