Chapter 30

“Hi, is this Joe?” Beth asked.

“Yeah,” Fauquier answered. “Who’s this?”

“It’s Beth,” Beth said. “Zach’s friend. Sorry for calling so late. I was wondering if you knew what your schedule is for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I just called Zach’s house,” Fauquier said. “We need to start our set at noon.”

“Uh oh. At noon?” Beth said. “Didn’t you say it would be at night? Zach’s got the tournament all day.”

“Well, he better be there,” Fauquier said. “Or we’re screwed.”

“The wrestling coach will say the same thing,” Beth said. “I’ll call you back.”

~~~

“Mark, this is Beth,” she said. “Sorry to call so late. What’s the tournament schedule look like for tomorrow?”

“Zach’s in the semifinals,” Easton said. “That starts at ten in the morning.”

“That’s a big problem with the concert thingy,” she said. “They go on stage at twelve.”

“In the afternoon? That’s not what they told us before,” Easton said.

“That’s what I said,” Beth answered. “What are we going to do? He can’t be in two places at the same time.”

“Now let’s think about this,” Easton said. “They’ll be running the semifinals on two mats, so they’ll go quick. His match shouldn’t be much later than eleven or quarter after. It wouldn’t be much tighter than last night.”

“Are you sure?” Beth asked. “What about his next match?”

“Well, that depends,” Easton said. “If he wins, he’ll be in the finals. That won’t be until around four o’clock at the earliest.”

“And what if he loses?” Beth asked.

“I don’t know,” Easton said. “He’ll have to wrestle in the consolations. That could go all afternoon.”

“Okay,” Beth said. “So his first match will be around eleven. If he wins, he’s free until four. And if he loses, we’re all in big trouble.”

“That’s for sure,” Easton said.

“There’s really no plan B here,” Beth said. “If he doesn’t win it all falls apart. It can’t be done unless he wins.”

“Well, there’s only one solution,” Easton said. “We’ll just have to make sure he wins.”

~~~

“Zach?” Beth asked. “Did I wake you up?” Beth asked.

“Yeah,” Zach mumbled. “I guess I fell asleep. I’ve got problems for tomorrow, Beth. It isn’t going to work.”

“It is going to work,” Beth said. “I already talked with Joe and Mark. Here’s how we’ll make it work.”

~~~

“Hello? Is this Bo Herndon?” Easton asked.

“Yeah,” Herndon said. “What time is it?”

“Bo, this is Mark Easton,” Easton said. “I’m Zach’s friend from the wrestling team. Sorry to call so late.”

“It’s cool,” Herndon said. “I can sleep just fine even if I’m awake.”

“I was trying to call Joe but nobody answered,” Easton said. “I guess you heard the schedule’s pretty tight tomorrow.”

“No, I haven’t heard a thing,” Herndon said.

“Well, we worked it out, hopefully,” Easton said. “As long as Zach wins his first match in the morning he’ll make it to your concert.”

“What if he doesn’t?” Herndon asked.

“I don’t know,” Easton admitted. “I guess it’s up to him.”

“But he’s a sure thing to win, right?” Herndon asked. “That’s what you called to tell me, right?”

“Well, this guy beat him 9-6 earlier in the season,” Easton said.

“So we might be in trouble,” Herndon said.

“If he loses, there’s going to be trouble,” Easton agreed. “Either for you guys or for us. That’s why I said it’s up to Zach if that happens.”

“Maybe he’ll win,” Herndon said.

“He could,” Easton said.

“Look, I’m sorry if I was a jerk the other day,” Herndon said. “I really appreciate you looking out for my friend. He’s really worked his ass off for you.”

“No big deal,” Easton said. “Let’s just hope we can get through one more day of this stuff.”

~~~

Zach was the first one on the bus the next morning. There was plenty of chatter on the way to Cedar Creek but Zach sat stoically. All he thought about was his semifinal match with Rennie Brandon, which was just hours away. He tried to remember everything he could about their first encounter. Brandon had waited for Zach to attack and then countered skillfully to score. He was determined to wrestle more cautiously this time and make Brandon earn his own points.

“Zach, have you heard the plan?” Easton said when they were on the mats warming up. “Buddy, if you don’t win this match, everything is out the window. And I mean everything.”

“Yeah, I know,” Zach said. “More pressure.”

“Make it work for you,” Easton said. “Don’t forget, this guy’s just going to sit and wait for you to make a mistake. Don’t fall into his trap. Hopefully this time the ref will make him wrestle.”

“That’s what I was just thinking,” Zach said.

“If you get out of the first period without being behind,” Easton added, “it’s in the bag. He’ll start fading after three minutes.”

~~~

Just before Zach was about to jog a few laps around the mats he saw Beth sitting on the bottom row of bleachers so he trotted over and sat down. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” she answered. “How’s your wrist? I was watching you. You’re not putting any weight on it.”

“That about says it all,” Zach says. “It’s pretty worthless.”

“That’ll make it tough today, huh?” she asked.

“Not much different than last night when I won twice,” he said.

“You’re a big goofball,” she said, smiling at him.

He looked at her quizzically. “What?” he asked. She leaned hard into him without answering.

“Hey, thanks for everything,” he said. “There’s no way I can ever repay you for getting me this far. No matter what happens.”

She put her arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder without answering. They stayed in that position without speaking as they watched wrestlers going through their warm up rituals. Zach finally broke the silence. “Didn’t you have basketball practice?”

“I skipped it,” she said. “I’m driving you into the city after your match. I’m kind of nervous about it.”

“I’ll try to help,” he said.

“You know everything’s going to suck if you don’t win, right?” she asked.

“I know,” he said. “I better go finish loosening up.”

She kissed him on the cheek and wished him luck. He never looked back at her once as he jogged. It was time to think about wrestling, now more than ever.

~~~

Coach Hancock remembered the match against Brandon the same way Zach did and said all the same things Easton had. So it came as no surprise to anybody in their corner that during the first minute neither wrestler tried to score. When there were forty seconds left in the opening period the referee warned both of them that they “better start wrestling.” Zach took two halfhearted shots without penetrating far enough to be vulnerable to the defensive tactics that Brandon had victimized him with in the first match. When the first period ended with no scoring Zach remembered Easton’s words about not falling behind early.

Zach began the second period on top. That meant that his sore wrist and weak hand were going to be tested because he needed to ride Brandon. He remembered how Brandon had tired quickly in the final period of the last match, to the point where he resorted to an injury time out for a suspicious cramp. All he had to do was keep it close for one more period.

Brandon began the period by sitting out and turning in. Zach followed easily, denying Brand any points. When Brandon turned back to his base Zach pounced and cradled him. He was unable to attain the hand-to-wrist grip he needed to bypass his weak hand so Brandon broke out of the cradle easily. Before his opponent stabilized himself Zach used a tight-waist grip and ankle ride to force him to his stomach. Although he was unable to find a way to turn Brandon over, Zach’s confidence was growing because he knew he was controlling the match.

With fifteen seconds left Zach saw an opening. Brandon was on his hands and knees but was on his way back down to his stomach. Zach threw in a half nelson in an aggressive attempt for some quick back points. Just before coming to the side and committing the move he heard his coaches screaming for him to stop. Only then did he remember being burned earlier in the season using that hold on an opponent that he hadn’t yet broken down. He gave it up, scooted behind and pretended to work hard chopping at Brandon’s arm until time expired. They would go to the third period with the score deadlocked at zero.

Zach stood up from the bottom position on the whistle when the third period started. He tried to break Brandon’s grip around his waist as he lurched forward. Just when he thought he had broken out Brandon pushed him across the line and out of bounds. When they restarted Zach stood up again. This time he turned in to Brandon and tried to hook a leg for a Peterson Roll. Brandon saw what was happening and stepped his leg back out of reach.

They were both still on their feet. Brandon was behind Zach with a tight grip around his waist. Knowing that Brandon would try to run him out of bounds again Zach decided to use that forward momentum to his own advantage. As soon as Brandon pushed, Zach grabbed Brandon’s wrist and pivoted hard to his right while burying his arm between Brandon’s legs. The standing switch worked as designed. Brandon’s forward motion was accelerated as Zach swung behind him. By the time Brandon struggled back to his base Zach was behind him with a 2-0 lead on the strength of the reversal.

The referee blew the whistle after signaling the points. Zach didn’t understand why until he saw the blood dribbling out of Brandon’s nose. On his way back to his corner Zach saw there were fifty-nine seconds left.

“Nice move,” Crisfield said as he handed Zach a water bottle. “Too bad he’s getting this rest time. You’ve got all the points you need. Just wrestle smart. Let him up if you’re in danger.”

Zach squirted a stream of water into his mouth and nodded.

“Don’t let this one get away,” Hancock warned. “If you win here you’re going to regions next week.”

On his way back to the center of the mat Zach flexed his wrist. He must have banged it somehow when he reversed Brandon, and the pain wasn’t going away. That was going to make it even harder to protect his lead. The referee restarted the match, this time with Zach on top. Brandon stood up just like Zach had, and Zach ran him out of bounds twice, killing thirty more seconds. When Brandon stood up a third time Zach was unable to maintain his grip because of the pain in his wrist. With twenty-two seconds remaining Brandon escaped, cutting the lead to 2-1.

After nearly six minutes of wrestling, Zach could see that Brandon was out of gas. Despite being mere seconds away from elimination, he moved slowly back to the center of the match with no sense of urgency. “Stay there,” yelled Hancock. Zach knew that he meant that Zach shouldn’t try any offensive moves. He couldn’t help himself, though, when he saw Brandon standing straight up because he was too fatigued to get into his stance. He shot low and took both of Brandon’s legs. At that point there was no longer any resistance at all. Zach easily dumped Brandon for a takedown and two more points. Seconds later the buzzer sounded. Zach had avenged a loss and also averted a disaster for the band by winning 4-1 in the district semifinals. The best part was that he wasn’t even tired.