CREEDMOOR
“We lost 5 yards, Tom,” Hayden Shackelford says.
Shackelford and his friend, Tom Husketh, stand inside the fence at South Granville High School football games, a little ways from the sidelines where the players sit. South Granville’s varsity football team, dubbed the Vikings, are playing the Southern Nash High School Firebirds. The teams are red and blue under the floodlights.
“We gotta kick it again?” Husketh asks.
“Yes, we do,” Shackelford says.
The Vikings’ marching band begins its drumroll. The noise rolls into a crescendo as fans call out to the team. The tension is palpable.
“Here we go, here we go,” Shackelford says.
The referee blows the whistle. The drumroll reaches its peak, cutting off…
