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    Goal-Line Stand
    Goal-Line Stand
    Goal-Line Stand
    Ebook111 pages1 hour

    Goal-Line Stand

    By Todd Hafer

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    About this ebook

    Monster back Cody martin loves football. Since he first tossed a pigskin, he's imagined playing for the NFL. But lately the thirteen-year-old, all-around athlete can't get his head-or heart-into the game. His number one fan is not longer in the stands. And the anger of a grudge-holding football coach pushes Cody to the brink-until he finds the true spirit of the game.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateAug 3, 2010
    ISBN9780310872474
    Goal-Line Stand
    Author

    Todd Hafer

    Todd Hafer is an award-winning writer with more than 30 books to his credit. His teen/young adult novel Bad Idea was a Christy Award finalist in the youth category, and its sequel, From Bad to Worse, was named one of the top 10 books of the year by Christian Fiction Review. Battlefield of the Mind for Teens, which he co-wrote with Joyce Meyer, has been a best seller on both the Christian Retailing and CBA lists, and recently reached number one on amazon.com’s teen/spirituality best-seller list. He also collaborated with Don Miller on Jazz Notes: Improvisations on Blue Like Jazz. A parent of four teenagers and one wayward rescue dog, Todd and his wife, JoNell, live in Shawnee, Kansas.

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      Book preview

      Goal-Line Stand - Todd Hafer

      Prologue The Battle Begins

      image 2

      Cody Martin prowled the chewed-up turf behind the Raider defensive line, eyes surveying the scene in front of him. His teammates on the D-line were hunkered down in their three-point stances, like attack dogs ready to be unleashed, anchored by Pork Chop at middle guard. Cody noticed a deep bruise the size of a beverage coaster in the middle of his best friend’s bulging, caramel-skinned calf.

      Motion left! Monster left! Cody barked, his voice ragged and hoarse after three and a half quarters of calling defensive signals. He studied Rick Macy, Central Middle School’s fleet wideout, as he trotted parallel to the line of scrimmage.

      Motion man’s mine! Cody called, whipping his head around to make eye contact with Brett Evans, Grant Middle School’s left cornerback. You got eighty-two, Brett!

      Brett nodded.

      Cody shadowed Macy as Antwan Clay, the Grizzly quarterback, called out his snap count. On Clay’s third Hut! Macy turned upfield as the Central and Grant lines surged forward, and Cody heard the familiar crack of pads fill the late-afternoon air. While the two lines battled each other for a few feet of turf, Clay faked a handoff to his halfback, tucked the ball in the crook of his arm, and sprinted toward Cody.

      A QB sweep, Cody thought. So that’s why they brought two wideouts to the same side.

      Macy was on Cody now, trying to bulldoze him out of bounds. That meant Clay was going to cut inside. Cody raised his hands in front of him and chucked Macy sharply across the chest. Macy’s body straightened, as if he had been hit by a strong headwind.

      That was all the opportunity Cody needed. He slipped inside his taller opponent and zeroed in on Clay as the QB planted his right foot and made his cut upfield.

      You’re mine, Cody thought, as he lunged for Clay’s legs.

      Cody never saw Tucker, Central’s huge fullback, coming up on his right flank. But he felt him. One moment he was flying toward his target—the next, his flight was abruptly redirected.

      At first there was no pain, only the resounding bang of Tucker’s face mask against the side of Cody’s helmet. Crumpled on the turf, Cody listened for the shrill ripple of a referee’s whistle. But there was no sound.

      Well, either Clay is well on his way to the end zone or that hit rendered me deaf, he thought.

      He tried to sit up but felt a sharp dagger of pain between his neck and right shoulder. Please, God, he prayed silently, desperately, don’t let me get injured during the first game of the season. I need football right now, more than ever. Please!

      Cody tried to smile as the blond kid with a head like a lunchbox kneeled over him. Hey, Dutch, Cody said weakly.

      Hey, Code, the team trainer answered. Just lie still. Coach Smith is on his way.

      On cue, Coach Smith appeared at Dutch’s side. Mean hit you took, he observed. That’s why I’m always tellin’ you, don’t leave your feet on a tackle. So, Martin, did you just get your bell rung or are you hurt?

      Huh? Cody said, blinking his eyes.

      Hurt, Coach Smith said, impatience creeping into his voice. You know, pain. Are you in pain?

      Am I in pain? Cody thought. What a question! I’ve been in pain for almost two months straight. You think football is tough, Coach? Try watching your mom die.

      Chapter 1

      A Death in the Family

      image 3

      As Cody lay on the field, his mind drifted back to the day of his mom’s funeral.

      Cody squirmed in the front pew of Crossroads Community Church, trying to wriggle his way into a comfortable position. He sighed heavily and twisted around to study the scene behind him. He felt dozens of eyes lock on him, then nervously dart away. Except for those of Mrs. Adams, his grade school Sunday school teacher, who gazed at him lovingly. She was five rows back, but Cody could see that her eyes were red and puffy from crying. He tried to smile at her and then turned around. He usually sat in the back of church—the very back, in one of the metal folding chairs lined against the rear wall of the sanctuary.

      The best seats in the house, Cody always called them. They allowed him to slip out to the restroom or the foyer without disapproving stares from his mom and dad—or that busybody Mrs. Underwood. And, during the occasional Sunday when he couldn’t follow Pastor Taylor’s sermon, he could pass the time by counting bald spots, then figuring the percentage of follically-impaired men in the congregation. The last time he counted, 23 percent of the Crossroads men were Missing Hair Club candidates.

      The percentage was slightly higher if you counted Mr. Sanders, whose sandy toupee always rested atop his head at a jaunty angle, like a dozing badger.

      On the rare Sundays when Pork Chop accompanied Cody to church, the duo would slip out to the foyer during the special music—which usually wasn’t very special at Crossroads—and feast on the remaining donuts on the refreshment table.

      The good donuts, the ones filled with jelly or crowned with multi-colored sprinkles, were always gone, plucked by those devoted enough to come to the early service. But the remainder, the glazed ones with watery icing beading on them like perspiration, were better than nothing.

      Donuts—at church!? Chop said once while sucking glaze off his fingers with loud smacks. Now that’s a heavenly idea! It’s almost worth coming to church every Sunday. Almost.

      Cody leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Pork Chop was in church again today, but there would be no joking. Chop sat three rows behind Cody, sporting a too tight suit and sandwiched between his father and his mammoth half brother, Doug.

      Cody had begged his dad to let Pork Chop sit by him, but had been informed that such an arrangement wasn’t proper funeral protocol.

      Cody was bookended by his dad and Gram Martin, his paternal grandmother. Cody looked at Gram, who looked older, plumper, and sadder than the last time he saw her, even though it was just two weeks ago. She was sniffling quietly and dabbing at her eyes with a tattered lavender tissue. It was no secret that Cody’s mom and Gram Martin didn’t get along, but the grief seemed genuine.

      Or maybe it’s regret, Cody thought. Maybe Gram is thinking of all the shouting matches she and Mom got into and feeling guilty.

      He turned his attention from his grandmother to the coffin at the front of the church, just below the pulpit.

      I can’t believe my mom’s in there, he thought, shaking his head. But it was true. He saw her in there only twelve hours ago. He had waited patiently in the foyer, pawing at the carpet with his foot as he listened to the choir practice Amazing Grace, which was his mom’s favorite hymn during the final weeks of her life. The choir sounded somber, but pretty good—better than he had heard in a long time.

      When the singing stopped, Ben Woods, of Woods Family Funeral Home, approached Cody. You can see her now, if you wish, Ben said, with a calmness and compassion that Cody guessed had taken years to perfect.

      Wish. The word floated through his mind. I wish this whole thing wasn’t real, he thought. I wish I were anywhere but here. I wish Mom weren’t lying dead in a giant box.

      Cody felt Ben’s fingers touch his elbow. Would you like me to get your father, Cody, so you can go in together? He’s in the pastor’s office.

      No, Cody said, surprised at how hard it was to make a sound.

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