Chapter 32

Isaac and Ren were dressed and ready before most of the team had even gotten to the locker room. Senior linebacker Lance Thompson looked at them and shook his head. “Rookies!” Ren did not care, nor did Isaac. They were finally able to dress out for their first college football game. It was tough on Isaac to sit in his dorm last week while the rest of the team traveled to Tulsa to play. Ren was busy with his family trauma, so he was too distracted to stress over it. Now, week two, and they are playing the tenth-rated Iowa Hawkeyes. Last week, the Hawkeyes destroyed the previous sixteenth-ranked University of Missouri 47–0, and the game wasn’t even that close. As game time got closer, the team met to review the game plan. Then it was time to line up to take the field. The entire team moved in unison to the tunnel and waited for the signal. Then they rushed out to a thunderous crowd. Ren and Isaac were looking all around, taking this all in as they ran toward their bench. In Isaac’s head, he kept repeating to himself, Don’t fall down. Don’t fall down. Don’t fall down. Luckily, he made it to the bench in one piece and took his place next to the receiver’s coach. Ren headed down to the quarterback’s area. His job was to man the clipboard and track plays as they happened. Ren loved the atmosphere. He could feel the stomping feet pounding in his chest. This is so cool, he thought to himself. Iowa State won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, so they would kickoff to start the game but get the ball first in the second half. The kickoff teams lined up, and the game began. Iowa returned the ball to their own forty-two-yard line. Three plays later, their QB hit a wide-open receiver who carried the ball into the end zone for the first score of the game. Iowa kicked off, and Iowa State started on their own twenty-five. Two running plays and a poorly thrown pass on third down led to a punt. Iowa marched down the field and settled for a field goal on their second possession. On the ensuing kickoff, the Iowa State returner broke loose and ran the ball all the way to the Iowa twelve-yard line. Unfortunately, the offense could not move the ball again, and they had to settle for a field goal. As Bronson came off the field, Coach Tompkins pointed to the phone that was connected to the QB coach in the booth upstairs. Ren looked at his expression, and it did not appear like the conversation was going well. Iowa started their next possession on their own twenty-five, and two plays later, Scott Rambo, their running back, broke loose for a seventy-yard scamper around the left side. Now the score was 17–3 and not looking good for the home team. Isaac thought to himself, At least we scored a field goal. That is better than Missouri could do. As the second quarter was down to three minutes left, Iowa State started their possession on their own thirty-two-yard line. Bronson threw a quick strike to the running back, coming out of the backfield for eleven yards and a first down. On the next play, he did not see the blitz coming up the middle, so he wildly tried to throw the ball away, but instead, it landed in the waiting arms of their safety, who ran it back for a pick-six touchdown. The score going in at halftime was 24–3.

As the team entered their locker room, they seemed like they were already defeated. Nothing had gone well that half. With their starting QB injured, the future looked bleak. The coaching staff huddled up to review the results from the first half and to plan changes needed for the second half. “We have to go to Carter for the second half,” Coach Williams stated. “He is too young,” Coach Tompkins countered. “Scrimmage is one thing, but real game situations will eat him alive,” Coach continued. “Coach, I see something in him. I really do. He understands the game better than you think. Bronson is not getting it done; we have to make a change. If it doesn’t work, we can move back to Bronson,” Coach Williams reported. “Fine,” Coach Tompkins relented. Coach Williams found Ren near his locker and motioned him to come see him. As Ren got close to Coach, he explained that he was starting the second half, so he needed to warm up his arm. Excitement and panic met in Ren’s stomach. Finally, he closed his eyes and took a moment to talk to God, asking for His help. He felt a peace flow down over him. As the team took the field, Ren prepared to warm up. “Kramer, get over here and warm up Carter,” Coach Tompkins ordered. Isaac got very excited because he knew this meant Ren was going in. Isaac was smiling from ear to ear. Ren was focused. Iowa kicked off, and Iowa State took over on the twenty-five-yard line. As Ren took the field, the stadium announcer called out, “Now at quarterback for the Cyclones is number one, Ren Carter.” LeAnne started to cry again. Isaac’s parents jumped for joy at the news. “Do you think Isaac will get to play? Joshua asked his parents. “I don’t know, but I hope so,” his dad answered.

As Ren took the field, he heard the voice of the offensive coordinator in the speaker in his helmet, “Let’s start off easy. Split right forty-two dive.” Ren joined the huddle and shared the play. As he approached the line, he took a deep breath to tune out the crowd. Focus on the field only, he told himself. He got behind the center and called out, “Set! Hut, hut,” and the ball was snapped. Ren spun to his right and put the ball in the gut of the running back, who hit the two gap and gained four yards. With that, Ren calmed down a little more. The next play called was a play-action pass to the receiver on a crossing route. As Ren came to the line, he scanned the defense. From watching film, he felt confident on the signals they would show for each defensive play they would run. As the ball was hiked, Ren took three steps back, planted his foot, looked off the defender, and then quickly picked up his true target coming across the middle. He let the pass fly, perfect strike, but the receiver let it bounce off his outside hand. The ball flipped up into the air and landed just out of the reach of the diving defensive back. Ren shook his head at how close that was to an interception. Now it was third down and six. The play relayed to Ren was a draw play. The receivers would go downfield, drawing the defense, and then the running back would get the ball and hopefully make the first down. Ren moved into a shotgun formation with a lone running back on his right side. As he scanned the defense, he noticed a safety was cheating up on the right side. It must be a blitz, but it was too late for an audible because the play clock was winding down. As he got set, he glanced at Bryce Cooper, their running back, making eye contact; he looked off to the right. Bryce gave a quick nod. As the ball was hiked, the receivers headed down the field; the safety came on a blitz, but Bryce was able to cut him off. Ren looked downfield and quickly decided he should run for it. He broke to the left side. As he approached the line of scrimmage, the outside linebacker came up to cut him off. Ren faked a pass downfield, which caused the linebacker to freeze and jump to block the pass. That was all Ren needed to speed past him and into the secondary. A defensive back came up, but when Ren spun to the right, he was left tackling air only. The crowd started to roar as Ren made it further and further down the field. Dodging defensive players, sliding over for his teammates to provide a block for him. Then finally, a well-timed somersault over the last defender allowed Ren to get into the endzone. “Touchdown, Iowa State!” the announcer screamed into the public address microphone. The team mobbed Ren in the endzone, but he ushered them back to their side of the field by reminding them that they were still down fourteen. As Ren got to the sideline, he got on the phone with the coach upstairs. “Great job!” his coach shared with him. “Thanks,” Ren replied. “Can I make a suggestion?” Ren asked. “What is it?” his coach responded. “Can we bring in Kramer at wide receiver? He can catch anything that I can throw,” Ren shared. “We will see,” promised his coach.

After that score, the defense was fired up and held the Hawkeyes to a three and out and a punt. Iowa State was able to get the ball on their own forty-yard line. As they took the field, Ren heard Coach Tompkins yell, “Kramer, in at number two receiver.” Isaac jumped up, grabbed his helmet, and beat most of his teammates to the field. As the PA announcer made the announcement, “Now at wide receiver, number twenty-three, Isaac Kramer,” Isaac’s family jumped up and down wildly. Ren got the play from above and got to the huddle to share with his team. The play was a play-action pass. The defense now was aware of Ren’s ability to run, so they had to honor that by keeping extra players up near the line. As the ball was hiked, Ren faked the handoff and scanned the field. He found Isaac open, crossing the middle for a gain of twelve. Isaac hung on so tight that he was afraid he would squeeze the air out of the ball. Ren was smiling when Isaac returned to the huddle. “Nice of you to join the game,” he said to Isaac. “Nice pass,” Isaac replied. Ren methodically drove the team down the field until Bryce Cooper, their running back, broke through the hole at the four-yard line to get to the endzone. Score was now 24–17. The Iowa State sideline was pumped up. Once again, their defense held, and Ren drove the team down for a score to tie the game at twenty-four. With six minutes to go, Iowa was forced into another punt. The Iowa State coaches gathered their offense to remind them that they just needed to grind out the clock and get into field goal range. But the plan had to change because, on the punt from the Hawkeyes, the Iowa State punt returner fumbled the ball, which allowed Iowa to get it on the seventeen-yard line. After not gaining a first down on three running plays, they settled for a field goal with just over two minutes left. Iowa kicked the ball into the end zone, so Iowa State took over on the twenty-five-yard line. On the first play, Iowa ran a full-out blitz that got through and sacked Ren, who had no time to react. As he got up, Ren was angry with himself for not seeing it coming. On the second play, Ren hit Isaac on the sideline for seventeen before he went out of bounds to stop the clock. Now they were on the move again. Working the clock and the field, they got down to the thirty-yard line with seventeen seconds left. The entire stadium expected them to run the ball to set up a forty-five or so yard field goal to tie the game and go into overtime. That was even the plan of the Iowa State coaching staff. As he approached the line, Ren noticed the Hawkeyes were quietly cheating up toward the line. He knew a blitz was coming, and their plan was to stop the Cyclones for a loss and knock them out of field goal range. Ren glanced toward Isaac and then back to the center of the field. “Set alpha two, hut, hut,” Ren had called an audible. Coach Tompkins couldn’t watch. As the ball was hiked, the Hawkeye defense came pouring across the line, but Ren had sprinted out to the right side and was throwing the ball downfield. Isaac was running at top speed, tracking the ball. The Hawkeye safety was also tracking the ball and moving in to intercept it. At that moment, Isaac leaped up above the safety and plucked the ball out of the air, landing still in stride as the defensive back crumbled to the ground. Isaac ran untouched into the end zone for the winning score. The entire stadium erupted. Neither team’s fans could believe what they had just witnessed. Isaac’s mom had to sit down so she would not faint. Isaac knelt in the endzone as Ren rushed downfield to join him. Both young men bowed their heads to offer up a quick prayer of thanks. Then the rest of the team mobbed them as the fans streamed onto the field. After the game, both young men had to do interviews with local news teams, the Des Moines Register, and the school paper. Finally, they were able to catch their breath and meet up with their families in the parking lot. Isaac introduced this part of his family to Ren’s mom and aunt. LeAnne was still shaking with excitement. Isaac’s brother Joshua asked Ren for his autograph. After an hour of small talk, they decided they were hungry, so the entire group headed off to find a restaurant. Ren was on cloud nine all night. It was sad saying goodbye to his mom, but they both promised to visit each other throughout the year, and then Ren would spend Christmas break in St. Louis. Finally, Ren and Isaac made it back to their dorm. As they approached, they noticed remnants of lots of parties that popped up after the game. As they entered the residence hall, they were met with a standing ovation from the students in the common area. “Amazing how we went from nobodies to celebrities in one day,” Ren observed. “I told you that this game was a big deal in Iowa,” Isaac reminded him. Once in their room, neither of them could sleep, so they talked for a while, then prayed together, and then talked some more. Finally, around 2:00 a.m., the campus quieted down a little, and they were able to fall into a deep sleep—both with smiles on their faces.