THE PEANUT

My name is Archie Down, known as "Peanut" to my teammates on the Central High Football team. It has been four long years but I am finally getting my chance to play a snap. Four years ago as a freshman I tried out for the football team as I had speed to burn and I was the fastest player on the team but the coaches feared that I would get hurt so I did not make the team. At an even five feet tall, in my cleats, and if you weighed me after I showered I might tip the scales at eighty pounds. Needless to say that is where I gained my nickname of "Peanut"

I tried out again in my sophomore year and again nobody could match me in the speed department. An inch taller and maybe ten pounds heavier. The coaches let me play through training camp which was more like flag football as we were not allowed to tackle each other. I did a great job at getting open as I studied the playbook and knew all of the routes and with my speed and quickness I was able to elude my defenders. The downfall was every pass the quarterback threw to me I dropped. Matthew Lucy, my best friend and our team's quarterback, even tried some soft screen passes to me but the ball felt like it was too big for my hands and I just could not hang on to it no matter how hard I tried to squeeze it. The coaches had no choice but to cut me for the second year in a row.

Junior year and I tried out again as I was determined that I was going to earn myself a spot on the team. Even if I was left on the bench for the whole year, I just wanted to fit in and be one of the guys walking down the school hallways in a football jacket. I had hit the gym every day since the day that I got cut the previous year. I focused on gaining hand strength and gaining weight. I also had a small growth spurt so I now stood five foot four inches and even without taking a shower I weighed in slightly under one hundred and fifteen pounds. The problem was the rest of the players trying out for the team had larger growth spurts and I was still just a little "Peanut" compared to everyone else. This time during training camp when Lucy threw me the screen passes, I was able to hold on to the football and with my blazing speed I was able to outrun the defensive players to the endzone. Unfortunately I still bobbled anything that Matt put a little bit of zip on. The coaches did not cut me during training camp and explained to me that they were going to use me as a gadget player in a few of the preseason games.

Late in the first preseason game with our team trailing by a single point, Coach called my name. He wanted us to do a screen play and told me if I could gain twenty yards and get out of bounds that we could kick the game winning field goal. I told him if I got the ball that I could probably score a touchdown but he told me not to as he did not want me to get hit and get hurt.

Lucy took the snap and the defensive line players crashed by our offensive line bearing down on Lucy as he flipped the ball past them. The football fell softly into my hands and with the help from some blocks from our offensive line I rushed past the other team's linebackers. I streaked down the sidelines for twenty yards and the only defensive player between me and scoring was being blocked by one of our wide receivers. This was my chance to be the hero. I ignored what the Coach had told me as the clock ticked its way down to zero. In my head I was commentating as I was going in....Archie is at the five yard line...he is at the four...at the three...at the two...Archie has scored the winning touch......BAM...the defensive back had broken free from his blocker and hammered me with a thunderous tackle. The ball came free and I fumbled it through the endzone for a touchback. Our team had lost all because I did not listen to the Coach. That was more painful than the broken arm that I received from the tackle. There went the chance of playing on the team in my junior year but they kept me on the team with an injury designation and I did get my jacket but I did not feel like I deserved it. I still showed up for all of the practices and games and did my best to support the team in anyway possible.

Last chance to actually play for the team was in my senior year. I knew I would be on the team as Central High's policy was any senior that tries out for the team would not get cut and was guaranteed to get at least one play during a regular season game. I was still only five foot four inches but only around one hundred pounds as I ran into some complications with my broken arm and they had to go in and reset it, twice, so I was not able to workout at the gym like I did the year before. Again training camp was touch football and I was strictly a gadget player. Lucy had gotten really good with giving me soft passes that I could catch but Lucy had competition at quarterback this year. "The Red Rifle" was a new kid in our school and he could throw the ball like a rocket. Of course I could not catch any of the passes that he sent my way. During the preseason "The Red Rifle" won the quarterback challenge with his powerful arm and the fact that Lucy was getting predictable whenever I was on the field as other teams started to guess what play was about to be called and a couple of times the opposing defenses came up with pick sixes as they intercepted the ball and took it into our endzone.

Lucy was so mad and blamed me for his performance as he was trying his best to make me look good. Lucy transferred to Southside High which was Central High's biggest rival. With Lucy moving to the team later than the rest of Southside's players he switched positions to safety as it was an easier position to learn compared to the quarterback position.

All of our games were close so the Coach never took a chance at putting me into any of the games. It all came down to the last game of the season which was against Southside. The winner of the game would make the playoffs and the losing team would be done for the year. Lucy was playing like a gladiator and was taking no prisoners. Our top two receivers and our best running back had taken big hits from Lucy and left the game with injuries. Before our players got hurt we were able to get in range for four field goals for twelve points before half. Southside's offense got it together in the second half scoring a touchdown and a field goal in the third quarter and then took the lead with a touchdown in the fourth. With two minutes left I mentioned to Coach that I had not played a snap yet in my senior year. His face turned red and he yelled at me. He told me if we could march down the field and score the go ahead touchdown that I could go on the field for the kickoff and he would make sure we would kick the ball away from my side of the field so I would not have to tackle anyone. We started our drive on our own twenty with ninety-eight seconds to go. Our first three pass attempts were knocked down by Lucy bringing up fourth and ten. The Red Rifle pump faked a pass to the sidelines and then went to our third string receiver over the middle at the fifty yard line. The fake pulled Lucy far enough away from our receiver that it gave our player time to catch it but when he did, Lucy demolished him with a pulverising hit. With thirty-five seconds left we were forced to use a timeout on the injury. I thought maybe Coach would put me in now as we only had one healthy receiver left but he put in two tight ends instead. The Red Rifle hit one of the tight ends for a fifteen yard gain to the thirty-five yard line but that caused us to burn our second timeout as the tight end twisted his ankle on the play. Only seventeen seconds left and Coach looked over at me and told me to get on the field. Lucy moved up to cover me and asked if I had lived a nice life, he still blamed me for losing his quarterback position. I think my only job was to be a decoy and to keep Lucy away from anybody else that might have a chance of catching the ball. The ball was snapped...Lucy ran me over and went straight at The Red Rifle dropping him in the backfield for a loss of twelve yards on the sack and forcing us to use our last timeout. I slowly got up and looked at the score clock...six seconds...ball on the forty-seven yard line...we were trailing 17-12 and needed a touchdown to win. Coach left me in as he was out of choices. This time Lucy lined up deep but told one of his teammates to stay close to me incase they threw a screen pass as that was the only type of pass that I could catch. Every other receiving option lined up on the far side of the field leaving me all alone with the one defender. Other than Lucy everyone else on defense was playing press coverage. The ball was snapped and The Red Rifle rolled out away from me. All of the other pass options got jammed at the line and could not break free. The defender covering me ran me over and went after The Red Rifle trying to copy what Lucy had done on the last play. This time The Red Rifle ducked under the tackle and scrambled free. The Red Rifle looked at me and waved in my direction signaling for me to run downfield. I got up off the ground and started running. As I got to the twenty I saw Lucy sprinting towards me and yelling at me that he was going to kill me. The Red Rifle fired the ball in my direction. The ball was thrown so hard that it went right through my hands, from the corner of my eye I could see Lucy had launched himself at me trying to dismember my head from my body. Luckily the ball was thrown so hard that it lodged in my facemask and spun me around which helped me elude Lucy's tackle as he fell to the ground hard and winded himself. I started running and I could hear Coach yelling at me to run the other way. I could not see where I was going with the ball obstructing my view. I stopped and took two steps in the opposite direction and Coach yelled for me to go more to the right, when I found the right direction, Coach just yelled "Go...Go...Go!" I ran as fast as I could and kept running when I heard the fans cheering. I must have found the field goal post and hit it as I was knocked out cold. When I came to, my teammates had me up on their shoulders and chanting "PEANUT...PEANUT...PEANUT"