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 46 – Finals Second Quarter
"Okay it's the end of the first, now let me play defence," Jazmine said forcefully as Huey reached the bench. He was the last player to reach the bench having deliberately taken his time to avoid this exact conversation.
"There's nothing to talk about. I will not put your health at risk in the defence," Huey refused. If his team had a weakness in the safety he would just have to get Jason to pick up his game to make up for the weakness.
"Cindy plays defence," Jazmine argued and her friend who was standing next to her in support nodded.
"Cindy is also bigger and stronger then you. She is an athlete. She has years of physical training and months of defence training, you have one week," Caesar countered. He thought Jazmine could and should play but as the defence captain and Huey's best friend he would stand beside his captain and respect his decisions.
"I can do it though. I just showed you I can do it. You agree with me right Jay?" Jazmine asked looking hopefully at the Canadian who was sitting on the bench with Riley working on something with Stacy.
Hearings his name Jason looked up and Jazmine's hope disappeared just from the look on his face. "He's the captain, it's his choice. If he says you're not playing as his assistant I have to agree. You are too small, especially for strong safety."
"The let me play another position," Jazmine said her hope gone but unwilling to give up. She was tired of sitting on the bench and watching without begin able to help her friends.
"I said no Jazmine, so its no," Huey stood his ground, a deep scowl on his face. "Jason I'll need you to step it up a notch to cover the strong safety."
"I'll try," Jason said feeling a little guilty for not siding with Jazmine, but they both had good points and he did not want to divide the team at such a crucial time.
"Are you kidding me? Jay's good we all know that but he can't play two positions, especially both safeties," Jazmine shouted at Huey. "Let me play."
"No and I will have no more of this," Huey said as the official blew his whistle to start the second quarter. "Now look we've wasted our entire break arguing instead of planning our next quarter."
"No worries we got everything down," Stacy smiled before handing him a new card for his wristband. "These are some new plays me and Mina have put together based on their defensive tendencies so far."
"Having a coach staff makes your job a lot easier doesn't it," Mina said standing beside Johnny.
"It does," Huey agreed running over hand over his hair which he had tied down so he could put his helmet on. "Now let's go get our points back." Huey put on his helmet and led his team back on the field leaving Jazmine to fume on the bench.
The second quarter began with the stallions kicking the ball off to Riley who sped down the field dodging the first gunner with a feint to the right and broke a second tackle through sheer power. He hit the wall and bounced off Caesar spinning around his big friend into the hole he created. Hands reached out to grab at any part of him they could but Riley kept going pushing through the mess and into the open field behind the wall.
With a clear shot up the sideline to the end zone he only needed to beat the kicker but he was running out of room. No matter how fast he went the kicker would have him pinned against the sideline and when they met up Riley was forced out of bounds at the Stallion fifty four yard line.
On his first play of the second quarter Huey handed if off to Riley again who only got three yards before Richard caught him and pulled him down just beyond the line. Again Huey made to go to Riley but it was only a feint and when Richard moved to stop Riley, Huey took off breaking through the wall and got enough yards for the first down before Tyson broke away from the wall and remembering Cairo's advice he grabbed him by his facemask and ripping him back and forth threw him to the ground where Huey remained unmoving.
It took barely seconds after Huey hit the ground for Caesar to rush Tyson and tackle him to the ground where they wrestled on the ground. It took every official to pull the two large teens off each other and keep them away from each other, but unfortunately for the officials that left everyone else free and soon the incident turned into a full bench clearing brawl. Overwhelmed the officials needed to get security in to separate the players before fists started being thrown and people started getting hurt.
Once the teams were separated and Rummy had helped Huey to the bench to check on him the officials gathered to start counting out the penalties.
"Follow the light," Rummy said moving his pen light in front of the dazed Huey's eyes and he followed the light nut just barely. "I can't let him go back on the field right away. He's going to need to sit out until he can at least follow this light. He might have a concussion."
"That's means we're short a player," Caesar said with concern. "Not to mention our quarterback at that."
"We can replace a quarterback," Cindy said not at all concerned about the game but still worried for Huey's health. "Jazzy can also take mah place as a receiver so we have our numbers back."
"No," Huey mumbled barely coherent as Rummy continued to shine the light in his eyes as he looked for signs of a concussion.
"I'm sorry Huey we can't understand what ya'll sayin'," Cindy said holding her hand to her ear. "I think ya said she can so we're gonna get ready."
"No," Huey tired to say again but Rummy put his hand over his mouth as he continued his examine pretending he did not know he was doing it.
"What should we run first?" Cindy asked Jason as she took Huey's wristband and put it on her own wrist.
"We have to take advantage of you being quarterback. It will disrupt our opponents since they know what you can do as a runner and they've seen what you can do while throwing the ball," Jason said as they walked onto the field when the official's called the captain over. With Huey disposed and them on offence it was Jason's responsibility to meet with the officials. "We need to establish a running game quickly because you are not that strong a thrower. We still have to establish a passing game just as quickly though to open up your running game."
"So what then?"
"Since throwing is not your strength you need to throw to me and Johnny and once the defence begins to spread out to cover us you start either rushing the ball or handing it off to Riley. If Huey is not back by then and they close back up again to stop the run you throw a couple of passes," Jason said as they came up to the officials at the same time Cairo and Dewey did as well.
"Nice eyes," Cairo laughed looking at the black and purple bruises that had come out in full force under his eyes and the bandages on Jason's broken nose.
"I can give you one," Jason said with a smirk. "In fact a plan to."
"Enough or you'll both be ejected," the head official warned them and both teens grumbled and looked away from each other. "I've called you both here to say I don't want any more of this. The next time this happens I will begin ejecting players."
"What about penalties?" Cindy asked.
"With all the penalties considered the ball will be moved back fifteen yards and you will start on second down," the official said. When Jason tried to argue the loss of yards and the loss of a down the official gave him a stern look that promised more if her argued and he shut his mouth grumbling under his breath.
"Good choice ref," Cairo laughed before walking away with Dewey.
"What do we do now?" Cindy asked as they rejoined the team.
"We get the twenty five yards needed for the first down," Jason said confidently but inside he was worried. This was not like last time Cindy had taken over for Huey. That time they were playing a greatly inferior team to the one they were playing now and she had taken very few reps during practice and those she had taken were only in wild cat formations where the defence had to try and deal with both her and Huey.
On her first play Cindy took up her place in the shotgun formation but she was nervous and when Caesar snapped the ball back to her she let it bounce off her hands and to the ground. Scrambling she picked the ball up as the Stallions linebackers blitzed her and looked down the field for Jason but he was already out of her throwing range and Johnny was doing damage control on her fumble near the line. With no one to throw it to she scampered toward the line of scrimmage but before she could reach the line Richard got a hand on her foot and tripped her up for a loss of three yards.
"Damn it," Cindy cursed slamming her fists into the frozen ground. "I suck."
"You still got one play," Jazmine said trying to consul her friend. "We just need to get the play off."
"She's right and I have a plan," Caesar said looking at Jazmine before outlining his play. Huey was going to kill him.
Cindy lined up again in the shotgun formation and when she ended her count Caesar snapped the ball back to her and this time she caught the ball easily and looked for her pass. She first looked to Jason who was running a slant toward the middle of the field and then to Johnny who was running a mirror route on the other side of the field. Both looks were feints to draw away Hector and the free safety that moved each way trying to predict her throw and get the block. Once the safeties created a gap by moving toward Jason and Johnny Cindy found her real target as Richard broke into the backfield. She got the ball off but to get a good and accurate pass off she took the hard hit from the Stallion outside linebacker.
The ball spiralled in the air hitting its target six yards out.
Jazmine pulled in the ball for her first catch ever in the tournament and ran toward the gap created by Cindy's feints. She only got an extra two yards after her catch before hector was able to reverse his path and track her down. Rather than tackling her properly he simply ran into her and then over her hoping the force would not the ball out of her inexperienced hands, but Jazmine was determined to show Huey she could compete and she could take the punishment of the game.
"We've got twenty yards. Should we try for the field goal or try for the first down?" Cindy asked Jason.
"Do you really have to ask" Its twenty yards no one would gamble on twenty yards," Jason said shaking his head.
"I'll get it in," Jazmine promised before they lined up for the field goal. "Will you hold the ball for me Cindy?"
"I will," Cindy nodded. It was finally time for redemption after messing up in that first game.
Caesar snapped the ball back to Cindy and she set the ball perfectly for Jazmine, but Jazmine never got the kick off.
Tyson grabbed Caesar by the facemask and pulled him to the ground creating a hole for Richard and hector to get through. The penalty flags went up again as Jazmine went to kick the ball, but Hector got in the way blocking the kick. Before Richard could recover the ball for his team, Cindy still crouched over to hold the ball dove on top of it.
The official immediately announced a penalty on Tyson and moved the ball up fifteen yards but it was not enough for a first down.
"I don't think I'll be able to get the kick off," Jazmine said before they lined up to retry the kick. "Those Troia twins are too fast and too stronger. They'll get my kick next time too I just know it."
"Then we'll have to try something inventive," Jason smirked. "Huey showed me this play at our last practice. It was meant for a punt or a kickoff but I think we can do it for this too." Jason explained the play much to the excitement of the team before they lined up for the fourth down again.
This time when they lined up it was not only Cindy and Jazmine in the backfield for the kick but Jason had also lined up as a kick but on the other side of Jazmine creating a triangle between the three plays. Rather than starting in a kneeling position to take Caesar's snap, Cindy stayed on her feet so she could place the ball correctly for either Jazmine or Jason to kick.
Caesar snapped the ball as the last seconds of the play clock ran out and Cindy caught it faking toward Jason who stepped forward like he was going to kick the ball as Cindy quickly dropped to set the ball up for Jazmine. Hector and Richard took the bait both fully aware of Jason's kicking ability and as the forced their way into the backfield they jumped to block Jason's fake kick. Before they could reset to block Jazmine, she booted the ball up and through the uprights for a 13-7 lead.
Jazmine kicked the ball back to Dewey and this time he could not wiggle his way out of Riley's tackle and Riley brought Dewey down to the ground with more force than necessary while barking profanity in his ear. "Nigga ya ain't escaping Young Reezy again so just stay down."
"Bastard," Dewey gasped as Riley left him to rejoin his team.
Before they could line up for Cairo's first play of the quarter Huey came back on the field finally over his last hit. When he came on Jazmine stayed on the field unwilling to leave.
"Get off the field Jazmine before we get a penalty," Huey said angry that his friends had gone against his wishes and used her for an offensive play after he spent so much time trying to keep her out of those situations.
"I want to do more than kick the ball through yellow poles Huey," Jazmine argued but she left the field anyway when the official blew his whistle at them.
"Never going to happen," Huey said under his breath as he lined up as the middle linebacker.
Cairo took the snap and looked around for a pass on his first play of the quarter. He spotted Nora down field but she was being covered by Cindy. When he saw Huey break through the corner of his line, he had no choice and he took his chances with Nora throwing the ball down the field and dropping to the ground to avoid the hit from Huey.
Unable to break away from Cindy who had forced her way into the inside route and was positioned to easily intercept the ball, Nora pushed Cindy hard and Cindy fell to the ground while the ball sailed by both of them. The penalty flags went up once again on a pass interference call and the ball was moved back ten yards.
On his next play Cairo decided it was time to take the game into his own hands and he rushed the ball up a hole created by Tyson before sliding down seven yards beyond the line of scrimmage when Huey tried to hit him again.
Once again Cairo rushed the ball and this time because of a block by Nick who was running a route just beyond the Black Panther side of the line on Huey. Once past Huey, Cairo cut straight for the strong safety who could not keep up with Cairo when he cut back into the middle of the field. Since Jason as the other safety had moved to cover the tight end who was running a button hook toward the strong safety he was within the area of the strong safety but when Cairo came near him he was already cutting beyond the second safety while he was moving in the wrong direction. By the time he righted himself and chased after Cairo it was too late and Cairo showed a degree of speed most quarterbacks did not have and could only be matched in their league by Huey. Jason did catch up with Cairo but they were in the last five yards when he did and Cairo dove the last yards into the end zone so he could not pull him down and gave the stallions their first lead at 15-13 with the PAT.
Pulling up as he crossed into the end zone to ease the pressure n his knees as he stopped Jason could not help but think that Cairo would never have gotten the touchdown if they had a properly sized strong safety playing instead of a lineman. In fact Cairo would never have made it out of their secondary never mind the end zone sixty yards down the field.
Riley caught the kickoff but only got ten yards before Richard caught him. On the next two plays the effects of Tyson's hit showed on Huey as he overthrew two passes to Cindy and Johnny and on the third play he tried to hit Jason who was running a fly route. Jason got by his cornerback and down the field but Huey under threw the ball and the corner back almost intercepted it.
Standing down field Jason swallowed his frustration at Huey and looked up at the clock. There was only a forty nine seconds left in the quarter and now Cairo was getting the ball back. It was plenty of time for him to take advantage of their weakness to increase his lead and demoralise his team going into the half. If they were going to salvage the quarter after the last series of blunders they needed to stop Cairo's offensive drive before he got into field goal range.
Returning to the rest of his team, Jason went straight to Huey. "We need to bring Jazzy into the game," he said sternly to Huey.
"I can't," Huey refused.
"Stop putting your selfish motives over the good of the team Huey," Jason said starting to get angry. "We've all come too far for you to throw it all away because of your own fear. I've stood by your decisions so far as many of us have but now you are endangering our victory and that is not a captain like action Huey. Put Jazzy in."
"And if I don't?" Huey asked going of the defensive, he had thought Jason was on his side in this manner.
"Stopping the defensive charge can be a tough thing for us linemen," Caesar added with a suggestive tone. "Sometime things get through, big angry things."
"Alright, alright you both win, but if she gets hurt we'll have words," Huey warned signalling Jazmine who stood on the sideline waiting for the signal to come out for the punt.
"If she gets hurt then it's a risk she is willing to take just like the rest of us. This is football Huey, people get hurt. Look at the two of us we've been lucky so far that only the two of us have been hurt but that can change," Jason said as Jazmine joined them still peeved at Huey.
"Guess what Jazzy," Cindy said excitedly going to meet her best friend.
"What Huey doesn't want me to kick anymore because I might pull a hamstring?" Jazmine asked glaring at Huey.
"Naw gurl, he's gonna let ya play defence. Jay and Caesar convinced him," Cindy said and Jazmine's glare turned into a wide smile.
"You're going to let me play safety Huey," she squeaked happily.
"No not safety. You're too small for that. Cindy will be moving to strong safety to work with Jay while you will take her place as a cornerback. Your job will be to try and make your receiver fumble his pass and if she gets the ball limit the number of yards she can get after the catch," Huey said but Jazmine did not care where she was playing. All she cared about was finally being able to contribute more to the team's efforts. "Just make sure they don't get another touchdown before the end of the quarter and that goes for everyone. Now get lined up for the punt before the play clock runs out."
Everyone quickly got into place and ramped up by the excitement of getting to play with the team again Jazmine hoofed the ball nearly sixty yards. Nick caught the ball but had to twist around to get and by the time he righted himself and started running Jason was on him and he dragged Nick to the turf with forty seconds left.
"We need to get this touchdown to demoralise and humiliate Huey," Cairo said to his team. "I want to crush him and crush him good."
"Once we get a good lead we'll lay a beating on them," Dewey promised and Cairo broke the huddle for the last plays of the half.
On his first play Cairo tried threw a short pass to Nora who as being shadowed by Jazmine. Jazmine saw the ball coming in the corner of her eye as she followed Nora across the field. As the ball came in Jazmine pushed herself harder and got the inside route and stuck her hands out catching the tip of the ball as she over reached her and lost her balance. The ball clipped off the inside of the fingers near her palm and went straight up messing up Nora's catch and the ball bounced off the ground.
Cairo tried to line his team up for another play but the clock hit the last ten seconds and he decided it was not worth the risk so close to his own end zone if the pass was picked off it would be an easy run in for Huey's team and he did not want to give Huey any silver lining going into the second half. He ended his count for the last time in the first half and took a knee ending the half and the official blew his whistle.
The players stayed on the field for a few moments glaring at each other. If the officials had not moved quickly to separate the two teams things would have come to blows. In fact the crowd was screaming for it but reason prevailed and Huey led his team back to their tunnel and Cairo did the same with his team. As they were leaving Huey noticed a marching band entering the field from the other side of the field, it seemed Huey had a rather special half time show planned for the crowd and they were screaming and cheering as they entered the tunnel. A few people were even hanging over the edge to try and touch them. A couple fans near the bottom were in touching reach and in an upbeat mood only down two points they stopped to sign a few autographs and pose for a few pictures before heading to their locker room. On the other side of the field Cairo and his team were met by boos and jeering. The few fans of the Stallions in the crowd had gathered at their tunnel and like the fans at the Black Panther tunnel were asking for autographs and pictures but Cairo and his team simply ignored them and walked into the tunnel in the exact opposite mood as Huey's team.
The second quarter is done and Cairo is winning 15-13. Now that they have dealt with their weakness on defence can Huey and the gang make a second half comeback or will the sketchy play of Cairo's team ruin their hopes of winning both the game and the wager?