Flyers vs. Panthers, December 21st

[Double-Cross]

"What makes us proud..." Noah said as he stood next to Biff, "You know what would make me proud? Taking the "Thriller" out of the equation. He's just flesh and blood Biff...that means we CAN break him. If we can neutralize him early, we can seal this one up."

Noah took some blood from one of his cuts, and wrote Thriller's number on the front of his Helmet.

Biff smiled, "Dude, I don't know if I should encourage you, or get you help"

Noah looked across the field at his target, "...both"

[Blitzen]

"Hey Bryan!" Sam called with a slight grin. "Your math was a little off.

Overtime! Let's skin some cats!"

[Rudi MacKenzie]

OVERTIME

Coach Jeff Waters couldn't have been more proud of his team and how they held themselves together against the toughest team in the league. They were so close. He’d tried not to have a pessimistic attitude going into the game, but even he couldn't help but be intimidated by Prescott's record and the tapes he'd seen. As the team took to the field for overtime he closed his eyes and joined Sister Mary Thomas. He prayed.

Prescott won the overtime coin toss and opted to let St. Joe’s have the first possession. The attempts would take place in St. Joseph's territory. As per the rules, the ball was started at first and ten on the Flyers’ ten yard line.

"Red one-one! Red one-one!" Stephen Reed called out. Coach Waters held his breath as the quarterback tossed the ball to tight end Rodriguez, but the pass was deflected. Second and ten. Just ten yards. Reed called for his second play.

"Red Sixty-Two! Red Sixty-Two!" He faked a handoff to Argillo, then ran the ball himself for three yards and sliding feet first for an extra. Third and six. He contemplated bringing on special teams. If the kick wasn't good, they would have a chance to recover and then get a second shot. Six yards was all they needed. He took a deep breath and made the next call.

"Blue Seventy-Three!" Reed looked for Baxter, but the receiver was double covered. Instead he handed the ball off to Frank Argillo who squeaked by the Panthers’ first line of defense.

The entire bench jumped to their feet as Argillo was dog-piled by the Panthers, whistles from the referees frantically blowing the play dead. Coach Waters didn't breathe. Scott Sanders held his breath as well. And somewhere, up in the stands, Sister Mary Thomas clutched her crucifix. The stadium was silent. Body after body was removed from the pile, the crowd in the stands craning their necks to see the call. When he was finally uncovered, Argillo was still holding fast to the ball, his torso completely in the end zone. The referee's hands shot into the air.

A thunderous roar went through the crowd, the loudest voice of all belonging to Coach Waters. "That's the boiling point!" he shouted. Reed called Douglas to the field. He thought about the two point conversion, but with the way the Prescott defense was playing, decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Show us some leg, babe!" Argillo called as he head-butted helmets with Noah Ryder in celebration before leaving the field.

"No pressure or anything." Sam thought to herself, smiling. The ball snapped back.

"Kick the hell out of it!" Sister Mary Thomas called from the stands, the students around her scooting away. The ball easily sailed through the uprights, bringing St. Joe’s ahead by seven. But the Flyers weren't out of the woods yet. Each team received one possession. The Panthers would get their chance to score, starting at the same ten yard line.


- The Saint Joseph's Flier sports desk

[Frank Argillo]

"Look at this crap!" Frank held up his right hand. "Those bastards have metal bottomed cleats."

The synthetic flesh of Frank's hand had a half a dozen dime sized puncture wounds in the malleable rubber.

"Someone's paying for this!" he screamed in anger.

[Rudi MacKenzie]

OVERTIME CONTINUED

This time, the crowd couldn't hold its breath. Lonnie Rayburn waved his arms in the air, telling the crowd to make some noise and drown out any calls Prescott was trying to make, and the Flyer’s fans complied. Tybalt made the call, but some of his linemen missed it. As soon as the ball was snapped back, Biff Hannigan ploughed through a gap in the line, forcing the Panther’s quarterback to throw it away to avoid a sack.

Three more plays. Coach Waters closed his eyes.

The crowd made some more noise. Tybalt took the snap and wound up for a toss. The ball left his hands as Biff Hannigan and William Briggs closed in. Nigel Barlow knocked the ball free of Tom Sylvester to end the second play.

Two more.

Tybalt was determined to not lose. This was his game, his perfect season. Above all the noise from the crowd, he called his next play. It worked once before. It'll work again.

Dropping back into the shotgun, he took the snap cleanly. He looked to Sylvester who was well covered, and then he spotted his opening. He started to run himself, advancing almost five yards before Hannigan closed in. But Tybalt had an ace in the hole. He flipped the ball over to Bastet a split second before taking Hannigan’s hit. The Panthers’ running back side-stepped the collision and drove the ball into the end zone. A hush fell over the crowd, and hearts started to sink, but the Panthers still needed the extra point.

Tybalt called Lionel Jones to the field. The star placekicker took his position, and Tybalt made the call.

"DE-FENCE! DE-FENCE!" called the crowd.

"STEAM!" the defense linemen called back.

The ball was snapped, but Tybalt never touched his knee to the ground. He took a few steps back and saw his star receiver, Tom "Syl the Thrill" Sylvester break free in the end-zone. Two point conversion!

"Perfect season." he said to himself. He spiraled the ball, and raised his hands in the air to signify the win.

But Sylvester dropped it.

The receiver later would have a dozen excuses, from the stadium lights glaring in his eyes to claiming the pass was overthrown, but the ball bounced off his fingertips and landed on the ground. The Flyers stood in near disbelief, waiting for a call, a signal, anything. The ref blew his whistle. The pass was incomplete.

"We won?" Douglas asked tentatively, breaking the silence.

"WE WON!" Baxter called back, pumping a fist in the air, as the crowd came to the same realization.

"TWO TWELVE!" Reed cried running onto the field as his teammates circled around.

"Chugga Chugga! SIX MORE GAMES!" Harrison called.

"SIX MORE GAMES! SIX MORE GAMES!" the team chanted, forming a tight circle amongst the crowd rushing in from the stands.

Zack Aiken, Kasim Moamber and Ty Cloud ran behind the coach carrying the barrel of Gatorade as the team and the fans shouted about the championship.

Coach Waters smiled through the freezing cold liquid. His team had done it. They’d moved the mountain.

He'd break the news to them later.


- The Saint Joseph's Flier sports desk

[Double-Cross]

Noah walked to the sideline, taking off his helmet and spiking it on the ground.

He took a deep breath and picked up his helmet. While the team celebrated, Noah just headed back to the lockeroom.

"NOAH!" Ty said jumping on Noah, "where you going?"

"I don't feel like celebrating" Noah said frustrated, "It was a fluke that Syl dropped that pass. We may have won, but we didn't beat them."

"Who cares" Ty said with a smile, "We still won!"

Noah just shook his head and started walking down the tunnel. To him Football was about proving who the best was, and for some reason winning the way they did left the victory empty.

[Stephen Reed]

It may have well been completely silent when the ball bounced out of Sylvester's fingers and onto the ground. The sound it made when it hit the grass echoed in Stephen's head as the realization of what just happened dawned on him. "We did it... We made it," he said in a near whisper. The crowd erupted suddenly in deafening cheers and Stephen ripped off his helmet and yelled, "Two-twelve, baby! We did it!" His usual calm and seriousness was lost now and he ran out to celebrate with the team. His team.

[Rudi MacKenzie]

Coach Waters slipped away from the celebration for a few minutes to change out of his gatorade-soaked clothes. Didn't those kids realize it was cold out? After freshening up a bit, he went to his office to make some calls. Beatrice was there waiting for him.

"Did you hear?" she asked.

"Yeah, but not the actual scores. Why don't you fill me in." Waters took a seat as the assistant Field Hockey coach gave him a rundown of the day's other games.

"Well as expected, the Eagles stomped all over the Bulldogs. The final was 42 to 10."

"Yeah, no surprise there. Our hopes were always on the Hawks."

"That was a great game, by all accounts," Betty continued after nodding in agreement. Across town, the Flyers' playoff hopes were in the hands of the Jaynestown Hawks. If they beat the Mt. Pelon Paladins, then Saint Joe's were going to the playoffs. If they didn't, the season was over. "It was back and forth all night. Not a lot between the teams."

"So how did it end?"

"The Hawks were leading by three going into the fourth, but twice they gambled on fourth down, and both times they failed to convert. With two minutes left, Mt. Pelon got the ball in Jaynestown territory and ground out a TD."

"So what was the final?"

"31 to 27, Paladins."

"So that's it. Damn, we came so close." The coach shook his head sadly as he spoke. All the adrenelin that had sustained him to this point finally draining away.

"That's it. The Flyers' season is over."

"I supposed I'd better tell them."

"That's why they pay you the big bucks, boss." Betty smiled, but inside, she was crushed too. She didn't envy Waters this part of his job at all.

[Rudi MacKenzie]

Here is a look at the Flyer's 2007 schedule and final results:

Week 1 - at Vista Heights Bulldogs (win 24-20)
Week 2 - at Georgia Reynolds Eagles (loss 40-33)
Week 3 - at Saint Augustine Friars (loss 23-13)
Week 4 - at Jon Thomas Dye Marauders (win 14-10)
Week 5 - vs. Westfield Mustangs (win 25-23)
Week 6 - vs. Templeton Titans (win 44-12)
Week 7 - vs. Mt. Pelon Paladins (loss 13-9)
Week 8 - at High Park Monarchs (win 38-23)
Week 9 - vs. Jaynestown Hawks (win 24-21)
Week 10 - vs. Prescott Panthers (win 34-33)

Final record: 7 wins, 3 losses

Tied for second in division, seeded fourth due to season head-to-head records, out of playoffs.


Thanks everybody for participating and making this such a great season. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. See you next year!

FLYER FOOTBALL: TAKING STATE IN 2008!

- the Saint Joseph's Flyers
- the Saint Joseph's Flier sports desk

[Blitzen]

Ditto what Rudi said! Everyone did amazing jobs! I loved all the role-play in game, and I loved all the participation on the board.

GO FLYERS!

[Stephen Reed]

Way to go to all those who put time and effort into creating the games. You guys did a fantastic job.

[Double-Cross]

Yea, it was a blast! Thank you to everyone who put the games together

[Stasis Kiss]

you have no idea how much i enjoyed those games... well, maybe Erika does, being that game days i'd log in at lunch and immediately crawl all over her looking for updates.

that was so well done! it was so clever, you could have pinned ears on it and called it a fox.

[Ty Cloud]

It was a great season written up! I hope next year is better though.

[Vesper Fiend]

It was an absolute blast! Work made it hard to find time to participate, but following along was very fun.