The Running Back

Chapter 12

Another pass attempt resulted in a sack and a loss of some yards. With fifteen yards to go and only two downs before they would be forced to punt the ball away the Titans had little choice but to keep trying to advance the ball through the air. Their next pass resulted in an incomplete, and the one after that only gained twelve yards which wasn't enough to get the first down. Once more Rachel had to sit on the bench while special teams took over.

They kicked the ball deep inside the ten but a good punt return got the Cobras good field position at their own forty two yard line. They had the momentum on their side and they weren't letting up. Just as they had with their first drive they steadily made progress down the field. Five yards here, seven there; they were taking their time, keeping the Titan defense on the field and wearing them out. Things were looking bad.

But a bad call had their running back collide straight into Azimio. On the next play he and Dave put some pressure on the quarterback. He searched for his best option but in the end the pass came up as an incomplete. At fourth and seven the Cobras went for a field goal extending their lead by another three points.

On the Titans second procession they pushed the field. They were down by ten and if they had any hope of winning the game they needed to get on the board before the Cobras scored again. But the Cobras had already seen their secret weapon at work and they were doing everything they could to shut Rachel down and they were doing a pretty good job.

They knew that she wouldn't go through the middle so they had their linebackers go to the outside so that they'd be ready to stop her before she could break away. Every so often they'd blitz as well. Coach Beiste deemed it too dangerous to put Rachel in that kind of harm. She was banking on the hope that the threat of Rachel getting a big run would be enough to open up the passing game but nothing was ever that easy.

With only two receivers that posed any real threat, it was easy for the Cobra defense to keep them covered. The Titans would have to go with a slow and steady approach as well, but they didn't have the luxury of time. By the end of the first quarter the score was still ten to zero with the Titans only at the thirty four. They ended up wasting a couple of minutes of the second quarter to get their first touchdown. And while it may not have seemed very important at the time, the Titans needed each one of those minutes. The Cobras were able to score once more and halted the first half long enough to run out the time.

The Titans would be getting the ball back, but they were feeling particularly good about the state of the game. Rachel felt especially useless. Apart from the yards she had gained early in the game she had done little to nothing to contribute to her team's efforts. She sat back down on the bench with an anguished sigh. A few moments later she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Rachel took off her helmet and looked over to see who it was. "Quinn?"

"Hey, come on. Smile," she requested. "The game's still close. You have a lot of time," she assured. Rachel tried to think optimistically like she normally would, but then she decided to break eye contact and check the field for a moment. They were being run over. Quinn followed her line of sight. When Rachel turned her head back the expression on Quinn's face was grim. But then there was a glint in her eye and her lips curved into a smile.

"Quinn, what are you-" Rachel was unable to finish her question because Quinn ran off to gather the Cheerios. She huddled them together and started giving out instructions. Rachel was curious about what she was doing but she had her own team to worry about. She brought her attention back to the game. Maybe if she knew more about football she'd be able to find a weak spot in the Cobra defense or even make a suggestion or two for her own defense.

But no, as it was there was nothing she could do except act as a potential threat.

Rachel didn't want to give up. She didn't want to just give the Cobras the win, but with each passing minute they continued to make their way down the field. The Titan defense was exhausted. The rest they had during halftime wasn't even close to enough for them to get their strength back. But then Rachel heard it. "Defense! Defense! Defense!" She got to her feet and turned around. "Defense! Defense! Defense!" The crowd was on their feet and the Cheerios were rallying them on.