The Intercept
From September through December, America buzzed with one football event after another.
First, the NFL regular season kicked off.
Then the NCAA college football season opened as well.
Which meant that, in reality, the high school regular season — running on the same calendar — attracted little attention outside a handful of famous programs.
So it was no surprise that here, at 248Sports headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, college football dominated the conversation while the high school leagues barely rated a mention.
"Whoa, Ohio State's offense is insane today. TreVeyon Henderson is just an another-level running back. I can't wait to see where he goes in next year's draft."
Barton, who'd been staring at his laptop screen, couldn't hold back his admiration. Emily, passing by at that moment, glanced at the display and nodded.
"Not bad. But Georgia's defense impressed me more today. They absolutely crushed Tennessee's offense. SEC defense really is built different."
Both were talking college football, but Barton covered the Big Ten while Emily covered the SEC.
Covering different schools day in and day out, it was only natural their tastes diverged.
"By the way, have you finished checking the high school leagues?"
"All the major states are done. Just the small ones left now. The ones that don't really matter."
"Let's see. Vermont, New Hampshire... I'd say North Dakota and Kansas are about the only ones worth a look."
"Ugh, it's too much. Seriously, why won't the higher-ups hire more reporters? My body can't handle covering every single high school league on top of everything else."
Every year around this time, Emily felt that familiar mix of anticipation and dread at the mountain of work piling up before her.
Thankfully, this season was nearly wrapped up too.
Besides, they'd already finished covering pretty much every well-known high school powerhouse.
Then Barton, checking something on his phone, spoke up as if remembering something.
"Hmm, well — don't worry about Kansas."
"Kansas? Why?"
"Turns out a buddy of mine is a newspaper reporter out there."
Barton immediately reached out to his friend.
Emily watched him for a moment, then noticed someone approaching from nearby.
It was Marvin Sinclair, the Director of Recruiting Reports.
"Anything interesting going on?"
"Welcome, Marvin. Barton's asking a reporter he knows in Kansas about the high school league situation there right now."
"Kansas? Now that's interesting. That's the place that recently produced not one, not two, but three five-star prospects. In a town that used to see one every two or three years."
"Ah, right. That's true. My head's just been all over the place. How did I forget a record like that?"
"Well, college football is your beat. It's only natural."
At Marvin's words, Emily suddenly found herself interested in the Kansas high school league.
Which meant those five-star prospects would be in the middle of their playoffs right about now, wouldn't they?
"Oh! As it happens, the championship game is being streamed live right now. Wichita North versus Blue Valley. Hm? Oh, Marvin, you're still here?"
"I am, Barton. Why don't we kill some time and watch the broadcast together? Blue Valley made the finals just like everyone expected, I see."
"Is Blue Valley the school with the five-star players?"
"That's right. Two of them, no less."
"Wow. That's actually pretty surprising!"
Meanwhile, Marvin pulled up the online broadcast on his laptop.
And by pure coincidence, the screen showed Wichita North on offense.
"Is Wichita North the school with the other five-star?"
"No, that one I've never even heard of. Looks like they just got lucky all the way to the finals."
"Huh? Did the quarterback almost just drop that snap?"
"He's about to get swallowed up behind the line... wait. What is number 21 doing?"
The game situation turned frantic in an instant.
The three of them stopped mid-conversation and fixed their eyes on the screen.
On the broadcast, the running back wearing number 21 ripped the ball forcibly out of his quarterback's hands, then — with unbelievable movement — evaded the swarming defenders and turned back toward his own end zone.
"A reverse field? In that situation? He's out of his mind!"
While Emily gawked, the 'Redline' on screen crossed the field as if skimming across the surface of water.
The opposing defenders chased desperately, but one by one they fell away, undone by his unpredictable cutbacks and explosive acceleration.
"That speed is unreal..."
"What is this? It's like he's looking down at the field from the sky and changing his path?!"
Ten yards, thirty yards, fifty yards...
Behind the crimson 21 emblazoned on his back, a red afterimage stretched long across the field.
At last, he crossed the completely empty field and strolled into the end zone.
A touchdown of over a hundred yards — in a playoff championship game, no less.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence settled over the office.
At some point, all three had stopped breathing as they stared at the screen.
They came to their senses only when number 21 extended the ball forward in a brief, understated celebration.
"W-what's that player's name?"
"L-let me turn the sound on."
Come to think of it, they'd been watching the broadcast with the volume off. When the sound finally came through, the commentators were in the middle of tearful, awestruck reactions.
"Kim... Jaehyuk? What is that? Unusual name."
"D-don't tell me he's Asian?"
"Oh come on, no way... he's got to be mixed, right?"
The three seemed more shaken by the fact that the player who'd just pulled off that performance was Asian than by the performance itself.
And understandably so — they had never once seen a pure East Asian player start at a skill position in a state championship game.
Not to mention a showing like the one they'd just witnessed.
How could they not be stunned?
"F-found him! Kim Jaehyuk! Hmm, he's an unrated player? But..."
"Unrated? Does that even make sense?"
"Wait a second! It says here he only started standing out this year. No wait — it says he's already received more than twenty D1 offers?!"
"Unbelievable... we're behind the college scouts on information!"
Someone had clearly been sitting on this deliberately.
No — someone had to have been.
Otherwise, the wrath from above would come raining down for missing a player this spectacular.
"A-and, looking now, he's apparently appeared in Destroying's videos too. Destroying is live-streaming it himself right now, actually."
"..."
Even accounting for how unremarkable this area was for football, they'd been shamefully inattentive.
The three of them dug for information on Jaehyuk with renewed intensity, but since this was his first year making waves, there wasn't much to find.
"Thank goodness he at least has a personal social media account."
"There are highlight videos of every game this regular season. And honestly? These are insane too. He makes plays like this every single game?"
While they pored over everything they could learn about Jaehyuk,
the game rolled on.
A tight, grinding slugfest.
Before long, other employees in the office had gathered around to watch the game as well.
"Amazing. This is so much fun."
"Both schools are high-caliber. This is really the Kansas high school league?"
"Five-stars really are five-stars. Look at Marcus's diving catch — insane. You can throw it like garbage and he'll reel it in like silk."
"But what is with that running back? He's not the least bit outshone by Marcus."
Work came to a complete standstill as nearly every 248Sports employee gathered around to watch the championship game.
And then, at last—
Score 49:49, one minute and fifty-eight seconds remaining.
The situation had reached a heart-clenching climax.
"Th-this game belongs in the hall of fame."
"This is the first time a high school game has ever gotten me this worked up!"
Then Marvin, who'd been watching with a blank expression until now, spoke urgently.
"Barton, look up the fastest flight to Wichita. Right now."
"Sir? Right now? But the game—"
"No, I'm not saying leave this instant. Just find the tickets."
"Ah, yes sir! On it right away."
At the exchange between Marvin and Barton, Emily shot her hand up. The two men turned to her with puzzled faces, and she said:
"I'll go too!"
"Oh? Even better, then. Go with Barton."
"Huh? You're not coming, Marvin?"
"If you two are going, there's no need for me as well. Just make sure you do the job properly."
With that, everyone's attention snapped back to the game.
Emily said nothing more and fixed her eyes on the screen.
Right — that could wait. What mattered now was how this game ended.
"Let's go, Wichita North!"
49:49.
A scoring total neither team had ever experienced before.
Jaehyuk had racked up a staggering six touchdowns.
The opposing team's Marcus had answered with five of his own, showing power that was anything but trivial.
"Hah, hah."
"Gulp, gulp. Hahh."
The back-and-forth had been so brutal that everyone was running on fumes. The game had been so rough it was a miracle no one had gone down injured.
And roughly two minutes of game time remained.
Blue Valley had received the second-half kickoff, so even with the score tied, the possession fell — of all times — to Blue Valley.
Granted, football was a sport where a touchdown could come in ten or twenty seconds...
but it wasn't something you could produce on command, which made the situation brutally difficult.
If Blue Valley bled the clock dry here and scraped across the goal line, victory would be theirs.
"..."
"..."
A tense silence hung over the bench.
Only ragged breathing and the occasional slurp of water broke through.
"This is giving me goosebumps."
"Ahem."
At Jaehyuk's random remark, everyone turned to give him an incredulous look.
But when the team's ace showed that kind of composure, it gave them all strength.
"How the hell are you not exhausted?"
Liam, who'd come to the bench during the timeout, asked with an expression of pure disbelief.
And no wonder — Jaehyuk had run the most, and the hardest, of anyone in this game.
Besides, the teammates had watched him wear down during practices plenty of times, so they all knew this level of stamina wasn't normal for him.
"I thrive in live games."
"Aha, of course you do."
Liam's sarcasm drew laughter from everyone.
But behind the laughter, they were all quietly marveling.
He always claimed he was built for the big stage — and he kept actually proving it.
Then Coach Sanders called the defense over.
"I'm sorry to do this to you all, but there's truly no time left."
"Hoo."
"Think of this as your final stand. You have to pour out everything you've got. And I believe you can do it."
Sanders spoke more gently than usual.
He knew full well the players' stamina had hit its limit — and he knew they were already giving everything they had.
He grabbed each defender by the shoulder, one by one, and fired them up.
"You've all played brilliantly to get here. Just once more. Let's do it one more time. The championship is right in front of us!"
"YESSIR!!"
The players psyched themselves up.
They were nothing more than high schoolers, and yet seeing them carry themselves with such resolve, the coaching staff clenched their fists and cheered the boys on.
"You're the best there is! Let's write an undefeated legend!"
"We can do this, Wichita North!"
The timeout clock expired.
Time to return to the field.
"Hoo."
As Liam headed for the field, he glanced back.
He could see the packed crowd of Wichita locals, the familiar faces of students, and their families.
Below them, players and coaches on the bench were shouting encouragement in place of the battle cries.
And there was Jaehyuk, sprawled lazily across the bench, watching him.
'Huh?'
Suddenly, the seated Jaehyuk sprang to his feet and came over. He spoke with a serious face.
"Liam. The sack won't be enough."
"Then what?"
"Target Marcus."
Those words...
Liam belatedly grasped what Jaehyuk meant and stared at him in astonishment.
But Jaehyuk continued as if it were nothing.
"Even if you pull off the sack, we're going to give up points anyway. You figured that out after getting hit for forty-nine, didn't you?"
It was true that Liam had performed his role admirably in this game as well.
Two sacks in total.
But he hadn't managed to stop a single score.
"..."
Liam thought about it seriously.
Maybe Jaehyuk was right.
'I can't lose like this.'
Just as Jaehyuk had flipped the game on its head, he needed to make something happen too.
A sack? A sack would be a great performance, no doubt.
But it wouldn't be enough.
For the team to win, he had to take a bigger gamble.
'Right. Let's just assume we're giving up the score either way.'
If points were getting surrendered regardless, he might as well roll the dice, just like Jaehyuk said.
Liam nodded and sent a signal toward the bench.
The coaches recognized the sign and flinched for a moment, but after about five seconds of deliberation, they nodded.
The moment the coaches' approval came down, the nerves hit him all at once. And then—
"It's not a reckless play. It's you — that's why I'm telling you to try it."
"What?"
"I'm only saying all this because I think you can actually pull it off. Got it?"
Jaehyuk gave a lazy smile and headed back to the bench. As Liam stared blankly at his retreating back, an inexplicable surge of exhilaration welled up inside him.
'Kim Jaehyuk — Redline 21 — just acknowledged me?'
Truthfully, no matter how he looked at it, he was worlds behind Jaehyuk.
He'd felt that bitterly in their 1-on-1 duel.
And in the regular season that followed, the gap had only widened.
On top of that, with his lone-wolf tendencies and the fact that he mostly trained alone even during team practice, Liam had sometimes wondered whether the guy cared about the team at all.
And yet this same guy...
"WOOOOOAH!!"
"Geez, you scared the hell out of me."
Heading back, Jaehyuk side-eyed Liam as he suddenly roared, then returned to his spot.
Regardless, Liam steeled himself to make the play work no matter what, and took his place in the formation.
At the same time, he sneaked a glance at Marcus's position.
Marcus was lined up diagonally.
The complete opposite side.
But that, too, was part of the plan.
He had to lull the opponent into complacency.
"One-eighty-! Hut hut!"
The opposing quarterback signaled the start of the play.
The ball snapped, and the opposing offense took off down their routes.
'Marcus again!'
The run fake was obvious as day.
Liam charged as if rushing the quarterback, then paused to read the situation.
It looked like a long pass.
"Ngh."
If the opponent came out with a long pass on this play, there was nothing he could do.
What Liam was hunting was a mid-range or short pass.
A flicker of anxiety — were they really about to give up the touchdown after all?
"Hup!"
By the time he belatedly dove at the quarterback, the man had already set his feet and released the ball.
The pass sailed through the air, and just as Liam predicted, it arced far downfield, barely grazing the tips of Marcus's outstretched hands.
"KYAAAAAH!"
"IT'S SHOWTIME! YOU READY!!"
The moment the pass connected, Blue Valley's sideline erupted.
The quarterback-receiver combo had devoured thirty-five yards in the blink of an eye.
"Hah, hah."
"Hoo, damn."
The players looked spent.
Liam gathered his wavering resolve and locked back into the game.
'We're not the only ones who are tired.'
The opposing players looked worn down too.
Chests heaving, gulping air with everything they had.
From here on, it was a battle of focus!
Whistle—!
Tweet!
Another completion.
And just like that, Blue Valley was ten yards from the end zone.
"WOOOAAAH!"
"We can do it! We've got this!"
"We're the champions!!"
"Marcus, one more!!"
Convinced victory was within arm's reach, Blue Valley's players were at a fever pitch.
Meanwhile, morale was plummeting among Wichita North's defenders.
"It's not over. Get your heads back in the game."
Only at Liam's words did the players manage to rally a little.
And this right here was the moment that mattered.
'Finally!'
Ten yards to the end zone.
Most teams would run the ball here.
But Liam knew.
With their formula for victory — Marcus — already set in stone, there was no way they'd run it.
So Liam shifted his position in the formation, ever so slightly.
Imperceptibly small — but a movement big enough to change everything.
"One-eighty-! Hut hut!"
The cadence rang out louder and sharper than at any point in the game.
The ball snapped to the quarterback.
Pop!
And at that very instant—
Liam ran.
Not toward the quarterback.
That space was an empty field.
The place where the ball was about to arrive!
'Right here!'
He'd analyzed every one of Marcus's routes all game long.
He'd predicted where Marcus would break toward the end zone, read where the ball would fly.
In the end, Liam was the one who never lost his focus.
By contrast, the Blue Valley quarterback — drained of stamina and drunk on the relief of near-certain victory — threw a lazy, careless pass...
Ziiip—!
It flew directly over Liam's head.
But it was a short pass — a low trajectory.
"AAAARGH!"
Reach it!
Reach it!
Reach it!
With every ounce of desperate longing in his body, Liam Hughes launched himself, timed to the ball's descent.
And at last—
Thump!
The ball grazed, barely, against his fingertips.
"!!"
"?!!"
As everyone watched in shock,
Liam, refusing to let his superhuman focus slip for even a heartbeat, crashed to the ground along with the deflected ball.
Thud!!
"Huh?"
"Ah...?"
The players couldn't process what had just happened.
They simply stood there, staring at the suddenly empty air where the ball had vanished — and at Liam, sprawled on the turf.
And then, at last—
"D-don't tell me..."
"The ball! Where's the ball!!"
The players woke from their stupor one by one, as if surfacing from hibernation. Every gaze turned toward the crouched figure of Liam.
If he'd dropped it here, it would be an incompletion — Blue Valley would get another crack at it.
But if Liam had held on...
"Mmn."
Liam stirred.
And then he rose to his feet.
With the ball cradled against his chest.
"······!!"
"An... interception..."
Joy and despair swept across the two teams in the same instant.
"AAAAAAAH!!!!"
"IT'S AN INTERCEPTION!!"
"LET'S FREAKING GOOOO!!!!"
"Liam! You did it! You did it, man! An interception!!! You absolute maniac!!!"
The possession had turned over — and Wichita North had the ball.