Travius looked around him. Staring back he saw 20 eyes all looking at him for the answer. He looked up at the scoreboard and felt a twinge of panic, or was it desperation? The scoreboard told the story, Home 42 Away 49. Travius was standing on the 12 yard line on his home field. He glanced at the time, 42 seconds.
Travius looked to the sidelines and recognized the signal from his Head Coach, teacher, and father Brody Woodson. ‘Is he kidding?’ Travius mumbled as he glanced into the bleachers. There they were the scouts. There were at least 20 scouts in the bleachers. It almost seemed as if there were as many scouts as hometown fans. The scouts were here for one reason. That was to watch his twin brother, Quigley Woodson, the tailback for the WACO Warriors.
The Woodson family had moved to Iowa from North Carolina three years ago, when Travius’ mother got a job offer at a wire form company that doubled her previous annual salary. It was a move that as their father put it “Made all the sense in the world”. Travius looked across the huddle at his brother, the only other player on the team that wasn’t white, and thought how it didn’t make any sense at all.
The only reason the scouts were even here was because Quigley had started as a freshman at their old High School in North Carolina and had put up numbers that were unheard of. He continued to do the same at WACO, but this was against inferior competition (Travius' senior class had 32, and only 14 of them were boys, of which only 8 played football), there wouldn’t have been 20 scouts in the stands had it not been for his one year in Tarheel country.
Travius called the play, “22x – y push – thunder cross, on three”. It was a cut back play to Quigley. The team had one timeout left and 88 yards to go in 42 seconds and the head coach was calling the 39th running play to Quigley of the game. Travius walked the team to the line of scrimmage and took his spot under center…..
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Book of Cash Chapter 2: Verse 11- Do not PM or IM me until you have exhausted every other way.
First off, an opinion cannot be wrong....its an OPINION
Ok, good. In my opinion, you're an idiot. Good thing I can't be wrong!
Timothy 2:12
Travius looked down the field toward the end zone, it seemed a mile away. The Warriors needed to win today in order to go to the state tournament. The reason scouts were at the last game of the season to watch Quigley instead of just watching him in the tourney against better teams, in case the Warriors didn’t make it and this was their last game.
The defense came out in a three down lineman set with two linebackers and six defensive backs; they were ready for a deep pass. “Trojan Odd,” He yelled to his left, “Trojan Odd.” again to his right. Trojan was an audible that told the offensive line to block like a draw play. “Set,” Travius sung out, “huuut, hut, huut.” The ball was in Travius hands, he took a three step drop with the ball by his ear. He looked downfield, and watched as the defensive backs ignored the receivers, all eyes on Quigley. Even though their coach had called a play to defend the deep ball those guys had been beaten and battered by Quigley all game, and now 467 rushing yards later they all knew the ball was going to him again.
Travius lowered the ball in front of him just as Quigley cut back across in front; Quigley had the ball and was following a guard down the field. The guard had pancaked the linebacker and was heading towards a safety.
But this story isn’t about Quigley, it’s about Travius, who looked to the sideline and watched his father’s joy in watching Quigley run. He looked into the stand at his mother who was jumping up and down. ‘Murphy’s Law,’ he thought ‘Quigley doesn’t even like playing football. Yet everyone is watching him.’
Travius hurried down the field, Quigley had gained around 25 yards, but the clock was ticking. “You should have gotten out of bounds!” Travius shouted at Quigley when he got to the huddle. Quigley nodded but he was out of breath, his father was working him like a mule in front of the scouts, to show them not only his skill but his toughness and durability.
Travius called the next play and the team hurried to the line. There were 19 seconds left on the clock when the ball was snapped. Travius took the snap and faked a handoff to the fullback, then immediately took off to the left. The Warriors ran the option 90% of the time they ran offensive plays. Travius had a lot of practice at running the option.
Travius turned the corner, and headed up the field he saw the safeties eyes looking at him and then over to Quigley. A linebacker was closing in and Travius pitched the rock left to Quigley who took it straight at the safety. ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Get out of bounds’, thought Travius. Quigley tried to juke the safety and get around him, he wanted to score the TD, but the corner came up behind him and took him down by his feet in bounds.
Travius looked to the Ref and signaled for the last timeout. He then glanced at the clock which showed 11 seconds left. Quigley had taken the ball to the opponent’s 41 yard line. Travius walked to the sideline and to his father.
“Sir,” Travius started when he got to his father “I can throw the ball to the end zone from here easily; 11 seconds would give us two shots!” Travius already knew the answer. “No,” Brody replied “We are running 22 Jet smoke XZ double Y go.” Travius put his head down, and started to walk away when his father grabbed his arm. “Tell Quigley I said he better get that ball out of bounds, and when he does you call the next play in the huddle which will be Titan Clone”
Travius looked at his father in disbelief. He jogged back out to the field with a huge smile on his face. The guys were all waiting for him in a huddle. He called the play that his father told him to which was a sweep right to Quigley, then he looked at Quigley. “Coach said to make sure you get your stupid *** out of bounds, he has another play in mind for us to win this game with.”
The team got set in its formation and Travius took the snap, toss sweep to the right, but the tackle got beat, the DE was headed right at Quigley and hit him just as the ball did. “Fumble!” Travius heard from all around him the defensive players were all screaming it over and over. Travius looked for the ball in a panic and he saw it. He ran after the ball and just as he was about to grab it a linebacker from the other team grabbed the ball and raced down the sidelines.
Travius chased him down and grabbed the back of his shoulder pads, dragging him down, and saving another touchdown. Travius turned around and looked for a flag on the field, nothing. He looked up at the scoreboard, game over. He looked back down the field and saw Quigley heading out to the bleachers to meet and great the scouts, the rest of the team was on the field, shocked. It was the end, it was all over, and they had lost.
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Book of Cash Chapter 2: Verse 11- Do not PM or IM me until you have exhausted every other way.
First off, an opinion cannot be wrong....its an OPINION
Ok, good. In my opinion, you're an idiot. Good thing I can't be wrong!
Timothy 2:12
That's a great story Cash! I'm hoping it goes on into college and I can't wait to see how that goes.
__________________
l 1 KC Chief Super Bowl Championship l - l 1 KC Royals World Series Title l - l 2 Kansas University Jayhawk NCAA Basketball Chamionships l
dang I thought it was going to be a happy ending but in real life that kind of thing happens more then winning the game so that maskes it realistic...nice story
It was near graduation time at WACO High School. Travius was a 4.0 student, he was smart and he worked hard on the things that didn’t come naturally (like government and history). He walked in the front door of his home in Wayland, today was a long day of working on final reports and taking final exams.
He went to the kitchen and grabbed an apple and a Propel sports drink. He walked into the living room, ready to play a game of Madden before his father got home. In the living room was his brother and a man in a suit, they were sitting and talking. This was a normal sight for Travius; recruiters had been at his house regularly talking with Quigley trying to persuade him that their school was the best choice for him.
The man in the suit stood up when Travius entered the room, and extended his hand, “Hi Travius my name is Ted Roof.” Travius shook his hand and thought the name sounded familiar.’ “Duke?” Travius asked. “Yes Sir.” Ted answered. Travius couldn’t help but laughing out loud. “I’m sorry Mr. Roof,” Travius stated honestly “It’s just that you can’t be serious. I mean Duke is going to send its head coach all the way to Iowa to try to recruit my brother, when he has offers from places like USC, Miami, Texas, and Oklahoma, that’s funny you have to admin it. I mean he would go to UNC before he would go to Duke, we grew up in North Carolina, and we are Tarheel fans….. No offense Mr. Roof, but Duke’s football program sucks.”
Travius glanced at his brother and his brother was just sitting staring at him with a blank expression with his lower jaw dropped and his mouth wide open. Travius couldn’t believe his brother was actually considering going to Duke, they must be offering him a house or a Ferrari.
“It’s worse than that,” Mr. Roof began, “Mike Schneider, our starting QB was injured in a motorcycle accident, and we aren’t sure the extent of the injuries or whether he will be able to start the year, but the fact that he was on a motorcycle to begin with breaks the rules we have for our student athletes. So it looks like we might suck worse this year.”
Travius stood there digesting what was just said. Dukes starting QB might not be starting the season this year, and there was no way Quigley was going to play for them. Travius loved playing football, and he starting feeling excited at the possibilities of why Mr. Roof was standing in his living room at this moment.
“Look Travius, I know you have been offered a partial academic scholarship to the University of Iowa, and I know you are highly interested in medical research. I’ve been talking with your brother and I hear that your plans are to try to walk on at Iowa and play whatever position they stick you at, if you even make the team.” Mr. Roof paused and then continued. “Duke university is prepared to give you a full scholarship, not only that but it will be a combined athletic and academic scholarship, which means if you play 4 years of football for us you could attend our college for eight years all expenses paid.”
Travius was being overwhelmed, he was getting everything he wanted all at once it almost seemed to good to be true. At Iowa he was being offered a scholarship that would pay for his tuition for two years after which he would have to work in the hospital in order to pay for the rest of his schooling. He would need to walk on and not even be guaranteed a spot on the team, and then he might have to play tight end, or linebacker, or safety. On the other hand he could go to Duke, play football as a quarterback, get eight years of college fully paid, and he would be moving home. Travius hadn’t seen his friends from NC in three years. He started thinking, trying to find the catch. What was the trick here, this was unbelievable, and his father couldn’t even say no to this, this ‘made all the sense in the world’.
“Well Tra’,” Brody said as he entered the room and closed his cell phone, “it looks like you will be attending my Alma Mater. Coach Roof, don’t you have some papers for Travius to sign?”
Travius understood now, his father had set all of this up. His father had attended Duke, and played football there. His father must have seen the news about Mike Schneider, and made some phone calls. His father had just done more for him than Titan Clone could have ever done. There was no guarantee that WACO would have won even if they would have had a chance to run that play. Of course it would have felt good to throw the TD and possibly win the game and go to state, but now he was going to play football in college and it sounded as though he was going to be the starting Quarterback as a freshman. And to top it all off he wouldn’t have to share the ball with his brother.
Travius was going to North Carolina. He was going home. He was going to be a Blue Devil.
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Book of Cash Chapter 2: Verse 11- Do not PM or IM me until you have exhausted every other way.
First off, an opinion cannot be wrong....its an OPINION
Ok, good. In my opinion, you're an idiot. Good thing I can't be wrong!
Timothy 2:12
That was great Cash. You're good at this man, I can't wait for the next one.
__________________
l 1 KC Chief Super Bowl Championship l - l 1 KC Royals World Series Title l - l 2 Kansas University Jayhawk NCAA Basketball Chamionships l
WOW
Great great story Cash. Its nice to know he got offered something and now he dont have to be in the shadow of his arrogant brother.
I cant wait for more segments from this guy. You got me addicted. When is the next segment coming aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh i dont think i can wait that long.
Travius walked onto the field at Wallace Wade Stadium. He walked slowly to the 50 yard line taking in his surroundings. The seats were empty, there was no one around except Travius and Phillip Alexander. Phillip was the teams star player, he was a defensive end, and the Captain of the defense, and a senior. Phillip had been assigned to show Travius around the campus and get him familiar with where all his classes and various buildings on campus were. This was their final stop.
Phillip thought about saying something and decided it would just be better to remain quiet and let Travius soak it all in. He suspected that right now it was a feeling of euphoria and enlightenment that Travius was experiencing. He also knew the next time Travius took the field here those feelings would be replaced by tension and unbelievable nervousness. Phillip still got nervous before each and every game, but the first game and then the first game in front of your home crowd were the worse. And Phillip could only imagine the gut wrenching nervousness that Travius would experience in a few weeks when he led his team onto the field as the Quarterback with all the weight on his shoulders.
Travius wasn’t thinking about any of that, he was caught up in the moment. The quietness of the stadium let him just look around, and thank his god for the opportunity to be where he was. He was completely happy at that moment, if happiness was measured on a chart he was off the top end of the chart. Nothing could be better. He was home, he was going to be playing football, and he was going to college to learn how to do the only thing other than football that he was passionate about; improving quality of life for people with illnesses, and researching cures for diseases. And the best part was it was all free, they were essentially going to pay him to do something he loved to do, play football.
After about five minutes Phillip starting walking away, “I’m meeting some of the boys at The Golden Corral for dinner, and if you don’t have any previous engagements this would be a good time to get to meet your lineman before practice starts tomorrow.” Phillip knew Travius was a smart kid, smart enough to not pass up this invitation.
“I’m coming.” Travius replied as he turned and jogged to catch up with Phillip. “Any advice or warnings before we get there?” Travius asked, he was apprehensive about the initial meeting, he knew that this situation was not normal, he was expected to be the leader over these guys he would be meeting, he would need to depend on them to protect him and in return he was expected to deliver some wins, something Duke had not done much of recently. Travius didn’t see himself as any type of savior, in fact he was a replacement, Duke had only come to him because they had lost their starting quarterback and they needed someone to fill in, that fact alone made him feel that he might be cast as an outsider who had been handed something he didn’t deserve.
“No man, just be yourself and don’t try to impress anyone because these guys don’t care about what you say off the field, they care about how you handle yourself on it.” Phillip replied, he sensed that Travius was worried about being viewed as an ‘outsider’. “Don’t worry about it, these guys are all great guys they are laid back, and the truth is football isn’t the most important thing to them like it may be to you and I. They are smart guys getting an education and they play football on the side, get used to that, this is Duke, its basketball country. If you were a kid coming in to replace one of the starters on the basketball team, then you would worry. Talk about your major, some of the guys might be able to give you some heads up on whats coming.” Phillip had told it like it was, the football program was an afterthought, and the truth was most of the guys on the team just played because they enjoyed it, or because it was a way to pay for college. They weren’t playing to go pro, most of them just weren’t good enough and never would be.
Travius met Phillip at his room about an hour later and he rode with Phillip to the Restaurant which was a buffet type restaurant and that made sense, because all of the guys there besides Travius where lineman, both offensive and defensive, and this was the only way they could eat at a restaurant and afford it. He had a good time, and he realized that thiese guys were just like him in that most of them were really smart and had a plan for what they were going to do in life after college. But he also found out that unlike him, most of these guys did not share his passion for football, they played to play and they were used to losing all the time, and losing wasn’t fun. That night Travius realized he was in for a rough year.
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Book of Cash Chapter 2: Verse 11- Do not PM or IM me until you have exhausted every other way.
First off, an opinion cannot be wrong....its an OPINION
Ok, good. In my opinion, you're an idiot. Good thing I can't be wrong!
Timothy 2:12
This is great Cash, I can't wait to see how he handles the season.
__________________
l 1 KC Chief Super Bowl Championship l - l 1 KC Royals World Series Title l - l 2 Kansas University Jayhawk NCAA Basketball Chamionships l
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