Silo: "Yep."
Couch: "Doesn't he show up about now?"
Paul: "We weren't watching, but at some point after we kicked off, word spread down the sideline that Rake was back. We spotted him at the edge of the end zone, just standing there with the other four coaches, still wearing their green sweatshirts, hands in pockets, watching nonchalantly as if they were the grounds crew or something. We hated the sight of them."
Nat: "It was us versus them. We didn't care about East Pike."
Blanchard: "I'll never forget that sight—Rake and his assistants at the edge of the field, looking like a bunch of whores in church. At the time we didn't know why they were over there. Still don't, I guess."
Paul: "They were told to stay away from our sideline."
Blanchard: "By whom?"
Paul: "The team."
Blanchard: "But why?"
Nat reached for the volume. Buck Coffey's voice was beginning to crack as the excitement took its toll. To compensate for the fading strength and clarity, Buck was just getting louder. When East Pike walked to the line on first down, Buck was practically yelling into his microphone.
Ball on the eighteen, clock still at three twenty-five to go. East Pike has a grand total of three first downs and sixty-one yards of offense in the second half. Everything they've tried has been stuffed down their throats by an inspired bunch of Spartans. A magnificent turnaround, the gutsiest performance I've seen in twenty-two years of calling Spartan football.
Silo: "Go for it, Buck."
Handoff right side, for one, maybe two yards.East Pike is not sure what to do right now. They'd love to burn some clock, but they need to get some first downs. Three minutes, ten seconds, and the clockis running. Messina with all three time-outs left, and they're gonna need them. East Pike really dragging now, slow to the huddle, slow with the play from the sidelines, play clock down to twelve, they break huddle, slow to the line.Four, three, two, one, the snap, pitch right to Barnaby, who scoots around the corner for five, maybe six.A big third down now, third and three on the twenty-five, with the clock moving.