Undefeated Page #5

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If they swing at you, run

to me like I'm your Daddy.

I will take care of it.

Let's go.

Holy moly.

Everybody! Helmet's strapped!

Do not take them off

until you get to the bus!

Get your damn helmet on,

helmet strapped!

They come with everyone

right at the line of scrimmage.

Toe-to-toe!

Redmond's just going

to fall on one knee I would think.

Takes the snap,

that's exactly what he does.

Manassas wins the ball game!

Coach! Coach! Coach!

No... The cops don't... Uh-uh!

The cops don't

want us to shake hands.

- Let's go! Go to the bus!

- Go to the bus!

Hey, good job, Manassas!

Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah!

Let's go! Report cards! I

don't get a report card, no play!

You got O.C.'s?

O.C.!

Who's your teacher

in journalism?

I got three different teachers,

this is the third teacher...

Well, how're you

going to have a 60?

I don't know, Coach.

We had Miss Wells at first.

Then we had a... a old lady,

but now we got a young teacher.

That's what I'm saying.

How do you get

a 90 in precalculus

and a 70 in keyboard?

You got good grades in

all your normal classes

and you got crap ones

in these stupid classes.

We had told Coach Bill

that we was going to stop

O.C. from playing football.

Because his grades wasn't up

like they was supposed to be.

Mike and I

started talking about O.C.'s

academic struggles.

And we said, you know,

if this keeps going on

He's going to lose an opportunity

to play college football

and get out and go do

something with his life.

So, the coach done

come in and they talked to us

and they say, "Well,

we got a solution if

you'll let us work with him."

We ran through

a lot of different options

and talked about getting

tutors, and then we thought

"Well, we can't get

a tutor to go over there."

Mike said, uh,

"Well, he can just live with me for three

days or four days a week, at my house.

And the tutors can

come to my house."

The whole idea was I would take

him home from school, leave him at Mike's,

get him tutored, take him to school.

That's how it went.

What we said was

he'd pay for the tutor,

if we'd pay for the groceries.

And I promise you, we got

the short end on that deal.

Your favorite show!

- Are you serious?

- Yeah.

See, there's three going

into the 22 right here.

The school has not prepared

him for college or even close.

They advanced him a grade

because he was big.

You know how

to do long division?

All right, all right.

We'll go over it.

You're going to

look at the first number

and three goes into

six twice, right?

So, you're gonna write two

right here, and then...

A lot of people look up to O.C.,

like I be tellin' him all the time,

I wonder where we're

gonna to be after football.

I picture O.C.

playing football in college

and going pro. And I picture me

being like ex-football player,

slash manager, lawyer

of a football player.

I see myself as that guy

wearing a suit everyday.

Y'all know y'all

can't go that way.

Montrail is

a very sensitive person,

especially in dealing with

the death of his father.

I was 13 when my dad died.

I didn't know

what to do without my dad,

because my dad

was my protector.

When he died,

I knew I was on my own.

And that's when I just

really started being on my own.

You know, being a man and

working through my problems.

He told me before he died,

he said, "Take care

of your grandmother

and get an education. As high as

you can go with an education."

Yeah, I was going to say...

See, if I want to go get the Tennessee

money, I wouldn't go to school.

He talked to me

about it earlier this week.

He was concerned about

going to college.

And, that's horrible

because he is...

...he's very intelligent.

He might be able to receive

a little money for computers

and things like that...

I hope he goes to college.

I don't know how he's

going to do if he doesn't.

Dad, you know what Maggie said in

the car on the way home from the zoo?

No telling.

She told us that when she

listened to two different songs

at once, it made her bones hurt.

- Maggie...

- You're making me nervous!

- Shut up.

- Did you say shut up to me?

- I love you.

- Oh...

She said something

else funny, I can't remember.

He strives to be

a good daddy to his kids.

And I believe that stems

from him not having

a father growing up.

He was four years old

when his dad left.

So, you know, he doesn't

remember a lot about his dad.

At all.

My ninth-grade year,

it was 0-0,

going... like two minutes

left in the game.

I took a handoff and we scored,

we won 8-nothin'

at the very end of the game.

And you know, it's

ninth-grade football.

Wasn't that big of a deal.

But you know, you score

the winning touchdown,

that's a pretty cool thing.

And I remember looking up

and seeing...

...there were four or

five of my teammates,

and every one of them were

walking with their dads,

and their dads were carrying...

They put their helmets

through their shoulder pads,

they were carrying

their gear for them.

And they're talking about

the game and everything else

and I was walking

off the field by myself.

I remember thinking, "Why

ain't my Dad here with me?

What do those kids

have that I don't?

Why do those kids

have what I want?"

Which is a father in my life,

and somebody to share these

kind of experiences with.

You start feeling like

you're not very valuable.

Because you must not be

if your own father

doesn't want to spend time with

you or do anything for you.

You must be valueless.

You must not really

have much worth.

So... fast forward to Manassas.

I know some of those

kids feel that way.

And I will never

be their father.

But, I can sure

as heck tell them

it's nothing you've done.

You didn't ask to be

born into this,

but you were. There's

nothing fair about it.

But it also doesn't mean there's

anything wrong with you.

There's something inherently

wrong with that guy.

You know, if he say anything...

Will you just

tell me what happened?

Chavis! Chavis!

I am driving my truck over there.

Would you please don't walk away from me?

You're about to

hurt my feelings.

Thank you.

I didn't ask you

what's wrong with you...

My truck's over here.

I gotta go this way.

I'm trying to ask

you what happened?

Well, then what is it?

What is it?

No, don't.

You wanna ride with me?

- Nah, Coach.

- You wanna ride with me?

- No, sir.

- Why not?

- No.

- Is that it, Chavis?

Hey, Chavis.

Listen to me.

Do you really wanna bring

the team down, right now?

Oh man, you know

better than that.

I need you to think about what you're

saying, and just chill for me, please.

Look at... look at me.

- Yes, sir.

- All right?

Oh, at what point...

At what point

do you quit trying?

Chavis, please come here.

Come here. Chavis.

Chavis.

Chavis!

Everybody, in there.

Everybody in that square.

That's that.

That's over. That's through.

And we're just about ready for

football action Bolivar and Manassas...

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