THE NEXT COMPETITION for Spirit and his Bobcats he was scheduled with the Idaho team in Sawtooth County. Spirit hadn’t played this team, the Grand Forks Falcons, in a long time. He was confident, but Spirit remembered years before that they were tough at home. The mood was upbeat all week; however, Spirit continued to work vigorously with his team.
Finally, Friday came and the boys boarded the bus at noon. This was another long ride but almost two hours shorter than the first outing of the season. The team headed into Spokane, south on Highway 195 and then traversed dozens of rolling Palouse hills while taking a series of paved back roads to reach Highway 95 and south to their opponent. This was a pastoral setting of alfalfa pastures and freshly plowed wheat fields interspersed with gently sloping hills framed by the majestic Sawtooth Mountains.
For the toss of the coin, Larry called heads. It was heads and Captain Bobcat elected to call. At first it was a slow march down the field as the defense focused on Skosum’s talented running backs. Larry finally hit Mac with a long downfield pass and the boy Moses gave the safety his right hip, took it off, spun left and ran 50 yards for the touchdown. But out of the corner of their eye, Spirit saw a late flag on the field: hold on! Spirit looked at his linemen as they raised their palms and shrugged. Spirit asked the referee: “Who committed the holding?
The striped man replied, “Number 63.”
Spirit looked around, did a double take, and replied, “The Falcons have a number 63, but we don’t. Who made the hold?” But the umpire ignored Spirit, ran to the opposite side of the field, and traded positions with the far sideline judge, who called a negative ten yards from scrimmage and a replay of the down.
Larry was frustrated because he was sure that no one violated the retention rule. He called for the same play but the Falcons were ready for it. The defense intercepted the pass and ran fifty yards back for a score. The game continued like this. Usually when the Bobcats got long distances, a flag was thrown. The deepest frustration for Spirit and his team: numerous violations by the Falcons, but only the occasional call against the home team. Coach Sintasket really wanted to yell at the Idaho umpires, but he stopped himself. More than anything, he wanted to teach the boys good sportsmanship. When Spirit suffered a pounding headache accompanied by a narrow tunnel in his vision and stars flickering like snow on a TV screen with no reception, he thought momentarily: That referee’s face looks a lot like a vicious animal.
The game continued like this with only the occasional touchdown run by either team. Larry complained to the backfield judge: “They’re hanging on, taking cheap shots and grabbing our face masks.”
The referee replied: “You are a big boy, play ball.”
Larry called for a deep ball on the next play. He stayed in the pocket, but a defender broke through and illegally struck Larry in the knees. When Larry went down hard with a whoop, no flag was thrown. He had to be helped up and was unable to support his left foot. Spirit called a timeout and put Chase-In-Winter, Jr. at the quarterback position. Abel applied ice to Larry’s leg and tried to reassure the boy that everything would be okay.
With just a minute to go and six points down, Chase handed the ball over to Swift. The hole closed before him, a broken play, and Swift ran to the Bobcat dugout, around the corner upfield, then up the sideline, to thirty, twenty, ten. She was pushed out of bounds…and then a late hit while he was on the ground…a hard slam from one of the smaller Falcons, a hoof on his back. The criminal appeared quickly and there was no flag. Swift couldn’t get up. Play was stopped until he could be helped further from the touchline. An EMT looked at Swift and suggested he be taken to the hospital. Abel and Swift’s dad piled ice packs on the boy’s back. After 30 seconds of play, the game was over. The home team won 30-24. Mr. Skosum and Sylix helped Swift into the truck and they headed north on Highway 95 to Kootenai County Hospital in Coeur d’Alene. Mr. Lillooet helped Larry into his truck and they followed the Skosums north.
There was a long wait in the ER. But at 1am it was determined Larry had a sprained knee and Swift had swelling around her lower spine and a bruised back muscle. The doctor on duty recommended not playing soccer for three to five days, depending on conditions. Both children were recommended ice, intermittently every twenty minutes for the next 24 hours, and a couple of ibuprofen every six hours for three days. He also gave each child two hydrocodones and a prescription for twenty more as needed for pain. On Saturday afternoon, both parents informed Spirit of their children’s disposition. Mr. Lillooet saved four of Larry’s opiate pain pills and threw the rest into the fire. He was well aware that an addiction epidemic was on the rise. Spirit was worried but relieved that his players weren’t in too serious a condition. He thought, It could have been much worse.
