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every sport—gymnastics, cross-country, track, baseball, soccer. He didn’t notice any football banners, but he knew Claxton Hills hoped to remedy that shortcoming— and this evening’s game was part of the quest. Grant, which finished the regular season at 5–3, had handed the Lancers their only loss of the season, so Claxton entered the play-offs as a higher seed—a vengeful higher seed.
    When the Eagles were taped up and dressed out, Coach Morgan called them to the center of the visitors’ locker room. As he began to speak, ATV and Clark began to tap their helmets, gently and rhythmically, on the benches where they sat. Coach Morgan raised his voice slightly, and the cadence of his speech changed, keeping rhythm with his two star players’ percussion backdrop. Soon, other Eagles joined their leaders. Some began clacking their cleats against the concrete floor. Something about the aura reminded Cody of church.
    â€œForty-eight minutes,” the coach was saying. “Maximum effort on every play. Play with courage. Play with pride. Play with intensity. You are Eagles! It’s time to fly high!”
    The tapping and banging and pounding accelerated steadily until it sounded to Cody like a violent hailstorm.
    ATV stood, threw back his head and bellowed a primal war cry. Others joined in. Coach Morgan waited for the frenzy to subside. “Let’s take a minute,” he said. Almost in unison, the team dropped to one knee.
    Cody closed his eyes tightly. Any glory, Lord, that comes from this game , he prayed earnestly, let it be yours. No one else’s .
    He opened his eyes. Clark’s hands were folded in front of him, his lips moving slightly. Pork Chop stared straight ahead, drinking in huge gulps of air. Phillips crossed himself before standing quietly and sliding his helmet over his head.
    Coach Morgan waited for all of his players to stand. “Let’s bring it in, fellas,” he called. The team formed a massive huddle in the middle of the locker room, all extending arms toward the center, making a huge stack of their hands. “Let’s hear ‘team’ on three,” he commanded.
    Cody yelled the word as loud as he could, but he couldn’t hear his own voice amid the deeper, louder ones surrounding him.
    Cody followed his teammates on the field, which was lit up like a birthday cake. Throughout pregame warm-ups, Cody had to constantly battle the urge to stop and stare in wonder at the scene around him. “There must be 250 kids just in the Claxton band,” he mumbled. “It’s a good thing this stadium is so big, because it looks like the whole city of Denver is here!”
    The much smaller visitors’ stands were full too, but the size contrast between the Eagle and Lancer faithful reminded Cody of Gideon and the Midianites.
    ATV gave the visiting fans cause to cheer early in the game, booting the opening kickoff five yards beyond the end zone, then sacking Eric Faust, the Lancers’ college-bound QB, on first down.
    But it was a long time before the Grant High parents, alumni, and fans found cause to cheer again. In the meantime, Eagle defensive stalwart Jeff “Truck” Tucker broke his ankle midway into the first quarter. ATV began to suffer from back spasms a few minutes later. By late in the second quarter, he couldn’t move without crying out in pain and frustration.
    Finally, with thirty-eight seconds remaining in the half, Clark body-slammed Faust in his own end zone for a safety. But that cut only slightly into Claxton Hills’ 14–0 lead.
    Cody found himself in the thick of the first-half action as Faust relied heavily on his two talented wide receivers, the stocky and tough Sam Butler and lanky and fleet Hayden Owens-Tharpe. Working mostly against Butler, Cody enjoyed success early in the game, as he crowded Butler at the line of scrimmage, preventing him from getting into his routes. However, on the