Our head coach was leaving us.
We were on the cusp of greatness, and he was taking a job in the NFL.
I couldn’t fault him. Hell, I knew that when it came down to it, none of us could. It was a dream for almost all of us to play in the League, and nearly every college coach dreamed of the day they were invited up.
But we’d just lost the playoff bowl game against one of the top schools in the nation. We were beat up from it, down — but not out. If anything, that loss only made us want it more.
Now, we’d have a new coach to guide this pack of hungry wolves.
After the noise erupted to an unbearable level, Coach Sanders held out his hands, swallowing as he waited for us to calm down.
“I know this isn’t easy news,” he said. “And believe me when I say it wasn’t an easy choice for me, either. I have been here with you every step of the way. I’m proud of what I’ve built here — of what we have built together. And I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that it will be you holding up that championship trophy next year. It guts me that I won’t be there holding it up with you.”
My eyes watered, and I sniffed, internally cursing as I hid my face from the team.
“You don’t need me.”
There were several shouts of disagreement, but Coach held up his hands again.
“You don’t. You can do this — whether it’s with me or another coach or on your own. You’re strong. You’re diligent. You’re dedicated. And you’re talented.” He nodded, looking each of us in the eye. “Never forget that. Never stop fighting. And never forget that even across the country, I’m in your corner, and I believe in you.”
The sadness in the locker room was so palpable, I could taste it. We’d just dragged our asses off the field after a bowl loss, and now, even worse news hit us upside the head unexpectedly.
We looked pathetic.
After a long, silent moment, Holden stood, quietly making his way to stand next to Coach. He clapped him on the shoulder, the two of them exchanging a nod of respect before Holden turned to face the team.
“Coach is right,” he said, his eyes determined as they scanned the room.
I swore I saw him step into even more of a leadership role, if it was possible. It was as if the ship was going down and the captain took the only lifeboat, so the first mate took the wheel, doing all he could to steady us in the storm.
“This isn’t the end for us. We showed the entire nation this season that we are the team they should all be afraid of. We nearly went undefeated, and we showed real grit and heart out there against the top team in the nation tonight,” he added, pointing behind him like we were still on the field.
It was true. We hadn’t gotten our asses handed to us in the loss. It had been by only three points — a field goal that was scored too late in the last quarter for us to do anything about it, though we tried.
“Our victory may not be tonight,” Holden said, nodding as he looked around. “But it still exists. Our championship is waiting. Now, are you going to turn your back on it because we’re losing some of our family? Our brothers,” he said, gesturing to a couple of our seniors. He smirked then, arching a brow back at Coach. “Our Pops.”
He somehow made us all chuckle, even in the darkest hour, and Coach socked him across the arm — but he was smiling, too.
“Do you think they’d want us to give up?”
One of the seniors stood, pointing his gargantuan finger at all of us. “If you don’t win next year, I’ll fly back from wherever I am in the country and kick every single one of your asses.”
Another senior popped up to join him. “I’ll help.”
“See?” Holden said, gesturing to them. “Today, this loss? It stings. It hurts like hell. It feels unfair, like our one shot was stolen. But that’s just it — this isn’t our last bullet. We have another in the chamber.” He paused, letting that sink in. “So, are we going to throw in the towel? Or are we going to fight?”
“Fight!” Leo said, jumping up from where he was seated in front of a locker.
“Fight!” Zeke echoed, jumping up, too.
One after the other, every member of our team stood, thrusting their fists in the air with their brows bent, a new fire lit.
I stood last, crouched over as I bobbed my head and sifted through the crowd like a creature of the night. I walked to the rhythm of a song not playing, but Kyle caught on, and he started drumming out a beat on the nearest locker.
“Who are we?!”