through the line of defense and raced toward the first-down marker before slipping and landing on the wet turf too Still Sanchez had barely crossed the line for the first down That was enough to knock the Raiders off their game A few plays later the final whistle blew The Predators had held off the Raiders for another win It wasn’t pretty Ryan Mitchell said after the game but we found a way to win
CHAPTER 1 Stewart Mac McKenzie eighth grade sports reporter wakes up worried Not a lot but a little He’s slightly concerned because of what happened at the game last night or anyway what might have happened Late in the game after the Predators got called for a holding penalty after the Predators huddled up again and after Ryan took another snap and handed it to running back Carter Sanchez a player for East River tackled Ryan to the ground Mac isn’t sure whether it was a dirty play Ryan had just attempted a deep pass so maybe the East River player thought Ryan had the ball and was going to throw again If that’s what happened then the tackle made sense Or maybe the East River player was
frustrated about losing the game and took his frustration out on a defenseless quarterback If that’s what happened then it was a total cheap shot But that’s not what makes Mac a little worried At this point it doesn’t really matter why the East River player tackled Ryan All that matters is that he did tackle him hard It was a truly crushing blow Which also isn’t what worries Mac Crushing blows are just a part of football after all What worries Mac not much but a little is that he thinks he saw Ryan’s neck snap back and his head smash against the field Mac was sitting on the sidelines when it happened He had to convince his parents that sitting on the sidelines was necessary for his work they worried that he and his wheelchair were too close to the action But
