About the Author (me)

Meyer Brod is a rising 6th grader at Kiser Middle School. In his free time, he plays basketball and soccer and likes to read and write. He has two younger brothers who are very annoying most of the time.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 .................... page 4

Chapter 2 .................... page 8

Chapter 3 .................... page 12

Chapter 4 .................... page 18

Chapter 5 .................... page 28

Chapter 6 .................... page 34

Chapter 7 .................... page 36

 Chapter 1 

It was the last game in the series and we had to win. The ball hit my hands with a thump. I dropped back while scanning the area. I saw Sam about 20 yards down in the open. I rolled to the right and lobbed a pass to Sam. He caught it but went down right away. It was a 1st down! They were only 7 yards away from the end zone!

In the huddle I called the play, which was a fake hand-off and then a short pass. We lined back up. I took the snap and dropped back. I thrust the ball out

to Paul, and then pulled back in. This time I rolled left. Seeing Jake in the end zone, I ran left and launched a pass in front of Jake. He stretched out his hands to catch it, but a defender hit the ball away.  

They were playing the Buckeyes, and they were beating us 22-17. There was 2:34 on the clock.

In the huddle, it was 2nd and 11 and I called the play. The play I decided to call was a fake pass and then a hand-off. As I took the snap, I dropped back again. We ran the play as planned and got 3 yards before being

tackled.

In the next play, I was sacked.  

In the play after that, I ran the ball 2 yards before being tackled on the line of scrimmage because I was trying to avoid another sack. I looked at the clock, and there was 4 seconds left in the game.

  In the huddle, I called the play, a short pass. We lined up. I took the snap and dropped back. Then I started to run to the end zone (instead of doing the assigned play) with the ball cradled in my hands. I knew I could make it, it

was just a couple of yards away. I went left, then the buzzer went off. I was then tackled on the 2 yard line. Depressed that they had lost, I stood up and walked off of the field.  

Chapter 2  

As I walked back to the locker rooms I wondered if we would even get into the state tournament.We had a losing record of 2-4 for the state tournament regular season and been the 4th seed in the county tournament and won the tournament getting them an automatic pass to the tournament ,but the officials could cut us from the tournament, right? I hoped that they could still get in the state tournament.

As I was walking out of the locker room, Coach came up to me. “Can I talk to

you for a second?” he asked.

“Sure” I answered.

“What happened in the 4th when you did’t do assigned plays?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Well you need to fix it before the next game against the Cyclones,” he said as he walked away.

“Well, I think you guys did amazing!” Joey's Mom said on the way home.

“Sure.” said Aiden, Joey’s twin brother and the Yellow shockers star linebacker.

“I don’t” I said.

“What happened with the defense in the 1st quarter?” Joey’s Dad asked.

As Aiden explained that they did the wrong play by accident, I tried to come up with an explanation to why I played so bad in the 4th quarter, because I knew he would ask about it.

As he tuned to me, he asked“What was with the 4th quarter?” I tried to explain that my teammates were’t running the patterns the correct way, but with one of my teammates in the car with me, it was no use. 

“I don’t know, but I’ll fix it before the next game.” I finally answered. 

“You better fix it.” my Dad said sternly.

“Sure.”

The rest of the ride was in silence.

Chapter 3

Practice that week was fine. There was a new guy there, they introduced him as Mark. Coach John took him aside to figure out which position he would play.  

The offensive coach(Coach Hankock) took me and the other starting offensive players aside to practice the plays that we would run during the next game.  

  Then, I spotted Coach John walked over to the defensive coach on the other side of the field with Mark trailing behind. Sense we were curious which position

Mark would, get we walked over to the defense. We only heard the last part. When Coach said that Mark would be a of the starting cornerback. When he said that I heard a groan from someone in the back. It was probably a cornerback.

As we walked back to the other side of the field, Sam, Paul, and I wondered if Mark would be the last piece we needed to win the state tournament. We decided that we already had all of the pieces that we would need to win it all and that Mark would just get in the way of winning  

At the end of practice, Coach made an announcement. It was an update on the tournament. Everyone was very excited.  

“Quiet!” Coach shouted. “I have a very important announcement, the Yellow shockers have made the tournament!”  

Everyone cheered.

“Also, “Coach said. “the tournament’s Championship game is in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium! And, Dak Prescott will be there!”

  Today was the sweet sixteen game for the tournament! I put on my jersey. My number was #4, Dak Prescott’s number. Since we lived near Dallas, I was a Cowboys fan, like everyone else around here, and Dak was my favorite player.

I ran down stairs to the kitchen, I was very excited for the game, today we played the Cyclones!  

Quickly I ate my breakfast. I met Aiden in the den.We got our pads and our helmet and ran outside, and hopped on our bikes. We rode as fast as we could to the stadium where we would play today.  

“Are you as hyped as me?” I asked when we got there.  

“Yeah!" Aiden answered. “I can’t wait!”

We locked our bikes to the rack and ran through the gates. We slowed down as we entered the stadium. Sense we were 2 ½ hours early, it was weird seeing the stands so empty and quiet.  

When we got to the field, Coach came up to us.  

“Are you guys ready?” he asked.

“Yeah!” We both said in unison.

“The defense is practicing now. The offense in 45 minutes. Warm-ups are in 1 hour for both of you. Now chop-chop!”

Chapter 4

As Jake, Aiden, Paul, and I walked onto the field to flip the coin, we could hear the crowd roaring with excitement. When we got to the referees, 4 Cyclone players were already there. 2 of them were really big, and the other 2 were average height and very skinny.

“Alright, we have heads” said ref #24 pointing to us. ”and tails” pointing to them. He put the coin on his fist, it was a silver dollar. Then he flicked his thumb up in one motion, and the coin went in the air. When it fell, both

referees bent over it to see what was on top. Then they picked up the coin and announced what the coin said. It said heads!  

We huddled up and decided that we were going to pick defense to be on first. We announced our decision. We shook hands with the other players, officials, and the refs. Then ran off of the field.  

The kick-off team ran onto the field. They stopped the Cyclones at the 20 yard line.Then the kick-off team and the starting defense switch places. The defense held their ground for a while, until the Spartans got a 50 yard pass to a

receiver. Then after that they scored a touchdown. The Cyclones lined back up again for the extra point. The holder got the snap and put the ball down. From the corner of the play I could see Aiden running toward the holder, as the place kicker kicked the ball, Aiden dove at the. ball. The ball barely got around Aiden, and missed the goal post badly!  

The receiving team ran onto the field and got in position. The Cyclones punted the ball, Paul caught the ball at the end zone and he ran all the way to about the 30 yard line and was tackled.

Now it was 6-0, Cyclones, so I had to help get a touchdown.  

I ran onto the field, were the huddle was already forming. I ran into the huddle, and called the play, a pass to a receiver. Which ever one was open. We got into position. I took the snap, and stepped back. I noticed Sam was running toward the end zone. I threw him the ball as far as I could. It was too far, but

Sam managed to dive and catch it. Now we were on their 24 yard line.  

The play after that, Paul got a 16 yard run. Now we were on the 8 yard line.  

This time when I called a play, I wanted to trick the defense and try a pass to the tight end, it did’t work so well. One of the defensive linemen got away in time, and pounded the ball away.  

The play after that, Paul ran the ball, leaving us on the 5 yard line.  

In the huddle the next time I called a hand-off fake and then a pass. Hopefully a touchdown pass. We broke the huddle, and lined up. Jake switched sides, and

then the play started. Sam immediately crossed sides, and then he and Jake ran into the end zone. Sam cut in and was all of a sudden open I, of course passed to him. It softly landed in his hands. I rushed to the end zone to congratulate him.  

I was also the place kicker so I lined back up. Paul, who was also the holder, was crouching right in front of me. He took the snap, and held it down. I ran at it and kicked it. It made a perfect arch through the goal post. Now we were winning, 6-7!

Throughout the game, we got 2 more touchdowns and the Spartans got 1.  

Then early in the 4th quarter, the Cyclones were on the 7 yard line. It was now a 4th down. The Defense lined up. Then the Cyclones broke their huddle. From the sidelines, I could tell that it was a pass play. The quarterback took the snap, and stepped back he saw a receiver, that was open. A couple of yards away, Mark saw, that the quarterback saw that there was a man open in the end zone. As the quarterback threw the ball, Mark ran at the open man. He got there just in time. He grabbed the ball and ran down field with the ball. The quarterback

was to slow, so there was nothing in Mark’s way as he ran down the sidelines toward the end zone. As he stepped into the end zone, the crowd went wild. We were now winning,  27-13!

In the middle of the 4th quarter the Cyclones got a 69 yard pass play on a 4th down! All of a sudden they were on the 6 yard line. They scored a touchdown right away on the next play, making it 20-27 after making the extra point.  

Then again late in the 4th quarter, they got a 54 yard pass play and a 21 yard running play, getting them to the 23 yard line.  

Then on the next play Aiden sacked the quarterback. Then after that the quarterback was tackled on the line of scrimmage.  

There were 3 seconds left in the game. The other team was clearly nervous. I could see the other team’s Coach biting his nails constantly.

The quarterback took the snap and was looking for an outlet, but Landon came from out of nowhere and force a bad pass. The pass hit the receiver's

hand, then the ball fell to the ground. The Yellow shockers had won!