The Underdogs (27 page)

Because it wasn't Johnny playing safety now, it was Will Tyler. Because Will had switched with Johnny coming out of the huddle. Because he was
sure
the ball was going to Kendrick, sure he had to catch the game-winning pass, and so he had read the play all the way.

Will came flying from the middle of the field, cut in front of Kendrick Morris, didn't even have to jump.

Picked off the ball clean.

Behind him Will heard Kendrick scream,
“Nooooo!”

Oh yes,
Will thought.

Yes.

He was already at top speed coming out of the end zone, coming fast, as fast as the play had turned around. The Forbes Flyer. Shea opening up for him now like his front door. Running past his dad, who was hobbling down the sideline, waving him on. Running past Dick Keenan, past Mr. DeMartini of New Balance.

Saw that the last kid from Castle Rock with a chance at him was Ben Clark. Ben had a pretty decent angle on him, running as hard as he could.

Will waited until Ben was a step away.

Then he made his cut.

On the fly.

One of those high-speed cuts his dad said you had to be born being able to make. Cut to his left without breaking stride and fooled Ben Clark so badly he went down, like he'd been dropped by a punch.

Then there was nothing in front of Will Tyler except the end zone, and the touchdown that made it 22–16 and won the championship for the Bulldogs.

W
hen it was officially over, after the Bulldogs knocked down one last desperation pass from Ben Clark to Kendrick as the game clock expired, the Bulldogs picked up Will and carried him around the field until he yelled at them to put him down.

Mr. Keenan got both Will and Toby into a bear hug then and said, “Told you two showboats that defense wins.”

Will made his way to midfield, because that's where Hannah Grayson was. He had tossed his helmet toward the Bulldogs' bench by then. She had done the same. Just the two of them, in the middle of all the craziness going on around them at Shea. For once, she didn't say anything smart, didn't say anything at all, just leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and nearly dropped him easier than the Bears ever had.

They had the trophy presentation a few minutes later, and what felt like the whole town of Forbes cheered again. When it was over, Joe Tyler handed his cell phone to Will, and the next thing he heard was a lot of yelling from Tim LeBlanc in Scottsdale, Arizona.

It wasn't until Will and his dad were home, just the two of them, door closed, that Joe Tyler told him that the athletics director from Forbes High School, Mr. Novak, had grabbed him after the game and asked if he might be interested in coaching his old school now that Coach Carson was retiring.

Will said, “What did you tell him?”

His dad grinned and said, “I told him I'd be very interested, as long as I could bring my mean old defensive coordinator along with me.”

Joe Tyler hugged his son now, as hard as he ever had. When he pulled back, he said, “It's like I always told you: I could run. Just not like you.”

“We made this run together, Dad. You and me. We did it together.”

 

The pizza party at Vicolo's was scheduled for seven thirty. It gave Will and Hannah plenty of time to meet at his favorite rock overlooking the river.

To sit there with the silver championship trophy between them.

“You knew he'd throw it to Kendrick,” she said.

“Had to.”

“Because I was covering him?”

“Wouldn't have mattered if Toby had been covering him, along with a couple of Steelers,” Will said. “Kendrick had to be the hero. It had to go to him.”

She gave him one more smile now. Put her hand in his as if that were the most natural thing in the world for her to do.

And maybe it was one of the lights from one of the boats in the river then, reflecting off the trophy. Or an early star in the sky. Or Hannah's smile. Maybe that was it. But in that moment it was as if somebody had just thrown a spotlight on where they were sitting.

And Will wondered what they were thinking in Castle Rock right now, wondered if somebody over there was wondering where the light was coming from on the Forbes side of the river.

“You're wrong,” Hannah said. “You had to be the hero. The ball had to go to you.”

“I didn't drop it this time,” Will said.

 

 

Travel Team

 

Heat

 

Miracle on 49th Street

 

Summer Ball

 

The Big Field

 

Million-Dollar Throw

 

The Batboy

 

Hero