(2009)

Submitted by Tornado Dragon

Lincoln West High gets to the state tennis finals against Southpoint High, and Mike (Brando Eaton) gets matched up against Southpoint’s star player Tommy Tremble (Joseph Dwyer) to determine which school will walk away with the championship.

Mike wins the first set, and Tommy wins the second. During the fifteen-minute break before the final set, Mike gets another verbal beatdown from his father for playing shoddily during the second set (though that’s because his legs are cramping up), and Mike finally musters up the courage to tell his father off for the first time.

As the third set is underway, Mike’s left knee locks up, threatening the forfeiture of the set to Tommy. As Jenny (Emilee Wallace) massages his knee, Gary (Seann William Scott) orders Chang (Justin Chon) to get the teammates to do something to motivate Mike, so they all end up doing the tomahawk chop chant, and they get the supporters of their school to join in with them. In the midst of this, the principal’s daughter, Amy (Ryan Simpkins), shouts out a profanity-laden speech of encouragement. The support forces Mike to dig deep within himself and mentally shut out his pain, and then he beats Tommy to win the state title. As the team celebrates, Mike gets a handshake and a hug from his father, and he also kisses Jenny.

Gary then watches as an owl lands near him, and he sees that it is actually Lew’s (Randy Quaid) spirit in owl form. He tells Lew that, since he has led the team to championship glory, he doesn’t know what to do next. Lew replies that, while he can’t tell him what to do next, he can tell him that those boys will never forget this wonderful day. He praises Gary for being a great coach and flies away, and the team then salutes Gary.

Some days later, after Gary puts the championship trophy in the school’s trophy case, he finally arranges a date with Norma (Leonor Varela). He then overconfidently narrates to himself that, after he marries Norma, he should get a teaching degree, and maybe he could turn some dead-end loser into a future U.S. president.