American winner takes all

Chapter 69 The only weakness
"Shh!"

The water spray jumped high, and the debris of the lawn splashed along with the mud. The disadvantages of the natural lawn under heavy rain began to appear.

Pat Barnes felt extremely muddy under his feet, unable to use any strength at all, and his whole body began to slide forward uncontrollably.Fortunately, he held on to the ball the moment before he fell to the ground and did not let it go.

This accident caused all the players on the bench to break out in a cold sweat.

In the next game, both the eastern and western teams were disrupted by heavy rain.

The Western team's wide receiver, future six-time NFL All-Star Tyrell Owens, failed to pass the ball because he was unable to accurately determine the placement of the football.

Star running back Eddie George, who created multiple opportunities for East in the first half, nearly slipped during a quick change of direction.

The white jersey worn by future first-line tight end Tony Gosalis was about to be dyed black and turned into a clay figure.

As for the front line of the needle against the wheat field, the destructive power on the lawn was already amazing, but now it was mixed by the rain, and ugly mud puddles appeared on the field, like trenches.The entire course gradually turned into a swamp under the torrential rain.

Not only was it rain, but there was also wind, which made the football line more difficult to control, and quarterback errors on both sides began to increase.

Almost all positions were affected, and naturally the offenses of both sides began to become "constipated".

"When you paid the money, you said that the stadium has excellent drainage performance!" The relevant person in charge of the event organizer "High School Sports" approached the director of the stadium.

Affected by the weather, the players on both sides cannot let go, and the enjoyment of the game will naturally be reduced. Money has been spent but the desired results have not been achieved, so naturally you will be anxious.

"All indicators of the stadium have been approved by the NCAA and the NFL. Summer is the peak season for hurricanes in Florida. This is a force majeure in the contract." The stadium director argued.

The two sides quarreled.

"Due to the heavy rain, the visibility at the scene began to decrease. I don't know if the organizers have any plans to suspend the game... We have just received news that the game will not be temporarily interrupted. Both sides will continue to bring this unique event to the national audience in the rain. Competition!" The host announced the news he had just received.

"This reminds me of the 85th week of the American League regular season in 13. At that time, the Miami Dolphins were also experiencing heavy rain at home. It is said that the Dolphins had specially formulated several 'puddle' running tactics to give us hope. How will the coaches on both sides change their formations!" Commentator Chris Collinsworth answered.

"Yes, as the most outstanding high school football coaches in the country, the two must be making corresponding adjustments. There is no doubt that this is also a test for the players on the field. It depends on who has the stronger adaptability." The host continued. .

It can be said that the two on-site commentators used their professionalism to successfully guide and arouse the curiosity of the audience, making the audience temporarily forget the impact of the bad weather.

At the same time, Ethan heard Coach Bob next to him wearing a radio headset giving a new order to Pat.

"Heavy rain will greatly reduce the success rate of passing the ball. Try to use more running tactics."

The impact on the ground attack is relatively small. This is the most basic and most effective tactical change.

As for more advanced tactics, it's not that the coach doesn't have them, it's that the players on the field can't cooperate accordingly.It only lasted a week, and the weather forecast was only received yesterday, so there was no time to prepare.

Manning of the Eastern Team also received the same order.

Now the quarterbacks of both teams on the field are typical "pocket quarterbacks". The main method of advancement is to rely on passing. It is like a player who has practiced boxing for ten years and finally stepped onto the ring but was told that he can only use both hands. Of course, the leg attack can't be used even if it is strong. In addition, there are multiple factors such as the weather and the lack of time for teammates to get used to each other.Neither team scored a touchdown throughout the third quarter.

"At least I wasn't widened." Pat took off his jersey and twisted it, and the water that came out was dirty.

"Ethan, your speed is not much slower than Tommy Fraser, and you are less affected by the weather. We have a chance to recover the disadvantage." Bob encouraged.

"If you can defeat the strongest high school student, everyone will look at you with admiration!" Pat also patted Ethan on the shoulder.

He was in the same class with Adam, the former quarterback of Norman, and he was promoted to college in the fall. He and Ethan had not met on the field for the time being. After getting along with each other for the past few days, he found that he had a good rapport with this junior. The most important thing was The reason is that they have the same hobbies privately, and at this moment, it can be considered that I am sincerely adding this sentence for Ethan's good.

As for Ethan himself, he walked onto the field without saying a word. His gaze penetrated the metal mask and he could see that many players on the field were covered in mud. He also felt the heavy rain splashing on his body.

Especially when hitting the helmet, it makes a continuous and subtle sound of "dah, dah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah". Although it is considered "white noise", it still has some impact.

"We saw Coach Bob replace the fourth quarterback. He is the only tenth-grade player in this All-Star Game. He is 17 years and ten months old. The current youngest appearance record holder is Tony Dorsett, 16 He was selected as a high school All-Star at the age of 11 months. You must know that he later won the Heisman Award and is also the holder of the NFL record for the longest single run of 99 yards!" The host gave a positive evaluation of Ethan's appearance, comparing him and The legendary NFL running back Hall of Famer makes the analogy.

At the beginning of the first attack, Ethan faked a pass and made several consecutive fake moves to get rid of the sudden attack. He ran the ball along the outside line and adopted the original charging route of Munster. However, the defensive intensity was compared to the previous St. Petersburg attack. Anna is even stronger by an order of magnitude. The end forwards are decisive and timely in their defense, and even their speed is almost the same as Ethan's.

Ethan had no choice but to use his agility advantage and tried to shake him away with a fake move again, but the slippery ground slowed down his movements by one point, which was the gap of one point. The end forward struck out with one hand from bottom to top. , actually directly hit the football that Ethan held in one arm.Fortunately, Ethan had quick eyesight and quickly raised his hand to hug the ball, so it didn't cause a catastrophe. Cold sweat was already breaking out from his back.

Just from this meeting, Ethan could clearly feel that not only his speed, strength, and experience were more than one level better than the opponents he had faced before.

This is when he still has All-Star teammates to help him contain other opponents.

If they were to lead the Normans against such a team, I'm afraid there would be more than one person outflanking and defending at this moment, at least three.

To be exaggerated, it would take a year or two to close the gap even if teammates were to take medicine as food every day, clone 20 Coach Bobs, and provide one-on-one coaching to each team member, and they would still remain where their opponents were. in the case of.

When facing Santa Ana, he could still rely on his outstanding point to withstand the situation and hold on to the score, carrying the whole team to victory.

What if we face a further opponent?
Ethan has no time to think about this issue now. He has to concentrate on the current game for 12 minutes.

However, compared to when he faced Santa Ana, Ethan has naturally improved his skills and tactics after these few days of training and running in with the top high school players.

What's more important is that I got three experience packs in a row in the first three quarters!

"We saw Ethan pull away again, and it looked like he was preparing for a long pass. He was reading the defense and took the shot. The ball penetrated the rain curtain and the strong wind, and accurately found the wide receiver Tyrell Owens. This It’s the perfect large size to block all weather interference at once! A full 35 yards!” said the host.

"We can see that when he takes action, he actually makes a leg-raising action similar to that of a baseball player. From a professional perspective, this is more to hide the direction of the action and thus confuse the opponent. This posture of heavy bombing, It's exactly the same as Brad Ott in the second quarter. It seems that Brad imparted experience to Ethan during the pre-game training." The commentator followed.

Brad, who was called, stood on the sidelines looking confused.

"Did I teach him the technique of exerting force in a dream?"

During the Eastern team's first half-time offense at the 40-yard line, Ethan followed suit by using the "option pass" that his good friend Pat was good at. That is, based on the defense on the scene, he passed from several specific legal passes in a very short period of time. The receiver makes the best decision on the spot.

However, due to the influence of heavy rain, the short serve was too fast for the tight end on the strong side to let go.

But even so, it still surprised Pat off the court.

The Eastern team attacked on the third pass from the 40-yard line in the half. Ethan held the ball in the middle and ran into the defensive tackle. Ethan blocked the attack with one arm. Not only did he not slow down at all, but he accelerated. It was the first quarter appearance. The way Tommy Fraser is best at rushing the ball.

Just like the duel between Western knights in the Middle Ages, compared to Ethan's indomitable attitude, the opponent's defensive tackle actually gave up at the last moment and adopted a more conservative posture to contact Ethan, and because of the mud pit left under his feet, he could not stand firm. , was directly pushed down by Ethan.

"Being pushed down" is equivalent to being "knocked down" on a rugby field that emphasizes physical confrontation. It is the ultimate background board in highlight reels, such as Boateng who was repeatedly whipped.

This moment completely sent the audience into a frenzy, and even Ethan got rid of the defense and sprinted all the way to a [-]-yard touchdown.

When he was about to approach the opponent's end zone, Ethan could even feel a very slight vibration coming from the ground. You must know that during football games, the crowd is so excited that it creates artificial earthquakes.

As for the noise, it was much higher than when Manning was first welcomed onto the stage.

In addition, Ethan was standing in the end zone at this time, relatively close to the audience, and his eardrums were even hurt by the shock at this moment.

His teammates also rushed over, looking particularly excited.

"Don't be stunned, you have to celebrate." A teammate reminded.

Ethan also noticed the end zone photographer with a Steadicam on his body and a professional camera facing him.

Audiences across the country are watching...

In fact, in high-profile games, celebration is an extremely important part of the atmosphere.

The sliding kneeling before was purely out of emotion. He couldn't think of any good moves for a while, so Ethan could only stand there and applaud the audience.The range of movement is not even as large as the cheerleaders next to them.

Years later, the only value mentioned for this game, which was not ranked at all in Ethan O'Connor's career, was that this game showed for the first time his only weakness on the court...community-level celebrations.

(End of this chapter)