The eighty-sixth minute began with a heavy, rhythmic thud of the ball being knocked around the Northcastle backline. The score sat at 1-8, a tally that would have caused most teams to simply stop and wait for the clock to bleed out. But on the touchline, Eric Maddox was still standing. He hadn't moved back to the bench. He hadn't sat down. His presence was a constant pressure on his players, a reminder that "good enough" was a phrase that didn't exist in his vocabulary.
[> "We are into the final five minutes of regulation time," <] Michael Harrison said, his voice reflecting the sheer awe of the performance he was witnessing. [> "Northcastle are still hunting. They haven't dropped their line an inch. It's like the scoreboard doesn't even exist to them." <]
