Gladiators of the Gridiron

‘Hut-hut!’ At the QB’s call, everyone burst into action. Ty thrust his long arm out at the chest of Patty, who slipped by it and pressed close into Ty’s chest, pushing him back.

Ty’s widened eyes flitted over to Deshaun and Bastion, who were locked in a similar struggle, with Deshuan skidding back, his face showing his surprise at the strength of the meek-looking WR.

But the ball was never coming their way, neither Bastion nor Patty were even looking to run a route or have the potential to catch; it was a run play towards the opposite side of the field.

The rest of the defence was all over it, however, and the RB—number 34—of the Pirates was quickly swallowed up by a number of black jerseys and taken to the ground for the gain of only a single yard.

With the play whistled dead, the CBs and WRs shoved each other away, but Deshaun had a big grin, pressing his helmet against Bastion’s.

‘What’s the matter, pussies? Y’all ain’t too scared to challenge us in the air, right? Come on now, tell ya boy to throw the ball this way, let’s see what happens.’

Patty tugged Bastion away from Deshaun, who laughed as he headed back to the Dons’ huddle.

Ty slowly made his way back, watching Bastion and Patty a little longer as he rolled his shoulders, a frown on his face. Patty, at least, was much more competent and stronger when it came to blocks than those he had to deal with at practice.

Back at the Dons’ huddle, the signal from the coaches on the sideline was to keep things pretty similar.

‘Just ease up a bit, boys,’ JJ said. ‘That energy was perfect, but be careful now, we should expect a pass now that their run didn’t get much, but don’t be surprised if they go back to the ground again.’

JJ clapped his hands together and the team collectively shouted “Break!” before they split away and took up their positions again. The LBs were more relaxed, but those at the edges of the DL were leaning forward more, salivating at the possibility of getting a sack on a passing play.

‘Yo!’ Deshaun said as he lined up in front of Bastion again, ‘tell me y’all ain’t still scared. I don’t wanna be falling asleep out of boredom over here.’

‘Oh I am so gonna love the look on your face when we embarrass you, can’t wait to shut your stupid ass up,’ Patty said, grinning.

Deshaun glared at him. ‘You gonna do all the talkin’ for your mute boyfriend?’

‘Could say the same thing for you.’ Patty kept grinning as he gestured to Ty.

‘Shut up. Let your fucking game do the talking,’ Ty snapped.

‘Hut-hut!’ Again Patty pushed into Ty’s chest and Ty desperately tried to leverage his long arms and keep Patty away, even as he was forced back a couple of yards.

Ty and Patty both were almost flattened when Deshaun ran into them both.

‘Fuck! Watch— shit!’ Deshaun scrambled around them, but he was already well behind Bastion who had slipped by and was wide open.

Ty went to turn and give chase as well, but Patty wouldn’t let him go, and with his attention drawn away from the struggle of strength, Ty was easily pushed to the ground.

Again, their side of the field was ignored, and instead—even though this was a passing play—the QB only had eyes for the opposite side of the field, and his attempted pass soared over the head of the TE, just out of reach of his outstretched hands, flying out of bounds for an incompletion.

Surprisingly, the Pirates didn’t huddle up after their mistake, instead, they hurried back into formation, and the celebrating defence was caught off-guard.

“Where the fuck was this in the scouting report, you stupid fucking brat?” Ty inwardly cursed Ricky as JJ tried to maintain order.

‘Back in position! Keep the same formation, same play! Look alive, play the chains! Don’t let them get a first down!’

There was also some shouting coming from the sidelines as Coach Long frantically tried to get some orders through as well. There was chaos within the defensive ranks, but Ty wasn’t worried about all that, he focused on what was in front of him.

He’d been overpowered twice in a row, and he couldn’t let that happen again. Bastion was open last play, and if he let it play out the same way, he would surely get open again and the QB would have to be a fucking idiot to miss that twice.

The ball was snapped again, and Ty burst forward, both hands spearing out from him to fend off Patty and prevent him from leaving his line.

Ty had fully expected a confrontation and another contest of strength, but his hands met nothing but air.

He stumbled forward as Patty slipped outside and darted upfield.

‘Deshaun, swi—’ Ty grimaced as Bastion ran straight into him this time, and Deshaun wasn’t far behind.

‘The fuck are you doing, Freshy!’ Deshaun growled at him.

Ty saw the ball float out of the QB’s hand; it wasn’t a perfect pass, but it didn’t have to be, Patty was that wide open down the sideline.

He stopped, caught the ball, and still had time to cross the first-down marker before the Safety—who had been waiting over the top—came down and shoved Patty out of bounds.

On the sideline, Coach Hoang buried his face in his hands, groaning as he was seriously contemplating calling a timeout then and there.

Bastion slipped back to his team’s huddle, and as Patty was running back past Deshaun and Ty he flashed them a grin.

‘Damn! I didn’t think it was gonna be THAT easy,’ Patty laughed.

‘Man shut the fuck up!’ Deshaun snarled and then turned his fury upon Ty. ‘And stay the fuck outta my way, dumbass!’ He shoved Ty away and moved back to the huddle.

Ty growled and jogged back to the huddle, glancing towards the Pirates as he did. Patty and Bastion were looking his way, the former still with a grin, while the latter was a lot more stoic and reserved.

When Ty and Deshaun were lined up in front of their adversaries again, it was Patty who spoke first and said:

‘Hmm? What’s the matter? Not so chatty now, are ya?’

Deshaun clenched a fist. ‘Man, I’m THIS close to knocking you out.’

‘Just focus on stopping them first,’ Ty muttered, and Deshaun shot him a look, one eye twitching.

When the ball was snapped again, both Bastion and Patty hopped forward to be on the inside shoulder of their respective opponent.

Both Ty and Deshaun stood their ground, but that was all they could do, neither of them could break away from the sturdy blocks laid against them, or get past them either.

It was another pass play, but this time it was a screen to the RB.

Ty saw a mass of bodies from both teams rumbling their way, and soon he was caught up in the middle of it, unable to see what was going on or where the ball carrier even was in the sea of people around him.

Multiple people from both teams slammed together and fell onto each other in a heap, with Ty stuck at the bottom.

He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t even see a way out of it, it was as if the entirety of BOTH teams were on top of him, crushing him down into the grass.

The officials came over and helped break up and pull apart the pile, and JJ was among the teammates that helped pick the Dons players up off the floor. There was some light shoving and pushing from members of opposing teams, but the officials did well to get between them and keep things from boiling over into something more.

When Ty was eventually brought back up onto his feet, nothing felt broken, though he was short of breath, and he realised amongst all that chaos, the RB had wormed his way forward for a gain of six yards.

It was only so early on, but Ty was already stained by the turf of the field, and needed to catch his breath, while his direct enemy was completely unfazed.

Ty roughly gnawed on his mouthguard, lining up in front of Patty once again.

Again the ball was snapped, and again Bastion and Patty collided with Ty and Deshaun. This time, both Ty and Deshaun, underhandedly, got the better of their exchanges, with Deshaun yanking Bastion forward by his jersey and sending him tumbling to the ground, while Ty shoved his hand up under Patty’s facemask, shoving his head back by his chin.

The refs didn’t see either foul though, not that they had any bearing on the play, again it was a run away from their side of the field, a stretch play trying to get outside past the edge of the line of scrimmage, but it was completely smothered and only ended up in a loss of yardage for the Pirates.

It was 3rd down again, and like clockwork—without even having to communicate—the Pirates hurried back into their formation, forgoing their huddle.

Shouts came from the Dons bench. ‘Screen! Screen! Watch out for the screen!’

‘Hut-hut!’ Patty turned infield and sprinted underneath Bastion, while Bastion, heading to the outside, made a beeline for Ty.

Ty did his best to skirt around Bastion, and was nearly fully around him before Deshaun slammed into them again, the three clogged together as Patty was free to catch the ball and turn upfield.

As he was closer to the centre of the field though, he was soon met by JJ and crunched in a tackle, though he held onto the ball and was able to extend his arm out for an extra yard. It was only a short gain of six, but was still enough for another first down.

‘Oh my god!’ Deshaun exclaimed. ‘I SWEAR, Samuels, if you get in my way, ONE more time.’

Ty didn’t back down. ‘Me? You need to open your fucking eyes and learn when to switch so your man can’t just keep blocking me for free!’

Bastion looked between them both rather awkwardly as he was caught in the middle of their argument.

‘Come on guys!’ JJ moved over and clapped both his teammates on the shoulder. ‘Keep your heads in the game, you’re walking together, not against each other. It’s just a couple of catches, no big deal. We got this.’

Ty and Deshaun tear their glares away from one another and look to JJ, calming down a bit and then looking around at their other teammates. Bastion ducked out from between them and hurried to his own huddle.

‘Fuck it. Yeah, yeah we good. I’m good,’ Deshaun grumbled, looking down at the ground as he put a hand on JJ’s shoulder and followed him back to the huddle.

Ty stared at the scornful faces of his teammates, his teeth almost tearing holes into his mouthguard.

“Don’t fucking look at me like that you pieces of shit. You think you’re fucking better than me?” He stalked back to the huddle. “I WON’T let them score.”

The Pirates were content to slowly and methodically work their way down the field, bit by bit they would chip away at the defence, taking small victories and small gains where they could.

But whenever they NEEDED a big play or to drag themselves out of a hole, or it was third down and they needed to convert, they would rush back to the line of scrimmage, and fall back upon their trusty little bubble screen with the two-man game of Bastion and Patty.

And it’d work every. single. time.

Coach Long looked down at Coach Hoang, both men watching on from the sideline.

‘Should we pull one of them out of there and use a different pair to stop that screen?’ Coach Long asked.

Coach Hoang shook his head. ‘Please, Coach. I know I’m just the DC and you’ve got absolute authority when it comes to these decisions, but please let them continue.’

Coach Hoang didn’t think Ty and Deshaun’s animosity had gotten that bad yet. He was willing to let them go until one of them threw a punch at the other, and he thought that giving up one touchdown was a small price to pay for the potential growth that could come from these two overcoming their issues.

‘Alright, Luke. I trust you on this. It’s your call when we pull the plug.’ Coach Long nodded and stepped back.

Coach Hoang took a deep breath. ‘Thank you, Coach.’

Things weren’t looking good, however, and it didn’t look likely that Ty and Deshaun were gonna figure anything out soon; the Pirates had made it all the way into the red zone and were well within striking distance.

‘Ahh, man. How do you think we should celebrate our touchdown, B?’ Patty stretched his arms, standing rather relaxed in front of Ty as the four teens once again lined up in front of one another.

‘Uhh… well, I guess that depends on which one of us catches it,’ Bastion responded.

‘Don’t get so fucking cocky!’ Deshaun growled.

‘S-Sorry,’ Bastion said, lowering his head.

‘Hut-hut!’ Bastion darted aside, and Patty locked horns with Ty again.

‘Move!’ Deshaun roared. Bastion had made his way to the outside, and had put Patty and Ty in the path of Deshaun’s pursuit.

Ty tried to turn away from Patty and chase after Bastion, but was driven into the turf again, Deshaun getting caught up and tripping over them both.

Bastion caught the ball, but with the shortened field, help was quicker to come, and he was taken down just before he could reach the endzone.

Ty spat out his mouthguard, and some grass, pushing his chest and head up off the ground. Though his face was shoved back into the turf, first by Patty as he stood up.

‘Sorry,’ the WR said mockingly before jogging off to congratulate Bastion.

And then Ty’s face was shoved into the grass once again when Deshaun picked himself up. ‘You are DEFINITELY getting sent back to JV after this.’

Ty tore some grass out before he stood up, picking up his mouthguard as well.

“They won’t score! They CAN’T. It can’t happen.” His heart was pounding as he shook his head and took up his position.

It was 1st and Goal at the Dons’ four-yard line. The Pirates had shifted to a goal-line formation, with an extra Lineman in, and a FB lined up in the backfield along with their usual RB.

Bastion and Patty were the only two players away from the centre of the field for the offence, and Ty and Deshaun were the only two defenders out there with them.

The ball was snapped, but Patty and Bastion didn’t move; it was a run straight up the middle. The FB led the way, and broke through the initial line, clearing open a path for the RB, but just before they could cross the plain into the endzone, both of them ran into a brick wall named JJ.

The huddles in between that play and the next were short, there wasn’t much to go over as neither team changed up their formation or made any substitutions.

The Dons just had to be mindful of a passing play now that the run had been stuffed, but being so close to the endzone, there was no telling if the Pirates might just charge against that brick wall until either they or it broke.

Ty couldn’t hear anything but his own breathing and his heartbeat, staring into Patty’s eyes, both teens held a nervous excitement within their gazes.

‘Hut-hut!’ Ty’s spearing hand hit Patty dead centre in his chest, the taller boy stumbled. Ty saw Bastion streaking past behind Patty and leapt out after him.

Deshaun tried to give chase as well, but got caught up with Patty who tried to push forward, both of them lost their balance and tumbled down.

Bastion wheel around, fading towards the back corner of the endzone, but Ty was right there with him.

The ball left the QB’s hand and spiralled through the air.

Ty turned and had his eye transfixed on the flight of the ball. He leapt into the air with a hand outstretched, pushing the limits of his flexibility and reaching to the heavens, he could only brush a fingertip against the pass.

He grimaced as he couldn’t reel the ball in for an interception as he hoped. But his touch had been enough to disrupt the flight of the ball and change the trajectory of it.

Instead of hitting Bastion in the palm of his hands, it hit his fingertips instead, and bobbled off them, bouncing out of bounds and falling to the ground, incomplete.

‘Dammit!’ Ty stomped the ground, but then hurried back to the line and got ready, though for once, the pirates were in no hurry to rush things on third down.

‘Hey man, bad luck,’ Patty said, lightly smacking Bastion on the helmet. ‘That was a good attempt though, you’ll get it next time. I’m sorry I couldn’t block him longer, that one’s on me.’

‘Ah, I-I should’ve caught it, it hit my hands but… he touched it and the path changed I…I didn’t expect it,’ Bastion said as the two made their way back to the huddle.

Ty eventually shambled back to his own huddle, though he couldn’t take his eyes off of Patty and Bastion. His heart was still thumping loudly within his chest, and his breaths came ragged and heavy, he never even heard a word of what JJ said then, he didn’t need to: he knew another screen pass was coming his way.

Deshaun knew it too, and when he and Ty made their way back to their spots for the next play, he smacked Ty’s chest with the back of his hand and said:

‘Hey. We got this. Who gives a fuck about all that shit before. We’re gonna stop them, right here, right now. That’s all that fucking matters.’

Bastion and Patty came back over, but this time, there was no trash talk, no cheap barbs thrown at one another, just silence.

But the two WRs didn’t look nervous or jittery, quite the opposite. Their eyes had a hardened look, and both carried themselves with steely confidence.

Again, the Pirates came out in that same heavy formation, keeping that singular island of four players left out to the strong side of the field.

Ty took a deep breath, his pupils narrowed, his body was ready to explode.

‘Hut-hut!’ Ty shot his spear out again, but Patty slipped inside of it, cutting straight towards the centre of the field.

Ty turned to keep up with him, just as Patty ran full force into Deshaun, both of them getting tangled up with one another. Again, Bastion was fading towards the corner of the endzone, wide open.

Ty was a step slower this time, but he stopped and sprinted after Bastion all the same.

The ball soared overhead and fell in a small arching rainbow. Bastion leapt up, wrapping his hands around it, stretching his legs out with his toes down, dragging them through the turf just within the endzone.

Ty rammed into him, shoving him off his feet and out of bounds. But it was all too late. Bastion held onto the ball and Ty stared down at him.

The whistle blew. The line judge raised his arms into the air.

It was a Pirates Touchdown.