Chapter 55 54: Desperate Explosion
After the snap, Lu Ke gripped the football tightly and began a quick drop-back. He had just raised his right arm when he saw the Offense Line was already in jeopardy. Watt was a complete monster, smashing forward with vicious brutality. The Offense Line was like a candle in the wind, about to break at any second.
Lu Ke tilted his head back, searching for his receivers. They were still trying to shake off their defenders and hadn't hit full speed yet. They had only just crossed the thirty-five-yard line. 'Not enough distance. Still not enough.'
Lu Ke quickly took two more steps back and to his left, but in the next instant, he saw Watt had already broken through the Offense Line and was diving toward him, arms outstretched. 'Damn it! This guy is a beast, a total beast!'
In a pure contest of strength and speed, Lu Ke was no match for Watt. At least, not yet.
In that split second, Lu Ke stood his ground. Instead of dodging immediately, he paused for a fraction of a second. Just as Watt lunged, Lu Ke ducked. He felt a gust of wind rush over his head as his left shoulder was slammed hard, almost knocking him off balance.
Lu Ke took half a step back to regain his balance, then pushed off hard with his left foot and scrambled to the right. A glance from the corner of his eye showed Watt, having lost his balance, crashing heavily to the ground. 'That should buy me at least two seconds.' Lu Ke immediately refocused and kept scrambling right.
After just three small steps to the right, Lu Ke saw two more defensive players lunging for him. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. At this critical moment, the Offense Line had become a complete sieve. He could clearly see two huge guys rushing him.
'Red alert! Red alert! Red alert!'
Lu Ke was trapped. The two players to his right were closing in, cutting off all his escape routes. To his left, the fallen Watt could get back up at any moment. Worse, that was his blind side; he had no idea if other defenders had also broken through. It was a dead end.
'Getting sacked here... the loss of time is something we absolutely can't afford. More importantly, I'm not sure I could dodge Watt again if given another chance.'
His mind was crystal clear. Lu Ke clenched his jaw and forced another change of direction. He wasn't sure if his month of yoga was paying off, but his body felt incredibly flexible in the face of danger, and he never lost his balance. He burst back to the left, dodging the two shadows diving in from his right. In his peripheral vision, he saw Watt getting up, but the man was still off-balance and couldn't stand up straight. Even so, Watt was still charging at him on all fours!
Then, the entire stadium, including the commentary booth, let out a collective gasp—
"Whoa, a leap! Lu Ke just pulled a move you'd only see from a running back! He leaped right over JJ Watt! That's an insane move! Absolutely insane!" In the commentary booth, the gasps, including from Kirk, grew louder with each passing moment. Almost no one could have predicted such a development.
'A leap? It wasn't that dramatic. I just hopped over Watt's hands.' It was an evasive hop to dodge Watt's desperate lunge. He scrambled away, body swaying, heart pounding, footing unsteady. But none of that was the point. 'The point is—where are the receivers? Where are the damn receivers?'
Lu Ke craned his neck, his eyes scanning the entire field. His receivers had only just passed the twenty-five-yard line. 'Too slow! Way too slow!' To make matters worse, John was tightly covered, with a defender right on his tail. The same was true for Christian. Corey had managed to find a small opening, but he was too close, and his catching skills were limited.
'What about Logan?' Logan was still trying to shake his defender, his feet just now hitting the twenty-five-yard line as he fought to push deeper. 'Not enough! Still not enough distance. I need them to get further downfield.'
But there was no time left. He could feel the storm surging at his back. Even though those two defenders weren't as fast as Watt, a Ball-Carrying Run wasn't Lu Ke's strong suit. In another second, at most, the two players behind him would flatten him without a shred of mercy.
'I can't wait any longer.'
Lu Ke adjusted his footing and then unleashed the football toward the front left. It wasn't a bullet pass; it was a Rainbow Pass.
A Rainbow Pass meant a higher arc and longer hang time. This would give the receivers more time to get downfield, but it also made it easier for the defenders to read. However, at this point, Lu Ke had no other choice.
The instant the ball left his hand, a brutal impact from behind slammed Lu Ke to the ground. He felt his insides churn, but he paid it no mind. His eyes were locked on the football as it carved a high, long arc through the sky.
"Lu Ke, Lu Ke, Lu Ke, he throws it!" Kirk shouted. "Lu Ke gets the pass off at the very last second! It's a Rainbow Pass, sailing over the forty, the thirty-five, the thirty... The football is still flying! It's a pass aimed directly at the End Zone! Bold, that's incredibly bold! Wait, what do I see? Logan! Logan is speeding up, Logan is accelerating!"
Kirk hadn't even realized he was standing up until the cord of his headset tugged him short. Even then, he barely noticed, frozen in a half-squat. "Logan has shaken his defender and is sprinting at full speed! He's got a clear path ahead! He's followed by two defenders, but the Badger Team clearly wasn't expecting a long pass—their coverage broke down! Logan has broken free! Logan is still accelerating!"
Logan sprinted with absolute focus. After shaking off the defender clinging to him, he put his head down and just ran, oblivious to everything else.
As Lu Ke's favorite receiving target and his training partner for the last five months, he knew exactly how precise Lu Ke's long throws were. "Two 'ones'"—that was the signal. It meant Lu Ke was aiming directly for the End Zone line on the left side, with the exact spot adjusted slightly based on the receiver's route, the one they always practiced. So, all Logan had to do was sprint, sprint with everything he had. He trusted that Lu Ke could get the ball there. The only question was, could he catch it?
He looked up but couldn't see the football. 'Did I misjudge it?' No. The next second, the ball sailed just over his head. Logan's eyes lit up. He put his hands up, ready to receive, while adjusting his position. There were no defenders near him; the closest was two steps behind. Logan's eyes were glued to the football, his focus absolute. Then, with a soft THWUMP, he caught it!
In that second, time froze, as if by Magic.
"Logan makes the catch! Touchdown! Touchdown! TOUCHDOWN!" Kirk shot to his feet, ripping his headset off and sending a clatter of items crashing down, but he didn't care. Raising his hands high, he grabbed the microphone and roared, "Logan with the Touchdown! In the final, critical moments, Lu Ke escaped Watt's tackle, dodged a two-man blitz, then leaped over Watt's second attempt to throw a Rainbow Pass—a forty-three-yard Rainbow Pass! Logan Newman makes the catch right on the goal line and strolls into the End Zone! The fatal blow! The Brown Bear Team delivers the fatal blow at the very end of the game!"
It wasn't just Kirk; the entire commentary booth had erupted. "Unbelievable, simply unbelievable..."
"We just witnessed the biggest comeback of the decade..."
"...The Brown Bear Team completed a forty-three-yard pass for the killing blow!"
"A miracle! A miracle! An unimaginable miracle!"
"The game is over! The Brown Bear Team's backup quarterback has ended the game!"
The sounds of astonishment were everywhere. No one could believe their eyes. They were witnessing one of the most incredible moments in the history of the Rose Bowl. They had forgotten Lu Ke was a Chinese-American quarterback; all they knew was that this backup quarterback had, in the final two minutes, pulled the Brown Bear Team back from the brink of defeat to win the game in a stunning reversal!
"AHHH! AHHH!" Jiang Youning was the first to jump up, screaming in disbelief. She kept screaming until her vision blurred, but she couldn't stop. She just screamed and screamed, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would explode. But she wasn't alone. Beside her, Jay and Lu Zhengze were also celebrating wildly. In fact, the entire Rose Bowl had erupted.
Jeff jumped right up onto his chair. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" he roared over and over like a madman. All around him, people were hugging, cheering, and shouting. Everyone in sight was screaming, jumping, and going wild. The frenzied roar of "AHHH!" made the entire Rose Bowl tremble.
Then Jeff saw Danny.
Danny viciously ripped his T-shirt open, howling, "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! BEAR TEAM! BEAR TEAM! BEAR TEAM!" It wasn't the howl of a wolf, but the roar of a bear—passionate and thundering. He turned around, his eyes bloodshot and gleaming with excitement. Danny and Jeff just roared at each other, "BEAR TEAM!" as emotions surged.
The roars vibrated through the air, pounding against eardrums until even their blood seemed to boil. At that moment, the Rose Bowl was in full, glorious bloom. Seventy thousand fans—seventy thousand spectators—celebrated with wild abandon, as if it were the end of the world. A tidal wave of heat and sound rolled forth, mercilessly engulfing the thirty thousand traveling fans of the Badger Team.
"AHHH!" John, Corey, Christian, and the others sprinted wildly toward Logan, breaking into a chaotic celebration. Meanwhile, the players from the Offense Line swarmed Lu Ke.
Lu Ke, who hadn't even had a chance to stand up, instantly became the foundation of a human pile. Everyone dogpiled on top of him, slapping his helmet and frantically shouting, "Bambi! Bambi!" They had a million thoughts racing through their minds, but none could be put into words. All that was left was a single, primal urge: to chant the name of their hero. "Bambi!"
They had done it. They had really, truly done it!