Free Kickoff! by Tiki Barber Page B

attention to the game. But suddenly, there was a commotion out on the field. The refs were signaling that it was Eagles’ ball—there must have been a fumble!
    Everyone on the Eagles’ sideline cheered and whooped it up, and the offense ran back onto the field.
    Suddenly, the momentum seemed to have shifted. Cody Hansen, looking much more confident, completed three straight passes to three different receivers—the last one a perfectly thrown bomb down the sideline all the way to the Mountaineers’ twenty yard line.
    Then, on first down, Cody dropped back to pass.But he must have seen an opening, because suddenly, he dashed through the middle on a quarterback draw, catching the Mountaineers off guard. Cody made a quick move to his left, dodged the middle linebacker, and dove into the end zone for a touchdown!
    Before the visiting Mountaineers knew what had hit them, they found themselves trailing, 13–10.
    Ronde and Tiki got more into the game now. If you had to ride the bench, it sure was more fun to do it when your team was winning!
    The game settled in now, with both sides’ defenses digging in. The two teams’ punters took turns kicking the ball back and forth, but the score remained the same. The big question was, which side would crack first under the building pressure?
    In the fourth quarter, the Eagles’ defense pressured the Mountaineers into making a pair of costly mistakes. First, their running back had the ball stripped from his hands by Eagles’ linebacker Ira Gutzel. That led to another Eagles TD, with Cody connecting on a long bomb to wide receiver Curt Schoenig.
    â€œMan,” said Ronde under his breath. He wished it had been him on the field, catching that touchdown pass!
    The game quickly turned into a rout as the Mountaineers’ quarterback threw an interception. Again, Ronde was torn as he watched Jeff Jacobsen, the Eagles’ starting safety, run it back for another TD. Another extrapoint by Adam (the kid never missed!) and the Eagles’ lead stood at a commanding 27-10!
    With less than two minutes left, and just when Tiki and Ronde had given up hope of ever getting in the game, Coach Ontkos, who handled the offense, called Tiki’s name. Tiki grabbed a helmet and trotted over to him, while Ronde watched and listened.
    â€œJust plow right into the line and hold on to the ball,” Ontkos told Tiki. “Don’t worry about breaking a big play—we’ve already got enough points. We just don’t want to make any mistakes.”
    Ronde didn’t like hearing that. He knew you could never have enough points. But he understood that the coach didn’t want Tiki to risk fumbling the ball by trying too hard to get an extra yard or two.
    Ronde sat back down and watched as Tiki ran the ball straight into the line, three times in a row. He gained a total of maybe two yards, but forced the Mountaineers to use up their last two time-outs.
    After an Eagles punt, Coach Pellugi called Ronde’s name.
    â€œFinally!” Ronde muttered angrily. With only a minute left, the game was basically over anyway. But he was still happy to be in the game.
    â€œYou’re in at cornerback,” Pellugi said, patting Ronde on the shoulder. “Give the receiver lots of room—we don’t want any TDs connecting.”
    Ronde played the next two downs, but they didn’t throw to his man, so he never got the chance to make a play. Then the final gun sounded, and the game was over.
    The Eagles all jumped up and down, cheering their first win of the season. Everyone chest bumped, high-fived, and gave each other crazy handshakes. Then they lined up to shake the Mountaineers’ hands.
    When they got back to the locker room, Coach Spangler gathered the team together. “Well, that was a pretty sloppy performance,” he said, shaking his head as the team members fell silent.
    Then a smile played on the coach’s face. “But