Free Blue Bloods of Bois D’Arc by Dick Brown

the black members of the team whose lockers were all together at the south end of the locker room. “What’s your problem, Diron? I just want to talk to Junior. You played a hell of a game, giving me time to throw to Junior. You all played a hell of a game.”
    “What’s up, man?” Junior stepped between the two players.
    “I was just telling Diron what a good game he played.” Rod strained to sound calm and cordial to the big tackle he had known for years playing pick-up games in the Flats. “You too, man, you really burned them good. I just wanted to see if you and Lawanda wanted to meet me and Cass at the Sizzle Burger. She’s waiting for me outside. What do you say?”
    “Tonight’s kind of special, know what I’m saying?” Junior mumbled through his sweaty jersey as he pulled it over his head. “Big win calls for a big celebration with my boys, know what I mean?” Junior gestured toward the group of players behind him. “Me and the boys got some celebratin’ to do. Maybe we’ll catch you later.”
    “Yeah, later. Good game, man.” Rod’s voice trailed off as he walked away. He hated it when Junior performed for the benefit of his black friends in public. He knew Junior would rather have taken Lawanda to meet him and Cass at the Sizzle Burger. That’s just the way it had always been, and integration wasn’t going to change that any time soon. Even with all the show of togetherness by the town, the last thing Bois D’Arc wanted to see was a black couple and a white couple together on a date. Playing football together was one thing, but mixed dating was something the town wasn’t ready to accept.

Chapter 15
    Dream season
    Three months later, Bois D’Arc had plowed through their ten-game schedule unbeaten and was crowned District IV champion for the first time in the school’s history. The new shotgun offense had been more effective than Coach Haskins ever dreamed. But by the end of the season, opposing teams stacked their defenses to slow down the Bois D’Arc air attack. Bois D’Arc played all the way to the state semifinals, edged Park Haven thirty-four to twenty-eight in a hard-fought game, and advanced to the state championship game against Tindale. The championship contest matched the only two unbeaten teams left in the state.
    Tindale lived up to its name, The Thundering Buffaloes. For most of four quarters, they disrupted the Armadillos’ smooth-working offense with a hard-charging line that outweighed the Armadillos by an average of twenty-five pounds a man. Rod was relentlessly pressured every down, and Junior was double-teamed in the secondary all night.
    With less than two minutes in the game, the Armadillos trailed seventeen to thirteen with the ball resting on their own twelve-yard line. Rod looked to sidelines for Coach Haskins to signal the play. Instead, Butch Talbert, a tight end, came running onto the field and poked his head into the huddle. “Coach said run twenty-four, fake left, screen right,” Butch said, panting.
    “Hell, they’ll be looking for a pass and a screen is too dangerous this close to our goal line. Okay, here’s what we’re going to run. Quarterback draw on two.”
    “But Coach said . . .” Butch objected.
    “Quarterback draw, damn it.” Rod put his hand on big Diron Little’s shoulder pad and said, “Take that tackle left and Hoskins, snap the ball on set-hut and push that trash-talking nose guard to the right and drill him into the ground. Let’s do it. Break.”
    The stadium fans were on their feet screaming as Rod twisted his way through the surprised Buffaloes’ defense for a first down at the thirty-eight-yard line. The clock was stopped at thirty-five seconds to move the chains. Rod called their final time out and ran to the sideline in response to Coach Haskins’s flailing arms.
    “Coach, they were expecting the screen,” Rod exclaimed before he reached the sidelines.
    “All right, son, you lucked out that time, but if you ever do