Blood, Sweat and Tears Part 80
"Welcome to the NFL's American League Championship of the season, everyone!" Tim greeted excitedly as he smiled for the video camera.
Just beyond the commentator box, thousands of hands were clapping and feet were stomping to the music being played through the stadium's speakers. "As you can hear, the Pittsburgh crowd is just as anxious for the game to get going as we are."
Adam grinned widely, "That's right, Tim. This is a day that no one here believed they would ever see. After so many disappointing seasons, their own Wolverines have actually managed to make it to a league championship game."
Shaking his head, he chuckled, "And not just any league championship, but one in which they will be playing against the returning Super Bowl champions, the Houston Boars. For many, just the fact that their team is in the rankings with the best of the best is as good as it gets."
Down in the Wolverine locker room, the team was suited up and ready to go. Smearing a line of grease under each violet eye, Duo cleaned his hands and checked that his braided bun was secure. Head lowered in silent prayer as he sat before his locker, Heero took a deep breath and placed a kiss to the silver cross around his neck before securing it under his jersey again.
Before long, the coaching staff arrived and the players gripped their helmets to head to ground level for the introductions. Over the volume of the crowd, it was almost difficult to hear the announcer call on each player. Feeding from their fans' energy, the athletes smiled and waved to the stands as they came out.
That excitement and joy of the moment was short-lived for the team when they got a good look at their red-and black clad challengers across the field. Tall, muscular and intimidating, the Boars were looking on with arrowed eyes and smug smirks from their sideline. Unlike any team that they had faced up until then, this was a team that knew they were going to win and take numbers in the process.
It was enough to even make Duo nervous. Swallowing roughly, the running back turned his eyes from the champions and muttered to his lover beside him, "If I don't make it, tell the kids that I love them." Heero snorted, but his own anxiety was evident in his cobalt eyes as he looked to the other team.
Much to every Wolverine's relief, it was announced that the Star Spangled Banner was going to be sung. Finally, those eyes on them shifted to the stage at the center of the field to give them a moment to breathe once more.
* * * * * *
Having won the coin toss, the Boars had their first shot at scoring. From the first snap of the football to the Houston quarterback, it was clear that they had reason to be so cocky. The crunches and shouts of effort from the Wolverine defense when the teams collided had their teammates on the sideline wincing.
Trent paced up and down the line as he watched. "Come on, break through," he growled under his breath. "Their quarterback has all the time in the world right now." Much to his disappointment, the defense line was not only held back but pushed back as their target fired the ball for a thirty-plus yard throw.
At the easy catch in mid air that the Boars' receiver made, Wufei let out a low whistle. "Damn," he whispered as he shook his head. "He couldn't have made that look any easier." Hearts in their throats, his comrades watched as the player was finally brought down after a gain of ten more yards in his charge.
Only two plays later, Houston scored their fist touchdown. The extra point kick made it 7-0 before five minutes rolled off the clock.
Biting back his emotions, Trent slapped his team on the back when they returned to the sideline with their heads hanging. "We'll get them next time, boys," he reassured patiently. Silently, he willed himself to believe his own words.
Things did not go so well for the Pittsburgh punt return team. The football was marked with a disheartening eighty-one yards before scoring. Nodding to the offensive team, Howard called, "You're up, guys!" Helmets settling into place, his athletes charged on to the field.
Falling into a huddle, the offensive players looked from one nervous face to the other. "All right," Heero yelled over the crowd, "Just like we practiced, nothing too strenuous for the first half! The order will be throw, run, run, throw before we huddle again." His teammates nodded and broke to take their places.
As Heero walked to his spot behind Trowa, the sun broke through the gray, overcast sky to offer breath of warmth. Hands reaching out, the quarterback cried, "Set!... Set!... Hike!" The moment the ball was in his hands, he ran back a few paces to scan the field ahead. With cries of effort, Barton and the offensive line fought back the onslaught that fell upon them.
Scott was tied up by two blockers that were following his every dodge and weave. Wufei was just a bit luckier and freed himself first. Looking back, he raised his hand to signal that he was ready. Cobalt eyes narrowed on his target, Heero fired as hard as his arm would allow.
Quickly covering the eight extra yards ahead of him to where the ball was heading, Wufei opened his arms and jumped. From out of nowhere, a blocker soared into the scene. Jumping ahead of Chang, he made an easy scoop of the ball. On the way down, the Boars' defender elbowed the Chinese athlete roughly in the chest.
While the referees never saw the move, Relena had a clear view. Zechs made a rare show of emotion as he shouted in rage, "Someone throw a flag on that play!" Unfortunately, there was no flag. The disorderly conduct was discrete enough that the officials missed it. [1]
From where she watched as her lover fell violently to the ground with a rough grunt of pain, Relena jumped from the cheerleader bench and cried, "Wufei!"
In the confusion, the blocker charged the opposite direction for his team's end zone. It took three attempts and dives before anyone from the offensive team was able to bring him down with less than fifteen yards for the Boars to score a second time.
'Boos,' hisses and cries of anger and dismay rose from the crowd. Throwing his helmet off, Duo shouted at one of the referees walking by, "How the hell didn't any of you see that! That was an illegal touch!" Completely ignoring the running back, the black-and-white uniformed man kept walking to his new spot.
Heero removed his own helmet as approached his partner and cautiously placed a hand on his back. "Let it go," he urged gently. "It wouldn't do any good to make a scene."
Gesturing with his unruly head of hair to where Wufei was getting up on his own with the rest of their teammates around him, he stated, "Chang's all right. It's not worth challenging and losing a time out this early in the game. We'll get our shot again." Reluctantly, Duo sighed in defeat and allowed the team captain to lead him back to their sideline.
Moments later, Houston acted on their good fortune and scored again to make the game 14-0.
* * * * * *
The next time that the Wolverines had the football, the Boars made it clear that they were not about to give them any chances to break away. Duo was their prime target. After his display the week prior, he was ganged up on as soon as he tried to break through their wall. They never came close enough for a field goal let alone a touchdown.
Shaking his head, Tim frowned, "As we come into the second quarter, it does not look very good for Pittsburgh. Seems they've finally met their match in the returning champs. So far, the Boars are making the Wolverines look as though they are not putting much effort in winning this one."
At the sideline, Zechs walked before his benched players and told them, "Store your energy like we discussed, everyone. It won't be long before they start running out of steam going into the second half." Heads nodded in response, despite the frustration of being so far behind so early in the game.
In the end, it was going to be for the best. So many teams before had made the mistake of using their reserves early on to stop Houston. But if one really studied the champions, one would pick up on the fact that their own energies were a flash in the pan. They dominated early on to bring their opponents down physically and mentally, but at the cost of their own energy. So long as the opposition paced themselves and kept from being mentally defeated, they could be stopped.
Of course there was great risk involved in such a plan. However, it was the only way that they had a chance of beating their challengers.
Much to the team's relief, the Pittsburgh defense managed to hold Houston back to a field goal on their next turn. 17-0 was not the most ideal of situations for the Wolverines to be in, but it was far better than 21-0.
Not used to seeing their players so far behind, the crowd was disheartened and a good portion of the spectators began filing from the stadium. The cheers and cries had died down considerably as time went on, the fans' hopes for a championship dwindling away.
In the owner's box, Dorothy bit her lip as she watched several lines of people heading out. Sighing, she folded her hands together and willed for patience. When she felt a small tug on her dress pants, she looked down to Sun's confused face.
His big eyes blinking, the boy asked, "Why are they leaving, Miss Dorothy?"
Smiling warmly, the team owner ran a hand through his light hair and replied, "They don't want to be here to see their team lose, sweetheart." With a wink, she added, "But I have a funny feeling that they'll regret leaving so soon before too long."
Back on the field, Duo dug his cleats into the hard ground as Heero cried, "Set! Set! Hike!" Sprinting forward, the running back wrapped his arms tightly around the football handed off for him and made a break for a rare opening before it closed again.
Like so many times before, he was a second too late as a barrier of linemen closed up around him. Instead of simply tackling him, three of the defenders grabbed Duo and pushed him back five yards before slamming him into the ground. With a loud, pained 'Oof,' when his back crashed against the ground, he felt the football begin to slip from his grip.
Panicked, Duo growled deeply at the hands reaching to knock the ball from him for a fumble. Quickly seeing that he was covered all around, it was not easy for the referees to blow a whistle saying that the ball was down and the play was ended. If Houston came up with the ball, it would be hard to argue that it was not an actual fumble.
"The play's over, fuckers!" he bellowed as the running back held onto the football with all of his strength. Still those hands kept coming. At one point, he felt a kick to his shoulder as a set of cleats dug into his skin. Crying out, he fought the sting of tears that threatened to appear. Bound and determined not to cry in front of his attackers, he continued to hang on with everything that he had as he continued to be beat around.
Finally, a referee charged into the scene. Wide-eyes at finding Duo flat on his back, he waived his arms wildly and blew his whistle in three long spurts. Removing the whistle from his mouth, the official's eyes narrowed heatedly on the Boars.
Instantly reaching into his pocket for his yellow flag, he threw it into the air and cried at the three aggressors, "That just gave them an extra twenty yards for that stunt!" He revealed his red flag and hollered, "You're all red flagged! If any one of you steps out of line one more time, you're out of the game!"
While the three linemen grumbled and argued with the official, Duo panted heavily as he got to his feet. Glaring heatedly at his attackers, he was oblivious to the large tear in the right shoulder of his jersey and the blood seeping into the material from his open wound.
Eyes wide with fear, Heero ran up to his lover, crying, "Duo!"
Trowa, Wufei and Sally were right behind, the blood draining from their faces when they saw the shape their friend was in. Sighing deeply as he turned to them, the running back gave a quiet reassurance that he was all right before moving to where for where the football was going to be marked.
Gently resting a hand on her patient's good shoulder, Sally urged, "One second." Removing a few swabs of antiseptic, she did a spot clean of the blood and a quick patch-up with small bandages.
Already knowing that Maxwell would only argue against being taken out of the game for a thorough examination, she just acted on instinct and did the best she could with the little time she had.
Her efforts were rewarded with an appreciative smile from the running back. In the meantime, the crowd came to life again with cheers and applause as the lead official announced the twenty-yard advancement of their team in light of the penalties against Houston.
Patting her braided friend's back, the therapist smirked and shook her head, "Get going. Just try not to get yourself killed out here."
"Thanks, Sal," Duo grinned before taking off for his new spot.
Quickly deciding on their next course of action, Heero opened and closed his hand three times to his lover and teammates as a signal that they were going to run the football again. Much as he wanted to give the American a chance to catch his breath, he had a gut feeling that the Boars were banking on their throwing the ball after Duo's shake up.
Smirking at the signal and fully understanding the reason behind it, the running back dug his cleats into the ground in preparation for the snap. Violet eyes narrowing, he watched and waited as Heero shouted, "Set!... Set!... Hike!" Digging in, the running back sprung forward and took the football handed over to him. Not paying any mind to the closing gap that he was aiming for, he punched through with a burst of energy.
The linemen that were about to block Duo's way froze momentarily at the surprise of finding that he was the one with the football. And that split second of hesitation meant everything when he shoved and pushed himself through their defenses. Finally, for the first time that whole game, he cleared to the other side of their wall.
"Maxwell broke away!" Adam exclaimed while jumping up and down in the commentator booth. "Maxwell broke away in a risky move on his part as well as Heero Yuy's!"
Suddenly alive once more, the crowd rose to its feet and cheered wildly once more. Focusing on the end zone, Duo sprinted without opposition the field for twenty-three yards until he was finally brought down with twenty-eight yards to go still before a touchdown could be scored. Rejuvenated, his teammates ran up to help him to his feet to pat his back and offer one-armed hugs.
When Heero reached him, the running back threw his arms around his neck in a fierce embrace. 'To hell with what the world thinks,' he told himself. At that moment, he just needed his lover's arms around him.
Taken aback by the very public display of affection, Heero blinked in surprise only for a moment before smiling and returning the embrace whole-heartedly. All around them, the audience's cheers and applause rose anew.
Closing his eyes, Duo said, "Great call back there to change the play, 'Ro."
His heart lightening at the compliment, Heero replied, "Nice work making it count." While neither one wanted anything more than to just stay there like that, they quickly pulled back to hurry and get back to the game. Falling into their new position on the field, the Wolverines gazed on the irate defenders glaring back at them.
No doubt that gain of so many yards had upset the Boars to no end. All the more alert, they scanned the offensive line to cover their bases better than they had in the last go.
Houston's efforts paid off and in the end, they held Pittsburgh off to a field goal to make the score 17-3 at the end of the first half of the game. It was the lowest scoring first half of any game that the Wolverines had played all season.
At the whistle to officially mark the end of the second quarter, both teams headed to their sidelines and moved down the long corridors leading to their locker rooms. There was no question to which of the two teams would be the more relaxed in preparation for the second half of the game.
Taking a deep breath, Tim sighed to the camera and frowned, "Well, everyone, it looks like this will probably be it for the Wolverine's impressive season. As dominant as Houston has proven themselves to be in this championship face off, it will take more than just heart to defeat them. For so many Pittsburgh fans, this would have to be a painful event to witness."
Adam noted the smiles and lighthearted banter going on amongst the red-and-gold clad athletes as they left the field together. "For being the team at the short end of the stick, the Wolverines sure have a good attitude at the end of this half," he stated with a look of confusion. "Maybe they're just accepting the fact that this one just is not theirs to win."
* * * * * *
"Everything is going just as we had hoped," Zechs smirked to his players moments later. "Their egos are going to be their downfall today. While they might have the energy to do some damage, they're not going to be at their peak for the second half. The first-stringers that get pulled will be replaced with second and third-stringers that they have not worked all year because they were never needed before."
Heads nodded and smiles lit faces in anticipation of what was to come. They had held back their full potential solely for this. It didn't matter who was leading at the first half of the game. It mattered who had the lead after the second half. That was what they had conditioned themselves for... the long haul and not just a brief explosion of what they had.
Out in the hallway, Duo returned from his visit to Sally's office looking a bit downtrodden. Frowning in worry, Heero pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against and quickly neared his lover. "Are you all right?"
With a sigh, the running back turned to him and answered, "It just bugs the shit out of me that a returning champion team is nothing more than a bunch of cheap-shooting, dirty playing bunch of pricks. You would expect something better than that."
A sad, understanding smile tugged the quarterback's lips at that. "I couldn't agree more," he nodded firmly. "But the game's not over yet. Let's just show everyone how a real team plays out there."
There was a flash of mischief in those violet eyes as Duo smirked. Returning the nod, he and Heero stepped into the locker room to hear the rundown from Zechs and Howard on their strategies for the second half.
In the end, the team captain was right... the game was not over yet.
TBC...
[1] A yellow penalty flag from an official is to announce that there has been fowl play/illegal moves in the play. Grabbing a player's face mask, roughing a receiver or passer (quarterback), moving forward before the ball is snapped to officially begin a play... they are all things that earn penalty flags.
If the defense is flagged, their opposition gains yards to get closer to scoring. If the offense is flagged, they lose yards to make a longer way to go.
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