Page 1 of The Game Plan

CHAPTER ONE

January 18th, 2026

Silence fellover Reedy River Stadium as the Greenville Generals Special Teams made their way onto the field, preparing to kick a field goal.

Reese Vaughn stood on the Knoxville Kings sideline, holding the neck of his jersey. His heart raced as he watched the players get into formation.

The Kings were down by three, and though the defense had done the best they could, the Greenville Generals were good; the Kings exhausted by their unimpeachable offensive line.

He turned to look at the bench, the Kings quarterback, Eli, seated with his hands clasped in front of him.

Reese glanced at the field, then turned and headed for Eli.

“Hey,” he said, dropping onto the bench. He nudged him with his elbow. “We did the best we could this season. Wasn’t the easiest, but we made it to the playoffs.”

Eli cracked a smile. “I know, but damn, we had a great team this year. I wanted to take us all the way.”

“There’s always next year,” Reese said.

Eli shook his head, the smile disappearing as they watched the holder call for the snap, the Greenville kicker’s effort sending the ball into the air.

The Kings bench exploded with cheers as the ball was tipped by a Kings tackle, landing firmly in the hands of their safety, Andre Green, who took off around the stunned Greenville players.

The field erupted with activity as the Greenville offense took off after Andre, trying to catch him as he ran down the field.

Andre ran the ball into the endzone, tossing it in the air as horns played through the stadium to announce the touchdown.

The entire Kings sideline flooded the field, Reese and Eli making their way through the throng to clap Andre on the back.

“Fuck yeah!” Reese cried, dragging Eli into a hug.

“Can you believe it?” Reese and Eli turned to look at the voice.

Preston Brookes, their kicker, stood there with his hands on his head in disbelief.

“No way,” Reese replied. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

The referees came and ushered all the players off the field for the extra point attempt, and Reese watched Preston tug his helmet on and trotted onto the field.

Reese glanced at the clock.

Three seconds. Come on, Brookes.

The holder called for the snap, and Preston kicked it hard, sailing it through the uprights with ease.

The bench flooded the field again, the announcers proclaiming the Kings the winners.

Reese made his way through the group of players, saying hi to everyone he could. He watched Eli shake hands with the Greenville starting quarterback, the two of them speaking for a moment before moving on.

Elliot, one of the social media assistants, came up to him and asked him to record a quick video, so he did. “Thank you to the fans who kept us going to the last play! We couldn’t do this without you!”

She played it back one time and gave him the thumbs up, releasing him to go to the locker room with the rest of the team for showers and the press time.

He caught up with Preston as they walked back to the locker room and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Great kick, man,” he said, tossing a towel over his shoulder.

“Thanks, Reese. I was worried I wouldn’t make it when it started to angle a little, but it got there in the end,” he replied.