The juggernaut that was the Arcadia Titans rolled ever onwards in their quest for championship glory. And the further they went, the more the hopes of promotion dwindled in the hearts of our JV trio, although each victory brought them another week of training and chances to prove their worth.
Coach Otsen once again connected the remnants of the JV team to the varsity team for practice. It felt more like they were hanging off their coattails rather than following their lead.
But Jackson wouldn't be left behind, nor Kenny. Each of them clung on desperately and clawed after the varsity team.
During the day's drills, they pushed through walls as they broke free of the coaches' presses; they had to push harder every time, but no matter how they stumbled, they never fell.
Their cleats tore up the turf with every rapid cut they made; stress building up from their ankles all the way to their hips. Jackson grit his teeth and shoved the pain back down.
More obstacles waited for them when they made their catches. Long padded poles swatted at their arms and sides; it was no good getting your hands to the ball if you couldn't protect it or yourself afterwards. Each drop was a punishment lap, sprinting up and down the stairs of the empty stands.
Jackson and Kenny pushed each other forward. When one was exhausted, the other would pull him forward. Rudy wasn't with them, not because they'd forgotten him or left him behind, but because he'd rejected their help.
He fell further behind the longer training went on. Kenny and Jackson persevered, but the backs of the varsity members—even Dion's and Demetrius's—never drew nearer.
Eventually, the practice came to a close. Kenny sat upon the bench. Jackson leaned against it, stretching out his leg; elsewhere above, Rudy finished the last set of his punishment, plodding up and down the steps.
'Look at him,' Kenny said, still panting. 'He's getting even more reps in.'
Jackson looked over his shoulder. Whilst everyone else came off the field, trickling out like a slow stream, Shane stood resolute in the centre, like a boulder.
'Isn't that Petey with him?' Jackson asked. He turned around fully for a better look. Kenny stood next to him, squinting.
'Yeah, it is.'
Standing next to Shane—a slightly less impressive boulder in his own right—was Pete. Even the coaches were leaving, yet those two were staying. Shane had even kept his vest on, though Pete was without his, like Jackson and Kenny. Each JV member was always eager to be rid of it.
Rudy came to a stop close to Kenny and Jackson. He hunched over, hands on his knees, huffing. He slung his vest off over his head and let it thud to the ground.
Jackson leaned over, handing Rudy's water bottle to him. Rudy muttered a breathless "thanks" then chugged the rest of his water.
'Looks like Shane's gonna get some work in after training with Petey. You in?' Kenny asked him.
Rudy looked up. His breathing faded to a normal rhythm. He stared at Shane. Jackson noticed the look; it wasn't of admiration, not entirely. There was pain, and strangely … jealousy?
Rudy lowered his head. 'I can't,' he finally said. 'I can't stay. I've gotta … I've got other shit to do today.'
'Alright. We'll try to keep a spot warm for you in varsity,' Kenny said. 'Come on, Jackson.' He ventured onto the field.
Jackson remained behind for a moment as Rudy packed his bag. Jackson could understand the jealousy. Every Receiver on the team would've looked at Shane with a hint of it, more so if you were the same age as him, in the same year, yet on such a different path.
'I'll see you next practice, Rudy,' Jackson said.
Rudy looked at him, shrugged his bag over his shoulder, and nodded. 'Yeah. See ya.'
The two walked away from one another, Rudy away to whatever duty called him, and Jackson onto the field to join the others sticking behind for the grind.
Shane welcomed him with a beaming smile. 'Even more. This is great. Now we can rest during the exercises.'
'I hope we won't drag you down,' Jackson said.
'Not at all. The more the merrier.'
'So what are we doing?' Kenny asked. 'Working on our catches if we need Petey, but how?'
'Right!' Shane was eager to explain. 'Now that we've got more participants, we can continue practising what we were already doing today. It'd be best if we kept working on overcoming the press. I don't mean to be selfish, but our upcoming opponents …' He looked around the small group with a frown. '…MY upcoming opponents are said to have an incredibly tenacious and difficult press coverage. So I'd appreciate the help.'
'Sure,' Jackson said quickly. 'It'll still help us.'
'Great! So, we can take it in turns. One person sits out, then they defend, then they attack, then the process repeats.'
As Shane instructed, the others followed along; it was all simple enough.
'Then, Pete. Hm. I want you to throw not at the Receiver, but at a space. Seeing as we're trying to beat the press, it's our job to reach our spot still in rhythm with our Quarterback, remember, a press doesn't have to hold you in place forever to beat you, they just have to disrupt your rhythm, and the quicker the play the shorter you can allow yourself to be held up.'
Jackson's eyes widened. He'd expected following Shane to be intense and a great way to test their physicality and technique. But to actually be coached by him. It was hard to believe Shane was only a year older than him.
'So, where am I throwing?' Pete asked.
'Before the exercise, before each throw, you'll decide with whoever the Receiver is whether you're throwing deep, to the left, or to the right. The Receiver, will hit their ten-yard mark, then they'll either continue forward for a deep ball twenty yards downfield, or an In or Out five yards in either direction left or right. Depending on what you decided together beforehand, of course.'
'But I'm not throwing at them, I'm throwing at the spot?'
'Yes! You'll drop back, and in rhythm, you'll throw the ball. Imagine a Linebacker bearing down on you, you have to get it out quickly. The ball needs to be out of your hand in three seconds, and we'll have to be there to catch it in three seconds. Hopefully, this should help your precision if you can throw to the same spot repeatedly, like threading a needle.'
'Huh … alright then.'
'Does anyone have questions?' Shane looked around.
Jackson shook his head. Kenny said: 'Yeah, I've got one. Who's defending and attacking first?'
Shane smiled. 'I'll defend. You attack?'
Kenny grinned.
'Is it alright if you sit out for the first one, Jackson?' Shane asked. 'It'll only be one throw each, then we'll switch.'
'Yeah, that's fine. Then I'm defending you, right?'
'Right.'
Everyone moved into position. Jackson stood near Pete, eyes set on Kenny and Shane.
'Apologies if I'm not the best simulation of a defender,' Shane said. 'Playing Middle-Linebacker doesn't give me many opportunities to play such tight coverage.'
Kenny chuckled. 'As big as you are, I don't think that'll matter too much.'
A grin spread across Shane's lips. 'Good luck, Ken.'
'You too.' Kenny looked back and gave Pete a thumbs up.
At Pete's cry of "hut", Kenny shot forward. Shane's heavy hands pushed his shoulders back. Kenny grunted, pushing one aside as he turned his shoulder inward and slipped past, but all the momentum from his start had been squashed.
Shane kept with him the whole way, but when Kenny shook inside, Shane leaned too much that way. When Kenny cut out—as had been the plan all along—Shane lost him.
Pete let the ball fly, and Kenny extended, but it spiralled past just out of reach of his fingertips. Pete had put it exactly where he meant to, within inches of where he'd thrown during his examples.
Kenny stumbled after his lunge, kicking himself that he was too slow. 'Fuck. Sorry!'
'Don't feel bad, it was a nice attempt,' Shane said. 'You're just a bit slow getting out of the gate.'
'What do you mean?' Kenny asked. Jackson looked back, having gone to retrieve the ball. He was curious about what Shane had to say.
'You're pushing too heavily off your front foot. I don't think you should use it at all; all your power on your first step should come from your back foot.'
Kenny's brow furrowed. He tried to mimic what he'd just done, running through it again in his head.
'Watch me and try to see how I do it,' Shane said. He lined up, and Jackson came over to match him. Even though it was a meaningless example in a practice exercise, Jackson's heart thumped. He'd rarely stood on this side of the ball, but Shane was by far the most imposing prospect he'd ever faced off against … maybe even more intimidating than Tommy.
He steeled himself into his stance, eyes focusing on Shane's hips. He knew that much; the hips didn't lie, so they were what you had to watch out for.
Again, Pete's cry pierced the air and sent the other boys into motion. Jackson felt a breeze cut by him, and Shane was gone. He was frozen for a second before he whirled around, but Shane was already pulling away.
Jackson scrambled after Shane desperately, but he only sped away faster, heading deep. He had to slow to wait for the pass and still Jackson didn't catch him.
Jackson stood in awe. He could hardly believe what had just happened. All the other boys stared at Shane in disbelief.
'Whoa,' Kenny exclaimed.
'Yeah …' Pete said '… Jackson really sucks at defence.'
'Hey!' Jackson whirled around, face red. 'Do you wanna try guarding him?'
'I'm just here to throw the ball,' Pete said, smirking.
Shane laughed. 'He did his best. He was just surprised. But did you see? That's the power of the back foot release.'
Jackson frowned. That was the problem, he HADN'T seen it. But Kenny nodded. 'Yeah, though, I'm up defending. You're versus me, Jackson.'
Jackson moved over to Pete to discuss the plan. Even if he hadn't really seen what Shane did, he could still try it based on what they'd been talking about. How difficult could it be? It wasn't like he was doing anything special, was it?
'Let's go deep again. I wanna try what Shane just did,' Jackson said.
Pete nodded. Jackson went back and lined up opposite. Kenny grinned at him. 'I'm not gonna get blown by like that,' Kenny said.
Jackson smirked. 'We'll see about that.'
When hut was called, Jackson rushed forward, springing off his back foot. Kenny stumbled back, trying to keep up with him and trying to hold him back, but Jackson brushed his hands aside and kept running.
He didn't blow by Kenny completely, but he was at top speed before he knew it. He dragged away, and made it in time for the pass perfectly in stride, hugging it to his chest.
'Damn!' Kenny growled. 'No way I'm the only one who didn't get a catch. I'm definitely getting the next one!'
So he promised, and even with Shane's advice, he just couldn't break away. He got a hand to the ball this time, but it bounced off before his fingers could close around it.
'Shit!'
Jackson thought of something as he recovered the ball. The way they were going, they'd all get turns, but the matchups would never change.
'Hey, wouldn't it be better if we had two turns attacking before swapping?' he asked. 'That way, each of the other two could defend the same person. Which means everyone defends everyone.'
'Huh…' Shane didn't have to think about it long before he started laughing. 'I completely overlooked that. Good catch, Jackson. You defend Ken next, then we'll swap and you can both try defending me. Then Ken and I will defend you.'
Everyone was happy with the new arrangement, and Kenny even repaid Jackson for his blow by, and got his first catch on a deep Vertical just like how Jackson had beaten him.
The group settled into a rhythm, and whilst Kenny and Jackson frequently got the better of each other as Receivers, and struggled against each other as defenders, both boys never stopped Shane once, and even when being defended by Shane it was a sixty-forty split in Shane's favour.
He did all that with the vest always on his back. The boys had already taken theirs off immediately when the team's training ended, and such a heavy burden wasn't easily put back on. Yet Shane still had the better of them at every turn.
Eventually, the extra training came to a pause. Sufficient rest and frequent breaks were just as important as all the hard work you put into your training, Shane said.
But as they rested and had their drinks, Kenny turned to Shane with a question. 'Were you really held back from varsity during your freshman year?'
'I never played on varsity during that year, that's correct … but I wouldn't say I was held back. That implies I should've been on the varsity team.'
'There's no way you weren't good enough.'
Even Jackson had a hard time believing Shane could've got THAT much stronger in just a single off-season.
'Come on, Petey, back me up. You would've been throwing to him if you were both JV last year, right?' Kenny asked.
'Yeah, I was. He made me look a whole lot better than I was. Unfortunately, Coach Otsen saw that too and so when he went up I stayed behind, but it is what it is.'
'I might've been strong enough, but that doesn't mean I was ready,' Shane said.
The others looked at him, confused.
'It takes a lot more than strength and skill to succeed on the football field. You need experience, courage, confidence. And if you're going to be a leader like I hope to be, like the badge I wear on my uniform proclaims me to be, you need to learn how to be one.' Shane gazed across the field, staring at something only he could see. Most likely, he was looking at a memory.
He continued: 'Coach Otsen could've moved me up to varsity. I'll risk sounding arrogant, but I could've been on the team, a second-stringer at least, if not a starter. But I would've been the rookie freshman, playing without pressure. Win or lose, the burden wouldn't have been on me. There wouldn't have been the struggle and the demands that forced me to grow. But on the junior varsity team, I could be a leader, one who was burdened by responsibility. Every loss, every win, weighed heavily on my shoulders. I'm grateful for my time in JV last year. It prepared me for now.'
Then he laughed, and the others looked at him even more confused, because nothing he'd said had any humour in it. He shook his head and apologised before he went on.
'But how could I have been ready for varsity? How could I demand to be put on the team? I wasn't ready. Coach Otsen saw that better than anyone, and I'm glad I trusted his judgement. I had no right to feel underappreciated, or that I deserved more. How could I deserve more if I couldn't even bring my team to a state championship?'
Jackson looked surprised. He glanced at Pete, whose head was heavy with painful memories.
'I fell at the final hurdle.' Shane clenched his fists. 'I let my entire team down. But even that loss, as bitter as it was, was a gift. It prepared me better than all the victories ever could. Now I'm ready. Not just for varsity competition. But I'm ready to claim the title of best team in the state. I won't fail this time.'
The others sat in silence, heat rising in them from the burning, passionate blazes Shane had ignited in their bellies.
'After state … that means the National championship is next,' Kenny said.
Shane blinked, looking as if it was the first time he'd heard of such a thing. He shook his head. 'I don't know about that. I can't think about it. I have to keep my eyes on the path before me. It's no use worrying about the mountains in the distance.'
As the group got up and resumed their training. Jackson's fire burned dimmer than the others. He had additional worries now. If Shane wasn't ready to join the varsity team, and said he couldn't be because he fell in the State championship game … how could any of the JV members who failed during the first game of Regionals … or who hadn't even played a game yet, deserve a varsity roster spot?