The Underdogs by Mike Lupica

Author:Mike Lupica [Lupica, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ages 10 & Up, Retail
ISBN: 9781101535684
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Palmer was about a half hour east of Forbes. But even though it was smaller than Forbes, its high school team was always one of the best in the area, and so were its town teams.

Last year, Will’s team had lost just twice during the regular season, one to Castle Rock, one to Palmer, Palmer beating them on a long touchdown pass in the last minute, thrown by a kid named Ryan Webb, who had the second-best arm in the league after Castle Rock’s Ben Clark.

Ryan was still on the team, Will saw that during warm-ups, looking bigger than ever, as if he’d started growing at the end of last season and still hadn’t stopped.

“Is that a twelve-year-old like us,” Tim said, “or Cam Newton?”

“He does look like he’s got a shot at the Heisman, doesn’t he?” Will said.

It didn’t take long for Will to find out that Ryan Webb and his teammates knew about Hannah being on their team.

Ryan had caught Will’s eye from his end of the field, motioned for them to meet up at midfield, Will thinking that one thing never seemed to change in sports, the best guys always felt as if they knew each other better than they actually did. Like they were in the same club, even though they were on different teams.

Ryan really did remind Will of Cam Newton, not just his face but his body, the biggest kid on the Palmer team playing quarterback. When he took off his helmet, Will noticed he was wearing the same kind of thick orange headband that Cam Newton wore under his helmet.

They shook hands and then Ryan nodded past Will to where the rest of the Bulldogs were stretching.

“The rest of your team coming on another bus?” he said.

“No, this is all of us,” Will said. “But I’m pretty sure you can only line up eleven at a time.”

“I heard that’s all you had, but I still thought you’d’ve added at least a couple more.”

Will shook his head.

“And it’s for real you brought a girl?”

Now Will nodded.

Ryan said, “You guys are gonna play with a chick?”

“Better not let her hear you call her that.”

“Why?” Ryan Webb said, smiling. “She gonna post a mean message about me on her Facebook page?”

“Hey,” Will said, “she might surprise you.”

Wondering if he was going to spend the whole season having conversations like this.

“Surprise me how?” Ryan said. “Going the whole game without crying?”

Will reached up then, lightly banged on Ryan’s shoulder pads, said, “Have a good one, dude,” and jogged back to where Tim and Chris were waiting for him.

“What was that all about?” Tim said.

“What do you think?”

“Your daddy’s little girl?”

“Pretty much.”

Hannah was standing at the forty now, standing next to Will’s dad, getting off one good punt after another to Johnny Callahan.

Please, Will thought.

Please let her at least kick well today.

A few minutes before the kick, Joe Tyler called the players in around him.

“This is just a beginning today,” he said. “But it’s a beginning that I have a feeling means more to us than it does to them.

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