Seeing Medford's renewed fighting spirit once again ignited the enthusiasm of the spectators.
The mentality of sympathizing with the weak made many people willing to see the weaker side overcome a strong opponent through effort and struggle.
Now, many neutral spectators outside the field had immersed themselves in the Medford team, hoping they could create a miracle.
However, after the ball possession changed hands, Medford, on the defensive end, quickly showed these supportive spectators what was absurd.
Watching the Austin High quarterback score another touchdown without any obstruction.
Those spectators with a strong sense of immersion could no longer hold back and began to reprimand Mike.
After all, as Medford's new quarterback, organizing the defense was his responsibility.
However, judging from the last two defensive plays, Mike's performance as quarterback was far from satisfactory.
Even George on the sidelines frowned at Medford's terrible defense.
"This can't go on; no team has ever done this before.
Giving up on defense is too unwise…" George muttered incessantly, feeling restless.
The strategy of abandoning defense was Mike's unilateral decision, but the uninformed spectators, seeing Medford's unreasonable play style, would only attribute the responsibility to the team's head coach.
If he didn't only have one timeout left, George would have truly wanted to call Mike off the field right now and give him a good defensive lesson.
Seeing George's conflicted expression, Aaron, who was standing beside him, comforted him, saying, "We can only choose to trust Mike now; perhaps his plan will have a good effect."
Everyone in Medford knew that Mike had an extremely strong talent on the offensive end.
Like now, abandoning the confrontation on the defensive end and focusing all energy on the offensive end could be considered a way to leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses.
Aaron had a feeling that Mike's offensive strategy might yield unexpected results.
"Now, we can only continue to trust him," George sighed, silently telling himself, 'The worst outcome is just losing this game.
As long as Mike can grow, there will be plenty of opportunities next year.'
Medford's excellent performance this year was at least half Mike's credit.
Once he truly grew next year, the team would definitely go further.
After realizing this, George's mindset indeed became much calmer.
After Austin High steadily scored eight points on the field, possession of the ball once again came into Medford's hands.
Beep—
The whistle for Medford's offense sounded.
Mike, who had observed the opponent's defensive formation, held the football and quickly broke through from the opponent's left sideline.
"Go Go Go—"
Amidst the shouts, Medford's players followed closely, forcing their way through the opponent's left side, carving out a bloody path.
Mike also relied on his superb dodging ability, breaking through Austin High's layers of defense after several changes of direction, and rushing towards the opponent's end zone.
"Well done, kid—"
"I knew he could do it—"
"Charge! Charge! Charge!"
...
Seeing Mike's brilliant dodging performance, the spectators outside the field became excited again.
They also realized that Medford had not given up on the game.
The spectators who had just been cursing Medford now once again sent their cheers and shouts of encouragement.
"That's it—" George, seeing his team successfully break through the defense in one go, also stood up excitedly and cheered for them.
Accompanied by the cheers, Mike also entered the opponent's end zone without any surprise.
Then, he turned around and high-fived each of his teammates with whom he had just executed an offensive play.
This offensive rhythm was exactly the result Mike wanted.
He just wanted to compete with the opponent to see who could score more.
And in the next few offensive rounds, Medford's players, whose powerful fighting spirit had been ignited, did not disappoint Mike.
With Mike's leadership, the Medford team's performance on the offensive end in the second quarter was no worse than their opponent's.
Under the fast-paced offensive transitions, the scores of both teams also rapidly increased in alternation.
At this moment, after several rounds of observation, the spectators also discovered Medford's intention.
And the Medford team's excellent performance on the offensive end also made many spectators accept their weak behavior on the defensive end.
After all, for a weaker team like Medford, being able to tightly hold onto a seasoned powerhouse like Austin High on the offensive end was already quite good.
At the end of the second quarter, the score between the two sides reached 40:39.
Such a high score is something many teams might not even achieve after playing an entire game.
And Medford, with its fast-paced offense and strong, tenacious fighting spirit, even led its opponent by one point at the end of the second quarter.
This also indicated that Mike's plan had started to show results.
On the sidelines, looking at the players, each drenched in sweat but with incredibly determined expressions, George's idea of wanting to have a private chat with Mike also vanished.
It could be seen that under Mike's leadership, the entire team's mental outlook had changed significantly from before.
This was exactly what George wanted to see.
"Mike, come here and have some water, take a break—" Aaron, sitting on the bench, handed Mike an energy drink.
Mike, who had been constantly breaking through the opponent's encirclement for an entire quarter, had consumed a lot of energy.
"Thanks—" Mike took off his helmet and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Then he chugged down more than half of a 500ml bottled drink.
"Mike, you're going to be a great quarterback in the future…" Aaron suddenly exclaimed.
He had also seen the emotional transformation of his teammates; after Mike replaced the team's quarterback, he had ignited the fighting spirit of the entire team just by his actions.
Aaron also really wanted to possess this unique personal charisma.
However, he also knew that due to his personality, he could never do better than Mike.
At this moment, after distributing water to the players, George also came and sat beside Mike.
"Mike, your strategy is very successful, and I can't find any fault with it.
However, I still want to remind you that football is a team sport…" George said, organizing his words.
In the second quarter, Mike's approach to increasing offensive efficiency was very successful, but for this strategy to be effective, it still relied too heavily on Mike's individual ability.
And a person's energy is limited; George also couldn't guarantee how long Mike's high-efficiency scoring rhythm could be maintained.
Also, while the rushing tactic might catch the opponent off guard in the short term, once the opponent reacted, there were many ways to suppress this strong offensive tactic.
The game was only halfway through, leaving plenty of time for the opponent to react.
"I understand."
"Next, I will appropriately create offensive opportunities for my teammates." Mike, who had rested for a while, seemed to have recovered a lot.
"As long as you know what you're doing…"
Seeing that Mike was not blinded by the current advantage, George showed a slight smile.
Then, he asked, "Do you need to replenish your sugar?"
During games, the assistant coach in charge of logistics would prepare some small desserts and easily digestible foods like bananas in advance, to be used to replenish the players' energy during rest periods.