American winner takes all

Chapter 204

As Ethan got the very crucial first attack, Eugene and Woody standing on the sidelines couldn't help but look at each other again.

This tactic did not actually appear in any pre-match preparations. In other words, it was Ethan's improvisation.

Judging from the results, this tactic was certainly successful.

But it also means that Ethan, unlike other players, has the courage and confidence to proactively change tactics at critical moments.

The most important thing is, he really did it.

"It's both a bad thing and a good thing." Eugene laughed.

Strictly speaking, he does not allow players to change tactics privately. After all, the team is a whole, and any one person's whim will have a chain reaction on the entire team.

But Ethan is different, because... he really has this ability.

"This way my work will be easier." Woody also said with a wry smile.

Of course he is willing to delegate power, which also means that Ethan has more freedom to choose tactics.

In a new round of offense at the 49-yard line, Ethan once again chose to take the ball out slowly, but Mississippi State, as before, did not put any pressure on the pocket.

This allowed Ethan to play very comfortably, spotting the right moment, the gap between the corner and the free position, and making a precise long pass.

Michael Vaughn had already stood still. Although the football hit his chest and bounced up, causing the pass to fail, it still proved that Ethan had found a way to penetrate the opponent's defense.

On the second offense, Ethan found tight end Rod Rutledge again and gained fifteen yards.

Multiple smooth attacks in a row made the Mississippi State defense a little flustered, and the opponent's head coach Jackie Sherrill immediately called a timeout in the first half.

"Jackie Sherrill, who played three seasons with the Alabama Crimson Tide under the guidance of Bear Bryant and is in his sixth season coaching MSU, didn't know how to deal with Ethan's speed. How would he respond..." Ron Franklin said.

The short timeout ended and Eason stood on the court again, and at this time he could observe that Mississippi State had added personnel to the defensive front.

Mostly to rush the quarterback.

Just as Ethan expected, as the game resumed, the opponent's defensive strategy immediately changed, from the original tight end defense to attacking the quarterback.

In the second offensive attack on the spot, Ethan once again used the same tactics as before. After receiving the ball, he turned around to meet with Sean Alexander, and after a fake move, he chose to charge with the ball himself.

It's still the same tactics, but the results are completely different.

The opponent's impact strategy caused that when Ethan started to accelerate, the positions of several defensive players were not able to surround Ethan well. This allowed Ethan to find a gap, and he made the same emergency stop as before, and moved out of the way easily. The first defensive player then turns around and flexibly bypasses the second player.As for the remaining two, they couldn't keep up with Ethan's speed and were left behind by Ethan.

In the end, Ethan successfully ran the ball and once again helped Alabama advance 17 yards. At this time, he had entered the range of the free kick and could also continue to move forward and choose to score.

Things were starting to look good for Alabama.

"The impact on the quarterback will cause the opponent's defensive personnel to move immediately. As long as you choose to run the ball quickly at this time, the opponent will not be able to catch up. Of course, except for the situation where you actively run into the opponent's circle." During the meeting, Ethan said There is still time to explain to teammates the reasons for choosing such tactics.

In a sense, rugby tactics are like "rock, paper, scissors" with a certain mutual restraint.

The best way to face an impact on the quarterback is to run the ball, and the key is speed.

There are a lot of fast people in Alabama.

Ethan looked at Alexander...

In the first scoring attack, Ethan directly handed the ball to Alexander. In front of him, there were many teammates clearing the way for him. Alexander relied on his speed and flexibility to move all the way, like a swift cheetah, rushing directly. Entered the formation area!

"Sean Alexander got a touchdown! After Ethan made consecutive breakthroughs, he chose to hand the ball to his teammates, and his teammates lived up to expectations. This is a team victory. Alabama scored six points. Look at kicker No. 31 Can Bullock make the PAT?"

As Bullock steadily made the free throw, Alabama and its opponent returned to the same starting line, which could be regarded as erasing the disadvantages committed by the previous defensive team.

When Ethan returned to the field, he saw defensive coordinator DuBose patting several defensive players on the back.

When the defensive team returned to the court, Ethan found that the opponent's offense was still effective.

You can see a long pass from Mississippi State's quarterback. If corner Fernando hadn't interfered with the opponent's wide receiver at the last moment, causing the pass to fail, I'm afraid this would have been another large-yardage pass.

Although Fernando perfectly suppressed the opposing receiver, the other side was not so lucky. In the subsequent offense, the opponent attempted several passes in a row. Although the success rate was not high, each time he succeeded against Alabama. are very dangerous.

70 yards, 60 yards, 50 yards...the opponent advances towards Alabama's zone bit by bit.

In the second quarter, Ethan took 5 minutes to complete the offensive touchdown, and the opponent was not to be outdone and responded with another touchdown a few minutes later.

Mississippi State once again took a seven-point lead as its kicker completed the field goal.

When he arrived at midfield, Ethan saw that the expressions of the coaching staff and others became a little solemn and nervous.

I'm afraid no one expected that at the end of the first half, Alabama would fall behind its opponents. You know, the Arabian Horses have the fourth-ranked defensive team this year, and the offensive end also has the dazzling rising star Ethan O'Connor. , this result was beyond everyone’s expectations.

"We must re-examine our opponents and make on-the-spot changes." Ethan looked at the players and said to everyone before the coach spoke.

This sentence is not only said to the players, but also to the coach.

Woody nodded silently, agreeing with Ethan's words. As for Eugene, he still had his iconic poker face.

The game entered the third quarter, and Ethan and He followed the same pattern, changing their offensive strategies from time to time as the opponent's defensive strategies changed. Relying on his excellent running ability that showed off in the previous game, coupled with Ethan's own excellent passing skills, As well as physical confrontation ability, Alabama's offense has also made steady progress.

In the scoring attack in the middle of the third quarter, Ethan used his physical advantage to attract multiple defensive personnel from the opponent and finally completed the pass for a touchdown.

Now Alabama's score has reached 13 points, and it only needs to complete the PAT to tie Mississippi State.

Bullock, the kicker, walked onto the field to boos.

"You look a little nervous."

When Ethan passed by Bullock, he found that his expression was not normal.

"Me? It's okay." The face behind the mask smiled.

He entered the University of Alabama last year. At that time, Alabama was suffering from NCAA sanctions. Alabama, which had no one to recruit, had to try to persuade football players to serve as kickers, and Bullock was the one who was finally selected.In other words, he actually has little experience on the football field, and his kicking success rate fluctuates and is unstable. He wasted a PAT opportunity in the last game.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you can't score." Ethan patted his shoulder to express comfort.

Bullock immediately shook his head: "I will kick the ball in."

Ethan nodded, originally just expressing relief, but in fact this point was quite crucial.

Half a minute later, Ethan looked a little crazy when he saw the football flying away from the goal.

Holy shit, are you serious?Can this also be kicked away?
The expressions of the rest of the players became a little unnatural. It seemed that one point was not critical, but now it was about to enter the fourth quarter and there was not much time left. This would allow Mississippi State to immediately start to increase defense and hold on to the victory.

Bullock looked particularly annoyed when he returned to the court. He kicked the seat violently, obviously blaming himself.

When Ethan saw this, he just looked at Eugene.

Eugene also seemed helpless: "He is already the best among that group of people."

The only thing to blame is the revelation of Alabama's recruiting violations.

"Now we can only attack with all our strength." Ethan watched the opponent's offensive team play a series of screens, and finally the quarterback passed the ball.

However, the ball was directly intercepted by linebacker Dwayne Rudd.

An interception at a critical moment!
Seeing that victory was close at hand, Ethan immediately led the offensive team to the scene quickly.

The opponent's defensive team was also facing a formidable enemy and worked hard to score points.

In the first attack, Ethan looked at his teammates who were being guarded tightly. It looked like he was making a powerful long pass, but in fact, at the moment of his release, he pushed the ball down. The entire rugby lost its balance during flight and began to circle sideways. The trajectory also becomes erratic.

It was the "mistake pass" that he had mastered before. This time, he made a sudden move and deceived almost everyone. However, it was the tight end who was confused at his feet and slowed down a beat, which ultimately led to the failure of the pass.

His teammates don't have the same big heart as Ethan, so they will inevitably be nervous at critical moments.

It was just the first gear, which Ethan could understand. In the second gear, Ethan rushed directly to the ball. As soon as he took a step, the referee's whistle sounded.

The referee made a facial downward gesture.

It turned out to be a mask-pulling foul on the offensive left tackle.

Not only was the yardage penalty lost, but Ethan's offense was wasted.

Before the start of the third gear, the offensive team discussed for a long time. As the offense officially started, the team made continuous fake moves to cooperate. Finally, Ethan chose to make the final decision and threw the ball to the far end receiver - Michael Vaughn. .

Michael Vaughn had already jumped high, but the cornerback interfered with him to a certain extent. When Michael jumped high, he hit his leg, making him unbalanced when he jumped, and he could only Watching the football fly past him.

"Call a free kick, Ethan." Eugene's voice came from the headset.

In the end, Eugene chose a more conservative tactic, relying on free kicks to score three points, and finally relying on the defense to ensure victory.

Of course, this can't be called "stable" at all. If Mississippi State also scores a free kick at the last minute, Alabama will still lose by one point in the end.

This is the result of a PAT mistake.

Regarding this ball, Ethan and Eugene argued for a long time. In the end, Eugene directly sent the special teams and kickers onto the field, and Ethan walked off the field helplessly.

This time kicker Bullock lived up to expectations and successfully scored three valuable points for Alabama. The score also became 16-14, with Alabama only leading by two points.

The game went exactly as Ethan thought. The tenacious Mississippi State advanced to the 41-yard line in the Alabama half. As the opponent's kicker also made a free throw, the situation once again turned against Ala. Bama is particularly disadvantaged.

Ethan glanced at the time board.

There is only 1 minute and 50 seconds left.

"Ethan... Now that the team is at its most critical, it's up to you." Eugene turned his head, as if grasping a life-saving straw, looked at Ethan, and said with a sneer.

The other coaches also looked at Ethan at this time.

This group of people has almost formed a path dependence at this moment. After all, Ethan has turned the tide more than once.

But this time, Ethan gave a different answer:
"If I remember correctly, this is not the first time, right?" Ethan frowned slightly.

Of course there is nothing wrong with trying your best to win for the team, but this should not be the reason why the players fail at critical moments.

This time on the sidelines, Ethan saw it very clearly, and the defensive team relaxed from the beginning.

"About this matter... I will specifically warn the team members after I return." Eugene gave in.

Ethan still shook his head. If what Eugene said was really useful... then this game would not be like this at all.

"I'll do it myself when I get back." Ethan stood up directly and entered the arena with the special team.

Eugene immediately called Sean Alexander down. Although Sean ran very fast, he was still lagging behind Ethan in terms of attacking back.

In the field, Ethan looked at the football flying towards him...jumped high and got the ball steadily before the sideline of the zone.

The next moment, looking at the Mississippi State special teams team flying over, start.

The Alabama players also knew how critical this counterattack was, and they went all out. Many people formed a screen in front of Ethan, blocking most of the impact. A small number of players attacked the players beside Ethan from the side. , was also directly dodged by Ethan.

In less than two seconds, Ethan had passed half the court with the ball, and the screen in front of him had been completely washed away.

For Ethan, the real test has just arrived.

Someone bumped into someone on the left. Ethan raised his shoulder, then pushed the opponent away. Ethan dodged to the left, dodging the team members who rushed in from the right, and then paused again. Started to break out from the right again...

As Ethan knocked down the last defensive player who was lagging behind, he staggered into the zone.

"Ethan did it, he saved the team once again, he is the savior of Alabama!" the on-site commentator shouted wildly.

(End of this chapter)