The Dons flooded onto the field, barking with laughter as they stormed the kicking team and JJ. Piles formed as they fell on top of each other, whooping in celebration.
Three players remained on the bench—Ty, Donte, and Jay. Bella sighed, head resting against Ty's shoulder. You'd have thought she had been running around for the past hour as well. Her heart believed so.
Donte was the first of the three to stand, still nursing his ribs. 'Be careful out there,' Coach Long warned, watching the boy walk towards the field.
Donte chuckled. 'I'll be alright.' He stopped, turning back to Coach Long. He gave the man a hug. 'We couldn't have done it without you, Coach. Thanks for having faith in me.'
Ty snickered, drawing looks from Jay and Coach Hoang. They wouldn't get it, but after all of Fale's talk during the game, it felt ironic to hear about anyone on the Dons being rewarded for their faith.
Coach Long thanked and congratulated Donte, even if he felt the boys had done a lot more to earn the win on their own.
Jay met Ty's eyes then gestured to Coach Long. There was a bucket of Gatorade nearby, and everyone had already ran onto the field. Ty had never understood the tradition, but traditions were traditions. He and Jay snuck over to barrel and hoisted it up between them, Bella scrambled to get her phone out and record. They shuffled over to Coach Long, and tipped it over his back. He let out a surprisingly girly shriek.
'Congratulations, Coach!' Jay shouted, grinning.
They dumped the now empty barrel and Jay rushed onto the field to join his brothers. Coach Long shivered and turned his attention to Ty who remained on the sideline.
'I'll get you boys for that in training, but don't worry about that now, Tyrese. Go out there and enjoy your victory, you've all earned it.'
'You too, Coach,' Ty said before walking onto the field.
The coaches were soon out and shaking hands with each other, all smiles. Ty saw cameras getting up close to capture the interaction, there were even some wandering about the field, recording Dons and Eagles alike. A reporter stood before Donte, interviewing him. He looked stiff and uncomfortable, even from across the field.
Ty continued scanning the field, finding a crestfallen Fale, still on his knees. JJ pushed through a nearby crowd of Dons and offered a hand to Fale, a camera watching everything. 'Good game,' JJ said.
Fale looked at the hand for a moment. He'd not yet been forsaken. What righteous path wasn't full of pitfalls and setbacks? He took the hand and rose to his feet. 'Good game,' he repeated.
He had no problem with most of the Dons. Just one. One that prevented him from admitting the better team had won. Tyrese Samuels was not better than him in any regard. Justice would have to wait, but it would come for Tyrese eventually. No evil went unpunished forever.
Ty met Fale's glare with a smirk. Maybe he should go gloat, but before he could move, a camera and microphone were shoved in his face. 'Tyrese Samuels, I'm Julia Skye with ANB Sport. Do you mind if I take a minute of your time for an interview?'
Ty's brow furrowed as he looked the woman over. A typical presenter—Blonde, conventionally attractive, plain. He turned to the camera, staring into the large black lens. 'Go for it.'
'Great. First, let me say congratulations on your win. How do you feel after such a nail-biting victory?'
'Nail-biting? Don't let the scoreboard fool you. This game wasn't close. If I guarded Fale from the start, this would've been a shutout.'
The response surprised her—it shouldn't have—but she didn't miss a beat. 'Some people would call confidence of that level arrogance.'
'They can call it whatever they want. It won't change the truth.'
'While its true the turning point of the game was when you started guarding Joseph Fale, he did still score one touchdown against you. He almost had another at the end. Doesn't that seem counterproductive for your shutout narrative?'
'I made a few mistakes. But I figured him out. Even if he tried holding me down again, it wouldn't work. If I ever play against him again, he won't even get a single catch against me.'
Her mouth opened then refused to work for a second. So many questions and pathways sprouted from everything he said, it was hard to keep track of them and decide which one to follow. She composed herself then said: 'Are you saying Joseph Fale was fouling you?'
Ty glanced over at Fale who was now consoling the rest of the Eagles. He looked back at the camera and shrugged. 'He wasn't flagged, but only he knows if he bends the rules too far.'
Julia chewed on the words for a moment. 'Let's go back a bit. Why weren't you guarding Joseph Fale from the beginning?'
'We thought JJ could match him better. He's the only one who could match Fale's size, but that wasn't working. I think this game and my two interceptions proved I can guard someone no matter how big they are. But I've been proving that my whole career.'
'Do you have any message for your future opponents?'
Ty paused, looking at Julia. They could bleep him out if necessary. If it was live? Well that sucked for them. He turned back to the camera.
'Sure. Nobody can stop me from claiming what's mine. The national championship belongs to me. My advice? Stay the fuck out of my way. If you don't? I'll rip away every scrap of hype you have and ruin your career before it even starts.'
Satisfied with his ending statement, Ty walked away, leaving behind a stunned crew as he finally joined his teammates.
Soon after that, the teams lined up for handshakes. JJ and Fale led just behind their coaches. Ty stood at the end of the Dons' line.
Fale's countenance darkened as he met Ty again. It was obvious Fale would've preferred getting their encounter out of the way first.
Fale clasped Ty's hand tightly. 'Your sins will catch up to you sooner than you expect.'
Ty sneered at him. 'Your sins already caught you.' He leaned closer. 'This righteous act? It won't save you.'
Fale's nostrils flared and his grip tightened but he composed himself enough to let go and stomp off rather than throw a punch or shove Ty to the ground. At least his fury was unique, so even if it wasn't explosive, Ty still found it entertaining.
The rest of the interactions weren't anything interesting. Fale's hatred of Ty had infested the other Eagles; each one glared at him as if he'd slapped their mother, but none tried anything.
With codes of honour and sportsmanship met, the celebrations renewed. The Dons started towards their locker room, dancing and strutting off the field. Ty's eyes wandered the stands. Fans filed out, and few look pleased by the result. A surprising amount stayed in their seats.
Another game was to be played, he remembered overhearing something about it during the bus ride. Which was why they had to play so early. Familiar faces caught his eye in the crowd.
Kentavious Rice Sr. and Jr. sat in the crowd. Junior was surrounded by the rest of the Longhorns, but his eyes were locked on Ty. They had been for a while. He'd been watching since the start. Ty waved at him, hoping he enjoyed the show. "It's what I'll do to you when we meet. If you make it that far, fraud."
Junior stood, clapping. A patronising applause, like he'd just seen a dog roll over. Ty ground his teeth together, gaze turning away from Junior and to Senior instead. He stood away from the team, and was chumming it up with another familiar face. The announcer from the gala. Confusion furrowed Ty's brow, and he slowed his step to drift back to Coach Hoang's side.
'Hey. Do you know who that guy is? The fat one,' Ty asked, pointing out the announcer.
'Him? Uhh, Virgil Clements, I think. Whatever his name is, he's a pretty big deal. Billionaire or something. He's the owner of American National Broadcasting, and about a hundred other companies. If I remember correctly he's the one who funded this whole tournament, and—along with the guy he's talking to—convinced the committee to run it. Without him the national high school football championship would still be dead and buried.'
Ty grunted. So everything was for his entertainment. Oh well, it didn't matter as long as Ty got to prove himself and show the world who the GOAT was.
'I'm guessing I don't need to tell you who the guy he's talking to is,' Coach Hoang said.
'I know whose father that is. I don't give a fuck about him … his son on the other hand…' Ty turned to Coach Hoang. 'You don't think it's suspicious the highest rated team in this tournament is real friendly with the guy running everything?'
'Their skill might be a little embellished, but from what I've seen, they're strong. If not number one, they're top five at least.'
'Of course they're not number one, we are.'
Coach Hoang raised a brow. 'Does that mean Desert Christian were number two?'
Ty sniffed. 'If you trusted me from the start it wouldn't have been close.'
Coach Hoang looked at him, saying nothing as they entered the tunnel, finally leaving Junior's sight. The game had been close, and Fale had potential, maybe he was special too … but Ty had never gone to that extra level, and they'd still won. 'I guess you're right. But don't think I went with Jones first because I didn't trust you, Samuels. I wanted to test Jones; we all need to reach our full potential if we want to win this thing.'
Ty's cleats echoed off the wall. That along with distant laughter from the team were the only noises for a few moments. 'Good excuse,' Ty finally said, smiling down at Coach Hoang. A grin answered him.
They entered the locker room, music already blaring from a few different speakers all linked together. The boys shed their pads hurriedly, and Coach Long let them work off their second wind by dancing and celebrating further. They were state champs. Already that was more than anybody—except Ty—had expected, or could've dreamed of achieving.
A national championship wouldn't have ever crossed their minds before that season, and even when the tournament was announced, it seemed like something so far off and distant, it might as well have been the NCAA nationals.
But they'd made it, and even if it came down to the final seconds, they'd won their first match. They belonged. No matter what anyone thought, they were one of the best teams in the country.
Coach Long would've let them celebrate until sunset, until they dropped where they stood, exhausted. But they couldn't. The rooms were needed for the next game.
Speaking of the next game, Ty leaned over to Coach Hoang again and asked: 'Who's playing after us?'
'I don't know,' Coach Hoang answered.
'Shouldn't we stay and watch? The bus can pick us up after.'
'I think it's too late to make a change like that, plus we'd be getting back home near midnight if we did that.'
Ty clicked his tongue. 'We need to study the competition.'
Coach Hoang laughed. 'Calm down, Samuels. Focus on what's in front of you. They're be plenty of film. I'm pretty sure every tournament game tournament is recorded. Besides, it could be two teams on the opposite side of the bracket, ones we wouldn't face until the championship. IF we make it that far.'
'We WILL make it that far. We're winning this whole thing.'
Coach Hoang laughed. 'I don't doubt you believe that. However, don't we already know which team we'll face in the championship game?'
Ty's eyes narrowed. The Longhorns were the expectation, and even if the media was over-hyping them, Ty had seen Junior, knew he was legit.
'We both know they're not playing for a while yet. So we'll wait and see who we're facing next week, and study the appropriate film then.'
Ty growled but didn't push it further. Coach Hoang had a point.
'But if you feel that strongly about it, you can talk with Coach Long, maybe next time he'll organise a later pick up and we can watch whatever game's after ours.'
Ty nodded. A fine compromise. Maybe he'd even bring it up on the drive home.
Though the drive was the same length as their morning expedition, it flew by much faster. Two factors played a role there—first, everyone was exhausted. Even though they were flying high, it was as if they crashed the moment their butts hit the seats. Not even Ty got through it without a nap.
Waking, he found Bella's head on his shoulder, her eyes firmly shut as she kept dreaming. Familiar streets breezed by outside the window. They were home. Returning after another successful conquest, within their biggest arena yet. And nobody cared.
"Not yet, but they will." When Ty and the Dons brought the national championship back, the sidewalks would be lined with devoted fans, and the streets drowned in roses.
The next step to the championship was the next round of the tournament. Either Wyoming's or Hawaii's representative. It didn't matter who won, their road ended when they reached the Dons.