Feinstein - The Sixth Man

Alex Myers couldnt believe how cold the ground was. He hadnt noticed it all night, but now, as the finality hit him, he felt himself shivering in the frigid November air.

Hey, man, great game.

Alex looked up from his prone position and saw one of Beaver Falls High Schools massive defensive linemen leaning down, hand outstretched to help him up. He hadnt seen where his last pass of the season had gone, but he knew it hadnt connected. He could see the Beaver Falls players celebrating and his teammates standing around the field, staring into space or kneeling on the turf, hoping the scoreboard would change if they avoided looking at it.

But Alex looked, taking in the reality that Chester Heights High Schools dream of a state football championship had just died.

BEAVER FALLS: , CHESTER HGHTS: .

Alex and his teammates had come through in every do-or-die situation all season.

True to form, in the final minutes of this game they had driven the ball down the field, reaching the 13-yard line with four seconds left, giving them time for one more play.

There was complete calm in the huddle as Alexs best friend, Jonas Ellingtonwho was also the Lions best wide receiverbrought in the play from the bench. It was exactly the play Alex would have called: all-stop.

There would be four receivers in the pattern. All would run straight into the end zone, strung out as far apart as possible, and then curl back to the goal line. Alexs job was to find the first open target and get the ball to him.

I gotta have time, guys, Alex had said as he called the play.

Youll have it, Goldie, center Steve Allison said, calling Alex by his nicknameas in Golden Arm.

On three, Alex said, and they came to the line. Alex had a vague sense that all thirty-five thousand people inside Heinz Fieldthe home of the Pittsburgh Steelerswere screaming, but he felt as if he were playing inside a cone of silence.

Blue! he barked. It didnt matter what he said; his teammates knew the ball would be snapped on the third word he uttered. Gold! He paused a split second and then yelled, Omaha! It was his personal tribute to Peyton Manning, who had adopted the name of the Nebraska city as his signature snap call.

The ball had come back into his hands, delivered right where he wanted it from Allisons shotgun snap. He retreated quickly, looking at all four receivers, but focused on Jonas, who was always a beat quicker than everyone else getting downfield. Sure enough, he saw him plant his foot about three yards into the end zone and spin back in the direction of the goal line.

Alex knewknewat that moment that they were going to make the play. But as he stepped up to throw, he sensed someone bearing down on him from the left side. He had to take a quick step to his right to avoid the rusher, and as the ball came out of his hands, he realized he hadnt gotten everything behind the throw because of it. The Beaver Falls lineman piled into him just as he released the ball, and they went down in a heap together.

The season was over. And it didnt have a happy ending.

The last thing Alex wanted to do the night after losing the state championship was go to the holiday dance. But he had asked Christine Whitford to go with him weeks ago, and it had taken him weeks before that to work up the nerve to ask her. You dont blow off your first date with the prettiest girl in school because youre sulking.

Itll be good for you, his mom insisted when he came downstairs, feeling goofy in the blue blazer, white shirt, red tie, and khaki pants she had laid out for him. You look very handsome.

If being with Christine didnt take his mind off the game, nothing would. She had texted him that afternoon to make sure he still wanted to go. Of course! hed texted back, even though moping had become his favorite sport at that point.

Christine was waiting for him in the lobby just outside the gym, where the dance was being held. They had agreed to meet at schoolthe better, Alex thought, to avoid awkward parental hovering. Life would be much simpler in two years when he had a drivers license.