Undercover Tailback (3 page)

“So, what do
you
think, Parker?” she asked.

He got up and stretched. Then he put his arms behind his head and twisted back and forth. Then he did a few toe touches.

“Why do you always wiggle around like that when you’re thinking?” she asked. “Just stand still and tell me your theory.”

“I think there was something really fishy going on,” he announced.

“Fishy? What do you mean?”

“This is going to sound kind of crazy, but … well” — he hesitated — “maybe that guy who ran off with the camera was taking
pictures.”

“That’s usually what people do with a camera, Parker,” Melissa said sarcastically.

“Don’t get wise,” he said. “I mean, I think he was taking pictures of the coach’s playbook. And he was using the paperweight
to hold it in place.”

“That’s pretty far out,” said Melissa. “Why would anyone want to do that?”

“Maybe one of the guys on the team wanted
a copy to study,” Parker suggested. “Or maybe it was a scout from one of the pro teams who wanted the inside track —”

“There you go, Parker, making up stories,” Melissa said. “That’s how you start to get into trouble. No wonder the coach didn’t
believe you. Nobody does. You’re always telling lies, one after the other.”

“I wasn’t lying,” Parker insisted. “I’d never lie about something really important.”

“Hah!” snorted Melissa. “That’s the biggest lie of all!”

S
aturday morning dawned sunny and cold. By ten o’clock it had warmed up, but there was still a trace of dew on the grassy gridiron.

At one end of the field, the Lawrence Leopards were going through their drills. Their white uniforms with blue trim and red
numbers looked bright and flashy.

The Kensington Kudzus, in their orange uniforms with white numbers, were just about through with their warmup when the first
whistle blew. The referee signaled that it was time to start the game.

Nick Watson, the Leopards’ quarterback, met up with Spike Newton for the Kudzus at the center of the field.

The Leopards won the coin toss. They elected to receive and ran off to the east end of the field to get ready.

“Okay, guys, this is it,” said Spike. Besides having a strong throwing arm, the Kudzus’ quarterback was the team’s best placekicker.

The Kudzus lined up for their attack down-field.

Spike kicked the ball high but not very far. It dropped into the hands of a receiver on the Leopards’ thirty-five yard line.
But the runner didn’t get anywhere. Tackle Billy Wilson brought him down just shy of the forty.

Seated on the bench, the Kudzus’ offense tried to guess what the Leopards would do with the ball.

“They’re in pretty good field position,” offered Huey. “I bet they run the ball.”

“Nah, first and ten on their own forty?” said the Kudzu tackle Tru Ballinger. “They’ll figure our guys are gonna guess that.
Watch for the pass — the long bomb.”

He was right about the pass but wrong about
the distance. Watson threw a short screen pass. His tight end grabbed it with no trouble. But Jerry Lawrence, the Kudzus’
cornerback, was on him in a flash and made the tackle.

It was a gain of four yards. Second and six to go for a first down.

This time Watson called a running play. He handed off the ball to his fullback, Rick Fanelli, who broke through the Kudzus’
line. He crossed the midfield stripe and was heading for daylight. But a horde of orange uniforms drove him offside at the
Kudzus’ twenty yard line.

“C’mon, you guys,” called Coach Isaac from the sideline. “Dig in!”

The Kudzus’ defense did the best they could. But the Leopards kept inching their way forward with a series of short running
plays.

“They’re too smart to put the ball in the air this close,” said Spike. “Too much to lose.”

At a signal from Coach Isaac, the Kudzus’ defense called a time-out and came over to the sidelines.

As the whole team crowded around, he
pointed out some of the mistakes that they were making.

Terry Gold, the Kudzus’ right guard, spoke up.

“I noticed something, too,” he said. “If Watson looks to the right before he starts to call signals, it usually means he’s
going to pass. That’ll give us a shot at him.”

“You’ve been watching too much football on TV,” said Bucky Burke, the nose tackle.

“Just keep your eyes open and play some heads-up ball,” said the coach. “Terry could be right.”

He was. On the next play, Watson glanced briefly toward Larry Ling, his receiver on the right, before he called out, “Two!
Four! Ten! Hike!”

The Leopards formed a wall as their quarterback looked for his intended receiver. But deep in the Kudzus’ backfield, Ned Bushmiller
had Ling covered like wallpaper.

Meanwhile, Terry Gold broke through the
Leopards’ line and headed for Watson, who kept fading back.

The beleaguered quarterback searched for a white uniform in the clear. He shifted to the left, then to the right, farther
and farther back from the line of scrimmage.

Suddenly, a sea of orange-and-white uniforms was practically on top of him. Before he could position himself to throw the
ball, he was brought down — back in his own territory.

From the sidelines, the Kudzus’ offense called out to their teammates on the field.

“Way to go!”

“Right on!”

Slaps and cheers rang out as the defense stomped down the field.

“I think they’re a little shook up,” said Fabian.

Parker agreed. “Wait till we get out there. We’ll show ’em a thing or two.”

Fabian nodded.

The next play produced a pileup that gained the Leopards nothing.

“Third down and forty? He’s gotta throw now,” said Spike.

But Watson surprised a Kudzu defense that was looking for the long pass. He flipped a short lateral to his halfback, Albie
Fredericks, who looked as though he was in the clear. Fredericks grabbed it, but Billy Wilson, the Kudzus’ left tackle, was
right there. Billy hit him the minute he took his first step forward.

The ball squirted out of Fredericks’s hold and wobbled forward. Mike McCarthy, the Leopards’ right guard, and Marty Marino,
his Kudzus defensive counterpart, collided as they rushed to pick it up.

Their impact sent the ball bouncing back down toward the east end of the field.

The Kudzu bench was on their feet.

“Get that ball!” rang out from both sides of the field.

After a wild scramble by a dozen players, Kudzu linebacker Jerry Lawrence landed on the ball four-square.

It was on the Leopards’ twenty-five yard line!

A chorus of groans broke out in the Leopards’ stands. The crowd of Kudzus fans cheered wildly.

This is our big chance, thought Parker. Whoever scores first always has the advantage.

“Let’s move that offense!” called Coach Isaac.

“Go, team, go!” shouted the Kudzus fans.

In the huddle, Spike announced his plan of action.

“We’re not going to mess up like they did,” he said. “We’re sticking to the ground. We’ll start with Thirty-two Grind.”

Just like in practice, thought Parker. Out loud, he said, “Okay, guys, I’ll be looking for that hole.”

Spike clapped his hands, and the team broke from the huddle.

The Kudzu quarterback barked out the signals.

Wham!
As soon as the ball touched Parker, he was brought down by two Leopard linemen. He barely managed to hold on to the pigskin.

I guess they’re wise to that one, he thought.

“Fabe, looks like you’re going to have to do it,” said Spike. “We’ll try Twenty-three Blue.”

This play called for a quick fake to Parker and then a handoff to fullback Fabian deRosa. It was a play the Kudzus often used
at the goal line when they needed just a yard or two.

I guess Spike is planning to crawl down to the goal, Parker thought. As long as we get there.

Huey Walker centered the ball. Spike leaned in, called out, “Two! Zero! Three! Hut! Hut! Hut!”

Spike grabbed the ball, faked toward Parker, then spun around and turned it over to Fabian.

Thud!
Again, the Leopards were on top of the receiver. They brought him down almost before he had the ball in his hands.

It was the second loss of yardage for the Kudzus. Now they had twenty-two yards to go for a first down.

“Third and twenty-two,” said Cris. “You have to put it in the air, Spike.”

“I know, I know,” said the Kudzu quarterback. He licked his fingertips. “I’m gonna try one to Moose. We’ll go with Eighty-eight
Red.”

They lined up in their usual single wing position,
with Spike behind Huey at center. Fabian stood behind Spike, with Parker to his right and a little forward. Stacy and Cris
moved wide to the right and left. Moose got into position just off left tackle.

Spike roared out the signal loud and clear.

The ball was snapped. Spike pulled back a few feet. His protection held. He was able to get off a clean bullet right at Moose.

But it never reached the Kudzus’ tight end. A Leopards’ player grabbed it in midair and tore off down the field without a
Kudzu near him. He crossed the goal line standing up.

The Leopards’ center kicked for the extra point and made it. The score: Leopards 7, Kudzus 0.

The kickoff put the Kudzus in good field position again. But their offense ground out three quick plays that went nowhere.
There was no choice but to kick back to the Leopards.

“Get some rest,” said the coach when Parker got to the bench.

Parker picked up a paper cup and took a drink of water.

Not one single play worked, he thought. Spike didn’t seem to be off the mark. He just wasn’t getting much of a chance. And
whenever he did, it seemed like a Leopard was always there waiting. It’s almost as though they knew what we were going to
do. Before we did it!

He watched the Leopards move slowly toward the western goal line. Watson, the Leopards’ quarterback, wasn’t having much luck
with his passes, but he had all the time in the world to get them off.

A strange idea began to take shape in the back of Parker’s mind.

A roar from the stands interrupted his thoughts.

Across the field, the Leopards were on their feet cheering. The Leopards had scored again.

But they missed the conversion.

“Go, Kudzus, go!” shouted the fans. They saw a slim chance to get on the scoreboard now. If the Kudzus could make two touchdowns
and score the extra points, they could take the lead.

As they lined up for the kickoff, the whistle blew. It was the end of the first quarter.

While the two teams exchanged field positions, the coach called Parker over to him.

“Okay, I want you to listen carefully, Parker,” he said. “They’ll be looking for you to receive. In the huddle, tell Spike
to keep the ball on the ground. Tell him to use Fabian as often as possible.”

Parker joined the Kudzus’ huddle.

He told Spike what the coach had said.

“Okay, okay,” said Spike. “But you guys have to open up those holes. We’ll start with Dynamite Black.”

Fabian clenched his fist. He was ready to run with the ball.

Again, as soon as the signals were out of Spike’s mouth, the Leopards bore down.

This time they stopped Fabian for a loss of five.

On the next down, the Kudzus got lucky. The Leopards were so eager, they were offside before play began.

The penalty gave the Kudzus a little breathing space.

But not enough. Spike handed off to Parker on the next play. He was tackled as soon as he got the ball.

In fact, it felt like the entire Leopard squad was on top of him!

Huey helped him to his feet. “You okay, Parker?” he asked. The short, rugged center was used to pileups. He knew what it felt
like to be on the bottom.

Parker brushed the dirt from his hands. He shook off the muscle aches.

“I’m all right,” he said. “But something really weird’s going on. They’re on top of us before we get a chance to run our plays.
You know what I think?” he continued. “I think they know them! And this is how. …”

He quickly told his teammates about seeing someone run out of Coach Isaac’s office with a camera. He described the desk with
the open playbook and the gator replica holding it in place.

“Then what?” asked Moose.

“The coach came in, and I told him what happened,” said Parker.

“Did he say anything? Did he think someone was stealing our plays?” asked Cris.

“Uh … not exactly,” answered Parker.

“And you never saw the guy’s face or anything?” asked Tripp Collins, the Kudzu offensive right guard.

“No, I told you, just his back. ’Sides, he was wearing a hood,” said Parker.

“You tried to catch him, but he got away?” asked Huey.

“Yeah, you see, there were a million kids —”

“Parker, you’re so full of baloney,” Cris interrupted. “When are you going to knock it off and start telling the truth?”

“Hey, we’ve got a game to play,” said Spike.

The referee was starting to pace up and down. They broke from the huddle just in time to avoid a penalty for delaying the
game.

Spike had called for a pass to Cris.

Cris pushed past his blocker and raced down the field. As he hit his mark, he turned. He could see the ball spiraling down
right at him.

As Cris reached for the ball, a Leopard safety streaked in front of him and grabbed it. Luckily, the receiver went offside
right afterward — or there might have been another Leopard touchdown on the scoreboard.

That interception was no lucky break! thought Parker. Their defense knew where Cris was going to be. They always know what
we’re going to do. It has to be that guy with the camera!

Parker straggled back to the Kudzus huddle.

“Listen, guys, I’m telling you, they know our plays!” he insisted.

But no one paid any attention.

T
he Leopards held on to the ball for most of the second quarter. But the Kudzus defense kept them from scoring again.

At the end of the half, the Leopards were ahead 13-0.