Benched by Rich Wallace Read Free Book Online

times. Who’s ready?”

    “We are,” said the Bobcats.
    “Who is?”
    “We are,” they said more loudly.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes!” they yelled.
    Jordan stepped down from the bench. “Hands in here,” he said. They all reached in, just as they did before every game. “We win or we go home. One …”
    “Never stop running,” Ben said.
    “Two …”
    “Use every ounce of strength,” Ben added.
    “Three … Bobcats!”

CHAPTER TEN
More Trash-Talking
    —————
    “Here’s the lineup for the second half,” Coach Patty said. “We need some goals, so let’s really hustle.
    “Shayna’s been our top goalie all season, so she’ll play there. Mark, Erin, and Kim will start at forward, and Darren and Omar will rotate in and out with them. You forwards need to work like never before.
    “Ben and Jordan will be on defense. Thatmight sound strange since you’re both great scorers, but I’m counting on you to play both ends of the field. Your first role is to stop the Sharks from getting close to our goal, but I also want you to be part of our offense.”
    The strategy worked well. At least it kept the Sharks from scoring another goal. But as hard as they tried, the Bobcats weren’t able to get close to scoring, either. The minutes ticked away. Ben felt as if he’d sprinted several miles.
    The Sharks were keeping up their banter as well as their hard play. Ben heard “Red” every time he touched the ball, and also “Hamburger” and “Butterfly” when his teammates had it. Kim was now being called String Bean. Erin was French Fry.
    Those are the stupidest insults I’ve ever heard
, Ben thought as he ran toward the ball. But he knew that they were working. Although the Bobcats were playing very hard, they seemeddisorganized. It was hard not to listen to those silly names.
    The Sharks were killing a lot of time by making safe passes back and forth, not even attacking the goal. But then Mark fell on the grass and a Shark slipped past him with the ball. He made a quick pass to an open teammate, who fired the ball at the goal.
    Shayna had to dive to stop the ball. She batted it with both hands and it rolled to the side. Another Shark ran toward it and booted it hard.
    Shayna was still on the ground. Erin had dropped back and was in front of the goal. She couldn’t use her hands, but she managed to get a foot on the ball and deflect it away.
    Again the Sharks got control. Two quick passes led to another shot, and Shayna made her second great save in a matter of seconds. This time, the ball wobbled out-of-bounds tothe side of the goal. The Sharks would be putting the ball into play with a corner kick.
    “We’re getting bombarded,” Jordan said.
    “Toughen up!” Ben called.
    The corner kick floated in the air for a long time and finally came down in front of the goal. Mark caught it on his chest and let it drop, then booted it as hard as he could.
    The kick was off-center, and the ball spun toward the sideline. Jordan scooted over to it and directed it up the field, chasing after it.
    Jordan had a wide-open field in front of him and he kept moving. He passed the midfield line and ran deep into the Sharks’ territory. Mark and Ben, the two fastest Bobcats, were running up the field, too. They were spread wide but were even with Jordan. Only two defenders and the goalie were in their way.
    The defenders were the same two kids who’d given Ben trouble in the first half. Theyshifted forward a bit, closing the gap on Jordan.
    As Jordan neared the goal box, he stopped short and leaned to his right. Then he made a quick move to the left, drawing both defenders toward him.
    “Hamburger!” yelled Mark, who was directly in front of the goal.
    Jordan passed the ball to Mark. As the defenders ran toward him, Jordan shouted, “Butterfly!”
    Mark slid the ball back to Jordan.
    Ben sprinted to the front of the goal. Jordan sent a soft, high pass into the air. Ben planted his feet. The goalie and the