On the ride to Austin, Landry tells Tyra she needs to change her essay completely. Tyra starts to rant about all the horrible things in her life she can’t write about and says that two years ago she had enough hate in her heart to start a car. When Landry asks what changed, she tells him it was because Jason Street got paralyzed. She goes on to explain that it made her realize that life isn’t fair to a lot of people, not just her. Meeting Julie, Tami and Landry himself made her realize that she could be loved.

The night before the game, Tami and Eric can’t sleep because of the situation with the McCoys. They go outside to stare at the stadium and Tami tells Eric that either he’ll win or he’ll lose but no matter what, the sun will come up the next morning.
Tyra reads Landry her essay and it’s actually pretty good. When he tells her it’s great and she agrees, they lean in for a kiss. Since they’re sharing a hotel room, the probably went a bit further, but we get a slow fade out.

Game day! The Texas 5A State Championships against the South Texas Titans starts out poorly when the Titans score on their first possession. JD throws an interception for another six for the Titans. JD gets sacked over and over again. JD starts yelling at everyone and Coach Taylor tells him to calm himself down. Just before the end of the second half, JD throws another interception for a touchdown. He walks off the filed yelling at his offensive line. The score is 27 to nothing at the half.

In the locker room, Coach Taylor tells them they all need more. He asks Landry if he wants to be in the game to which Landry says yes. Then, he takes out JD and puts Matt in. At the start of the second half, Landry makes a big block that earns them their first touchdown right off the kick-off return. In Matt’s first series, he throws a screen pass to Tim, who scores. The Panthers quickly bring the game within two touchdowns. Matt gets his next touchdown on a fabulous scramble in which he stiff-arms a defender to zoom into the end zone. With less than two minutes to play, the Panthers get the ball back with an interception and start their final drive on the Titan thirty. Matt and Tim pull off a trick play in which Matt pitches the ball to Tim and then rolls out far left and then Tim throws him the ball across field. TOUCHDOWN! With 6 seconds left, the Titans decide to go for a field goal. The Titan kicker hasn’t missed from that range all year. And he doesn’t miss. Panthers lose.

After the game, Coach Taylor invites everyone’s friends and family into the locker room with the team. He then tells them he’s never been more proud of his team. He tells them to be proud of themselves because they are champions. In a symbolic gesture, Tim walks out onto the empty field and leaves his football cleats in the end zone.

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-Kim Wetter, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image Courtesy NBC)