CHAPTER 6
THE BLOCKING DUMMY
At practice the next day, Ethan lined up across from a blocking dummy. When the whistle blew, he smashed his shoulder into the dummy. He kept his arm in close, drove with his legs, and pushed. The dummy moved back six yards.
Ethan lined up again. The whistle blew. He nailed the dummy this time with the palms of his hands. He shoved and drove with his legs.
The players changed stations.
Ethan got into an athletic stance. He heard the whistle and shuffled his feet. He moved sideways. Another whistle meant he was to roll on the ground and spring back up. He kept moving sideways. When the whistle sounded again, Ethan repeated the process. He rolled, sprang back up, and laid his shoulder into a blocking dummy.
At another station, the offense lined up against the defense. Christian was on the offensive side of the ball. He growled at the defensive tackle.
Gavin barked out some signals. “Locomotives ninety-nine! Locomotives ninety-nine! Hut! Hut!”
Gavin tossed the ball to the running back. The play came to Ethan’s side. He sealed off the defensive back, and the ball carrier cut up the field.
Coach Jennifer clapped her hands. “Way to seal him off, Ethan. That’s how you do it!”
Assistant Coach Bob nodded his head and gave Ethan a thumbs-up.
* * *
Ethan came in the door of his house. He wasn’t surprised to find Dad sitting on the couch and messing around with his phone.
Dad looked up. “Have you been practicing positive visualization?”
“Yep,” said Ethan. “I’m all over it.”
“Well,” said Dad, “you should see what’s in the yard. Check it out.”
Ethan went out back to the yard. When he flipped on the lights, he saw a new blocking dummy in the middle of the yard. Ethan hustled over to inspect it. It was like the dummies the team used. Ethan gave it a shove and pushed it back a few yards.
He heard Dad yell, “Hey!”
Ethan turned around, and Dad threw him a football. Ethan caught it with one hand.
“Good,” Dad said. “You can still catch the ball.”
* * *
The Humboldt Locomotives needed to stay in the race for the conference title. On the sideline, they prepared to square off against the Bronson Ironmen. Coach Jennifer got everyone together. She said, “Who’s fired up?”
The players yelled, “We’re fired up!”
Assistant Coach Bob said, “Who’s fired up?”
The players yelled, “We’re fired up!”
Both coaches said, “One, two, three . . . ”
And the players yelled, “HUMBOLDT!”
The Locomotives’ kickoff team took the field. They stuck the Ironmen at their own thirty-seven. Christian growled as he hustled onto the field with the Locomotive defense.
He stuffed a run on first down, hurried a pass on second, and knocked the ball out of the runner’s hands on third. The Ironmen recovered the fumble and punted on fourth down.
Now it was the Locomotives offense’s turn. Coach Jennifer called Ethan’s number. Ethan really wanted to lay his shoulder into a defender. Instead, he needed to run a slant route. The play called for Gavin to hit Ethan over the middle. Ethan made his usual check with the official at the line of scrimmage.
Gavin put on his act. “Locomotives fifty-five. Humboldt fifty-five. Locomotives. Hut!”
The defensive back was playing ten yards off the line of scrimmage. Ethan took one quick step and slanted to the inside. Gavin gunned the ball.
The linebacker couldn’t get in the way to disrupt the pass. Ethan hauled it in and ran for a first down before the safety pulled him down.
A growling Christian came up and smacked Ethan on the shoulder pads. The guys fist-bumped in the huddle.
Coach Jennifer called a lot of running plays after that. The runs gave Ethan the opportunity to lay some blocks on people.
To block the linebackers, Ethan smashed with his shoulders. To block the defensive backs, Ethan kept his arms close to his body and shoved. To block the safeties, he did a combination of both. Ethan thought the blocking felt great.
With the defensive backs playing ten yards off the line, Coach Jennifer ordered up some slants and quick outs to Kenny and Jason.
The Locomotives offense marched down the field. They got inside the twenty.
The Ironmen adjusted. They moved their d-backs closer to the line. Ethan thought a hitch-and-go would be ideal, but then he thought about the drops. Maybe some running plays would be better.
Gavin faked a hand-off to the running back and bootlegged around the end. He came into Ethan’s area. Ethan sealed off the defender with a big block.
Gavin took the ball in for a touchdown. After tossing the ball to the referee, Gavin sprinted back to Ethan and slapped him on the shoulder pads.
“Nice block!” Gavin said. “Nice block!”
Ethan could hear Christian before he could see him. Once he saw him, it was too late. Christian picked Ethan up and bear-hugged him. He growled and said, “Nice block!”
The block felt amazing. As Ethan ran to the sideline, he saw Assistant Coach Bob clapping his hands, and Ethan remembered why the block felt so good. He was trying to concentrate on another aspect of his game.
He had caught six passes and not dropped any, but he thought he still had the drops. The team hadn’t run a hitch-and-go even though they had been in position to do so.
Ethan wondered if Coach Jennifer would call one later in the game.
She didn’t. The Locomotives won with a power running game. Ethan blocked like crazy, but deep down, he was a little disappointed. A successful catch on the hitch-and-go would’ve felt great.
A win was a win. He was happy enough for the team. He wished, though, he could bring himself to be happier than he was and to show it better. But he was really hoping to prove to himself and his team that he could catch the hitch-and-go.
It was hard for Ethan to accept that Coach Jennifer didn’t have enough confidence in him to call the play.