Game Changers by Mike Lupica Read Free Book Online

announcers liked to say.
    Ben McBain put his head down and ran as hard as he could, as hard as he had all day. As fast as he could. Feeling like he was starting to make up a little ground by the time the big kid from Midvale crossed midfield. Figuring Sam was probably chasing, too. But Sam had started even farther behind the play, in the end zone when Shawn threw the pick, right before the whole day had started going the wrong way.
    Unless Ben could catch the No. 8 in red.
    Knowing that if he didn’t catch him, nobody on his team was going to, either.
    Ben finally got as close as he was going to get just inside the Rams’ ten-yard line, the kid with the ball having just looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was gaining on him.
    Now or never.
    Ben launched himself, trying somehow to make himselflonger than he really was, got his hand on an ankle, just enough to knock him off balance.
    Then watched from the ground as the kid stumbled and started to lose his balance, started to go down himself.
    But not until he managed to fall across the goal line with the touchdown that made it 18–12 for Midvale.

The Rams got in one last play after Ben picked up the squibbed kickoff, managed to return it just past midfield.
    Shawn took the snap and ran around and tried to throw it as far as he could to Sam Brown. But as strong as Shawn’s arm was, even at eleven, he couldn’t throw it nearly far enough. The ball ballooned on him a little bit and came down at the Midvale twenty-five. Sam managed to outjump the three defensive backs around him and come down with the ball. But got tackled right away, what looked like a mile from the end zone.
    Sam was sitting on the ground with the ball still in his hands as the refs blew the whistle that meant the game was over and they’d lost.
    It was usually one of the things Ben McBain loved about sports, how the very next thing that happened in a game — the game you were playing or the game you were watching — could be the one that changed everything.
    But what he’d said to Lily turned out to be right: It wasn’t nearly as much fun when it happened to you the way it hadjust happened in the Midvale game. Happened to you and happened to your team. When you were that close to being 1–0 and walked off the field 0–1 instead.
    Coach had told them at halftime not to hang their heads. But it seemed as if they were all doing that now as they got into the line to shake hands with the Midvale Eagles. The day had changed to great for them at the very end, they were the ones who had seen a last-second loss turn into a last-second win.
    Ben had looked around for Shawn after Sam caught his Hail Mary pass, but couldn’t find him right away, maybe because the Midvale guys had run out to the middle of the field, celebrating as if they’d won a championship instead of just the first game of the year.
    But Ben, even at his age, knew that sports could do that to you. Winning the game you’d just played, especially the way the Eagles had just won, could make you feel as if you’d just won the Super Bowl.
    That’s what they were feeling in the handshake line after the game.
    While the line kept moving, Ben waiting to shake hands with the safety who’d scored the winning touchdown, tell him what a filthy play he’d made — “filthy” being the highest possible praise — Ben turned his head and finally spotted Shawn.
    Only he wasn’t behind him in the line, he was all the way on the other side of the field, alone on the Rockwell side, sitting at the end of the bench, head down, slapping his hands hard on the sides of his helmet.
    It wasn’t a rule that you had to shake hands with the players on the other team, win or lose. But Ben knew it was just something you did.
    Ben could even see Coach O’Brien now up in front, congratulating the Midvale coach.
    Finally it was Ben’s turn to shake the safety’s