Neely: 'I couldn't see. I've never been hit that hard, and for thirty seconds or so I couldn't see.'
Paul: 'We didn't want to waste a time-out, so we yanked him up, got him to his feet,sorta dragged him back to the huddle.'
Silo: 'I slapped him too, and that really helped.'
Neely: 'I don't remember that.'
Paul: 'It was fourth and one. Neely was in la-la land, so I called the play. What can I say, I'm a genius.'
Fourth and one, Spartans are slow coming to the line. Crenshaw doesn't feel too well right now, doesn't look too steady.Huge play.Huge play. This could be the ballgame, folks. East Pike has nine men on the line.Double tight ends, no wideouts. Crenshaw finds the center, long snap, quick pitch to Mabry, who stops, jumps, shovels a pass across the middle to Heath Dorcek,who's wide open! To the thirty! The twenty! Hit at the ten! Stumbles and falls down to the three! First and goal Spartans!
Paul: 'It was the ugliest pass ever thrown in organized football. End over end, a dying duck. Man, was it beautiful.'
Silo: 'Gorgeous. Dorcek couldn't catch the flu; that's whyNeely never threw to him.'
Nat: 'I've never seen anyone run so slow, just a big lumbering buffalo.'
Silo: 'He could outrun your ass.'
Neely: 'The play took forever, and when Heath came back to the huddle he had tears in his eyes.'
Paul: 'I looked atNeely , and he said, 'Call a play.' I remember looking at the clock—three forty to go, and we had to score twice. I said, 'Let's do it now, not on third down.' Silo said, 'Run it up my back.' '
Only three yards from the promised land, folks, and here come the Spartans, hustling to the line, quick set, quick snap, Crenshaw on a keeper, and he walks into the end zone! Silo Mooney and Barry Vatrano bulldozed the entire center of the East Pike line! Touchdown Spartans! Touchdown Spartans! They will not be denied! Thirty-one to twenty-seven! Unbelievable!
Blanchard: 'I remember you guys huddled together before you kicked off, the entire team.Almost got a delay of game.'
There was a long pause. Finally Silo spoke.
Silo: 'We were taking care of business.Had some secrets to protect.'
Couch: 'Secrets about Rake?'
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.'
