John Tower-Playing To Win

Tower turned back even further into the biography and continued reading:

November 24th, 1984
Wildcat Stadium, Rison, AR.

Defensive tackle Dayton Kitchens waited on one knee near the line of scrimmage which was currently on the Outlaws 39 yard line. Despite the relatively cool air in the 50s he was soaked with sweat, mud, and the occasional streaks of blood. Breathing heavily through his mouthpiece he glanced at his fellow defensive lineman to his right and left. "Not the line we started the game with." he said to himself. Todd was at right tackle where he had been for the last four weeks since Kenneths season ending knee injury. But the Outlaws had started the game with Tankersly at right end and Poore at left end.

Both were put out of the game in the first half by the monstrous Rison offensive line including some blocks of questionable legality.

Their best defensive player Kyle had moved up from linebacker to take Poore's defensive end spot while another linebacker, Sam had taken over Tankersly's end spot. That left their defensive captain, Rick at linebacker flanked by a pair of backups.

The Rison offensive broke their huddle and jogged swiftly to the line. All four of the Outlaw defenders got off their knees and into three point stances. Kyle yelled a largely nonsensical challenge to his fellow lineman which sounded a lot like "Make'em pay!" Dayton and Todd merely murmured agreement while Sam sang out with a hardy "Let's do it!"

The ball was snapped and almost as one, 850 lbs. of Outlaw defensive linemen sprang forward.

The Rison offensive line cut them down like a firing squad....

Dayton had no chance whatsoever. The Wildcat right guard whom he had been battling all night hit him low and stopped him cold. A fraction of a second later the center hit him high and spun him around. All Dayton could do was slam into the ground which he did. Hard.

To his left Kyle was fully engaged with the right tackle, the largest and strongest Rison lineman, when the tight end came slamming down on his fully exposed left knee. A brutal, nasty piece of work but perfectly legal in 1984. Fortunately his aim was off and instead of joining the other two injured Outlaw linemen on the sideline just sustained a very painful bruise. The combination of big right tackle and vicious tight end still sent Kyle slamming to the ground not far from Dayton.

The other defensive tackle to his right, Todd was mauled by the Wildcat left guard, one of the best offensive linemen in the state. Todd was flattened with the guard hitting him a second time as he struggled back to his feet.

Only Sam at right end got any kind of push given he was going against the weakest, least talented Rison lineman but the left guard, finished with his brutalizing of Todd threw his shoulder into Sam and knocked him down as thoroughly as the other three Outlaw defenders.

Within about three seconds all four Outlaw defensive linemen were helpless on the ground.

Fortunately for the 11-1 Dierks team facing off with the undefeated Rison Wildcats on their home turf, it made little difference...

Rison had used six of their best blockers to neutralize the front four of the Dierks defense. Unfortunately for them, this left very little blocking to engage the Outlaw linebackers. Rick saw the blocking develop and sang out "fire left!, fire right!". Sending both outside linebackers on delayed blitzes. Hefner was filling in at linebacker. He was normally the Dierks fullback. He rushed hard through the gap left by the center and right guard. The Wildcat fullback moved to stop him.

He did. Hefner sent the fullback flying backward but it still took him out of the play. Ware was the other outside backer. Filling in after Sam was moved to defensive end. Ware wasn't big or fast. Nor was he a punishing tackler. But he was a sure one. He wrapped up the Rison ball carrier near the line of scrimmage and held on for dear life. Stopping his forward momentum long enough for Rick to arrive and finish him off. Despite the excellent blocking up front the Wildcats had ended up gaining only a single yard.

On the Rison sideline coach Red Parker cursed in frustration. He thought he had the Outlaw defense figured out finally. Crush the talented defensive lineman and make their weakened linebacker corps bear the brunt of the Wildcat running game. But clearly Rick was like a coach on the field and was able to use his limited assets well. The only thing left was to go back to Rison's specialty. Hard inside the tackles running mixed with play action passes. Though they were in Outlaw territory they had been there before and been stopped twice by a stiffening Dierks defense. Parker knew if they scored a single touchdown they would probably win. Dierks was only ahead 13-8. And since their All State running back was out and their quarterback had apparently hurt his throwing hand when he unleashed his 50 yard touchdown pass earlier, Dierks had shown no signs of life offensively.

In the Dierks defensive huddle the mood wasn't nearly as optimistic. Dayton glanced at Todd, then said to Rick "Todd is getting his assed kicked". Todd, his breathing labored and his ribs sore was close enough to hear but too tired and hurt to care.

Rick looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "They have four all staters on their line. We only have two on ours. Even things out..."