Going for the Seven

Chapter 1

Samantha

Excitement buzzed in the air, emanating from the wave of red and black clad fans as they poured from the emptying stadium. Standing just outside in the front parking lot, I let emotions overtake me. Pulse racing and chills working their way down my spine, I was running on a high that could only come from my favorite sport.

With cheeks flushed from excitement, I bounced on my tip toes and searched for two people in the sea of faces. Luckily, the crowd had started to thin and the men I searched for would stand out anywhere with their size. It didn't take me long to spot them making there way through the crush of bodies. Others stopping in their tracks, falling over themselves to congratulate the two men, or gawk with wide eyes.

"You won!" I screamed, rushing into the arms of my big brother, Cashwell Young, otherwise known as Cash to friends and teammates. He caught me up in a bear hug, unable to hide the tremendous smile breaching his too handsome face, though he was normally too 'cool' to let this much emotion show.

His look of pride brought me right back to the last play of the game.

"The Timberwolves have possession of the ball at the Alabama forty yard line. Only four seconds left in the game and trailing by a field goal. What do you think Tom?"

"Well, they are outside of the range of their kicker, so we know it needs to be a Hail Mary pass..."

I plugged my ears, unable to take the voices of the announcers ,who were hosting from the booth beside the team box I was watching the game from. I was tempted to cover my eyes as well, as my teams offense huddled together before one last play.

A play that would determine whether or not we would leave National Champions.

Starting the season, we never would have dreamed that the team would make it this far. Now, I would be completely heart broken if we didn't take home that trophy.

Having called a time out we now had only seconds to decide what our last play would be. From his seat beside me, I could hear our Offensive Coordinator, Coach Gates, talking it out with the sidelines coach. He was thinking along the same lines as the announcers; that we needed to pray hard and throw the ball to the end zone, hoping that one of our guys would come down with it.

I grabbed onto his arm ,shaking my head. My headphones had been taken away earlier in the game due to my inability to control my temper or I would have been shouting out my advice.

"What are you thinking?" Coach Gates covered his mouthpiece to ask, calm determination covering his experienced face.

"Have Cash take it, quarterback run, right up the middle."

"Are you crazy girl? That's forty yards, not four!"

"Everyone will be expecting a Hail Mary. They will never expect a run. Plus, Cash has the legs for it." I clutched his arm, begging with my eyes for him to make the right call.

He looked unsure for the first time this game, but he made the call.

All I could do then was watch. Down below, the team lined up in a deep throw formation at the line of scrimmage. I held my breath as the ball was snapped.

What if I had made the wrong call? What if I just cost us the game?

My vision went blurry around the edges as my heart rate tripled, pumping blood through my body at an alarming rate.

I could swear that the whole stadium fell completely silent as Cash got the ball. Without hesitating or even falling back to fake the throw, he took off. The bulky offensive linemen created a hole and he high stepped his way past defenders.