Mustangs Vs. Lions 10/25/2011

[Westbrook Academy]

SECOND QUARTER


The Radney offense continued to channel their inner Jitters, or as of late, Eddie Brunts in the second. Their first punt of the quarter fell short, traveling only 24 yards before being caught by Matt Quest. The Mustang ran the ball deep into Lion territory, Matt finally being tackled at the fifteen.

"Blue forty-two! Blue forty-two! Hut-Hut!" Hawkins called out before being hiked the ball. Masters was covered, as were all his receivers. Stepping back a few yards to buy time, he noticed a gap in the defense. Tucking the ball into his mid-section, he zig-zagged past two defensive linemen and into the end zone.

"Henry!!!!" Peyton called out to the quarterback, as the band played a round of Hang on Sloopy, most of the crowd joining in on the chorus.

Hawkins flashed a smile to the ref as he tossed him the ball.

"Way to go team, way to go team! Seven-Up!" he called, waving Behari in. He patted her on the helmet as the kicking team lined up. Diya looked more determined than ever this time, concentrating hard and taking a running start as the ball was snapped. It easily sailed between the uprights, and the small placekicker held both of her hands up in victory.

“Mustangs in the front let me hear you grunt say *ugh*
Mustangs in the back show us where your at *right here*
Mustangs in the stands c'mon and clap your hands”

Behari wasn’t done yet. She sent the ball sailing on the next punt well into Lion territory, but the Radney receiver managed to snake his way back into scoring position. Gullermo Espinosa wasn’t about to let that happen. The Miami teen was glad to be in an indoor stadium, the weather outside becoming a little too bitter and cold for his liking, even with his new found ‘fire’ power. Despite the Lion’s best effort, they weren’t able to punch the ball past Espinosa or Shanna Lasseter. On fourth down, they put themselves on the board with a three point field goal right before the clock ran down into halftime.


SCORE: MUSTANGS 20 LIONS 3

[Faige Harrison]

This was all too easy! Faige cheered, yelling "Di-ya! Di-ya!" as she nailed all of her field goals. She was at least beginning to be able to place who did what in the game now, thanks to Espys crash course on it. Some of it was till beyond her though. Whatever, she thought, just another awesome night of us winning. There was no -way- the other team could pull it out in the last two quarters.

Faige glanced behind her again, "Everyone doing okay?" She caught the sound of some arguing and knelt on her seat to get a better look.

"Put your gloves back on Will!"

"No way they mess with my fingering..."

"What's going on?" Faige asked, looking between William Chung and Lesli Coffman. It was only then that she noticed the seat William was sitting on was now made of solid brass.

"He won't put his gloves back on and he turned his seat brass." Lesli huffed, folding her arms. The "Midas touch" was her power and she'd been lecturing William all week about how dangerous it was, but he wouldn't listen.

"Will, gloves back on or hands on your instrument!" Faige called over the cheering crowd.

The little Hawaiian grunted, placing both hands back on his already brass instrument.

Faige sat forward again, leaning over to mumble to Brodi "Think he's okay? He's normally not a trouble maker..."

[Westbrook Academy]

HALF-TIME

Faige and Brodi once again battled it out with their flute and fife, this time to the haunting heme from Halloween, which echoed throughout the stadium, before half the band took to the field, beginning to play the opening to Thriller, just like they rehearsed.

“This is it.” Peyton told Wyatt, putting her hands on his shoulders before licking two fingers and re-smoothing down his impossible cowlick. “You got this.” She placed the hat on his head. Wyatt smiled and snapped his fangs in response, causing a few of the cheer squad girls to snicker as they took their places. “No pouncing, and no biting the cheer squad."

"We’re too tough!” Lauren called out.

It might have been cliche, but if anyone could pull off “Thriller” - this was the group to do it. The band worked hard and some of them, like Eddie, were unrecognizable. This was the one week he could be out on the field, but he remained in the stands as to not take a chance. Cassie with her clarinet was spot on. Donovan was a bit distracted, but he managed to keep the beat on his big bass drum. And Jitters, giant Jitters remained in the stands deftly playing his now tiny triangle.

The squad counted down the extended intro. Wyatt started out wearing a leather coat and fedora type hat as the band hit his cue. The rest of the squad stood at the ready as he launched into his routine, tossing aside the hat and coat, and giving a loud howl at an imaginary moon. He played it up as the cheer squad pretended to be terrorized. As he approached each girl, she’d scream, place a hand on her forehead and dramatically pretend to faint. When he reached the end of the line, instead of fainting, Sondra over exaggerated flicking him on the nose, which sent him yowling back to the center of the squad, three steps in front of the rest. One by one the cheer squad stood up as the music came in full swing over the PA system. Even with only a week to learn the routine, they copied Michael Jackson’s trademark routine near perfect, ending with another howl at the moon by Wyatt as the squad this time chased him off the field waving their fists and shouting. It was supposed to originally be the other way around, but with his new found difficulties, Peyton though it best that he be the chase-ee, not the chaser. Sure people might make comments about last week’s ‘performance’ - but better to laugh it off anyway.

“You guys were amazing!” She told them, giving a group hug. “Simply amazing!” The only thing missing, and truth be told, he was missed - was Ar.

BACK IN THE LOCKER:

"That's football ladies!" Mike Jackson barked as they hit the lockers.

"And Diya," Cork added with a sneer, causing the placekicker to knock him in the shoulder.

"Good eyes calling them on their bullshit defense.” Espy told Shanna, patting her on the shoulder pads.

“You’re doing great, but don’t get cocky.” Coach Armstrong warned. “Hawkins keep changing up the plays, keep them on their toes. Don't run the same play twice and it looks like you'll be fine." He knew he was taking advantage of the Lions coach, knowing Coach Karl Lambert wasn’t much for football himself. But Armstrong also wasn’t generous enough to hand over a game, and besides, his team needed this. Next week? They were in for a rude awakening. “Just remember the fight you had last game. We do need this win, if you gents and ladies plan on going to the championship again."

"And Diya!" Cork chimed in again, causing her to make an idle threat in his direction.

"Remember, eyes and ears open on the field, watch for holes in their defense, take as much advantage as you can. Offensively they have two strong tackles. Cover them and you're good to go. Espinosa! Keep 'em motivated."

"Mustangs!!! Let's skin us some Lions!!!" Espinosa called out. Coach Armstrong smiled as he walked back to grab a cup of hot coffee before the second half.

[Brodi Andrews]

Brodi tooted his flute.

[Westbrook Academy]

THIRD QUARTER

“Ready?”
“Okay!
Put your hands up in the air!
Like you just don't seem to care!
Cause we're the best around, and we show it!
Yeah, yeah, you know it!
Our team can beat anyone!
Yeah, yeah, you know it! Boom Dynamite!”

The Mustangs charged back onto the field, fueled up on adrenaline and Gatorade, keeping the momentum going. Radney, however was another story. As hard as they tried to rally, the Mustang defense was just too strong. Every push they made, the Mustangs pushed back, twice as hard. Radney had six possessions, never crossed the midfield stripe, and had only three first downs. The Mustangs on the other hand were stronger than ever. Chase Masters easily tacked on another touchdown in the third quarter as the already weak Lions defense wore down even further.

"THOR!" The crowd roared.

Three minutes in, the Mustangs again watched JD Dumarr scoot down the right sideline to score. And things got worse for on their next possession. Taking over at their 34 following Behari’s kickoff, two bad snaps rolled through the Lion’s reserve quarterback’s legs. The second was picked up by Espinosa who ran in for a safety.

“Are they serious?” Espy complained heading back to the sidelines. He had been looking forward to some real competition. Sure he’d scouted out Radney, and he knew their record, but he was at least hoping they’d try to bring their A game. And if this was their A game? He was happier than ever that his folks picked Westbrook over Radney.


SCORE:MUSTANGS 36 LIONS 3

[Faige Harrison]

Faige was wondering if she should be cheering any more. This wasn't a football game, it was a slaughter. She actually felt kind of bad for the other team but it was cool that Westbrook were this awesome. She wondered if the guys would be all celebratory later or bummed that this wasn't a challenge.

She struck the band up into their well-practiced Mustang Sally for good measure.

[Guillermo Espinosa]

Espy plopped down on the bench at end of the quarter. Play hard until the end. Espy had to make sure he was on point the entire game. Miracles tended to favor those with heart, and even though Radney had been playing with an extreme lack of determination, he made sure to treat them like he'd treat any other opponent.

He was extremely proud of the defense. The line was stopping the run and destroying the quarterback, the linebackers were making clutch third-down tackles, and the Shanna and Cork were sticking to their receivers like white on rice. The offense caught fire too, JD had caught a few balls for TDs, Matt had adjusted well to returning, and Chase was having a field day. Two touchdowns? That had to make him less cranky from now on right?

His thoughts began to drift to Collingwood. They'd need to turn this win into momentum, not into overconfidence. You haven't won yet.

Espy slipped his helmet back on and hopped back on the field to start the fourth quarter.

[Flicker]

FOURTH QUARTER

Coach Armstrong put in his reserves to give them play time with instructions to rundown the clock. The Lions struck their only blow of the game. The Radney quarterback put together a solid nine-play 60 yard march, with their halfback running the final 18 yards into the end zone for the Lions first touchdown of the day. A failed attempt at a 2 point conversion left the score at 36-10 in favor of the Mustangs. The sparse Lion crowd started to file out once again with their heads hanging low after another crushing defeat, even with play time still left in the quarter.

Coach Armstrong called Hank aside.

“Hawkins, you’re gonna save it for next game.” Henry nodded in agreement. Masters had quarterbacked before and was a natural choice for back-up, but with scores like that, Coach Armstrong was happy to give someone else a shot.

“Jackson! - I know you’re gearing up for this, so get out there and show me what you got. No hot dogging, you hear me?”

“Put me in, Coach.” He said with a smirk. Mike Jackson tried out for quarterback, and was a third stringer at best. Masters was a hotshot quarterback at his old school, and he had no doubts he could be one here, but priority went to seniors, and Hawkins was a strong leader - that’s what the team needed its first season. But it’d also be good to see what Jackson could do, give him some playtime in the slot he was surely to get after Hawkin’s graduated next year.

Jackson continued to click with an aggressive mix of passing and rushing, but the Lions defense was still outmatched. The Mustangs quickly moved down field and on a second and two, Masters hit Quest with a perfect strike for yet another Mustang score. The band saved Puppy Love for just such an occasion.

Chase Masters spoke to Mike and Jackson grinned and called Diya to the field, saying something before patting her on the helmet, the placekicker nodding in agreement, smiling back on her own. They were far enough ahead, and after having to set out last week, he helped made the call. He felt great. Without the negative spike around him, he could finally try to give something back.

As soon as the ball was hiked back, Jackson faked setting it up on the ground, instead flicking it to Behari who clutched the ball tight against her midsection. Wild horses couldn’t keep her out of the endzone, but wild horses were helping clear a path for her into the zone. Taking three steps and a leap she rolled off the back of Lion linebacker and planted both feet firmly on the ground for the two point conversion. Even though they were near cheered out, the Mustang fans were on their feet.

The band, near out of songs at this point played Wooly Bully.

The Lions took the following kickoff at their own 36, and began to show show signs of life with a solid downfield drive. A pair of sacks by Pierce Drummond and Shanna Lasseter put an end to that threat however, and the Lions were once again forced to settle for three before the clock ran down.

Final score : Mustangs: 44 Lions: 13

[Arthur Rawlings]

Arthur Rawlings clapped his hands together weakly a couple times and slid into the crowd oozing out of the stands. Walking down the stairs was another in the endless string of learning experiences. With an extra eight inches on his frame, he could easily see where he was in the mob, but his feet couldn't be trusted to hit their marks. It was close to the complete opposite from his previous life.

Today he was dressed like some sort of rebel without a cause, lots of black and leather - probably not going to be the look that stuck - and still managed to blend in. He'd seen Peyton scanning the crowd a few times; her gaze even slipped right over him once. Just one more face in the crowd, he couldn't have hidden better if he'd been cloaked.

Average had its advantages.