Perfect Season (26 page)

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN

TROY AND HIS TEAMMATES
played their hearts out, but Montclair was undefeated as well, and they had a defense built on speed. That, and the conditions, took a big bite out of the Summit passing game. Troy had been right about the weather. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, every other pass was being dropped, and Troy's team trailed by three, with only 1:22 remaining in the game. They had no time-outs left because they'd used them to stop the clock while Montclair still had the ball. Troy and the offense would take over on their own forty-seven-yard line. Seth gathered the offense in a huddle on the sideline.

“Fifty-three yards, guys.” The rain had plastered Seth's hair to his head, but his eyes burned with a fire that couldn't be extinguished. “Fifty-three yards between you and a perfect season.”

Seth looked around and bared his teeth like a wolf on the prowl. “Think about all the things against you guys. The other teams—heh—think about the people off the field, the lawyers, the judges, the politicians, and now this.”

Seth raised his eyes and blinked at the pouring rain. “It couldn't get much tougher than this, but I know you guys. I've seen you work, and I've seen you keep going, no matter what falls in front of you. So this is it. Don't you quit! Don't you dare quit! You go get me a touchdown right here, right now, and it's a night you'll remember for the rest of your lives.”

Seth put a dripping fist into the air. The team held up their own fists.

“Perfect season, on three,” Seth shouted. “One, two, three . . .”

“PERFECT SEASON!”

Troy and the offense raced out onto the field, a battle cry tearing up their throats. Troy already knew the play from Coach Sindoni. He called it out and broke the huddle. Across the line, the Montclair defenders trembled like caged tigers aching to be let loose. Troy took the snap and dropped back. The offensive line bowed and broke, and Troy stood strong, waiting until the last instant before firing the ball and then being hammered into the turf.

The crowd cheered and Troy knew Chuku had caught his pass. He struggled to his feet, and Jentry Hood ran down the field toward the place where Chuku had been tackled at the thirty-five. The chains were reset and the clock began to run: 1:14, 1:13, 1:12 . . .

Troy waved his hands at Coach Sindoni, who signaled another play. Troy got everyone set, shouting instructions through the rain and wind. He got under center, took the snap, and rolled to his right. The rush came fast and the cornerback blitzed off the edge. Troy dodged him and fired downfield to Spencer, but the ball—wet now and slick—flew wildly from Troy's hand and sailed too high over Spencer's head.

At least the incomplete pass stopped the clock at :56.

Coach Sindoni signaled another pass play. Troy gritted his teeth and called the play, knowing every pass would be a crapshoot. They went to the line. He took the snap, faked a run, and dropped straight back. The only receiver open was Levi on a twelve-yard crossing route. Troy fired. Levi caught it but was tackled immediately, so the clock kept running.

Troy scrambled to the line, took the snap, and fired the ball into the turf, stopping the clock at :39. His next pass was dropped. On third down, before Troy could even set his feet, the defensive tackle was on him, slinging him down. Troy popped up off the turf, knowing that the clock would now continue to run.

It was fourth down.

They had fifteen yards to go for a first down, and twenty-three for the touchdown. The clock read :28 and it was running down. Troy waved his hand frantically and watched the flutter of Coach Sindoni's hands as he signaled the play, Alaska. Troy shouted at the top of his lungs and got everyone lined up. The clock read :17. All four receivers would run straight for the first down and stop. It was up to Troy to choose the uncovered man.

Troy looked out over the defense as they, too, scrambled into their positions. He knew what they were going to do without even thinking—man-to-man coverage with a single free safety. The two outside linebackers would come hard on a blitz. The clock read :11. He took the snap and dropped back. The blitzing linebackers streaked upfield and the right tackle missed his block.

The linebacker blazed straight for Troy.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE

TIME SLOWED DOWN FOR
Troy, as it sometimes did.

Maybe this time it had something to do with the game clock, running out of time, down to :00, so that time took on a new dimension.

While everything around him seemed to be moving in slow motion, his mind ran at a different, higher speed. He had a floating sensation, as if he got to watch things from above. He ducked under the linebacker and spun in the opposite direction, running clear of the pocket and buying some precious moments. Looking out over the defenders in coverage and his own receivers, he saw a pattern emerge. At the rate and direction of the bodies in front of him, he knew an opening would appear like the long hallway in a maze of rooms, not a passing lane, but one to run in.

Troy took off, straight up the middle of the field.

From the sideline, he actually heard the shouts of grief from the coaches on the sideline, and the collective gasp of the people in the stands.

It was all or nothing.

Troy would either score or the game would end. A smile broke onto his face as the first defender realized he was coming, spun, and fell in the tangle of his own legs. Troy hurdled him like a yard shrub. Shouts erupted from the defenders, alerting each other like a troop of baboons chasing down easy prey.

They reversed field and converged on Troy. He dodged one and ducked another. Chuku flashed past, taking out one defender with a bone-crunching block. The white flat band of the goal line gleamed up at him, just five yards away, when he pulled up short. The last defender flew through the air, launched like a deadly missile, grazing Troy's shoulder pads but flying past. Troy pumped his legs and dove, just as two more defenders caught him from behind. As he fell, he stretched out his arms with the ball clamped firmly in his hands.

He crashed to the turf. The air left his frame. Time jarred back into place and everything—the cheers, the boos, the hollering, and the torrential rain—all boiled around him, slamming back into place at full speed.

Gulping and gasping, he rolled over and looked up.

The ref stood above him, looking down, his face a puzzle.

Troy gulped.

The ref gathered himself and his hands shot up together toward the inky sky.

Touchdown.

Troy rose up and swallowed the storm of hugs and slaps and cheering. Chuku's bright grin lit up the night and his eyes sparkled as their metal face masks kissed. Chance roared with laughter and pounded Troy's back. Grant Reed howled like a wolf gone mad as he took Troy's hand in his own to shake and raise. Somehow Seth appeared in the middle of it all, roaring with delight. Everyone fell back so that Seth could wrap his arms around Troy's waist and raise him to the sky.

“Troy! Troy! Troy! We did it! We did it! We did it!” Seth spun Troy around, bellowing right in his face.

Troy laughed and cried and shook with joy.

It was . . . perfect.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TIM GREEN
, for many years a star defensive end with the Atlanta Falcons, is a man of many talents. He's the author of such gripping books for adults as the
New York Times
bestselling
The Dark Side of the Game
and
American Outrage
. Tim graduated covaledictorian from Syracuse University and was a first-round draft pick. He later earned his law degree with honors, and he has also worked as an NFL commentator for FOX Sports and NPR.

His first book for young readers,
Football Genius
, inspired in part by his players and his own kids, became a
New York Times
bestseller and was followed by
Football Hero, Football Champ, The Big Time
, and
Deep Zone
. He drew on his experiences playing and coaching Little League for
Rivals
and
Pinch Hit
and two more
New York Times
bestsellers:
Baseball Great
and
Best of the Best
.

Bestselling author Jon Scieszka called Tim Green's
Unstoppable
, a book about a boy's struggle with cancer that debuted at #2 on the
New York Times
bestseller list, “Absolutely heroic. And something every guy should read.”

Tim Green lives with his wife, Illyssa, and their five children in upstate New York.

 

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www.AuthorTracker.com
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ALSO BY TIM GREEN

FOOTBALL GENIUS NOVELS

Football Genius

Football Hero

Football Champ

The Big Time

Deep Zone

Perfect Season

 

BASEBALL GREAT NOVELS

Baseball Great

Rivals

Best of the Best

 

AND DON'T MISS

Pinch Hit

Force Out

Unstoppable

BACK AD

CREDITS

Cover art © 2013 by Cliff Nielsen

Cover design by Cara E. Petrus

COPYRIGHT

Perfect Season: A Football Genius Novel

Copyright © 2013 by Tim Green

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

ISBN 978-0-06-220869-9

EPUB Edition JULY 2013 ISBN 9780062208712

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First Edition