Halftime seemed to be the dividing line between the two teams.
After the third quarter of the second half began, St. Patrick's High, in excellent form, sounded the horn of counterattack.
On the Medford Team's side, although they occasionally scored on offense thanks to the individual skills of Aaron and Sam, they were still slowly caught up by the opponent in the overall game.
Finally, at the end of the third quarter, St. Patrick's High completed the comeback with a small score difference.
And in the upcoming fourth quarter, Aaron, due to physical reasons, could only watch helplessly as the opponent slowly widened the score gap.
Beep—
As the final whistle blew, the Medford players, who had endured the agony, dejectedly exited the field.
Meanwhile, the St. Patrick's High players, who had won the final victory, cheered around the field, enjoying the joy of being winners.
One should know that previously they were a team at the bottom of the state competition, but now, miraculously, they had defeated a team that was among the top ten in last year's state competition.
Such a feat was indeed something worth showing off for the St. Patrick's High players.
However, unlike the enthusiastic celebratory atmosphere on the field, the spectators outside the field were all silent at this moment.
…
In fact, the atmosphere outside the field had not been very good since the end of the third quarter.
Even many Medford students left the school in frustration not long after the fourth quarter began.
That feeling of greater hope leading to greater disappointment was not pleasant.
And on St. Patrick's High's side, without the cheers of the outside spectators, their celebration did not last long before it stopped.
After all, it was an away game, and being too boisterous could easily lead to trouble.
The emotions of those spectators outside who had witnessed their home team lose were not as stable as they seemed.
Next, according to the procedure, it was time for the head coaches of both sides to shake hands and communicate.
Of course, Coach Wayne was not in the mood to communicate; after a simple handshake with the opposing head coach, he hurried off the field.
The head coach of St. Patrick's High was in a good mood because of the win and did not say much.
Afterward, he organized his still excited players and left Medford Academy on the bus.
This invitational tournament was now completely over.
"Do you need any help?" As the spectators gradually left, Mike stayed behind and walked up to Aaron, who was sweeping the field.
Coach Wayne had left in a hurry and had not arranged the post-game matters.
So the task of cleaning the venue naturally fell to Aaron and the others.
Originally, these chores would have been taken care of by enthusiastic students, but the football team's performance this time was not satisfactory.
Therefore, no volunteers were willing to stay and help the team with the aftermath.
"Mike…"
Seeing Mike approach, Aaron, who had just lost the game, had a very complicated look in his eyes.
Then, as if he had made some kind of decision, he said, "I will go to Coach Wayne next Monday. If he still doesn't resolve your matter, then I won't be captain anymore."
This time, Medford could be said to have lost very badly.
Although there might have been multiple reasons, compared to the strong team from last year, Mike's role was also highlighted.
After all, everyone had seen Mike's help to the team last year.
And to restore the team's strength, Aaron was determined to go all out this time.
"Don't be impulsive, Aaron. My matter is not urgent, we can discuss it slowly…" Mike advised.
Aaron was graduating from high school in half a year, and his identity as the team's quarterback and captain could give him certain preferential treatment when choosing a university later.
So resigning from the captaincy now was not a wise decision.
"No, this is not just about you. Coach Wayne's current state has already affected the team's normal operation. If he cannot change his attitude, there's no point in me being captain…"
It could be seen that Aaron truly loved football, and precisely because of this, he had a great deal of dissatisfaction with the inactive Coach Wayne.
"The captain is right, this is not just about you, the team needs to change," Georgie, who had been observing the situation here, immediately spoke up in agreement.
Because his father was a football coach, Georgie also had a special affection for the sport.
At the same time, many old players who had been silently observing the situation also came to stand behind Aaron.
They used their actions to show their attitude.
For a time, the team led by Aaron seemed to have the intention of going to Coach Wayne to force his hand.
To be honest, Coach Wayne's performance during this period was indeed very unpopular.
"Mike, although I don't know what's wrong with the football team, I think their courage is worth encouraging." Paige, who was beside Mike, also said softly.
The young girl also noticed the Medford players' struggles in today's game.
They were clearly stronger and had a chance to win the game, but lost due to various reasons.
Facing this unwillingness, the desire to seek change was not wrong and was worthy of admiration.
"Alright, I understand." Mike looked at Aaron and the others and said, "When you go to see Coach Wayne on Monday, remember to call me along."
"OK, it's settled then." Aaron smiled, finalizing the matter.
Afterward, everyone divided the work and began to clean the field.
The scoreboard used for the game and the protective equipment on the sidelines needed to be put away, and the garbage left by the spectators on the field also needed to be cleared out.
Mike and Paige were collecting the support banners discarded by the spectators on the sidelines.
"Mike, you know what, I heard Coach Wayne is currently going through a divorce with his wife…" On the other side, Georgie, who was picking up trash on the field, took a moment to come up to Mike and talk about the coach's gossip.
"Is that so? No wonder he looks so bad." Mike was a little surprised.
As far as he knew, Coach Wayne loved his wife very much.
And from the information the other party had revealed in the past, their relationship had always been very good.
He hadn't expected them to be getting a divorce now.
If that was the case, Coach Wayne's recent poor performance also had a reason, and it even made one feel a bit sympathetic.
There was no wall that could hold back the wind, and Coach Wayne's troubles at home were widely spread within the team.
Georgie, as an insider, continued to gossip, "I heard the reason for Coach Wayne's divorce this time is that he accidentally caught his wife cheating… How pitiful…"
Georgie, who was originally ready to gossip thoroughly, omitted the details when he saw Paige nearby.
"Coach Wayne is indeed very unlucky to encounter such a thing." Mike nodded in agreement.
This also explained why Aaron and the others had such a high tolerance for Coach Wayne's inaction before.
If it weren't for this game's loss, they might have endured even longer.
Who could blame them when Coach Wayne's situation was truly distressing, something no man could accept.
"Sigh, I wonder how long it will take for Coach Wayne to recover." Aside from his dereliction of duty at work, Georgie showed a sympathetic side towards Coach Wayne.
"Never mind, let's not talk about this." Mike stopped the topic, as it was very impolite to discuss such matters behind someone's back, especially with a young girl nearby.
"Alright." Georgie, having satisfied some of his urge to confide, did not continue the topic.
Afterward, the two on the field chose a lighter topic and started chatting again.
Just then, a team of student council members came out of the teaching building and walked towards the field.