The game began, and the crowd started cheering as Scott held the ball, Joel was lined up against Lisa, both of them in a relaxed stance. Marvin was lined up three yards in front of Gavin, Gavin continued looking at the crowd and now would look down and shift his feet, 'Dude getting way too nervous about this' Marvin thought as Gavin kept shifting his position.
Austin was five yards away from Scott, this was the closest he could be to the quarterback, his face was dead serious a far contrast from the smile that had been on it the previous days. His eyes were locked dead on Scott's hands and waist, he was watching for any subtle movement. "SET... HUT" Scott yelled and dropped back three steps.
Lisa immediately began running, she ran straight for five yards before running diagonally to the right, Joel followed her making sure to maintain a close distance to her. Gavin did not immediately start running, he was slow allowing Marvin to be able to force him to move towards the left and Austin. 'Should've made a move to get me off' Marvin thought as he followed Austin.
The clock winded down to six seconds, Scott was waiting for Lisa or Gavin to get open but Marvin and Joel remained guarded them both closely. As the clock got down to three seconds he finally threw the ball to Lisa, the pass was a wobbly ball, it floated high but not high enough for Austin's fingers. Austin was able to jump high enough and get his fingertips to bump the ball, causing it to wobble more in the air and fall a yard behind him.
The crowd cheered at the athletic play, they were quite surprised to see him jump and affect the ball's velocity and trajectory. There was a voice that was significantly louder than the rest of the crowd, "Yeah Austin!!" Olivia yelled, she was proud of the play her son made. Austin also received a pat on the back from his dad who also praised him for the play.
Lisa and Gavin went back to Scott, Gavin's head was lowered which was something Marvin noticed. Team Daughty regrouped and started to create a new plan, they now had three downs left and the previous play had shown that their opponents were going to be far more difficult than they had originally expected. "Alright, Gavin I'm gonna be throwing the ball to you this time, that kid Marvin doesn't seem too fast, you can blow past him," Scott said.
Gavin lifted his head as he heard Scott talking to him, Scott placed his hands on his shoulders, "Relax, don't think about the other people, just focus on getting open" Scott told him, trying to relax his nerves. It seemed to work because when Gavin lined up in front of Marvin, Marvin noticed that his shifting didn't look as awkward as before.
Marvin also noticed how Gavin was shaking his hands trying to get them loose, 'Damn, he's getting the ball' Marvin realized quickly why Gavin's attitude had changed, he could see it in his eyes as well, the once nervous Gavin was now trying to maintain direct eye contact with Marvin. That was a bit difficult given the black dead eyes that were looking deep into him.
Marvin backed up a bit as he saw Gavin's feet digging into the field, 'He's going for a launch off' Marvin guessed. He was not completely sure but his intuition had never led him astray so he followed his gut. "SET..HUT!" Scott hiked the ball, dropping back five steps, Lisa took off instantly and ran a short slant, and Joel followed her closely.
Gavin took off as soon as the ball was hiked, his acceleration off the line was insane, he had gotten to Marvin who was a good eight yards away from him in less than three seconds.
'Fast' Marvin thought as he immediately began backpedaling, he was thankful that he followed his intuition and got more distance as Gavin was running a go route. Gavin got closer to Marvin and Marvin slightly stumbled as he was turning his hip to give chase to Gavin. With that stumble, Gavin was able to create a gap between himself and Marvin.
'Fuck' Marvin thought, he began running after Gavin but that was a futile effort, Marvin was a lot of things- silent, tough, smart, and analytical but the one thing he wasn't was fast. Gavin was extremely fast, Marvin knew he wouldn't be catching up to the speeding Gavin, so he did the next best thing, he began tracking the ball that was in the air.
Marvin knew from the previous play that Scott did not have a strong arm and this play proved that again. The ball wobbled even more in the air, Scott tried to launch it as hard as he could but he didn't flick his wrist properly giving the ball the wobble, Marvin watched as the ball grew closer and closer to him, it was falling from the air.
Jumping up, Marvin secured the ball in his hands earning massive cheers from the crowd. When he landed back on the ground he was met by an excited Austin, "Dude!! That was awesome, you knew he was going to underthrow it" Austin excitedly said, he was bubbling with energy as they now had a lead against the other team.
"GREAT PICK MARVIN" Olivia cheered for Marvin's interception, and Joel also praised him as well. Marvin's expression remained the same despite all the praise he was receiving, he was more focused on the upcoming offensive drive. "Okay, time for some offense," Joel said as he got the boys together.
"Alright, I'll run a slant and Austin I'd say you run a stop and go, sell the stop properly, make sure you drop your hips" Joel sets out the plan for their offensive drive. "Let's GO GUYS" Olivia cheered as everyone lined up at their positions, Scott was lined up against Joel, Lisa was lined up against Austin and Garvin stood in the same position Austin had been in, ready to blitz.
The crowd grew silent as they waited for Marvin to hike the ball, "Hut" Marvin's voice came out, it wasn't loud like Scott's but it didn't matter to Joel or Austin, they were watching Marvin's movement. Immediately Marvin raised his arm and took a step back, Joel and Austin took off.
Scott backpedaled as Joel got closer and closer to him, when Joel turned right to run the slant, Scott followed him as well. On the other side of the field, Austin blasted off as quickly as he could, his acceleration was not as fast as Gavin's but it was still decent, Lisa was not pressing him, she was a couple of yards away from him.
Austin ran up the field as fast as he could then he stopped himself, his feet stomping on the ground as he slowed down, his arms swinging back and forth, he dropped his hips and twisted his torso to make it look like he would be turning. Lisa saw this and stopped backpedaling, she came moved closer to Austin, she was expecting him to run a comeback route.
Marvin helped to fool Lisa as when Austin stopped, he pump-faked a pass leading Lisa to fully believe that Austin was running a comeback. As quickly as he stopped, Austin picked his speed back up, surprising Lisa who now had to start running backward since she had come too far forwards. Unfortunately, it was too late Austin was gone, and Marvin's pass was already in the air.
The ball sailed through the air, a perfect spiral. It moved through the air quickly and fell right into Austin's open arms like it was pulled by a string in Austin's hands. Austin secured the ball and ran into the endzone, spiking the ball after he scored, "LETS GOOOO!!" Austin yelled flexing his arms after spiking the ball.
The crowd loudly cheered at Austin's touchdown, Joel rushed to go celebrate with his son, giving him a high five as he cheered. Marvin remained still, he didn't run to go celebrate with Joel and Austin, he instead watched the Daughty's expressions after they lost the game.
Scott and Lisa didn't seem upset about losing the game, 'I'm surprised he's not crying' Marvin thought as he and Gavin made eye contact. Gavin maintained eye contact for what would be an uncomfortable amount for the average person before he moved to talk to Marvin, "Great pass dude" he said to Marvin.
Marvin simply nodded at him, he didn't care to make conversation with Gavin and Gavin seemed to understand this as he went off with the rest of his family. Joel and Austin made their way towards Marvin, "That was a great pass, Marvin, like I just held my hands out and boom!!, the ball was in there" Austin said as he got closer to Marvin, he was very excited over the pass Marvin made.
"That was a good pass, you quite literally dropped it in his hands," Joel said, he was surprised by just how accurate Marvin's pass was when he saw Marvin throw the ball to Austin, he figured Austin would have to look over his shoulder to locate the ball, but that didn't happen. Austin didn't have to look up to find the ball, he just saw it falling in his hands and then he secured it.
"If you're able to make passes like that then you have to sign up for the football team," Joel said, he didn't of Marvin to be some great quarterback, but he figured that Marvin could have some potential after all he was only a freshman.
(A/N: Double whammy, we're getting into the football action. Please let me know what you think of this chapter, it's especially important as I want to be able to write the football action well. With that, I hope you have a nice day or night.)