Chapter 7

GAME TIME

Robby walked home from practice with Matt.

“Tough scrimmage, huh?” Matt asked. Robby didn’t say a word.

Robby wanted to do anything but talk about the scrimmage. He didn’t want to even think about it.

Finally, Matt said, “Do you want to practice your snaps with me?”

“Are you serious?” Robby asked.

When they got to Robby’s house, they started practicing snaps. Robby showed Matt how to hold his hands to get the ball. Matt barked out the signals, just like James did. Time after time, Robby snapped the ball straight into Matt’s hands.

His hand was still hurting, but Robby wasn’t going to stop. He and Matt stayed in the backyard until it was dark.

The next morning Robby felt better. That night would be the first game of the season.

The day couldn’t go fast enough for Robby. As he walked into his classroom, he saw Andy Renkins sitting in the front row. “Here comes butterfingers,” Andy said to one of his buddies. “Hey, Samuels, don’t drop your pencil.”

I’ll show him tonight, Robby thought. He’ll see what kind of player I really am.

Game time was six o’clock, but Robby had to be at the field an hour early for stretching and warming up.

As soon as he got to the field, his coach called him over.

“Samuels,” the coach said, “I was a little hard on you last night. Your job is very important to our team. We can’t win if the plays get off to a bad start.”

“Don’t worry, Coach. I practiced last night. I’m ready,” Robby said.

The Lions were playing against the Cowboys in the first game of the season.

The Cowboys had some good players. Mike Jarvis, the player Robby would be blocking every play, was big and strong.

Soon the players huddled for their pregame pep talk. “Okay, boys,” Coach Parker said. “You can’t win this game by yourselves. You need your teammates.”

Then he looked right at Robby. “If everyone just concentrates and does his job, everything will be okay.”

Robby felt ready.