When the Game Stands Tall Page #5

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...taking on defending

Washington State champs, Bellevue.

Down, set, hut!

Strong right, lead at two.

Veer, pass, drag. Let's go.

Strong left! Strong left!

- Open back 11. Back 11.

- Down, set, hut!

Rick Salinas

throws a perfect pass...

...connecting with Danny Ladouceur

for a 13-yard gain.

Sixteen mid-line on one. Ready?

Go get them, Beast.

Chris Ryan. This man has the size and

speed to play anywhere in the country.

Red dog! Red dog! Set, hut-hut!

Go, go, go!

Come on, Chris! Come on, Chris!

Come on, Beast! Come on, Beast!

Come on, Beast!

That's it! Yeah!

Chris Ryan, showing off his ability,

breaks a 45-yard run...

...to give De La Salle a 7-to-O lead.

That's a great run, but our left tackle

needs to seal that backer better.

Ryan has been a scoring machine,

amassing 52 touchdowns...

...in his sophomore and junior seasons.

He is now 36 touchdowns away...

...from breaking

the California career touchdown record.

Twenty-two. Hut, set, hut!

Beasefl

This is like the drill we run every day

at practice!

Shed that block

and get to the ball carrier!

Okay.

They're changing it up.

They're in man to man,

then dropping to cover two.

Why don't you simplify it?

Read the free safety.

Free safety's gonna tell you everything.

What? Someone break one?

Stop him! Stop him!

Get after him!

Jeez!

Bellevue's Taylor King

breaks a 76-yard touchdown.

This Bellevue team

is not afraid of De La Salle.

We may just have a game here.

And yet another completion.

First down, Bellevue.

They're playing exactly like us.

This Wolverine passing attack

is shredding De La Salle.

It's a three-deep and you got beat?

Your responsibility is the quarterback

when they run the option.

Right? We practiced all of this,

come on, now!

You have to break down

to make that stop.

Don't get caught flat-footed.

No, no, no!

Stop him! Stop him!

Oh, God!

Here's something nobody expected.

The Wolverines are controlling the line

of scrimmage against De La Salle.

They're beating us off the ball

on every snap.

- Down.

- Blue 22! Blue 22!

Set.

Go left! Go left!

Hut!

Bellevue scores to give

the Washington State champions...

...a 28-to-7 lead

over powerhouse De La Salle.

We're gonna lose.

Hit Danny on a 12-yard curl in the seam

between the linebacker and the safety.

Down, set, hut!

Danny Ladouceur drops a pass.

His dad will not be happy about that.

Gotta get it to the players.

He's gotta catch it, Bev.

Ready. Set, hut!

Ladouceufs hit

and coughs up the ball!

Gotta hold on to that ball, Danny!

Bellevue recovers. Bellevue recovers.

- I don't care how good you think you are!

- I'm the best receiver on this team.

I ran my route, they attacked, man.

Ran the ball right by you.

- Come on! Let's go, let's go!

- Eight, seven...

...six, five, four...

- Down, set, hut!

- ...three, two, one.

And that's it.

The streak is over! The streak is over!

The longest winning streak

in sports history is now over...

...as the Bellevue Wolverines

have shocked the De La Salle Spartans...

...in perhaps the biggest upset

in high-school football history.

Are you okay? It's okay.

Hey, hey! We don't do that here.

We don't do that.

Reporters, friends, family, strangers.

They're all gonna ask the same thing:

"What happened?"

This is a question

that's gonna follow you.

"How did you lose the streak?"

And every time,

you're gonna answer the truth:

"Bellevue played better than us

and we lost a high-school football game."

That's football.

But it's not you.

Don't let a game define who you are.

Let the way you live your lives do that.

Coach.

I truly believe

that life's most impressionable lessons...

...are ones where something bad

happens to you...

...or something challenging

confronts you.

No one can climb into your head and

hear what that little voice is saying to you.

Is it saying,

"Oh, no, we lost the streak"?

Well, what's it gonna say?

After today, you're gonna find out

a lot about yourselves.

And you know something, we're all

gonna find out what this team is made of.

The effort you put in

during the off-season was commendable.

But it has not translated onto the field.

You've got to decide

what you wanna be.

I get the feeling from you as a team

that you just wanna hop on that throne...

...and place the championship ring

on your finger.

That you're at De La Salle

and deserve that.

For the most part we're inconsistent,

mistake-prone, ragged...

...and not very physical.

That's where we are.

As much as you don't wanna hear it,

that's my assessment.

Do I feel like you can pull this off

and earn the right to that throne?

- Yeah, I do.

- Attaboy, attaboy.

I'm not hoping you play well

against Clayton Valley.

You have to.

You have to play well this week.

Even if you step it up and play

at your ability level, it still won't be easy.

You're gonna have to fight

for victories in those games.

All right, that's it, that's it!

Oh, he's got a seam! Go, go, go!

- Nice work.

- Oh, for-!

Despite a well-played game,

De La Salle comes up short...

...and after two games,

is still winless in this young season.

Bob Lad0uceur's gonna have to figure

something out to get this team on track...

...if they plan on making it

to the playoffs this year.

Pick up your heads.

Meet me at the locker room tomorrow.

Eight a.m.

What's up, Alex?

- Miss you. I'm all sweaty.

- It's okay. It was a tough game.

Party is tomorrow, if you wanna go.

Maybe. I don't know. If you do.

- Are you kidding me?

- Dad, please.

You let some punk pull you down

at the two-yard line.

- I scored three touchdowns.

- How many did you promise?

- Mr. Ryan, please.

- Laurie, stop.

Forty-one blast. Run it, now.

- Dad, it's midnight. I'm tired.

- So am I.

- Forty-one blast. Run it, now.

- You run it.

You listen close.

I want that record.

He's not gonna get it for you

with a busted rib.

Now let him go.

Hey, coach. Let's you and me

huddle up for a second, okay?

I don't usually huddle up with parents,

Mick.

You think

this is gonna freak them out?

I certainly hope so.

- Good morning, Carol.

- Hi, Bob.

Nurse Ballard is a friend of mine.

She's in charge of the entire nursing staff.

Today, we will be following her orders.

Coach Lad and I worked at the

Juvenile Detention Center in Richmond.

It was a little longer ago

than I'd rather admit.

So you guys play a tough game.

Anybody ever been injured?

You've never been injured?

It's part of the game. You don't think

about it, you bounce back.

You're very brave.

This is not that.

Here, nobody bounces. Break into three

groups. When you hear your name...

...follow the nurse who called it

to the appropriate unit. Let's go.

Nurse Adams is in charge of the Recovery

Ward, and she will take over from here.

Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Welcome to the VA Recovery Ward.

So here we specialize in transplants...

...amputations and general rehabilitation

for limb recovery.

Our focus here is on full recovery,

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