The Four Downs of Fall

The Four Downs of Fall

By

Adrian English

The sun hid behind the clouds but revealed enough of itself so that the day was not completely ruined. The weather was perfect for sweatshirts and long-sleeved flannels. Leaves of rustic colors laid in their perfect spots in yards all over the neighborhood. Kids were in backyards getting ready for that one joyful event that coincided with the arrival of this time of year.

“Alright, we got to pick teams,” said Mark as he tossed a football up in the air repeatedly.

“Joey and Ralph have the best arms, let’s make them captains and they can be QBs too,” said Mikey.

Everyone in the group either nodded or made some sort of noise to indicate that they were down with Mikey’s assessment of team making. Neighborhood football was a serious business and to maximize the fun, the kids had to take special care in creating balanced teams. Every now and then, someone tried to upset that balance. After all, they were only kids. They wanted to dominate each other like that old guy with all the rings who couldn’t decide whether he wanted to quit football. But unlike him, these kids had a lifetime of neighborhood football ahead of them.

Joey and Ralph stepped forward and the other six boys stepped back.

Joey smiled at Ralph.

“First pick or ball first?” he asked. This was the moment that would make or break the afternoon for either kid.

“Give me first pick. You can’t beat my squad. Not today,” said Ralph.

Joey nodded as a sly smile crossed his face.

“I’ll take Mikey,” said Ralph.

Mikey clapped once and went to stand behind Ralph.

Joey gave his group of friends a thoughtful once-over and then pointed at Billy. The kid nodded and walked up to Joey. He leaned into Joey’s right ear and started whispering. Ralph saw the move and shook his head. Teams had yet to be fully picked and it seemed that already, kids were calling plays. Everyone wanted to be a Backyard Bellichek.

“James,” said Ralph.

James jumped up and down.

“Yeah Joey, you guys are so dead,” he said. He moved so that he was standing beside Ralph and Mikey.

“We’ll see about that,” said Joey as the sly smile remained on his face. He pointed at heavy-set kid with freckles on his face.

“Come on, Mark.”

Mark, while being the biggest kid in the group, had a speed that was uncanny for someone his size. If there was anyone in the neighborhood who it seemed was destined to actually play football when they got older, it was Mark.

“Drat!” said James. In all his zeal to pound Ralph into the grass today, he had forgotten about Mark.

Joey chuckled.

Ralph had one more pick left, and it was down to two people, Arnie and Tom. Arnie had good hands, but Tom was fast. It was a tough decision.

“Arnie,” said Ralph.

Arnie moved over to Ralph’s team. Tom went to stand beside Joey. Joey took a step forward so that he looked at all the kids and all the kids were looking at Joey.

“Okay guys, here’s how it’s going to go down. Two-hand touch. Two completions equal a first down. Count to ten-Mississippi before a blitz,” said Joey. The guys nodded.

Next, they marked out the areas that would serve as their end-zones. They used piles of leaves to mark the goal lines on both sides of Joey’s yard. When they had finished, the two teams went to their respective sides of the makeshift field.

Ralph turned to his team, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Alright guys let’s cream ‘em. Let’s show ‘em who runs this yard.”

“Um, Joey’s dad?” said Mickey.

“Really, Mickey? You’re going to go there? I’m talking about right now and this football game. Joey’s dad ain’t out here playing two-hand touch with us,” said Ralph.

“Right. Let’s win!” shouted Mickey.

Ralph picked up the football. His team lined up beside him. Ralph looked down at the other side of the field and saw Joey’s team lined up and ready to go.

“Come on with it!” shouted Joey.

Ralph looked to his teammates and smiled. Then he threw the football up in the air and down to the other end of the yard. James, Arnie, and Mickey sprinted down the field after it.

Tom reached out with his hands and caught the ball. Tom immediately took off running. James took off after him and just barely managed to touch him with both hands. Tom stopped running and looked at James. He shook his head.

“You caught me.”

“I did. Y’all are going down,” said James. He went to go stand with his team as Joey’s team huddled around Tom.

Joey looked each of his teammates in the eye and grinned.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. Tom, you’re going long. Mark, go out on a medium route and then cut left. Billy, I want you to go straight down the field.”

“Let’s do it!” said Tom.

The four boys broke the huddle. Joey took the ball and looked at his team. In their version of the game, there was no center to snap the ball. Joey would hike the ball himself.

“Down! Set! Hike!” shouted Joey.

As soon as Joey said the word, his teammates took off on their assigned routes. Tom sprinted down the field and James ran after him. Mark ran his route in the middle of the field and then started zigzagging around to confuse Mickey. Arnie tried to run tight coverage on Billy. All this activity left Ralph by himself to cover Joey. Ralph knew what he had to do.

Ralph started counting.

“One Mississippi, Two Mississippi...”

Ralph reached seven Mississippi and Joey threw the ball. It sailed through the air and into Tom’s hands. He secured the ball but immediately felt James’s hands on him.

“Down!” shouted James, “I did it! I’m the man! I stopped you twice today, Tommy-Boy!”

“Yeah, whatever,” said Tom and he waited for his team to come to the spot where he had been downed so that they could huddle.

“Less stat tracking and more play. This ain’t ESPN,” said Ralph.

James laughed at the quip.

Joey’s team huddled up and waited for Joey to call the next play.

“Alright guys, they think we’re going to run something different, but here’s the deal, we’re going to run the same play but flip the sides,” said Joey. There were grins on the faces of everyone on the team. They thought Joey was a genius.

The boys broke the huddle and lined up beside Joey. The boys on the other side also lined up and stood across from the other team.

Joey held the ball out in front of him.

“Hut One! Hut Two! Hike!”

The patterns were run, and Joey looked for an open receiver, but none of the other kids was open. In fact, both James and Ralph were running double coverage on Tom. Joey shook his head. He had not seen it coming.

And then suddenly someone shouted, “TEN MISSISSIPPI!”

Ralph veered off from chasing Tom and ran straight at Joey. The young quarterback saw Ralph coming but he also saw that Tom was now open.

Joey threw the ball. Tom turned and reached out to catch it.

James came from out of nowhere and picked the ball off. He took off running down the field and into the end zone. He spiked the football and started dancing. Then he added whooping and hollering to his touchdown celebration ensemble.

Ralph threw both of his arms in the air.

“Yeah! 7-0! What? Y’all thought this was going to be easy? Now ya have to bring it!” he shouted.

Joey shook his head and frowned. He looked back at Tom, Mark, and Billy.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get back in it. They can’t hold us down for long,” he said. He started to walk back to the other side of the field. His team was getting the ball back and so they had a chance. They weren’t out of it yet.

When they reached their endzone, Joey touched Tom on the shoulder.

“They’re about to throw the ball off. Switch places with Mark. Let Mark get the ball. We’re all going to run blocks,” said Joey.

“Gotcha,” said Tom. He switched places with Mark. Everyone then turned to face the team on the other end of the field. Ralph had the ball in his hands and a sinister grin on his face.

“Y’all ready?” he asked.

“Like that guy with the eyebrow always says, just bring it!” said Billy. Tom and Joey laughed.

“Alright. We’ll see if you’re still feeling like that when we’re done. Get ready. Here it comes!” said Ralph.

He heaved the ball high into the air. Joey and his team kept their formation. When they saw where the ball was going to land, they moved into place. Mark held out his hands and watched as the ball fell into them.

“Go!” shouted Joey.

Joey’s shout was really an after-statement because Mark had taken off as soon as the ball had felt secure in his hands. The other team definitely wasn’t waiting as they had started sprinting as soon as Ralph had let the ball go.

Joey, Tom, and Billy took off. They did their best to keep the other team out of the way. Ralph was the only member of the other team who had not taken off running down to the other end of the field. He waited in reserve.

Thanks to his teammates, Mark had made it through the living minefield that was Mickey, Arnie, and James. Of course, that also meant that Ralph was down at the other end waiting for him.

Mark saw Ralph coiled on the balls of his feet, ready to leap in whatever direction Mark was going to run. Mark decided to fake to his left and then he dashed to his right. Ralph was not tricked so easily, and he reached out and tagged Mark with both hands. Mark had been downed but he had traveled half the field.

Joey walked up to Mark flanked by Billy and Tom. Joey reached out and gave Mark some dap.

“That’s what’s up,” said Joey.

“Yeah. That’s what’s up,” agreed Billy.

“Come on, let’s show these bustahs,” said Mark.

The group of four collapsed into a huddle.

“Alright y’all,” said Joey, “We need to get back on the board. I got a special play in mind. I saw it on an NFL game.”

“Creativity. Awesome sauce,” said Billy.

“What are we going to do?” asked Tom.

“Well, it goes a little something like this: Billy is going to hike the ball to me. Yeah, we’re doing an actual hike this time. I know that’s kind of different but bear with me. Tom is going to drop back and I’m going to toss him the ball. Then, I’m going to go out and join Billy and Mark in running patterns. Tom is going to hit me up for a pass,” said Joey.

Mark looked at the other kids and saw the smiles and looks of gleeful anticipation on their faces. He nodded.

“That sounds good!” he said.

“Let’s do it,” said Billy.

The four boys broke off from the huddle and placed themselves in the formation that Joey had discussed. The boys on the other team took their place at their line of scrimmage.

Joey made sure that his team was ready.

“Down! Set! Hike!” shouted Joey.

Billy hiked the ball to Joey. Tom began to drop back. Joey turned and tossed the ball to Tom and took off running.

“Trick play!” shouted Arnie. Ralph and his teammates tried to adjust to the surprise moves that Joey and his team had made. Tom threw the ball right into Joey’s hands. Joey then took off down the field with Mickey and James right on his tail. Mickey managed to run up behind Joey and touch him with both hands.

“No touchdown for you!” shouted Mickey.

“We’ll see about that. It ain’t over yet,” said Joey then he called his team into a huddle.

Joey took a good look at each member of his team. He saw the looks of excitement and hunger in their eyes. They wanted to beat Ralph and his team just as badly as Joey did.

“Guys, we can score on the next play,” he said.

“Yeah, we sure can. Let’s go ahead and get up in there,” said Tom.

“Okay guys, here’s what we’re going to do. Halfback toss, but I’m going to be the halfback. Billy, you hike the ball to Mark and Mark’s going to toss it to me. Then, I hit Tom in the endzone for a touchdown all day,” said Joey.

“That’s what’s up,” said Mark.

The huddle was broken and three of the boys lined up on their line of scrimmage. Mark stood behind Billy.

Ralph immediately picked up on the new formation. He glanced over at James and Mickey. He made sure they were looking at him too and then he mouthed the word “blitz”. The two boys both nodded.

“Down…set…hut one…hut two…Alabama…Hike!”

The counting began as Billy hiked the ball to Mark who then tossed it to Joey who immediately went looking for Tom. He saw that Tom was wide open. That was also when he heard the words that every backyard quarterback dreaded to hear.

“TEN MISSISSIPPI!”

Ralph and Mickey sprinted in. Joey dropped back as he carefully evaded the two boys who were so intent on tagging him with both hands.

“Throw the ball! Throw the ball!” yelled Tom.

Joey reared back and threw the ball with all his might. The ball soared into the air and then down into Tom’s hands in the endzone.

“Yeah!” shouted Joey.

Ralph and Mickey stopped running. They looked back at Tom who now did a touchdown dance. He flailed his arms wildly and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Man, that was just like Lamar Jackson! That was sick!” said Mark.

Tom was still doing his happy dance, only this time he added in lyrics from some old-school 2Pac songs. Joey and Billy also joined in on the dancing and celebrating.

However, the honking of a car horn interrupted their fun. Ralph looked around and saw his mom’s minivan pulling up. She leaned out the driver’s side window and waved at him.

“Come on, Ralph. Time to go home. I know you want some dinner,” she said.

Ralph’s shoulders slumped as all the excitement seeped out of him. He turned around and faced his friends.

“Hey guys, I got to go,” he said in a low tone.

“It’s cool. We’ll just play again tomorrow,” said Billy, “It’s a tie game and we can’t be having stuff like that. We got to settle the score.”

“You ain’t never lied,” said Arnie. He held out his fist and Joey gave him a fist bump as both boys chuckled.

“I had fun playing, as usual. See you later guys,” said Ralph. He turned around and walked to his mother’s minivan. The passenger side door slid open, and Ralph got in. His friends stood in Joey’s yard and watched as Ralph and his mom rode away. Then the remaining boys all turned and looked at each other.

“Well, I guess that’s it,” said Mickey.

“For now,” said Joey.

“Yeah, for now,” said James.

“It was a good game while it lasted,” said Arnie. He held out his fist and one by one, each of the boys gave him a fist bump. Then they all gave each other fist bumps. One by one, all the boys except for Joey started to walk away.

It had been a cold day at the tail end of fall, but the boys had warmed each other with that time-honored tradition of young boys all over the country. They had chosen to have fun and make memories. The game may have ended in a tie but their friendships with each other made them all winners.