Ty didn't run into Kentavious again before the Dons concluded their stay in Vegas. The ride back was quiet and strange. The lustre of their win had worn off, so there wasn't anything to celebrate really. It was as if the bus had no atmosphere at all.
The strangeness wasn't helped by the fact that while Bella still sat with him for the whole ride, she didn't utter a word to him. Not that he minded much, it was just odd enough that even HE noticed.
Sunday morning passed in that strange bus, and the rest of Ty's afternoon and evening was taken up with the NFL games on that day and another workout squeezed in between games and during breaks. He couldn't rest, not entirely for one day.
His legs could rest when he worked his upper body, and vice versa. He didn't have much of a setup at home, but there was at least a pair of dumbbells he could stack up to what had to be 50 pounds. He used those for bicep curls, and bench- and shoulder press. Callisthenics did the heavy-lifting when he was at home. Push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, even body dips. He made do with what he could around the house and backyard.
He needed to be stronger. Kentavious wouldn't be taking breaks.
Monday came around, and thankfully the front half passed quickly. There wasn't anything unusual to the school day. Even the chatter and looks had lessened. To him at least.
The majority of students were still abuzz with excitement. Why wouldn't they be? They saw the scoreboard. 23–0, it was a rout, a shutout, what a great win! The Dons were well on their way to the championship.
What they didn't seem to care for, was how the Dons got there. Ty's performance had gone mostly unnoticed. He didn't know how to feel about it. On one hand it was good to get recognition, on the other, at least he those screaming fanboys didn't pull another stunt.
Ty wasn't concerned for long, as the school day passed and the final bell tolled, it was time for practice. Another casual, no-contact session yes, but it was still practice, still the one thing to look forward to during the week.
Rabbit was there before anyone else, and seemingly had been for a while once Ty arrived. He was already beyond warming up, though without any equipment was reduced to hopping and running across the field in his own makeshift agility drills.
Ty settled down to stretch. Rabbit hurried over upon noticing him. 'Y-You guys were awesome last weekend!' Rabbit said.
'Thanks,' Ty muttered.
'Seriously! Y-You guys shut out a-a state champion, th-that's just … i-it's crazy!'
'Why's it crazy? You don't think we're good enough to do that?'
Rabbit was taken aback, excitement dropping from his face and voice. 'N-No! That's not what I… O-Of course you're that g-good. It's just…just awesome.'
Ty grunted. Finished with his stretches, he stood and ran past Rabbit, sprinting up the nearby stands. Rabbit chased after him, but his chattering had stopped.
The others weren't far behind Ty. Of course, JJ and the coaches arrived next, and the rest of the team trickled in after them.
As the boys were stretching together, even Benny joined in, eliciting more than a few excited murmurs from the team.
'I know it's exciting but keep your voices down and focus,' Coach Long said.
The noise faded, though a few more people reached over and bumped fists with Benny, welcoming him back.
'As you can see,' Coach Long continued, 'Benjamin's joining us today. It's no contact, so he'll be alright getting some reps in, but we're still keeping a close eye on him. We're not sure if he'll be ready for the next game.'
Their excitement died real quick. Thankfully missing Benny hadn't caused any issues during the Warriors game, but they were unlikely to get away with missing a key starter two games in a row.
'Don't look so glum, boys, so far Benjamin's on the right track. If he does well today, it'll be a good sign of his progress. As for today's training, we'll take it easy, like we always do after a game. Though we do know who we're facing next.'
Everyone—bar Ty—leaned forward, eager to hear who was to be their next challenge and, hopefully, next victim.
'They're a Louisianan team. The Neville Tigers. We've got some film to watch later, but I'll tell you right now they're a strong, balanced, and well-rounded team. Which is good. We don't need to alter our game to stop any one thing, or exploit any one weakness. We just need to play our game, and disrupt them from playing theirs. With that in mind, let's get to work!'
Ty was curious to see that film and learn what kind of team the Tigers were. He'd found the score for their last game, and noticed they'd only won by a field goal; the game before that, the margin had only been a touchdown.
After some sprints to warm up, the team separated into their player groups to focus on their own drills—Chris and Cameron were finding the right gap between dummies and rushing through the hole; Jay and the backup QBs were navigating through a clustered pocket and still hitting their targets; the D-Line was shedding blocks and either tackling the QB or RB based on if it was Play-Action or not; the O-Line was working on double-teams and their footwork, kick-sliding faster and longer; the Receivers were honing their footwork and cuts as well, needing sharper turns, more sudden stops, and decisive routes; JJ and the LBs were patrolling the field, before closing in on the open target and batting passes aside; and finally Ty and the DBs worked on their press coverage and backpedalling.
Coach Hoang told them the game plan was to play up close. They'd start in man coverage, with a stacked box, begging the Tigers to beat them through the air. Why? Because he had faith in Ty and the rest of the secondary to shut down the Tigers' Receivers. He watched Ty closely. Of course, he was the linchpin of such a strategy.
'Their number one Receiver's an All-American. Are you ready for that?' Coach Hoang asked.
'You're acting like I'm not All-American too.'
'I know you are, and it's not to take anything away from you, but this is an incredibly good year for Receivers. There's a lot of talent coming up through the ranks in that regard, and this guy you'll be up against, he'll be the strongest you've faced yet.'
Ty tried to remember the boy who had stepped on stage. The number three ranked Receiver in all of high school. He'd been … unremarkable compared to the others, floating by unnoticed whilst Kentavious, Richaun, Jeremiah, and even Fale made such big statements from their presence and actions. Was that intentional? Like a tiger prowling through the jungle, waiting in ambush before pouncing.
He could remember the face. Dumbo. That's what he looked like. A big bald head like a monk, and huge ears that could probably take him into the air if he learned how to flap them. Dumbo the tiger. What would he be like on the field?
'I've faced plenty of strong players,' Ty said, 'but he's never faced anyone like me.'
'Luckily there's no-one else like you in the world, Samuels.'
Practice continued, and the boys gave it their all, upping the intensity despite the casual nature of the session. They all wanted it bad, all were believing they could take home the trophy now they'd made it so far.
Eventually a break was called, and everyone went to get a drink. Like clockwork, when Ty sat down on the bottom row of the bleachers, Ricky swooped in and sat beside him.
Ty side-eyed him. Ricky's gap-toothed grin faltered, but only slightly so; Ty seemed in a good mood, or at least a neutral one.
'What is it this time?' Ty asked.
Ricky started sorting through his phone. 'No interviews this time. I mean, c'mon, after all the excitement last week you guys were super boring this time.'
Ty rolled his eyes. He hadn't called anyone out during his brief interview after thrashing the Warriors. They'd only asked him one thing before he walked off—they brought up the fact he'd only been thrown at once, and he'd intercepted that pass, wondering how that made him feel.
Of course, it felt good. It felt good because he was getting the respect and fear he deserved. The game he'd just played would be a warning to all his opponents in the future, a preview of what would happen to them.
'Just show me what you need to show me,' Ty said.
'Chill! I'm doing it. Okay so like it's a collection of … weird plays. Don't give me that look you'll see what I mean just watch the video.' Ricky held his phone up to Ty.
Ty grabbed it from him and pressed play, watching closely. Without seeing the bald head or big ears, it took him a moment to figure out which Receiver he should be looking at, but when a tipped pass fell into a Tiger's hands, and they broke through the middle of the field and ran away with a fifty-plus yard touchdown, Ty knew it was Dumbo.
The footage continued, showing a variety of similar plays. Someone at the line would tip the ball and Dumbo would be in just the right place to dive in and catch the reflection. Another frequent clip was a defender being on the path to cut off a pass and intercept it, but they'd trip over their own feet or the turf, and Dumbo would catch the ball unaffected.
Aside from that, there wasn't anything spectacular he was doing. Sure his positioning was good, and his hands were strong too, managing to catch strangely wobbling balls from any and every angle, but that was it.
'Is this it?' Ty asked, looking at Ricky.
'Ain't it weird?' Ricky said.
'It's weird that you'd think it's important enough to show me this shit.' He flipped the phone onto Ricky's lap and stood.
'Hey! W-Watch …' Ricky cut himself off with a cough. 'Look! I'm just saying this guy's, like, really lucky or something. These weird plays happened A LOT, ya know.'
'So what?' Ty started walking back onto the field. Ricky scurried alongside him.
'And uh, well did ya know they've only ever been in one-score games this season? They've never won by more than eight points. See how I said they'd never won by more than that? 'Cause they haven't lost at all.'
Ty looked down at him. 'I bet most of the other teams in this tournament haven't lost a game before. All that means is they were in a weak region, with a weak state, and they haven't run into us yet.
Ricky was stunned into silence. Ty rejoined the team as practice resumed, hoping that the more expansive film they'd see later would shed greater light on the Tigers. From what Ricky had shown him, he wasn't impressed.
Unfortunately, as everyone was heading home, Ty still wasn't impressed.
Not a single Tiger had done anything spectacular, unless you counted Dumbo's ridiculous helmet catch. Seriously, the DB had broken up his initial catch attempt, and in his bobbling he'd trapped the ball against his head. THAT was how he scored a game-winning touchdown? That wasn't anything it was just pure dumb luck.
The rest of the team was even worse. Sure they were good. He could see that and they'd get props for such, but it was much like how the Warriors were good. They were a fundamentally sound team, yet where the Warriors had such an immense and overwhelming size, the Tigers had nothing. They looked painfully average.
Coach Long had given them props and spoken about their resiliency. Was that their thing? He'd confirmed Ricky's trivia about how they'd only been in one-score games, yet were undefeated that year and last, but was that supposed to be scary? So what they wouldn't give up to the end? If they were a team that always found themselves on the brink of losing, and even had to comeback to win a lot of their games, the Dons would steamroll them. They'd done the same after all, but they still had MORE, could still destroy teams that were beneath them.
The coaches had also been right to call the Tigers well-rounded. They were a balanced offence who used a good mix of runs and passes, though they didn't try to trick you. There was nothing flashy about their play, just simple, hard-nosed football. The one habit Ty noticed was that when they were desperate, they relied on their passing, which made sense seeing as they had the supposed number three Receiver.
Yet even Dumbo was unremarkable. He had a good build, solid footwork, good hands, and clean routes, but the spark wasn't there. How? How could the third ranked WR in the country be such a pathetically boring bum?
Maybe Ty was the problem. He thought back to the Receivers he'd duelled with that season, across nearly twenty games. He went all the way back to the ogre he'd felled in his first game.
Dumbo was a much better Receiver than Ogre, but Ogre's fundamentals weren't what made Ty struggle—briefly, VERY briefly—with him. It was his immense size and girth. If they faced off again, Ty would dismantle Ogre and never even let him sniff the ball. But at least Ogre had had SOMETHING.
Sure, Ty had come across some unremarkable, forgettable opponents, and those had been dismissed handily; easily taken care of. Marshall Ward was an apt comparison, Ty thought. Comparing the two, Dumbo was probably better than Marshall, yet Ty had lost against Marshall once upon a time. Ty was weaker back then, certainly, but Marshall—even if not special—still had something to make him stand out. His reach, already long and further extended by those annoying, fingertip catches, put him in a class of his own in one aspect. Dumbo just didn't have that.
So even if Dumbo was a better, more well-rounded Receiver than someone like Marshall Ward, he had nothing to elevate his game. Without that, he was just an average Receiver, just like the Warriors' number eighty. And just like him, Ty would easily crush Dumbo.
So that was it. That was the reason the tournament was filled with losers and uninspiring challengers. Ty had grown too much, too fast. The year had been filled with so many obstacles and such strife, that no-one could compete with him anymore. Of course. He was already ranked number one … so it made sense only another number one could rival him.
Skywalker was the only one left. He was the last challenge Ty had to crush. Everyone else was just a bump in his road.
"I'll see you again in the championship game, Skywalker. Don't you worry. I'll destroy everything in my way until you're the last one left. And when I destroy you too, everyone will know I stand alone in an entirely different realm."