@Helobious, @Ravishing Rick and @Beau Vine, here's your 100% sunshine-pumping-free review of last week's Westlake/New Braunfels game.
Last week, a disrespected, scrappy, ragtag team of misfits from Westlake faced off against a much faster and stronger New Braunfels team. Given little chance of winning, the Chaps had nothing other than their belief in each other. With their head coach sick in the hospital, the team turned to an unlikely hero to lead them. One of the fathers, a former failed athlete himself that had lost his self-confidence and the respect of his wife and family, took over, though he had no experience coaching at any level.
The game started like all the others, with the Chaps quickly falling into a hole due to in-fighting with players who come from different backgrounds and don't understand what everyone has gone through, plus some unlucky plays and hopelessly biased refereeing. The crowd, plus the board of trustees, who are led by a woman who is planning on disbanding the school entirely to build a hotel on the grounds, was snickering at the hopeless play before them. The New Braunfels coach and his mean son, who is angry bully, taunted the Chaps and the father, who was looking like a failure to his family again.
As the halftime bell sounded, the crestfallen team trudged to the sidelines. With nothing to lose and the Chaps in a hole, the father overcame his bias against girls playing sports and put his daughter in at QB. The team left the locker room with a renewed sense of purpose and energy. With nothing to lose and no-one believing in them, the Chaps pulled all out all the stops and left it all on the field. As the Westlake girl QB made incredible play-after-play, the formally hostile crowd began chanting, "Westlake, Westlake, Westlake."
Finally, with one more chance to pull out the victory, the coach's daughter scrambled until the clock ran out, then heaved the ball into the end zone, where the shortest, most bullied Chap of them all, made an incredible catch to seal the victory. As the team carried him off the field, the crowd rose as one to salute the inspiring effort of the team. In a surprising turn, the New Braunfels coach and his son congratulated the father and his daughter, who even got a kiss from the cute running back.
Moved by the inspiring effort, the coach's wife stood up and cheered, and she texted her lawyer (who has been trying to win her hand) to cancel her divorce proceedings. Enraged by the surprising outcome, the mean woman on the board ranted that it was too late to save the school. Fortunately, the other trustees finally stood up to her and fired her on the spot.
As the Chaps celebrated their unlikely victory, the father, his wife and daughter embraced on the field.
Stay tuned for a sequel, as our disrespected heroes face an even mightier Valley team, Pharr-San-Juan-Alamo-North-Southwest-Goliad-Refugio-Bastrop-Tuesday-San-Antonio.