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.
A/N II: A poll is now up to vote on some of the names I've received so far so go vote for the name you like and it could be the name used in the next sequel. If you still have names you want to submit then send them to me and they will be added to the poll all the way up to the debut of the team in the next story.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Boondocks, Aaron McGruder and Sony Pictures does.
Chapter 45 – Finals First Quarter
Just inside the tunnel they could hear the cheering of the crowd over their new entrance song Hiro had picked out especially for this game. As the announcer ramped up the crowd, Riley bounced on the balls of his feet to Fozzy's "Under Blackened Skies" which they all thought appropriate considering it was full on night outside but they could not see the stars in the clear sky because the flood lights that lit up the field blocked out their tiny light. Behind Riley, Jason was mouthing the words to the song while in his mind he went through the last of his game visualization exercises. Down the line everyone was feeling the music and it was ramping up their own adrenaline and they were all itching to get started.
There was booming voice over both the crowd and the music as the announcer began to introduce the team. "AND HERE ARE YOUR WUNCLER HIGH BLACK PANTHERS! THE STARTING AT RUNNING BACK AND THE FIRST MEMBER OF THE GOLDEN TRIUMVIRATE NUMBER TEN, RILEY "ESCOBAR" FREEMAN!"
Hearing his name Riley burst out of the giant balloon Black Panther head waving his arms in the air signalling for more noise from the crowd which obliged and the cheers got even louder drowning out the few boos from Stallion supporters. Wuncler had done a good job filling the stadium with their supporters and weeding out Stallion supporters.
"AT WIDE RECIEVER AND THE SECOND MEMBER OF THE GOLDEN TRIUMIVIRATE NUMBER EIGHTY EIGHT JASON "THE OUTLAW" JAMES!" the announcer continued and Jason followed Riley out to the field waving his helmet in the air. He had not showboating for the start of the game. This game was business and now thanks to Cairo's forehead it was personal. There was no room for fun and games. He was here to win and to lay down the hurt.
"AND NOW THE LAST MEMBER OF THE TRIUMIVIRATE ALSO AT RUNNING BACK NUMBER TWENTY FOUR CINDY "FEARSOME" MCPHEARSON! AT QUARTERBACK AND THE CHARLIE OF THE TRIUMIVIRATE NUMBER ONE THE FIELD AND NUMBER ONE IN YOUR HEARTS HUEY FREEMAN!" Huey simply jogged on the field but his appearance brought the crowd to thunderous decibels and they combined voices combined with the banging of all their feet on the metal floor of the stands drowned out the announcer as he called out the rest of the team.
Last to come out of the tunnel were Ed, Rummy, Mina, and Stacy. Both girls were wearing red and black jackets with the Black Panther logo on the front left breast and back. On the right side of each jacket was written Offensive Coordinator on Mina's and on Stacy's Quarterback Coach.
After a light warm up, Huey led the gang up to centre field where Cairo met him with several of his own players from both his offence and defence. Huey looked at each of them matching their numbers to the player profiles he had. He spotted the one that could cause his offence the most trouble on the far right, a tall and thick white bald teen named Tyson West who wore number 94 and was the Graves Stallions' defence captain and defensive tackle. He was big, not as big as Rex but he was bigger than any of his linemen, Caesar would have his hands full again this game but hopefully his experience against Rex would help him and he had put on more muscle since that first game.
Next to Tyson, Huey noticed was a much smaller teen named Nick Randall who was wearing number 15 and was their running back. He was no taller than Riley but was stockier then his brother and like Dewey was good at breaking tackles. Beside him was a tall girl with dirty blonde short hair and wearing number 82. She was Cairo's second wide receiver and her name was Nora Jackson. Cairo and Dewey stood next to her wearing numbers 1 and 2. Next to them were two tall and solid looking boys, one with long curly black hair named Hector Troia who he played strong safety was number 43 and one with long dreads sticking out of the back of his helmet named Richard Troia who was an outside linebacker and wore number 54.
Huey stood directly across from Cairo only a few feet and the head official separated them and he was so tempted to reach out and punching Cairo's grinning face. Only the official and Caesar's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"I want no funny stuff from either team you hear me. I won't tolerate any extra-curricular activity after the play," the official warned them looking at Huey and Cairo specifically as both teens were visibly ready to pounce on each other and only the threat of penalties and their teammates were holding them back. "Keep it clean and the Graves' stallions will call it in the air."
"Wait we have a grievance to bring up before the game starts," Cairo said before the official could flip the coin.
"What do you wish to contest?" the official asked moving the coin from the top of his thumb and back into this hand so he did not drop it.
"We want to contest the extra people on the Wuncler bench," Cairo said drawing the official's attention to the four team staff members on the bench. "The two girls don't even go to their school and they played for other teams. They should not be allowed on the bench."
"They are our quarterback coach and offensive coordinator. There are no rules saying the coaching staff has to be members of the school. They're teams have been eliminated so they no longer have teams and we hired them to our staff legally. Their registered on our official roster and they have no affiliation with their schools or their old teams right now. They are simply two coaches we hired," Huey explained to the official.
The official thought about it for a second. "They are right there are no rules saying the coaching staff has to be affiliated with the team's school. They can stay on the bench. Are they any other grievance we need to clear up?"
"No," Cairo grumbled
"Then once again call it in the air," the official said and he flipped the coin.
"Heads," Cairo spat through clenched teeth as the coin reached its highest point and fell to the turf, the flag looking up at the gathered players and officials.
"Will you receiver or defend?" the official asked.
"We'll receive," Cairo said quickly venom dripping from his voice.
"Then we'll take the right side," Huey replied with equal venom before Caesar pulled him back to their side of the field where their tunnel was. On his way back to the rest of his team at their bench a plan was already forming in his mind to refuse Cairo his coin toss win.
As the team's lined up Cairo grabbed Dewey and the long orange-red haired Nick Randall. "Dewey, Nick one of you get the ball and don't drop it and don't run backward."
"Alrrrright Ccccairo I wwwon't drop it," Nick stuttered. "Mmmy hhhands are like ggglue."
"Yeah well they're gunners are particularly good at separating returner from the ball." Cairo warned him. "If you do drop the ball you better be the one to get it back."
"Don't sweat it Cairo," Dewey assured him.
"Just don't drop it," Cairo repeated allowing them to continue onto the field for the kick before grabbing his defence captain while he was on his way onto the field as well. "Tyson make sure number ten does not get to Nick."
"I'll break 'em," the large square jawed and bald teen promised cracking his knuckles and sucking on his bottom lip.
"Do it if you can, but make sure you stop him first before you try to hurt him," Cairo said as the official blew his whistle to start the game. "Remember he is not to get to Nick."
Lined up for the kickoff Jazmine was lining up the ball when Huey called out a signal from down the line and Jason and Riley dropped back along the far sideline so they were lined up behind her. Other than their movement no one else moved as she took the few steps into the ball.
To keep up the ruse of a long kickoff Jazmine kept her form until the very last second before abruptly changing the angle of her kick as she made contact with the ball and shanked it so it only went ten yards toward the sideline. No one expected the kick as Huey had not lined his team up for an onside kick and was relying on just Jason and Riley to retrieve the ball and spoil Cairo's coin toss win.
The abrupt change in her contact with the ball messed up Jazmine's kick and she kicked it a little too far. The ball sailed over Riley's head and was going to go over Jason's, but already having analyzed the trajectory of the ball and was moving with it. Just before he hit the sideline he pushed off the ground and jumped high. "Riley," he shouted back before making contact with the ball and pushing it back onto the field before falling out of bounds.
Riley caught the redirected ball twelve yards from the line of scrimmage and accepted a hit form one of the Stallions but gained possession of the ball and kept Cairo off the field.
"That should put a stick up their rears," Jason laughed helping riley back to his feet.
"Niggas ain't taken my ball," Riley agreed as the team surrounded them to celebrate their successful play.
"Let's hit them hard and fast and get some points on the board before they can regain their bearings," Huey said as they huddled up and Jazmine went to the bench to join Ed who was videotaping her kicks again, Rummy, Mina, and Stacy.
Huey broke his huddle and lined up behind Caesar nearly leaning over him. In the middle of his count he cast a quick glance to his bench where Stacy gave him a few signals and he added an audible to his count. Hearing the audible Jason went into motion crossing the field behind him.
Jason's sudden change in position drew the corner back watching him across the field leaving a gaping hole when Huey finally ended his count and dropped back as Jason sucked in his cornerback and the defensive end on his new side of the line. Sliding away from behind the end of her line she moved into the gap created by Jason in the Stallions' secondary by Jason's move. Huey connected with her for an easy sixteen yards before being taken down by Hector Troia.
Huey wasted no time setting up for his next play and with another quick glance as Stacy he kept his play as originally called it and took the ball dropping back to look for Jason down field. Unfortunately Huey's impatience off set his line and Tyson was able to get into the pocket.
Caesar broke away from his block to clip Tyson and knock him off course just enough to allow Huey to escape the pocket and break through the gap left in Tyson's wake. He took the hit to get five yards before on his next play handing the ball of to Riley who easily picked up the first down and then some.
On his next play Huey choose a Hail Mary style play with all his receivers including Cindy in motion. Jason cut across the field again and this time no one from the Stallions came with him as his cornerback stayed to watch Johnny who was moving in the opposite direction and Richard who was watching Johnny took the newly arrived Jason.
Jason hit the line of scrimmage with a brief stutter step as Caesar hiked the ball back to Huey and slammed into Tyson trying to buy Huey a few extra seconds to get his pass off. Huey lobbed the ball nearly forty yards down the field where Jason was battling with Richard all the way down the field each trying to get the inside route to get the ball. No one had the height advantage as Jason was only a inch or so taller than Richard but he did have the countless hours of experience of working with Huey and knew how the ball was going to come, what speed, and how to handle the unique spin Huey managed to put on the ball when he threw long balls. As the battling players met up with the ball Richard had the inside Route and with the current trajectory of the ball it would have fallen easily into his waiting hands, that was if the ball stayed on its current path, but it did not. Rather than risk Richard getting the easy pass Jason reached out and hit the ball up in the air and further down the field. Jason blew past Richard who was stumbling as he waited for the ball that did not come and caught up with the ball he knocked into the air on the edge of the sideline. Catching the ball Jason landed on one foot just inches away from the white line. Rather than stepping out of bounds and ending the play, Jason pushed off with his foot hopping back into the field.
The unstable movement left him a little off balance and he stumbled a few yards before righting himself as Richard caught back up, but with the end zone only eight yards away Jason would not be caught and he dove into the end zone leaping nearly five feet in the air and landing on his back before going it not a roll and bouncing up to his feet. Once on his feet with the ball in one hand he raised his outstretched arms on a slight incline with his fingers curled up a little, a slight bend in his arms, his torso twisted a little and stretched out on the raised arm side, and raised his face to the sky slightly as the fireworks went off right behind him showering him in bright coloured lights.
Jazmine chipped the ball in for the extra point to open the scoring with a 7-0 lead.
"I'm sorry Cairo. He's just too good for me," Richard said through gasps of breathe as they met on the sideline while Jazmine actually kicked the ball off to Nick this time. He was not used to competing against a team's first receiver; he usually had the short range second receiver and did not have to run almost sixty yards while battling for the ball.
"It's alright. They caught us by surprise with that onside kick. We'll just get it back," Cairo assured him with a slight if not devious smile. "Next time don't be afraid to take the penalty if you know you can't beat your man. Get in a late hit or a horse collar, even a face mask. If we have to sacrifice the yards make sure they know they'll get a little something back for making the play. If they get hurt the better for us."
"Will do Cairo," Richard said returning the smile as Nick returned the ball fifteen yards before Cindy caught him.
Cairo walked on to the field for the first time in the game and huddled up his team. Breaking the huddle, he lined up behind his centre and took the ball from him after his count. He barely got a step back before Caesar broke through his line and slammed hard into him and driving him into the frozen ground.
"I'll be hitting all day so you better be ready for the pain," Caesar laughed as he got off Cairo who wheezed trying to catch his breath.
It took Cairo a few seconds to catch his breath and with Dewey's help got back to his feet. Once on his feet he immediately signalled Tyson on the sideline to come on the field and he sent one of his linemen off.
"What do you want Cairo?" Tyson asked joining the huddle.
"I need you to play defence and offence this game. Can you do it Ty?" Cairo asked. "That Michael Caesar is too strong for my line to stop. You're the only one who can contain him."
"I'll try," Tyson said a little hesitantly. He had never played both sides of the ball for a full game before."
"Just stop him long enough for me to get the play off. That's all I'm asking. Cheat if you have to just don't get caught," Cairo said before outlining their next play.
Cairo received the ball from his centre and with Tyson blocking out Caesar this time he had enough time throw a short pass to Dewey who was being covered by Riley before Hiro threw in a late hit. Immediately the penalty flags went up while Dewey pulled the ball out of the air and breaking Riley's tackle got another eight yards before Jason now playing free safety caught up to him.
The ball was marched further down the field and Cairo lined up his next play hoping to hand the ball off to Nick. He did manage to get the ball to Nick but while Tyson was occupied with Caesar a hole was opened in the lien and Huey broke through. His first target was Cairo ready to finally get a small measure of payback but before Huey could hit him, Cairo gave the ball to Nick and in that moment Huey chose his team over revenge and tackled Nick in the backfield rather than take another penalty for roughing the passer.
"They're pass rushing is too good. We need to switch over to a West Coast Offence if we want to stand a chance in this game. That means Nick you're going to be blocking for my most of the time or running routes," Cairo told his gathered team in the huddle.
"Whatever it takes to win," Nick repeated the team's motto. Normally it meant doing things not so legal to win but it applied here as well.
"Then let's go with a slant route," Cairo said before breaking the huddle.
On the next play Huey once again got into the backfield and unlike the last time Cairo had no one to hand the ball off to and it was too late to safely throw the ball away without getting hit and Huey knew it. Huey just barrelled into Cairo putting everything he had into the hit and dropped his former best friend to the frozen ground. Falling though Cairo did manage to get the ball away throwing it to the empty part of the field beyond the line of scrimmage so he would not lose any more yards.
Once again it took Cairo a few moments to get back to his feet but once he was up he quickly reset his offence and without a huddle called for the snap. In the shotgun formation he had just enough time to get the ball off to Nora who was being covered by Cindy and took the hit to make the catch to bring them back to the original line of scrimmage on the their third down.
Forced to punt the ball back to Huey's team, Cairo left the field in an angry storm his mind already working up plays that were not exactly by the book plays, but he needed to win this and finally get his full revenge on Huey.
Back on the field Riley caught the ball at his twelve yard line and took off down the field cutting into the middle of the field after only ten yards to avoid Richard but he was caught in the long wall of players by Hector Troia and his bushy curly back hair.
With the ball back in his hands Huey methodically worked his way down the field through a combination of short passes to Cindy and Hiro on first and second downs and clutch passes to Johnny on third downs as well as short gains from Riley's rushing game and a few from his own rushing game. In the drive the only one to not touch the ball was Jason who after his last two spectacular plays was being double covered by Richard and the free safety. Huey knew he could have went to Jason even with the double coverage and ninety percent of the time his Canadian receiver would come up with the ball but with Jason being double covered and on some plays triple covered it left his other receivers open and the more he went to the them the more likely Jason's coverage would lessen and he could hit up another long bomb when it was really needed.
The clock waned down as Huey continued his methodical drive. The drive was not just about getting a touchdown but by also wasting so much time on such a long drive he was wearing down the Stallion's defence who thanks to his hurry up offence barely had time to catch their breath between plays. At the same time he was demoralizing them as he blew time off the clock suggesting that he was so confident he did not need those minutes to win and that he was toying with them and their abilities.
With barely a minute left on the clock Huey met a wall within the last ten yards of the Stallion side of the field. On his first down he tried to rush the ball but only managed one yard and on the second down Cindy dropped an easy pass near the end zone before in a clutch play Huey in a rare mistake overthrew the ball to Johnny with his well deserved moniker of iron grip still caught the ball but had to do it out of bounds.
"You're up Jazmine," Stacy smiled her warm smile as Jazmine grabbed her helmet.
"Finally," Jazmine grumbled. "I all I get to do is kick. I want to play defence.
"They're still three quarters left Jazzy. A lot can happen in that time," Stacy tried to cheer her up. "I heard Jason was not a hundred percent going in to the game so who knows."
"No I don't want to play because someone else got hurt. I want to play because Huey thinks I could help the team win," Jazmine said before going on the field to kick the easy chip shot to extend their lead to 10-0.
She stayed out for the kickoff and booted the ball down to Dewey who immediately took off back down the field and the clock began ticking down the last thirty seconds of the first quarter.
Dewey broke Riley's first tackle and spun around Cindy before hitting the wall of players. With help from Tyson he managed to get through the wall relatively unscathed and thanks to another timely block from one of the members of his hands team left him with a clear shot to the end zone with only Jazmine blocking his way.
He tried to juke around her but Jazmine stayed with him and when he tried to spin to break any hold she might try to get on him she simply backed off so when he came out of his spin she was waiting. It was then that she managed to down what both Riley and Cindy failed to do she got a hold of Dewey's jersey and threw him to the ground at the Black Panther forty eight yard line saving her team from a late quarter touchdown.
"Way to go Jazzy," Jason said being the first one to reach her. "Your training has really paid off."
"Yeah, ya got him good," Cindy added as the rest of the team got up. "Even Reezy couldn't get him; Huey can't leave ya off now."
"Oh yes I can," Huey said with a scowl. "I told you its too dangerous to for you to play defence."
"I just took down Dewey," Jazmine said and has if she had just remembered something she had forgotten she friend to where Dewey was looking at them from among his own team and in a move that she took from Cindy she gave him a wide smirk and put the loser sign up to her forward with her hand earning a laugh from Riley, Jason, and Cindy and a slight chuckle from Caesar.
"She can play Huey and we've gotten lucky so far with a lineman as a safety," Jason sided with her but Huey would not hear it.
"We'll talk about this during the break alright," Huey said as Cairo was lining up his team for the snap.
With only enough time for one play left Cairo went with one fully legal play he was saving for such a moment. He took the snap and vacated the pocket immediately to escape Huey and handed if off to Dewey who was waiting near the end of the line rather than running a route and Dewey took the ball into the Black Panther Secondary. He broke another tackle from Riley who was starting to get frustrated and as Cairo had instructed made a straight course for the Black Panther strong safety. A simple juke got him around the lineman who was too slow to them catch up with Dewey who was not the fastest running on the field and Dewey was free to score a touchdown as the quarter ran out bringing the score for the first quarter to 10-7 for the Wuncler Black Panthers.
While Huey walked off the field he could feel Jazmine's eyes baring down on his form the bench. He had run out of excuses, Cairo had picked up on his defence's one weakness and now he needed to make a choice. Keep the glaring weakness or allow Jazmine to play and possibly get hurt, if he did not let her play after that though he might not hear the end of it for months.
The championship game is finally under way and Huey's team as a tentative 3 point lead over Cairo's team but Cairo has found the glaring weakness of his team that only the slipperiness of Dewey has been able to exploit so far. What will Huey do, leave the weakness on the field or go against his better judgement and let Jazmine play defence and at the strong safety at that?