For a brief moment, Ricky felt a tinge of jealousy. "No, they deserve this," he told himself. As his team took the field without him, he clapped like thunder and howled like the winds of a tornado.
The team captains met at midfield for the coin toss. Brockville's captain and star quarterback, Josh Winfield, called "heads". They won the toss and chose to receive the opening kickoff. Before heading to the sideline, Josh whispered to Wellsport's captains, "How'd you even make it this far? Get ready for a long game, losers." Josh sprinted away, but his arrogant laugh lingered.
For years, Ricky's teammates heard him boasting about himself to other teams, but never anything that disrespectful. Since the first game of the season, when Ricky got penalized for taunting, Coach Daniels preached to his team to be good sports.
The moment finally arrived. It was time for kickoff. Brockville's returner Jake Hamilton, also Josh's main target in the passing game, awaited the kickoff. Eric ran toward the ball. He planted his foot to kick, but he slipped. As he was falling, his foot nudged the football. Brockville quickly jumped on the ball around midfield.
The Vikings cheered, as the Warriors went to their fallen teammate. Luckily, Eric was not injured. Still, the slip up gave the Vikings outstanding field position.
Josh's arrogant laugh returned. "Ha ha. I knew it was going to be easy, but this is too easy," he said.
The Vikings rushed to the line of scrimmage. Josh said, "Hut, hut." The ball was snapped. Brockville's offensive line shoved the Wellsport defenders to the ground. Josh took five steps back. He rolled to his right. He had all day to throw, but he did not need it. He saw Jake sprinting down the sideline. The cornerback, Vance Clark, had him covered. Josh pointed, then Jake made a quick cut inside. Jake faked out Vance. Vance slipped and landed flat on his back. Meanwhile, Jake kept running. Josh unleashed a deep bomb. Jake ran under it, and strolled in the endzone. The extra point gave Brockville a 7-0 lead.
As Vance ran off the field, Josh said, "One play. One score."
Wellsport's first possession did not turn out much better. On the first play, Brockville's mountainous defensive end, Greg Dawson, overpowered Wellsport's offensive line. He smashed into Dashawn and stripped the ball. A linebacker scooped up the fumble and scored a touchdown.
The Vikings dominated the rest of the first half. Their size, strength, and quickness was too much for the Warriors. At halftime, Brockville led 28-0.
The Warriors headed to the north end of the field for halftime. Because of his crutches, Ricky lagged behind.
Josh ran up to Ricky. He smacked him on the shoulder. "Hey, nice crutches," he said. "I hear you're their best player. Now you're riding the pine." He gestured with his head toward the bench. "I've got news for you: It wouldn't matter if you played or not. We still would've crushed your sorry team."