About this Book

From the author of Irish Thunder comes the true story of the Chelsea, Massachusetts, High School football team. Friday Night Lights meets the gang warfare of a desperate Northern city in this book about a football coach (who is also a cop in the city's Gang Unit), who pulls kids off the streets and puts them on the field with a combination of kindness and intimidation. Author Bob Halloran gets inside the life-or-death struggles of student-athletes from the Bloods, Crips, MS-13s, and Latin Kings. While exploring the anger, fear, and violence of these young men, Halloran follows the Chelsea Red Devils as they vie for a championship and the players try to make football their way out. Meanwhile, tough-love coach James Atkins serves as a cop in the Chelsea Police Department's Gang Unit, asking for his players' blood, sweat, and tears on the field . . . and hoping their blood doesn't spill off it. But even he has his own run-ins with the law. Today, football, drugs, and violent crime seem inseparable--even at the professional level. This gritty story of an implausibly successful team of poor and troubled youths and their hothead cop-coach gives us a glimpse into where the intersection of football and ganster culture might begin.