A little fleet of vehicles from Cowpen pulled into the Bee Town school parking lot on the afternoon of the scrimmage. Tully had driven his station wagon, Sable Cash had his pickup, and Clete Avery, Mick and Vince's father, had driven too. They had taken the whole Panther team, including the practice squad. Even though Candy, Bobby Jo, and Gabe would not be able to play in the scrimmage, they wanted to be there.
In their blue-and-gold uniforms and carrying their spikes, the team walked around the school to where the eighty-yard field had been freshly painted. A sign saying HOME OF THE BEE TOWN COBRAS stood by the bleachers, and a man in a sweat suit came forward.
“Tully Wadell?” he asked, smiling.
Tully stepped forward. “That's me.”
“Pleased to meet you. I'm Cal Van Dyke, the Bee Town coach, and our boys will be out in a minute.”
Sable Cash cleared his throat.
“Cal, this is Sable Cash, who's been, uh, helping me get our team ready.”
As they all shook hands, another man came out of the school building and joined them.
Cal nodded to the newcomer and explained, “Baird Hoskins, one of our teachers, has agreed to be referee today. He grew up listening to his dad talk about six-man ball, so he knows the rules. Plus he's officiated at high school games.”
“We appreciate your help,” said Tully.
“My pleasure,” said Hoskins, who wore a white cap and T-shirt and carried a whistle and stopwatch. “I'm glad to see this game back.”
“Here they come,” Cal said, gesturing with a thumb toward the school building. Twelve boys in gray uniforms with red trim trotted toward them, spikes clattering on the pavement.
Cap thought they seemed older. Then he decided it was because they were in uniforms and pads. But there was no denying that Bee Town had twelve players to Cowpen's nine.
Would it matter? Cap wasn't sure. Maybe, on a hot day, the team with more players could stay fresher, but the thing to remember was that nine good players would beat twelve not-so-good players—and nine well-coached players would beat twelve that weren't as well coached.
But what about a team with two coaches who were always getting on each other's nerves? And the nerves of their players, as well?
Tully and Cal introduced their players to the other team. As each player's name was given, the player stepped forward. When Cal Van Dyke called, “Vernon Dewey,” a tall, skinny boy waved a hand, and Hoot nudged Cap's arm.
“I know Vernon,” Hoot whispered. “He's a friend of my cousin's and I used to play with him when I was little. He couldn't put one foot in front of the other without tripping. If he's playing for Bee Town, we'll whip these guys.”
Cap felt nervous. Tully had said he'd name his starters before the scrimmage began but that the players who started today weren't necessarily those who'd start the first real game.
After the players from both teams shook their opponents' hands, Baird Hoskins whistled for everyone's attention.
“Most regular rules will apply today. But we won't keep score. The team that wins the coin toss will run fifteen plays. If they score during those plays, they get the ball at their thirty-five-yard line and go until they've run their fifteen. If they lose the ball by fumble or interception, they play from the same line of scrimmage.
“After their fifteen, the other team goes on offense. If we have time, we'll do it again. Coaches can substitute as often as they want. Captains, step forward for the coin toss.”
Two Bee Town players came forward, but none of the Panthers moved. Tully hadn't picked captains yet. The Cowpen players looked at him. So did Sable.
Tully said, “Cap, Jimmy, you're our captains today.”
The ref flipped the coin, Cap called, “Heads,” and the coin landed heads up.
Jimmy said, “We'll start on offense.”
“All right,” said Van Dyke. “We'll start in two minutes. Good luck, everyone.”
As the Panthers gathered around Tully and Sable, Tully darted a glance at Sable before he spoke. “Listen up. Here are my starters. Ben at center, Sam and Mick at end, Fritz and Hoot at running back, and Cap at quarterback.”
Cap heard Sable snort. He felt edgy.
“All right,” Tully said, “let's see what we can do. I'll send in substitutes every few plays and sometimes they'll bring in a play to run. Otherwise, Cap and Jimmy—let's see how you call a game. Sable, anything to add?”
Sable said, “Boys, there may be more of these Bee Town fellows than us, but they can only put six on the field at once. Try to get an idea what their strengths and weaknesses are, and take advantage of the weaknesses. Use your heads as well as your bodies and play your best.”
The referee blew his whistle and Cap trotted onto the field, feeling a rush of panic. He couldn't remember any plays! He'd mess everything up and look awful! Let Jimmy start!
Ben grinned at him, then took a closer look and asked, “You okay?”
Taking a breath, Cap muttered, “Yeah.”
“Listen, I'm nervous too,” Ben said. “We all are. Hey, we're ready. As soon as I snap that ball, you'll know what to do.”
Cap felt himself relax and smiled gratefully at Ben. “Thanks. Let's get 'em.”
Cap clapped his hands and the Panthers grouped around him. He took a quick glance at the Bee Town defense, but it told him nothing. He decided to open with a short pass.
“Red Flare Left on two!” he said and clapped again. The Panthers moved to the line.
The Cobras, Cap saw, had a man right over Ben and had set two defenders into the secondary. He felt sure that Ben could take care of the guy opposite him and thought the Cobras might give up some yardage over the middle.
“Hut one! Hut two!”
Ben snapped the ball, and as Cap dropped back he saw Ben slam a shoulder into the guy facing him, driving him backward. A second defender charged into the backfield but Fritz picked him up. Mick ran downfield eight yards and cut sharply toward the sidelines, while Sam sprinted on a diagonal route over the middle.
Looking right and pumping the ball in Mick's direction, Cap saw Sam was open and fired a bullet toward him. Sam caught the ball and turned down-field, adding five yards to the seven gained on the pass before he was dragged down by two Cobras. Cap heard his sister and Bobby Jo cheering from the bleachers.
“Huddle up, Panthers!” Ben shouted.
Looking at his teammates, Cap felt totally in control. “Okay, Sweep Punch Veer on one! Break!”
This was a running play, with Ben and Fritz leading interference as Hoot went around left end. Sam would go deep to try to decoy some Cobras.
With the snap, Ben pulled to his left, and Fritz wheeled after him. Cap pivoted and lateraled perfectly to Hoot. Hoot swung in behind his blockers and got cut down by a pursuer who appeared from Cap's right.
This time the Cobra bench cheered after the Panthers' three-yard loss. Cap realized that the tackler had been his responsibility. But he had just stood there, watching the play develop.
He suddenly felt embarrassed and looked over to the sidelines, where he noticed Sable Cash saying something to Tully and pointing toward the field. Pointing at him, Cap thought, making sure that Tully knew Cap had messed up the play. He wanted to show them that he could do the job, but how?
Get six quick points, that was how.
Before he could call another play, Vince Avery ran in from the sidelines to replace Hoot.
“The coach has a play he wants us to run,” said Vince.
Cap heard the play and groaned to himself. It was a running play. He wanted to go long, but his grandfather would be really hot if he didn't follow orders.
The play called for Cap to drop back as if to pass and flip a lateral to Fritz, who was set to his side as a flanker. Ben, Vince, and Cap would block while the ends ran a pattern to decoy the defense.
Sure enough, two Cobra defenders raced back to cover the pass that never came while Ben and Vince laid solid blocks to clear a path for Fritz. This time Cap stayed alert, and when another Cobra tried to cut across and tackle the runner, Cap hit him low and brought the man down. Fritz picked up ten yards. Gabe, Candy, and Bobby Jo yelled encouragement and Tully had a big grin on his face.
Vince stayed in the lineup and Cap called for the long pass. He found himself running for his life as a Cobra got through Vince's block and chased him to his right. He saw that Sam had a step on his man, stopped, and unleashed a perfect spiral. Running flat out, Sam made a desperate dive, but the ball was a foot out of his reach.
Cap noticed that the Cobra who had covered Sam Dracus, and almost matched him step for step, was Vernon Dewey. He was probably their deep threat on offense, as well as a good pass defender. As Sam trotted back to the huddle, Cap said, “Sorry, that would have been six if it'd been just a bit shorter.”
He was thinking about what he'd call next when he felt a tap on his shoulder, turned, and saw Jimmy standing there.
“Coach wants me in,” said the other boy.
Cap nodded wordlessly and ran off the field. He only let me run four plays, that's not fair, he thought. When he got to the sidelines, he thought Tully might explain, but his grandfather said nothing, just patted his shoulder and kept his eyes on the field. Sable Cash ignored him completely.
Candy came over and said, “You looked pretty good in there.”
Cap snorted. “Yeah? Then how come I'm over here? After four plays!”
“Well…” Candy hesitated. “Maybe it was calling the long pass. I know Mr. Cash gave Grandpa an earful about it.”
On the field, Jimmy tried a short sideline pass that Mick caught for a six-yard gain. Steve Flynn went in for Fritz and caught an eight-yard pass out of the backfield.
“Way to go, boy!” boomed Sable Cash. “He's making good play selections,” he said to Tully. “He's got a quarterback's mind.”
Tully nodded and leaned closer to Cap. “Sable has a point, son. Jimmy's good at mixing his calls, and. you still have to remember that those long bombs aren't the kind of play you can call too often. They can really destroy a team's momentum.”
Sure enough, Jimmy picked up another twelve yards on his next two plays: a pass play to Ben at center, with Ben carrying two tacklers ahead for four yards, and a run by Vince around right end, with Hoot making a great block.
But on his next play, Jimmy's pitchout was wild, and Hoot couldn't reach it before a Cobra defensive player fell on the ball.
Jimmy glanced over at the sidelines, clearly upset, and Tully clapped and hollered, “It's all right, don't let it get to you!”
After Jimmy gained six yards with a pass over the middle, Tully sent Cap and Fritz back in. “You have four more plays,” he told Cap, “make 'em count!”
On the next play, Cap hit Mick with a down-and-out pattern for ten yards, putting the Panthers on the Cobra ten-yard line. He sent Sam into the corner of the end zone and Mick to the other side of the field, then shoveled an underhand pass to Ben. Ben plowed straight ahead for six yards to the four. A running play, Fritz carrying up the middle with Cap making a block, picked up only one yard.
Cap had one more play and wanted to score now. He sent three receivers into the end zone, but as he looked the field over, there were Cobras too close to all of them to risk a pass. On the other hand, there was nobody on the line.
Cap flipped the ball to Fritz, who was back to block, then slammed into the first Cobra defender to get close. Fritz lowered his head and bulled forward, carrying the ball over the goal line.
The referee held his hands straight up, signifying a touchdown, and the other Panthers surrounded Fritz, cheering and pounding him on the back.
Cap had made the four plays count, he had called the plays that brought the Panthers their first touchdown. Sure, it was only a scrimmage, but he felt good about it anyway. And, he thought, maybe even Mr. Cash would be impressed. He, Cap, could play this game too.