After their first game, the Kepplers stayed to watch the next game, the second game was between Team Overdrive, a team of three very well-built women. They were facing another all-girls team, Team Softner this one made of young girls, who looked to be of a similar age to Brooke.
Shockingly, the young Team Softner was able to pull the upset win over Team Overdrive due to Team Overdrive's quarterback making several mistakes. She would constantly throw the ball into contested coverage, she expected her team to be able to always catch the ball due to the size difference, but Team Softner was a team that had great verticals.
Marvin ignored the game, he could already tell what the result would be after the first play, 'Why throw the ball to the person who is well covered' Marvin questioned Team Overdrive's quarterback's decision-making. Austin and Joel focused on the game as well, Joel wanted to see how good the other teams were, and he was not worried about his team moving on.
'This is a good time for Austin to practice his routes' Joel thought as he looked forward to their next game. There was a second game after the Team Overdrive and Team Softner game, the Kepplers didn't stay to watch it, they instead went to a store to grab some drinks because Brooke was thirsty and tired of just seeing people playing football.
Those who did stay to watch the game would call it atrocious, it was a game between young children, the youngest around the age of six and the oldest was ten. Between both teams, there was a total of ten positive yards, but no one got into the endzone, due to the children being extremely uncoordinated. No one in the crowd said anything though, they understood that the game would be bad since it was just children playing.
The Kepplers made it back to the field right before the start game between Team Softner and Team Jordan, the event organizers had decided to give Team Keppler a bye into the final round due to their opponent's parents needing them to head home. So this match between Team Jordan and Team Softner would determine who they would be playing in the final.
Team Jordan started with the ball, the old guy was playing quarterback. The girls on Team Overdrive decided to cover the lanky guy with two people and have the other guy be covered by one person. They didn't have someone set to blitz as they figured they would be able to quickly tackle the old guy if he decided to scramble.
The lanky guy was lined up on the left side of the quarterback, he was surprised when he saw two of the three girls lined up in front of him, but he wasn't nervous, they were still just children while he was a fully grown man. "SETT...HUT" The old guy hiked the ball.
The lanky guy sprinted down the field, the girls quickly followed him, doing their best to keep up with his long strides. They stuck close to his sides to make his movement difficult and slow, but it didn't matter, the guy's hands were long enough that when the quarterback threw the ball, he was able to jump and snag it out of the air.
"Dang son!! Right on their heads!!" Austin was hyped up at the catch, most people would have had the same reaction but they didn't because it was a grown man catching a football against girls who were significantly shorter and younger than him. Joel didn't have much of a reaction to the catch, he expected something like that to happen sooner rather than later.
Marvin didn't focus much on the catch, he was focused on the pass that the old man had made, 'He got the ball right at the height that was needed' Marvin thought to himself. He was already making plans in his head on a way to defend against the old man's passes.
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"SETT...HUT" The old man began the second play, the girls got closer to the Lanky man, they stuck even closer and put their hands at his sides to limit his speed, but again it was all for naught. The man jumped up and his long arms stretched up into the air and snatched the ball right out of the air.
"He did it to them again!!, right in the endzone" Austin was hyped even more as Team Jordan scored first, Team Jordan celebrated with one another as they got ready for defense. Team Softner looked disheartened as they got ready for their offensive drive.
They huddled together to create a game plan, "I say we do a trick play, like Ann fake a pass to me like how that dude did in the first game, then pass it to Pheobe" One of the girls suggested an idea for how they could score. "Not a bad plan Alex but what if the lanky guy is guarding me, how am I gonna catch the ball" Pheobe brought out a flaw in their game plan.
Alex wasn't backing down with her plan, "Alright then we'll just fake it to whoever the lanky guy is guarding and then pass it to the other person" Alex made a quick adjustment to her plan. Team Softner lined up, they were confident in their pulling off their plan, "Red 20..Red 20..HUT" Ann hiked the ball. She dropped back a couple of steps and pump-faked the ball to Pheobe.
On the defensive side, The lanky guy instantly ran towards Pheobe as he saw Ann turn to pass to her, the old guy followed suit and headed towards Pheobe, but they soon regretted the decision. Ann passed the ball to the other side of the field to what should have been a wide-open Alex. It was meant to be an easy touchdown for Team Softner but a flaw in their plans arose.
Alex had forgotten to account for the third member of Team Jordan, the young guy. He didn't fall for the pump fake, he kept his coverage on Alex, stepping in front of her, he was able to limit Alex's chances of making a catch. "PICK!!" A voice from the crowd yelled as the young guy intercepted Ann's Pass, ending Team Softner's tournament journey.
"Wow, if she had thrown the ball further, they may have won," Austin said as the girls made their way off the field, "Yeah maybe the receiver would make the catch, but that doesn't matter now, we've gotta go play," Joel said and the boys began making their way onto the field, Olivia cheered them on.
"Okay then, you guys already know the rules so let's play," The referee said as he pulled out the coin to decide who started with the ball first. The referee flipped the coin, "Heads, Team Keppler gets the ball", Austin pumped his fists, he was excited to start the offensive drive.
"Hey, you're Joel Keppler?" The old guy asked Joel surprising him. You see although Joel was a Super Bowl champion, he didn't have many more accolades than that due to him deciding to retire a year season after the Super Bowl win and focus on raising his family.
"Yeah that's me, you a fan?" Joel asked, he may not always get approached by fans but Olivia had made sure he knew the proper ways to handle fans. The older man shook his head no, "No, me and my boys are Giants fans. That catch of yours made me angry for years" The old man was a fan of the team that Joel had beaten in the SuperBowl.
Joel was a bit surprised at being approached by a fan of a team who had lost to him, especially in THE game, but he didn't let it show on his face, he simply just laughed it off and told the man that his team played great as well. The old man introduced himself and his sons, his name was William, the Lanky guy was Devin, and the third guy was John.
Joel shook their hands and wished them good luck in the game, after that both groups separated to go plan their strategy in the game. "Alright, what do you guys wanna do?" Joel asked, the game was not important to him, he was doing this more for the boys, he knew Austin loved playing and he thought that Marvin may be the same as well.
"I'd say we just run the same play, we did last time," Austin said, he figured that since the play worked so well, it would work as well again. "Marvin? you okay with running the same play?" Joel asked, he wanted Marvin to feel included in the planning process.
'That's not gonna work' Marvin thought in his head, but he nodded at Joel's words, he didn't want to come up with a different plan. Marvin knew the play would not work again, 'John's not gonna bite as hard on the stop' Marvin reasoned this way because of the play in the last game. He was going to pass the ball to Joel instead, he figured Joel would be able to catch the ball against Devin if he placed it well enough.
The guys lined up on the field, "Hut" Marvin hiked the ball and dropped back.