Read Brooks Berry In The Case Of The Stolen Season Page 6
Chapter 6 Game 2
On Friday morning, Brooks woke up early. He was excited about tonight's second game of the season. He was a little sad though as his summer was drawing to a close. School started the following Monday and while he enjoyed school and was eager to see his friends again, he enjoyed the carelessness of the summer. No schedule to keep, no real responsibilities. He had to take care of Ripken of course, but that was easy.
He finished his toast and juice and grabbed the receipt that the guy at Trojan Computers had given him. His mom's computer was fixed and she'd asked him to go pick it up today. He hopped on his bike and headed out towards the computer store. He reminded himself to ask the owner if he was related to Marc Ille - the Tosa West quarterback.
When he got to the store, he didn't have to ask - Marc was behind the counter watching a playback of a football game on the big screen monitor on the wall opposite the counter.
The bell on the door announced Brooks' arrival and Gunther Arno came out of the back room. The game playing in the background suddenly caught Brooks’ attention again as he heard a voice he thought he recognized - it sounded like Coach Vitrano's voice.
Gunther barked at Jeff, "I told you not to watch that!" "Sorry dad." Marc said as he unplugged his laptop and headed towards the back room.
Gunther smiled at Brooks and asked how he could help him. Brooks handed him the receipt and Gunther went to the back room to get the repaired computer.
Brooks leaned over the counter and saw about 10 CD's on the back counter labeled TOSA EAST COACHING SESSION and then with different dates on each one. Brooks didn't know what to make of that. Why would Marc be watching East Coaching Sessions when he went to Tosa West?
Gunther came back out with the computer for Brooks' mom. "Here you go - thanks for your business," he said. " Marc had a great game last week," said Brooks. Gunther looked surprised, then smiled, "He really did. I think you'll see a lot more of those. He's a lock for that Quarterback job at the University."
That surprised Brooks. It was widely speculated that Jeff Kopish would be getting a scholarship and be the starting Quarterback at the University. "We'll see," said Brooks, "Jeff Kopish will give him a run for the money." Gunther's demeanor changed and his face hardened, "We'll see."
Brooks was a little put off by the personality change of seemingly calm Gunther. "Well thanks for fixing this, my mom said she already gave you the credit card number, right?" "That's right. Come again,” said Gunther as he smiled and transformed back to his original demeanor.
Brooks walked out of the store putting the computer into his backpack and headed home. Later that day, Brad swung by on his bike and the boys headed out to the game. The bleachers on each side of the field were pretty crowded and buzzing with excitement as the boys climbed up to the top of the stadium. It was a sea of red and white as a lot of the students and parents were dressed in the school colors again to show support for their team.
The Brown Deer Falcons were a decent football team, but nothing to write home about. Tosa East was expected to be able to beat them pretty easily. Tosa East ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown so they grabbed a quick 7-0 lead. Brad and Brooks cheered loudly. “This is more like it!” yelled Brooks.
On the opening drive for the Falcon's they drove the ball downfield relatively easily before being stopped. They settled for a field goal. 7-3.
The East Raiders threw the ball deep on their opening play. The play had started with a fake handoff that had nobody fooled - the safety drifted over into double coverage on the receiver streaking down the field. He jumped up and grabbed the ball out of the air as the Tosa East receiver went sprawling empty handed onto the turf. The Falcon safety started to run it back and got tackled.
The rest of the game progressed about the same way. Some miscues by the Falcons resulted in 2 more Tosa East touchdowns scored by the defense but they were relatively shut down on their offense. Jeff Kopish ended up throwing for only 83 yards and threw 4 interceptions and no touchdowns.
On the way down the stairs out of the stadium, Brooks and Brad were passing by the field just as Coach Vitrano and the rest of the team were jogging back into the locker room. The coach made eye contact with the boys as he jogged by and just sort of shrugged his shoulders - he didn't really have to say anything, the despair was evident on his face. The rest of the team was equally dejected, confused and some were angry. 52-21 was no way to lose a football game for this team.
The Falcon's followed the Raiders off the field. Their demeanor as was to be expected was much different. They were jubilant. Helmets held high in the air, loud whoops, and high fives.
It made Brooks and Brad a little sick to their stomachs. Their coach wasn't quite as jubilant as everyone else. He was still very happy, but he seemed to be looking around the stands searching for someone. He had his gym bag with him that held his playbooks and a game ball. His Falcon Football baseball hat was pulled down low over his face.
Brooks and Brad followed the team out of the stadium, made their way outside the gate and headed towards their bikes. They were still following the Falcon team as they shared a path to get to the visitors locker room and the parking lot.
The Falcon coach had stopped to talk to a guy with a yellow baseball hat on and very long hair. The man was wearing a blue nylon windbreaker. The coach handed the guy an envelope and a stack of CDs. The coach continued on into the locker room and the guy with the long hair headed towards the parking lot along with the rest of the fans.
Brooks got out his iPhone and looked at the local newspaper's website. He clicked on the sports section and looked at the rest of the high school scores. Tosa West won 35-3. He showed the screen to Brad. They looked at each other and groaned loudly.