Homecoming Mustangs vs. Spartans

[Faige Harrison]

The whole world was a chaotic mess of jiggling things, each one knocking into one another and only making sense when they were all looked at from a moderate distance. Ryker still didn't 'get' Football. He knew the rules, he knew how people reacted to it, he knew well enough why people were 'like that' in their sports, but he just didn't feel the same spark ignite inside him.

The folded paper of the ticket rustled in his pocket against his fingers as he slid his hand into his pants. It was like an anthropological crash in slow motion, a tribal war transpiring with its bardic renditions and encouraging, sing-along reinforcements.

Up here, up on the top of the bleachers, a few seats away from anyone else, Ryker gave a little smile. This is what normal felt like.

Faige caught a glance of her new "normie" buddy in the stands as she assembled the band in line to march onto the field. She gave him a little hat-tip now that her hat was firmly in place again. Brodi had come charging in at the very last minute, tuba in his arms and somewhat out of breath. As he handed it off to Eddie, Faige walked to the front of the line stopping only briefly to address Donovan Taffer.

"You okay Don?" She said, passing the drum player with a reaffirming hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah... yeah I got this..." Don half mumbled, forcing a smile and nodding his head. Fae knew he was nervous, but nervous was going to half to sit this one out.

"Okay guys! Here we go!"

They formed up on the field without much trouble save for the obligatory Jitters tripping over his own feet a couple of times. Aside from the Jitters related incidents, the number went off more smoothly than expected and they marched back to their seats without much more trouble. Faige gave numerous high fives as everyone got situated again and the cheer squad launched into their routine.

[Lark Lowell]

If Lark was smiling before she was ecstatic now despite the overall score, quietly refilling water bottles and exchanging empty ones.

"Your game, your house, Espinosa. You got this." She handed him a fresh water bottle, letting a hand rest on his shoulder. "This is what you love doing, right? Just... play ball. Show them how we Mustangs play ball."

[Flicker]

THIRD QUARTER:

After the halftime rally the Mustangs came out onto the field with a little more fire lit under them.
They received the ball to begin the third quarter. JD Dumarr dug his cleats into his own team's end zone he launched himself off across the field. He bolted until he reached the midfield stripe where he was pushed out of bounds by the Spartans kicker at the 50 yard line.

“Way to get yardage JD!” Sondra called out through cupped hands.

“Way to run, way to run!” Coach Armstrong yelled. “Someone is showing me some steam!!” He pointed his fist towards the field.

“You heard the coach. Let’s keep it going!” Hawkins in the huddle, looking over to Masters as the words left his lips. “On 2, ready!”

“Break” The Mustang offense yelled in unison. They rushed to the line of scrimmage, not holding back anything. Their blood boiled, and they were being fueled, but it wasn’t rage, or anger. It was steam.

“Yellow, 15…Yellow 15. Titan, Titan.” Hawkins called, causing the offense to set in a different line up. Quest and Dumarr were set, both having studied the play calls until they knew them like the back of their hand. The Spartan’s defense tried to adjust to the Mustang play, but with no such luck.

Hawkins called the cadence, catching the Spartans off guard, and leaving their middle wide open, as they sent more players to cover the receivers anticipating the pass.

Faking a pass Hawkins dropped back, quickly handing the ball off to Masters as he pounded the ball up the middle, and gained 27 yards on the carry. The Mustangs fans roared in approval as the side line left their feet jumping up and down, yelling “BOOM DYNAMITE!”

“What about, what about,
What about that color shout?
Maroon and Gray!
Maroon and Gray!”

“Huddle” Masters yelled, waving his arms and getting the offense to circle around him.

“That’s what I’m talking about Mustangs. Good run Chase.” Hawkins congratulated, slapping the RB across the helmet. “Same play….swivel, listen for it. Ready?”

“Break”

The Mustangs again rushed to the line of scrimmage, as the Spartans talked trash to them.

“Let’s drag out these dead horses and beat them!” The Defensive tackle yelled across the line of scrimmage. But the remark fell on deaf ears, the Mustang’s minds where on something totally different. Winning.

Calling for the ball, Hawkins dropped back, faking the hand off to Mike Jackson who took off like a bat out of hell. He then spun and handed the ball to Chase Masters who followed the white stripe of the sidelines almost effortlessly, pouring on some steam himself as he plowed into the endzone, taking a diving leap over a Spartan safety who lunged low at the halfback. Masters rolled but quickly sprang to his feet in the end zone holding the ball up as a sign of victory.

The Mustang fans left their seats as the cheerleaders led them in a cheer and the band began Another One Bites the Dust. Masters jogged back to his own sideline, blowing kisses to the girls of the cheer squad before waving his arms up to rally the crowd and attempt to start a wave in his own honor.

“Field goal team” Coach Armstrong yelled, ignoring Master’s antics and sending Ward out on the field. The ball easily sailed through the uprights, bringing the score 13-14.

“Are you gonna take that?" The Spartans coach yelled to his team. "Lose to a bunch of mares?I want to see more points on the board!” The Spartan offensive line took the field.

“Nightmares is more like it!” Chase yelled back as he jogged off the field.

“Defense” Armstrong yelled.

“Come on! Ignite, Defense hold tight! Boom Dynamite, Boom Boom Dynamite!”

Both teams took the field lining up against one another after the kick. Animosity filled the air.

Not even wasting a breath, the Spartan’s quarterback called his cadence. He dropped back, looking for the pass as the Spartan defensive men rushed in, led by Espinosa who got to the QB only half a second after the ball left his finger tips. The ball spiraled into the direction of the receiver but didn’t quite make it into his hands as it was deflected by Derrick Cork.

“Not this time” Cork mocked as the clock ran down.


SCORE: MUSTANGS 13 SPARTANS 14

[Brodi Andrews]

Brodi was actually glad that Jitters was nearby because the boy was absorbing all the bad luck that he was probably due. He was able to find the tuba on time, make a twenty minute drive from the stadium and back within thirteen minutes, and slide into his spot just as Half time had started.

Plus, he also found five bucks in his uniform. Score!

Right now, the band continued through their rounds of song, the music sounding sharper then previous games! Even Jitters seemed to be hitting his mark. Eddie, while flustered with his tuba ordeal, was finally calming down, and the Walker Twins had finally stopped purposely messing up to teach him a lesson for not going out with one of them.

All in all, a good night.

A brief break in the music allowed him to lean to the side, mumbling towards Faige, "I owe you one, Fae. Thanks for holding down the fort."

[Lauren Lombardi]

Lauren threw Chase a lopsided grin and blew a kiss back his way as he pranced past.

"DEFENSE! DEFENSE!" she chanted, cheering and waving as Espy hit the Spartan quarterback.

[MASH-1]

Don struggled to keep up with the others, but managed to hold his own with only slight difficulty. Pushing back the anxiety he was feeling from the pressure of not screwing up such a big game, Don squared his jaw and forced his hands to stop shaking.

The pit in his stomach eased up a bit when Brodi finally showed up. It wasn't that he preferred Brodi's leadership over Faige's. It was just a matter of one other person in the group to draw attention from him.

[Mia Cobol]

Mia laughed and smiled, joining the squad in the chant of "DEFENSE!" The caffeine coursing through her system made her feel a little shaky, but otherwise cheery enough to keep smiling.

[Flicker]

FOURTH QUARTER:

The two teams squared off for the final quarter,both sides holding up four fingers to signal the upcoming.

“Mustang fans, now don’t be shy,
stand up and give your battle cry
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y
That’s the Westbrook battle cry!”

“This is your game Westbrook!” Coach Armstrong shouted over the din. “Let’s go Iron Horses!”

But the sides were deadlocked, neither one giving an inch until the third turnover. The Spartans defense managed to run the ball just close enough for their placekicker to be in range, and send a 32 yard kick through the uprights. The Spartans were now ahead 13 to 17.

“Too bad, my little ponies!” They taunted.

Another two turnovers netted nothing, neither side was able to get the ball much further than the midfield stripe. Keeping his eye on the clock, Henry Hawkins nodded to Chase Masters, and said the single word: “Dragonfly.”

Both lines took the field, and Hank called the cadence, lining the team up in shotgun formation. But instead of snapping the ball back to Henry, DeWalt handed it directly to Masters, who went for a slant rush to one side while Hawkins faked to the other direction, waiting behind the line of scrimmage. The Spartans caught on, and were hot after Masters. As soon as they were close enough, he tossed the ball back to Hawkins, who sent it sailing to Dumarr. JD was wide open. Dumarr and had no trouble crossing into the endzone once again sending the Mustang fans to their feet. With the extra point being good - the Mustangs took the lead for the first time, bringing the score 20 -17.

Coach Armstrong checked the clock. Less than two minutes were left. A field goal would give Delmont a tie and bring them to overtime, defense had to keep them at bay.

“Let’s go Defense!” The cheer squad called, all except for Wyatt, who still seethed.

“Out of the way, cheer bitch.” Cork mocked shoving Wyatt behind the sideline. “Men need to take the field.”

“And Shanna!” Mike Jackson called out helpfully.

“She is a man!” Cork joked.

“Heads in the game!” Espy warned. “We need a big play! Let’s hold them back, big D!” He turned to warn the team to pay attention, jogging backwards on his toes, colliding straight into Wyatt.

“Sonuva...” Wyatt called out, his anger for the free safety finally boiling over. Peyton saw his fist cock back and was quick to react, grabbing onto the back of his shirt.

“Wyatt!” She yelled, as the other girls on the cheer squad saw what was about to come. Lauren and Sondra held his arms, Mia crossed in front of him to block him off while Peyton and Jeanette tried to hold him back. Chase Masters and Henry Hawkins blocked off Espinosa, as the entire episode turned into an unintelligible shouting match.

“Take it out on the field...” Chase told his friend. “On the Spartans!”

“This isn’t over.” Espinosa warned Wyborn.

“Not by a longshot.” The cheerleader shot in return.

“Have you gone completely out of your mind?” Peyton asked, rapping him upside the head as soon as she let him go.
“He’s got it coming!” Wyatt snapped back. Coach Armstrong hustled over just as Masters and Hawkins had turned Espy back onto the field. Snickering ensued throughout t the crowd at the spectacle, and Peyton thought she caught a glimpse of Ar’s eyes flashing red, as his bemused smirk turned into a flat out chuckle followed by the word ‘Priceless.’

Mia still flittered over Wyatt giving him a warning herself and this time Peyton seethed. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in a huff.

“That best not be what I think it is.” She told Ar, his red eyes set on her as he chuckled again.

“Shake it off, Espy.” Lasseter said patting his back as defense lined up. Espinosa shrugged her off. His eyes blazed, keeping one thing in focus.

The Spartans were getting close. They were driving the ball down the line, keeping Espinosa boxed in and keeping the ball on the ground to lessen the chance of interception. Twice they managed to pull off first downs, and with 30 seconds left on the clock, they were getting dangerously close to field goal range.

"Green Nine-teen! Green Nine-teen!" The Spartan quarterback called out, as the center snapped the ball back. Instead of keeping the ball on the ground, the Spartans were going to go big. Espy saw his opening. At that moment, nothing else mattered. Not his little brother back home being sick. Not anything that had happened with Mia, and certainly not with that Don Juan wanna be Wyatt Wyborn. His heart pounded and his adrenaline surged and he connected with the quarterback, letting out a yell as he did, sending the two players sent sprawling to the ground. To Espy, the stadium seemed quiet. Eerily quiet in fact. But when he stood up, he could hear the roar of the crowd as the clock counted down to zero.

Almost immediately after, the Mustangs began to celebrate. Then band kicked into another rendition of "Another One Bites the Dust" and the Spartan fans let out a collective groan.

The Mustangs had won the game.

FINAL: Mustangs 20, Spartans 17

[Flicker]

((Mad bad thanks to Wyatt Wyborn for the awesome artwork!))

[Faige Harrison]

Faige was focused... not in the drama unfolding between players and cheerleaders but rather on her playing. They won the game and the band was rocking it, that's all that mattered. She gave Brodi a bit of a nudge between numbers "Good job making it back in time."