Spirit’s Seasons, Serie A – Soccer, Episode III
THE NEXT CONTEST for Spirit and His Bobcats was scheduled with the Idaho team in Sawtooth County. Spirit hadn’t played against this team, the Grand Forks Falcons, in a long time. He was confident, but Spirit remembered from 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 got on the bus at noon. This was another long trip but almost two hours shorter than the first outing of the season. The team headed south to Spokane on Highway 195 and then traversed dozens of rolling Palouse hills as they took several paved back roads to get to 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 coin toss, Larry called heads. They were bosses and Captain Bobcat chose to host him. At first it was a slow march down the field as the defense approached Skosum’s talented running backs. Larry finally hit Mac with a long pass downfield and the Moses kid hit the safety with his right hip, knocked it off, turned left and went 50 yards for the touchdown. But out of the corner of his eye, Spirit saw a belated flag on the field: holding! Spirit looked at her linemen as they raised their palms and shrugged. Spirit asked the referee, “Who committed the restraint?
The striped man replied: “Number 63.”
Spirit looked around, glanced at him twice, 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 swapped positions with the far sideline judge who scored negative ten yards from the scrimmage line and the down was repeated.
Larry was frustrated because he was sure that no one violated the retention rule. He called the same play, but the Falcons were ready for it. The defense intercepted the pass and ran the fifty yards back for a touchdown. The game continued like this. Usually when the Bobcats had long distances, a flag would be thrown. Deepest frustration for Spirit and his team: Numerous violations by the Falcons, but only an occasional call went against the home team. Coach Sintasket really wanted to yell at the Idaho umpires, but stopped. More than anything, he wanted to teach the boys good sportsmanship. When Spirit was hit with a severe headache accompanied by a narrow tunnel of vision and stars flashing like snow on a television screen with no reception, he momentarily thought: That referee’s face looks a lot like a vicious animal.
The game continued like this with only an occasional touchdown from either team. Larry complained to the field judge behind: “They are holding, taking low shots and grabbing our masks.”
The referee replied: “You are a big boy, play ball.”
Larry called for a deep pass on the next play. It stayed in his pocket, but a defender broke through and illegally hit Larry on the knees. When Larry went down hard with a cry, no flag was thrown. He had to be helped up and he couldn’t put weight on his left foot. Spirit called a timeout and put Chase-In-Winter, Jr. at quarterback. Abel applied ice to Larry’s leg and tried to assure the boy that everything would be fine.
With just one minute left and six points to go, Chase handed the ball to Swift. The hole closed before him, a broken play, and Swift ran to the Bobcat bench, round the corner up the field and then along the sideline, to thirty, twenty, ten. He was pushed out of bounds … and then a late hit while on the ground … a hard hit from one of the smaller Falcons, a hoof to the back. The criminal appeared quickly and there was no flag. Swift couldn’t get up. Play was stopped until he could be helped further away from the touchline. An ERM looked at Swift and suggested they take him to the hospital. Abel and Swift’s father 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 emergency room. But at 1 a.m., it was determined that Larry had a sprained knee and Swift had swelling around his lower spine and a bruised back muscle. The doctor on duty recommended not to play soccer for three to five days, depending on the conditions. For both boys, he recommended ice, occasionally 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 hydrocodone and a prescription for twenty more as needed for pain. On Saturday afternoon both parents informed Spirit of their children’s supplies. Mr. Lillooet put away four of Larry’s opiate pain pills and threw the rest into the fire. He knew full well that an addiction epidemic was on the rise. Spirit was concerned but relieved that his players were not in too serious a condition. He thought, It could have been a lot worse.