Homecoming: SJS vs. Jaynestown Hawks - 10/03/08

[Kara]

Kara was flushed and laughing, her face red with the effort of the cheer squad's halftime show. So much work had gone into it, and there had not been a single hitch! Well, maybe a couple of extremely minor ones. Chaos theory dictated nothing else. But nothing that had caused any trouble! She laughed and cheered and clapped, having the time of her life.

[Lamierine Gemellate]

Mieri sat in the bleacher's near the fiffty yard line her voice was a bit sore from cheering, It had been such an intresting game so far she decided to make her way to the consession stand and hoped to see some people she knew on the way. She had been so busy this last week she hadn't had time to make plans to watch the game with anyone.

[Brianna Landers]

Pumping her pom poms wildly, Bri kicked her leg high, grinning. Their first big show and all that hard work had paid off. The ponytail at the back of her head was beginning to fall, but she didn't even bother to tighten it. She had enough hairspray in it to hold it there until Doomsday if need be.

Scanning the crowd, her eyes fell on the pale boy in the navy blazer. Jem, sitting amongst the SJS crowd in his BVA uniform, smiled and waved at her as she started into the next cheer. Throughout the night she constantly caught herself glancing at him, her smile always brightening just a bit more when she did.

[Elly]

"Beat 'em, bust 'em..." Elly dryly chanted to herself before downing some Gatorade. She'd put on the smile again when they went out onto the field, but after watching that touchdown sneak through, she'd earned the right to be a little less cheerful out of sight of the audience.

Kara slapped her on the back encouragingly. "Halftime. Are you ready?"

Ooo, this was either going to be awesome or a disaster. She hoped Bri knew what she was doing. There were lots of tales of the Pyramid and how it always went down. Literally...

Not like she'd known how to do most of the other moves a month ago. She'd have griped more about all the practice time involved, but it still beat running around the city, so she took it for what it was, a vacation. Although she still called Bri a slavedriver if anyone asked, just on principle.

The first part of the routine went smoothly (well, without obvious disaster), but Elly was already feeling a little worn out from all the jumping around. She was actually missing the endurance the Princess brought her when Bri and Franky called them together.

And suddenly Bugs had her by the ankles and was giving her a boost. Bri was in front of her... and tiny Yuki was getting tossed to the top oh Christ don't drop her GOTCHA!

Elly's legs wobbled. But that's all they did. She allowed herself an exhausted smile.

[Brianna Landers]

THIRD QUARTER:

Since the Flyers received first in the first half, the Hawks would get the ball coming out of the lockers.

“C’mon defense!” Stephen Reed called from the side lines. Bill Harrison punted the ball clear to the Hawk’s 20 yard line where it was caught by Vangas. He barely moved the ball from that point on, as Brown and Ty Cloud closed in.

“Like hell you will.” Wade Starling yelled. The Hawk’s running back dropped his shoulder and kept his eye on Cloud. Darweishi Brown connected with his mark, stopping Vangas at the Hawks own 35 yard line, and Ty Cloud pumped his fist victoriously. He never saw Starling charging, the heftier receiver hitting the boy from behind as whistles blew, flags being tossed around.

“Shake it off!” Coach yelled, but Ty stayed down, lying on the field while clutching his arm protectively. Before long, some of the team started gathering around him, forming a horse shoe, some taking a knee to assess the damage.

“Ty? You all right?” Cyrus asked. Ty groaned a bit in response and held fast to his arm.

“I think something’s broken.” He replied.

“Just stay down, don’t move.” Lucas Alexander told him, looking worried.

“He’s hurt!” Damian called over to the sidelines. Coach, the team doctor and a few of the Flyers hit the field.

“Vangas!” Starling exclaimed hi-fiving his teammate. “Way to go, killer!”

“I’ll show you a killer!” Briggs called, as Biff held him back.

“Don’t get booted from the game because of that jack-off.” He warned his friend.

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” Tipper Hedren asked, bumping into Biff. Whistles blew, ref’s stepped in, and both teams exchanged harsh words.

“What did I tell you?” Coach asked, ushering his team back to the sides. “Don’t let them mess with your head, play smarter!” The team’s doctor helped Ty to his feet and into the locker room, as the crowd cheered for him.

“They’re going down!” Biff stated, matter of fact, punching one fist into his hand.

Even with second stringer Terrell Buress, the Flyers defense managed to hold the team at bay, most playing with “gloves off.”

After two more plays, the Hawks weren’t able to move the ball at all, the Flyers hitting them fast and hard, and Jaynestown was forced to punt, leading to two more stale-mates, both teams playing their hardest, both managing to hold back the other.

Kaz returned the ball to the thirty the second time the Hawks had to punt in the quarter, being shoved out of bounds by Trever Willet.

“S-J-S! S-J-S!” The crowd called.

“Blue thirty-two! Blue thirty two!” Reed called out. He faked a throw to Aiken, turning and handing the ball instead to Antoine Dubois. Dubois dug deep, and despite carrying the Hawks middle linebacker a full six yards crossed over the midfield, gaining eleven yards for the Flyers.

“First and ten,
Let's do it again!” The cheer squad called, clapping their hands and stomping their feet as Reed huddled the team, gearing up for a new strategy.

“Blue thirteen! Blue thirteen!” McCarty snapped the ball back, and Reed fell back for the throw. Rayburn and Bartel blocked in Tyler Hill, giving Bryan Baxter and Brandon Jordan a few extra seconds to get down field. Reed weighed his options quickly. Willet was closer to Jordan, so the spiral went out to Baxter, the boy grabbing the ball and pulling it tight to his chest. Willet quickly shifted gears, along while free safety Fred Baretta closed in on Baxter.

“BRYAN!” The team on the sides called.

“Baxter! Move it!” Damian Singleton added. The crowd was on its feet as # 88 dodged Baretta and zig-zagged left, edging closer to the end zone. He caught sight of Trevor Willet out of the corner of his eye and hugged the ball tightly, waiting for the impact. What he didn’t see was Brandon Jordan. Jordan ducked low and drove his shoulder into the mid-section of Willet, causing the smaller boy to spin mid-air, his feet knocking into Baxter. Bryan stumbled a bit but managed to stay on his feet, still clutching the ball. Hawk defensive guard Bill Tallon was too close to stop, and stomped on the back of Jordan’s knee as he dove in an attempt to catch Baxter. Bryan could feel Tallon’s hands grasp at the heel of his cleats, spun to keep his balance, and fell into the team’s endzone.

The Flyers fans were on their feet and the band launched into Queen’s “We Will Rock You” – the audience clapping and stomping along. Coach patted Sam’s back and she took the field for the extra point.

“Back for more?” Hill called, making a slashing motion across his throat.

She joined the huddle and looked over as Hill was bouncing on his toes.

“We’re going to go for the point.” Stephen decided. “Two would be a bigger safety net, but I’d rather take the surer bet.”

“I can get it in.” Bartel grumbled, but Reed’s mind was made up.

Will snapped the ball back, as Tyler Hill closed in, plowing over Lonsdale Rayburn and spinning as he collided with Luke Bartel. Jaynestown guard Bill Tallon shifted right, cutting into Will Mc Carty at the knees as Johnny Crane stepped over the fallen center. Sam saw it coming but still wound up for the kick as Johnny Crane crashed square on into the place kicker before the ball ever left the ground.

The Hawks cheered the small victory- Tyler Hill climbing to his feet and pointing in Sam’s direction.

“That’s two, cream puff! Can the whole team score a ride?” He called, patting his teammate Crane on the back. Sam scowled, and Brandon Jordan limped back towards the sidelines.

“Check out the score
Yeah! we want some more!
Yeah! we ain't needy, needy!
We're just greedy, greedy! Yeah! Go Flyers!”

SCORE: Flyers 9 Hawks 7

[Stasis Kiss]

Stasis cheered, pounding a fist in the air as the girls and guys on the field did scary looking jumps and kicks. Yuki looked for a second that she was never going to come down either, launched powerfully by the linked hands underneath. For a second... no, she landed safely and the St. Joseph's student roared with approval, probably because more than half of them had seen the practices.

Stasis jumped a few more times with encouragement, boots hard on the bleachers, throwing a celebratory arm around the shoulders of the girl next to her.

"Go FIght! Go White! Go Blue! Go Flyers!"

"You keep that up, God will strike you dead. Let go of me before I smear something."

Stasis grinned as Jester half shoved. The goth girl's entire concession to the football game was a face full of white makeup but a blue skull and crossbones on her cheek.

"C'mon Jester, lighten up! We're gonna take 'em this inning, I just know it." The blonde turned back to the field and yelled something encouraging but unintelligible as the cheer squad finished their ragged line and started to bounce away, waving the pom poms.

"That's baseball, you idiot." She felt Jester slump back down on the seat where she wouldn't be able to see anything. "Wake me when it's all mercifully over."

[Delta]

Luke grumbled off the field for the defense and pumped his legs a bit.

Damn, the Hawks hit hard.

He spotted Jester from the sidelines, gave a grin and a nod, then sat down and relaxed for the time he had.

[Brandon]

Brandon focused with all his might, burning a hole through the pain with pure willpower. He stood and limped back to the sidelines, not willing to let the other team know that he could barely walk.

Something was wrong, big-time. But it didn't matter. What mattered was the team, and their effort, and the rest of the game.

He had almost managed to convince himself of this when his knee suddenly buckled and he collapsed onto the bench face-first.

He rolled over and sat up, involuntary tears streaming down his face as the trainer ran his way.

The trainer started working, with his heating pads and pills. Soon the knot on the back of his knee started to loosen, and he was given the go-ahead to start walking on it to make sure his knee worked.

The pain was gone enough for him to focus again, and this time it couldn't break him. He walked around, even bounced up and down a little in spite of the agony. "Okay, coach! Good to go!"

[Jester Quinn]

Stasis was laughing.

"Heyla, Jester! Check it out!"

She shoved a a platformed boot down in the row of seats below, wedging it between two people there. Her laces were artfully untied and dangling. "I'm only interested if everybody died and this whole terrible day is over," she replied.

"Aw, you're missing it!" Stasis was still grinning at something only she was watching. Jester sighed and tried to figure it out. She caught a glimpse as Obsidian Seraph, code name DuBois, finally went down with a guy still clinging to his legs like a jilted lover. Stasis was crowing. "Check it out! Oby finally found himself a date!"

Jester rolled her eyes. "Yay for young love."

Stasis actually yanked her gaze away from the field at that to look down, a half surprised expression on her face. "Just what is your problem anyways? If I'd known you were gonna be like this, I'd have left you listening to that weird dark stuff on your headphones."

Jester flipped her finger up but it was more rote than anything else. "You know I'd be more upset by that if I didn't also know that you think anything that's not the Jonas Brothers is weird and dark."

But Stasis had already turned back to the game, cheering. Jester sighed and slumped a little farther into her hoodie. Through a gap in the crowd, she saw Luke spot her and smile, giving her a little high sign.

She blew him a kiss and felt smugly better about the whole wretched experience for a second. Let him figure *that* out. Mind games were one way to pass the time.

[Bethany Jordan]

Bethany blew her azure hair out of her eyes with a bored sigh. She still didn't know why she was here. She didn't care about football. This was her brother's world. Not hers. And of course that's why she was here. Her brother. They were close enough to get drunk together and moan about thier respective lots in life, the least she could do was show up and support him. At least the tackles were half interesting.

Then she saw it. The foot hit his knee. The limping. Suddenly she found herself on her feet, the anger she kept in check threatening to break free. Brandon reached the edge of the field, only to collapse on the bench. The anger strained on its chains even more as she pushed her way to the edge of the stands.

As she leaned over the railing, Bran walked past her, pacing to work his knee out. "How you doing there, golden boy? Still superman?"

[Brandon]

He looked up at her, grinning his devil-may-care grin. It fooled everyone but her, usually. "Top...top of the world, ma!" he said, and held his fist out for a tap.

[Vesper Fiend]

Seeing Ty go down hard had finally put a damper on the enthusiasm. Ves had hoped that he wasn’t seriously hurt, but once he regained his feet, she poured it back on.

Then there was Oby dragging a linebacker along for a ride. That brought a huge grin to her face, and by the time Bryan had the ball she was back in a frenzy.

“GO, BRYAN, GO!”

Ves just about leapt onto the back of the guy in front of her, jumping up and down with her hands on his shoulders as Bryan dodged hither and thither. She had no idea who it was, and she completely missed in her excitement the irritated look he shot back at her.

“That’s the way we play! GO FLYERS!”

[Bethany Jordan]

Bethany half-smirked at him. There was something wrong, but trying to stop him at this point was like trying to stop the subway with a toothpick. Brandon was in his element and had his mind set. She tapped her gloves fist against his. "Then go get em, superman."

As he trotted off, she quietly added, "Just be careful."

[Brianna Landers]

FOURTH QUARTER:

The team still waited for word on Ty, but rumors of a broken collarbone started circulating when Scott Sanders returned from checking on him. Most of the team was tired, battered and bruised from the hard-hitting Hawks, and they needed to hold it together for one more quarter.

The first two possessions were more stalemates, each team digging deep to fight off the other, both starting to show signs of wear and tear.

On the third, defense had tried to stave off a Hawk attack, the Jaynestown team taking to the air for a series of passes – one deflected by Cyrus Fairchild, one incomplete, and the third that connected with Tim Duncan, who was chased down by Darweishi Brown – First down for the team. Keeping the ball on the ground for the next play, Mike Falken handed the ball off to halfback Nick Vangas, who side stepped past Damian Singleton and tore off down field, giving the Hawks their second touchdown of the game. Andrew Accipiter’s kick was good, bringing the score up to 9-14, in favor of the Hawks.

“The agony of defeat!” Hill called taking the field. “Hey Flyers, can you taste it?”

Kaz received the ball on the 35, and Brandon struggled to keep up with Trevor Willet, but the injury to his knee last quarter slowed him down. Willet downed Kaz before the 40 yard line, and head butted one of his teammates to celebrate.

The Coach blew his whistle, calling for Brandon to leave the field, being replaced by a second stringer.

“Jordan! Go have the doc take a look at you.” He said, pointing towards the locker. Brandon could feel his knee throbbing and just knew he’d find it swollen, but he still didn’t want to miss the end of the game.

“One more quarter, Coach?” He asked. “I want to be here, for the team, even from the bench.” If he wasn’t so engrossed with the action on the field, Coach Waters would have smiled, but as it stood, the game was too close for him to concentrate on anything else. He absentmindedly waved an okay in Jordan’s direction.

The band started the fight song, and the crowd made some noise to support their hometown heroes as the Flyer’s Quarterback called for the play.

"Red-Thirteen! Red-Thirteen! Hut-hut!" He faked a handoff to DuBois, spinning around and handing it to Luke Bartel, who high-tailed to the thirty, sliding feet first to get the extra few yards. It put the team in field goal range, but they’d need two at least for the win, and the clock was hovering dangerously close to the two minute warning. The offensive line scrambled to take their positions, determined to make as many driving plays as they could to get into the end zone before the clock wound down.

"Red One-One! Red One-One!" he called as the Coach stood clenching his clipboard on the sidelines. The play set in motion. Reed faked a handoff to Anderson then took a few steps back, looking for options. A flash of movement caught his eye and he let the ball fly. As it left his fingertips, he was hit by Hedren, the pass falling short and being grabbed by Will McCarty before it hit the ground.

“RUN!” The offensive line shouted, pointing towards the goal. McCarty tucked the ball in under his arm and chugged down the field. Bryan Baxter and Bartel kept up with him, taking out Willet and Baretta respectively. The team’s center was winded but now in the clear, and he raised his arms in victory as he crossed into the endzone.

“WILL!” The team called from the sidelines, clapping and cheering.

“Will, Will, he’s the man, if he can’t do it, no one can, no one can!” Came from the cheer squad. The clock hit two minutes, and the crowd was on their feet.

Sam grabbed her helmet as Stephen waved her in.

Still winded from the run, McCarty snapped the ball back and fell into Johnny Crane as Samantha Douglas wound up for the kick. Reed took the snap, crouched down but didn’t let his knee touch, instead flicking the ball to Luke Bartel.

“Here’s your shot!” He told him. “Go for two!” Reed knew one point wouldn’t cut it. If the Hawks were able to get in field goal range – they’d be down by a point. If they scored two and the Hawks were able to get in field goal range- they’d tie it up and go to overtime. Bartel tucked the ball in and crouched low, as Will McCarty and Antoine DuBois cleared a path for him. Tyler Hill came from up over the top, grabbing Bartel around the neck, but the halfback managed to hang onto the ball and take the final step into the end zone.

The crowd was thunderous, the cheerleaders flipped and cheered for Luke, Yuki being tossed by Dylan and Thorn to celebrate as the scoreboard showed 17-14 in favor of the home team.

“Thrill of victory tastes much better!” Sam called, looking at Tyler Hill and mocking his “cut throat” gesture. Hill seethed and said something she was glad she couldn’t hear as the band began to play something upbeat.

With just under two minutes, Jaynestown took the field. The opening drive got them a few yards, but not much past their own 20 yard line.

“C’mon defense…” Sister Mary-Thomas silently prayed.

Two plays later, Reed’s prediction came true. The Hawks had managed to get themselves into field goal range at the 24 yard line with fifteen seconds on the clock. Brown and Delevar had managed to keep them from crossing the end zone, and now on the third down, they could either go for broke in an attempt for the touch down, or try to go for three and take the game to overtime.

“Defense!” The crowd called, as the cheerleaders raised their arms to spark some noise. Falken called Accipiter to the field, and huddled his team, breaking on three. The Flyers defensive line chewed on their mouth guards and lined up against the Hawks, tension and excitement filling the stadium. Fans were on their feet, hollering for the home team. The Flyers on the bench all stood on their feet or on the bench to get a better view, and the cheerleaders did their best to encourage the line.

“Block that kick! Block that kick!” They called.

Falken received the snap and stepped back, they were going for the win. Over on the sidelines, the Hawks coach threw his clipboard on the ground, obviously not happy with the quarterback not going for the surer thing, like he’d called for. Falken wound up for the throw, finding Tim Duncan in the end zone, having broken free from William Briggs.

“Do or die.” Damian Singleton hissed under his breath, remembering the words of his former coach. The Flyers new defensive end mustered all of his strength, knocking his offensive guard off balance, and barreled into quarterback Mike Falken. Falken held on with the impact, only to be crushed from the other side by Diyar Delevar, and finally taken down by Darweishi Brown. The ball rolled out of the quarterback’s hands, and the clock hit zero.


Final score: FLYERS 17 HAWKS 14

GO FLYERS!

[Brandon]

Brandon jumped up from the bench, pain momentarily forgotten as he screamed and hobbled out to join his teammates on the field.

Ten minutes later was a different story. Brandon just THOUGHT that he'd felt pain out there on the field. He was half tempted to tell the doctor to just cut the damn thing off. The man shook his head while giving the words of doom. "No way, Brandon. No way you can do anything on this leg for at least a month."

His first thought was the following night. Homecoming. The dance. Del. He leaned back on the bench and hammered his fist into the padding next to him. Only the coach's presence kept him from starting a fire.