Game-Day Jitters (7 page)

Twice the Bobcats brought the ball deep into the Rabbits’ zone before losing it out of
bounds. Twice more the Rabbits made a strong attack on the Bobcats’ goal, only to have Darren make nice saves.

But much of the game was played near the center of the field, with both teams battling for control and neither keeping the ball for long.

Ben could hear his brother and his parents shouting along with the other spectators. They usually stayed fairly quiet during the games, but even they were more excited than usual.

After another long, hard sprint up the field, Ben stood with his hands on his knees, puffing. The ball had gone out of bounds, and they were waiting for Kim to retrieve it.

“Sub!” called Coach Patty. Ben turned and looked. Shayna was jogging onto the field and pointing at Ben. She hadn’t played at all.

“Me?” Ben asked.

“Just a quick one,” Shayna said.

Ben stepped off the field and walked toward the coach. She clapped her hands and said, “Great hustle.”

Ben dropped to his knees and shut his eyes for a second.

“You’ll recover quickly,” Coach said. “You always do.”

Ben nodded and said, “I’m already recovered. You can put me back in.”

“Next whistle,” Coach said. “There’s about five minutes left in the game, so don’t ever let up.”

Ben stood and watched the action. Shayna couldn’t move very quickly, but she didn’t seem to be in much pain.

“She wanted to play a little, since this is the last game,” Coach said. “But I told her to stay out of the scuffles. Just get on the field and then get off.”

Mark knocked the ball out of bounds, and Coach yelled, “Sub!” again.

Ben slapped hands with Shayna as she jogged off. She had a big smile. The spectators gave her a round of applause.

He’d rested for only about a minute, but Ben felt fresh again. He darted over to the tall girl with the brown ponytail, who was moving the ball down the field for the Rabbits.

As Ben approached, she stepped over the ball and swiftly changed direction. Ben had seen that move before. He lunged forward and got his foot on the ball, knocking it to the side. Both players ran toward it, and Ben managed to get control. He fired the ball to Kim, who was yelling, “Support!”

As the ponytailed girl ran at Kim, Ben took some fast steps up the field. Kim passed to him, and Ben took off up the middle.

He’d learned to make some tricky moves as
he ran with the ball, and he needed to make them now. Two Rabbits were closing in on him. He leaned to his left, then kicked the ball to his right with the outside of his foot. That was enough to get him past the first defender, and his speed was enough to get by the second one.

Ben had an open path to the goal now, but several Rabbits were chasing him. The goalie had stepped forward, and Ben would have a hard time shooting the ball past him. Ben was near the edge of the field. He’d need some help.

A few more strides brought him close to the corner. From the side of his vision, he could see Kim moving toward the goal. He knew Jordan would be there, too.

Ben stopped short and set his foot on top of the ball to stop it. The first Rabbit stumbled past, creating a brief opening. Ben took it. He
sent the ball sharply across the grass to Kim, who touched it once and nudged it ahead into Ben’s path.

Ben raced to the ball. The goalie was crouched in front of him, waiting for the shot.

No way
, Ben thought. He’d never slip the ball into the goal from this angle. Instead he
rolled it to the side, hoping Kim or Jordan would reach it first.

Jordan did. He booted the rolling ball directly into the net, past the diving goalkeeper.

What a comeback! The Bobcats had fought back from two goals behind and tied the score.

The Rabbits looked stunned as Kim, Jordan, and Ben ran past them. They’d had this game locked up. Now all of the momentum was with the Bobcats.

“One more!” Ben said firmly. “Next goal wins.”

Jordan punched his fist into his palm. Kim jumped up and down. Ben glared at the Rabbits and let out his breath hard.

Just one more
.

As the Rabbits moved down the field, Ben tried to stay aware of their two best players.
Get that ball
, he thought.
Time is running out
.

Coach had said that there would be an overtime period if the game ended in a tie. But Ben wanted to end it
now
. The Bobcats had taken control of the game.

When Mark stole the ball and headed upfield, Ben felt a rush of excitement. Things had
really been clicking for the Bobcats in the past few minutes. They were ready to score again.

Mark passed to Kim, and Kim passed to Jordan. With a quick burst of speed, Jordan brought the ball deep into the Rabbits’ zone. Ben was running toward the goal, too.

Jordan passed to Kim and she shot. The ball hit the goalpost and bounced to Ben’s side of the field. He ran toward it with two Rabbits at his side.

Ben reached the ball and lowered his shoulder to guard it from the defenders. The short kid was to his left, and another Rabbit was between Ben and the goal. A third was approaching. He was trapped.

There was no way Ben could get the ball to the goal. He saw Erin running up from her defensive position. It would be a long backward pass, but she was open. Ben kicked it toward her.

Ben was off balance and his pass was awkward. His foot hit the turf first, and he kicked the ball with the side of his toe. The ball rolled toward the sideline.

Bad pass!
Ben told himself.

The ponytailed girl swooped over and took the ball, running at full speed. She dodged past Erin into the clear. Ben chased after her.

Since the rest of the Bobcats had been near the Rabbits’ goal, the girl had plenty of room to run. She crossed midfield and ran deep into the Bobcats’ end of the field.

Ben and the others ran desperately back, but so did all of the Rabbits. The girl made a soft pass to the front of the goal, and the leading runner pounded it past Darren and into the net.

The Rabbits swarmed the goal scorer, yelling and jumping. They didn’t just have the momentum now, they had the lead.

And the game was almost over.

Ben couldn’t believe what had happened. The Bobcats had done everything right until he’d made that awkward pass.

He kicked the ball into play and chased after it. They still had a chance.

But Jordan had the ball stolen, and the Rabbits went on the attack again. Mark finally got it back and kicked it up the field, but the referee blew his whistle. “Game over!” he called.

Ben dropped to his knees and stared at the ground. He looked up to see the Rabbits at the sideline, giving each other hugs and high fives. The girl with the ponytail was bouncing side to side in a dance.

Jordan was sitting on the turf about ten yards from Ben. His mouth was hanging open as if he couldn’t believe what had happened. Kim was walking slowly toward the bench. Erin was walking behind her, head down.

Coach Patty was clapping her hands and calling the Bobcats over. “Great job,” she was saying. “Absolutely fantastic.”

But Ben didn’t feel fantastic. They’d come so close to winning the championship. They
should
have won it, as far as he was concerned.

The soccer ball was sitting on the turf a few feet away. Ben gave it a halfhearted kick toward the bench.

Coming close isn’t worth anything
, he
thought.
It’ll be a long time before I feel like playing sports again
.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Larry. “You couldn’t have played any harder.”

“Thanks,” Ben said softly. “Could have played
better
, though.”

“Nah, you were great. You coming home with us?”

“No, I’ll walk. I feel like being alone to think this one over.”

“I hear you. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt for long.”

Ben watched the Rabbits receive their trophies. He put on his sweatshirt and sat on the bench, staring out at the field until nearly everyone had left. He wasn’t too sad and he wasn’t too angry. But he was a little bit of both. And he definitely didn’t feel like talking to anyone.

So close
, he thought.
One or two different
bounces and those trophies would have been ours
.

“Quite a game.”

Ben turned and saw Loop walking toward him with a grin.

Ben’s first reaction was to turn the other way, but then he thought again. Loop was one of the few people who could understand how Ben was feeling right now. Just two days ago, Loop had been the one who fell short.

“Great playing,” Loop said, extending his hand.

Ben bit down on his lip and nodded. He shook Loop’s hand. “Was it?”

“Yeah. Great
season
, too.”

Ben thought that over for a second. Despite the loss, this soccer season had been one of the best experiences of his life.

“Glad it’s over?” Loop asked.

Ben shrugged. “I don’t know. Wish we could play that game again. I’d make sure we wouldn’t
start out so slow. We’d definitely beat them if we had another chance.”

Loop laughed. “That’s what I kept telling myself after you beat us in the semifinal. All those near misses that could have been goals … but you don’t get another chance. You have to take your chances when you have them.”

“So, what’s next?” Ben asked.

Loop took a sheet of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “Look here,” he said. “Signups for the basketball league at the YMCA. You up for that?”

Ben looked the paper over. “Definitely,” he said.

“Maybe we can get on the same team for a change,” Loop said. “That would be something, huh?”

“Yeah, it would.”

The soccer ball he’d kicked toward the
bench was a few feet away. Ben picked it up and started dribbling with his hand, as if it was a basketball. Loop reached for it, but Ben shielded it with his body. He ran up the field with Loop chasing him.

Ben stopped and shot the soccer ball at an imaginary basket. “Swish!” he yelled as the ball arced through the air.