I Hate Football Players 3 | 18+

Chapter 94: Ellie

"Here we go," Dad muttered, leaned forwards, and clasped his hands in prayer. "Silence 'em, Jake."

"Dad." I frowned at him since, their USC jerseys in the very first row at the center of the field already drew enough attention to us.

With the efficiency of a regular, well-timed machine, Jake marched the Trojans down the field, yardage chunk by chunk. They chipped away at the turf and stadium's patience, where each down seemed like a hard fought victory from how much they shoved their way forwards.

USC pushed forward in a slow, methodical pace under groans and gritted teeth from the Husky fans with each new set of downs USC earned. Mom's face paled one shade lighter with each ten yards they gained but she fixated a tight smile on her lips and her eyes never left Jake's frame on the field.

Three minutes into the game, the Huskies finally got a big defensive stop against USC's runningback, where they grabbed him at the line of scrimmage, pushed him back three steps, and tackled him to the ground to thunderous roars from the crowd. After a frustrated rip off of his chin strap, Jake trotted off with the rest of the offense while USC's special team players came out for a forty-two yard field goal attempt.

USC's kicker raised one arm, took a lined up approach, and punted the ball with a thwacked contact. The stadium fell silent and everyone tracked the ball's high, fast, and arched trajectory straight towards the goal post. My breath stalled in my lungs as we all stood frozen and watched.

In most likely a stroke of good luck, the ball's path angled enough that it bounced against the left goal post, then fell straight to the ground. After a split second reality absorption, the entire stadium exploded into jubilation at the missed field goal attempt.

Well, almost the entire stadium.

"Damn Drake," Dad muttered under his breath. "Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."

"Unlucky bounce, Dale." Mom reached behind my shoulders and patted Dad's back lightly.

"He hadn't missed any kicks all year," was all he grumbled.

Enthusiastic applause greeted Logan's first offensive attempt from the Huskies' twenty yard line. He lined up the offensive team in two straight lines like a T and stood right behind Zander the center where the two lines met in what looked like a running play.

"Cover six, the hell are they doing," Dad muttered with a slight head shake when USC's defense shifted a few players. Although I had no idea what he meant, by the frown that creased his forehead, Dad hadn't liked how USC was set up.

After a quick snap, Logan dropped back a few steps, then pitched the ball on a far enough pass to Wes for the ten-yard first down, but Wes took the catch much, much further. Once he dodged around his initial defender, his legs pumped into overdrive across a very open area of the field in front of him.

Wes took that field and he ran ten, twenty, thirty, fifty... eight yards and scored.

"Well shit..." Dad cursed and leaned slightly back in his seat. With a slight head shake as the Husky fans burst into pure, energized jubilation, he glanced sideways at me because I'd also jumped up and screamed like an idiot.

With a slight twist of his mouth sideways, he admitted, "Logan's gotten better, Ellie but that was a cocky-ass first statement right there."

"He's amazing." I beamed down at the field and watched as number ten was mauled by his teammates as they celebrated the Huskies' opening scoring drive. "Jake looks good too though, here's another chance."

After Wes started off the scoring 6-0 Huskies, after their extra point and subsequent kickoff were kicked, USC marched right back. Jake opened up his passing game with crisp, clean spirals on point and spread throughout the field. In a faster, more urgent pace, they tied up the score 7-7 on a rushed in touchdown from Jake himself with half of the first quarter left on the game clock.