Electric Tacos (Wattys 2023)

THIRTY SEVEN

The whistle blew for the final time.

The crowd was yelling their hearts out as George passed the ball to Chuck, who kicked it up to Henriquez, who got tackled by Saucedo.

Max slid in and tackled Saucedo back before Ricky managed to take it and pass it to Mateo.

Mateo took a shot, and the ball bounced hard against the crossbar.

The crowd groaned.

"Good chance, Mendez!" Coach Lopez yelled. "Keep it up!"

Their keeper, Diaz got a goal kick and lobbed it up the field. Castro fired the ball across to Cabrera, who kicked it up to Henriquez, who ran with it as fast as he could.

Max got the ball, but DeLeon slid right into him, with a nasty, two-footed tackle. The referee blew the whistle as DeLeon got up, and Max rolled around in pain. The referee pulled out a red card and showed it to DeLeon, who tried to push him back.

"This is bullshit!" He yelled, as two of the officials dragged him away off the pitch. The Angels crowd started to boo really loudly and chant 'CHINGA TU MADRE, PUTO!'

Ten minutes had barely passed, and already, tempers were beginning to boil over.

Yelena crossed her arms and let out a growl as she watched Max be walked over to the sidelines. He could barely move his foot.

"Why do they always go for Max?!" She glared.

Fur Ass shrugged. "Because he's a tough nut?"

"I need him to be better for the baby."

Pammy smiled. "He will be."

"How do you know?"

"It looks like he sprained it." Fur Ass replied as he looked down at them. "But they're substituting him for Ramos. Ramos is fast and strong, but he's no Max."

Yelena frowned. "Does this mean they'll lose?"

"I hope not, Dearie."

Back on the pitch, Ramos was running on like a rocket. He'd been preparing himself for this moment all season. He was ready to help his team defend their honor and become the best versions of themselves.

He ran up and down the field, feeding to both Ricky and Mateo for the next ten minutes, and he came close himself; two chances that could have made two outstanding goals, lost to the crossbar, and the claws of Hernandez, Diaz, and Aguirre.

A sensational goal kick from Diaz almost fired the ball into the crowd at the other end of the field, but he missed it, and it went out for a corner.

Saucedo was tiring Chuck out, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. He pushed, and pushed him away, until eventually Expósito got the ball from him, and pinged it back up to Ochoa, the Cabrera, and then Castro, who gave it to Mateo.

Mateo passed it to Ricky, who found a gap in the defense and fired the ball into the back of the net with all his might.

The Angels crowd went wild and screamed over the top of the salty Imps crowd, who were booing at them. Some idiots were throwing plastic cups at each other, and trying to rile up the Angels crowd, who were ready to fight back.

Thankfully, some of the parents, and teachers held them back. Pops, Tito, and Uncle Zeke helped as well. There was a brief break as the instigators were thrown out.

Mateo and Ricky took some water. They were becoming tired, like Chuck, who was walking around the pitch. He was beginning to cramp up a bit. He didn't want to go off yet. He was determined to see it out. He'd tried all year.