Goalline Turnover

      Wanted high school football coach to lead championship-caliber team.

       The ad immediately caught the eye of the former high school football star as he paged through the local Bonn Bugel newspaper in the rundown kitchen of the fleabag motel five miles outside of the Maryland suburb he had called home since completing rehab in the Shoreline Health Recovery Unit six months ago.

      Contrary to the beliefs of many of the tongue-wagging upper class gossips in Bonn, the final chapter of the Jim Pierce run for the goalline had not yet been written.

      Sure Barbie-brained former cheerleader Stacy Stonington had turned the tables on Jim’s revenge plot against she and boyfriend Sam Jones, Jr. when she had grabbed the toradol syringe from him and injected him with what she thought was a fatal overdose just, as she claimed, he was trying to stab her and bury her remains in the old Bulldog athletic complex.

       Even though police never found Jim’s body, the cheerleader, thanks to some fancy footwork by the high-priced legal talent hired by Sam Jones, Sr., her wealthy father-in-law, had gotten away with a plea of self-defense in Jim’s murder.

        Because Stacy believed she and Jim had been the only ones present in the darkened pickup the night of the fateful struggle she figured no one would ever learn the true story.

        The cheerleader failed to realize that Jim’s obsession with getting even for his years of finishing in second place had not clouded his judgment and intellect.

       Sure, he had been extremely angry when Stacy threw him aside for the pimple-faced rich boy and when Junior’s construction company owner father had used his influence to prevent Jim from leading the Bonn Bulldogs to the championship so his non-talent son could get all the glory.

      He had gone to the cocktail party at Sam Sr. ’s mansion with the intention of disposing of Stacy and later adding the body of her boyfriend to hers under the midfield stripe at the old athletic complex.

      While mapping out his revenge, though, the disgruntled football star had carefully documented his every move in a journal that he kept hidden under the floorboards of his pickup.

      Writing out his thoughts had helped him to carefully consider how carrying out his plot would put an end to his own future in addition to ridding him of his high school nemeses. His desire to set the record straight still followed him up to the moment he and Stacy sat alone in his darkened pickup on the former gridiron. 

       Jim had decided to reverse course and begun transcribing in his journal his hesitation about the revenge when his emotions took over, his attempt at stabbing Stacy failed and she injected him with his own pain killer.

        The cheerleader had put the pickup in gear and let it roll over a cliff in an abandoned quarry two miles out of the center of Bonn. She took Jim for dead but did not realize that he only lay unconscious in the wrecked truck.

         A local banker and hiking enthusiast had found Jim and dropped him off at the Shoreline Health emergency room before driving off anonymously into the night. 

         After a long and painful series of operations to repair his broken body, Jim had awakened to find all his hospital bills paid in full.

        He began rebuilding his scarred body and worked out with some members of the Baltimore Ravens who lived in the small town.  He also did some part-time coaching for a number of junior high schools surrounding the Bonn area. 

       All the while, though, he felt a void in his life. In the back of his mind remained a burning ambition to somehow pay back the town that had brought so much fulfillment on the varsity football field that had shaped much of his youth.

        With a great measure of optimism, mixed in with a great deal of angst over recent events, he decided to once again aim for the end zone.

        After carefully reviewing the want ad, he read every inch of the Bugel sports pages to see why his beloved Bulldogs now sought new leadership after five really successful seasons.

        Turns out his alma mater, just like it had during his high school years, could not quite put together the momentum it needed to win the state title.

        Coach Sam Jones, Jr. said in his resignation statement, “This program has groomed some of the finest players I have seen since my days as the Bulldog quarterback.  I believe the potential exists here to take the crown, but, perhaps a fresh approach is needed. In addition, my father’s death has left a void in the leadership of his construction firm that requires my full time attention.” 

        Jones had not included in his resignation statement reference to the breakup of his marriage to super model Stacy Stonington after she mysteriously left their newly-constructed home in the nearby suburb of Liston, Md. about three years before.  Many in Bonn felt she had gone into hiding to avoid charges of attempted murder that could be issued with the reopening of the probe into the incident at the old athletic complex.

         While Pierce welcomed the new investigation, he now began to focus on a new career move that could help him gain for the newest crop of Bonn High School grid stars the fame that had eluded him when he played second-string quarterback for the Bulldogs.

          He climbed into his new pickup, threw the paper onto the seat and headed for the new Bulldog Athletic Complex. 

          Principal Larry Jackson couldn’t believe his eyes when Jim knocked on his office door. “This is like a resurrection. My dad, during his 10 years as principal, often said you had gotten a raw deal because of the Joneses.  He was one of the few people in town who suspected there was much more to the Stacy Stonington story than what came out at her trial. I am sure you are what we need to put our football program on the track where it rightly has belonged all these years.”