Touchdown, Hawkins High!
The final buzzer sounds, and that Hawkins' faithful fans storm the field in excitement as their football team moves on to the Indiana State Football Championship game. Will Byers led the team to victory with an outstanding touchdown pass in the last minute to one of his best friends Lucas Sinclair. That play was all made possible by a perfect snap from center Dustin Henderson and a great block on the catch from Mike Wheeler. In the postgame interview, Will gave all the props to police chief/coach Hopper for calling a perfect game to lead them to such success. The city was buzzing with such thrill and everybody was ready to have a great night out on the town.
Will, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike decide to go to their favorite restaurant to celebrate their achievement. As they were eating, many townspeople came up to the guys and congratulated them on a great performance and gave their well wishes for the next game. At about 8 PM the friends finish the meal and head to Mike's house to hangout for the night. Will peels from the friend group to run home and let his mom know what his plan is for the rest of the night. The other guys continue on and have a great start to the night. They get lost in their fun and realize at 10 PM that Will still has not showed up and worry sets in. A couple phone calls later and Will is nowhere to be found. Joyce, Wil's mother said he stopped by the house a couple hours ago and then ran off to Mike's house. This confused the guys. So then they called a couple of the cheerleaders they knew had a thing for the stud quarterback. But still no sign of him. The boys let it go, and assumed they will see him tomorrow at practice.
The next day proved their worst beliefs. Will, their star quarterback, is missing. Yes, this is a huge hit to the team, but their best friend is somewhere unknown to many. All of a sudden, football has now taken backseat to going on the hunt to find him. Coach Hopper tells the team to stay focused and that he will lead a search team in finding his player. As practice goes on, they have to turn to the backup quarterback, El. There's a couple issues with El. The first is that she's a girl, which isn't a huge deal because she has the right to play, and she's very athletic. But the second reason is that she's very shy and doesn't like to speak up very much, which is a critical trait of a quarterback in football. The team really tries to rally around, but it's just not the same without Will there. All hope and confidence in a state championship is slowly dwindling away.
Only two days away from the big game, Will is still not found. But life goes on for the football team. They're preparing as well as they can for the championship with El at quarterback. She is grasping the role and ready to bring home a championship. But the chemistry just isn't there between her and the other guys, specifically, Dustin, Mike, and Lucas. Practice wraps up and Hopper is not pleased with the performance, The team really needs to pull it together no matter the circumstances given. And he calls out El to get into the playbook and play a perfect game in a couple days. She heads home to start studying up. In the middle of looking at a passing play, the computer screen goes black. A very dim figure shows up, and starts whispering very silently. She tries to listen, but her heartbeat is too loud to overcome. The figure disappears very quickly but leaves water marks on the screen that read: "Demo Gorgon". El is suddenly stunned and freaking out. She remembers Demo Gorgon is the best player on defense for the opposing team in the championship game! How did he pull this trick off? Was he just pranking her or does he mean business? What did he say? El's mind was racing and did not know what to do. She went onto the next play and instead came another one of his tricks. Another blank screen with big white letters reading: "BEAT US, AND YOU WILL GET YOUR FRIEND BACK. LOSE, AND HE'S GONE FOREVER." Immediately El tells this story to coach Hopper, and Will's best friend's. Everyone is in a panic and trying to figure out this whole scenario to get Will back. No one understands how this happened or how they kidnapped Will. But there is only one true solution, and that is to win the football game.
It is now gameday for the team. Tensions are running high within the stadium. Especially for the home team, Hawkins. The game is back and forth with no team gaining a clear advantage. It is Hawkins who is down by three with 2 minutes left. The opposing team could run down the clock if they could gain a couple first downs. After Hawkins' defense gets the other team to punt the ball to them, they have 1:21 to score at least a field goal to tie the game, and a touchdown to win. But El had bigger plans. She wanted it all. A field goal would not suffice for her, she wanted the win and to get Will back. She marches the offense right down the field and has them within striking distance. With only 15 seconds left, a field could easily be made and send the game into overtime. But there is still time for a couple plays. On the first play, El throws a sharp pass to Lucas who then is stopped short at the one yard line by, who else, Demo Gorgon. Hawkins calls there last time out with only 6 seconds remaining. During the time out meeting, coach Hopper suggests to run the ball straight forward. But the team declines, Demo Gorgon is just to strong and will stop them and end the game. El recommends to pass the ball and let her make the play, they would not be expecting it. The play begins, and she looks to Mike to get open, but her is covered well. Lucas is also guarded tightly. The defensive pressure beings to hit El. She scrambles to her right, hoping for one last chance that someone will get open. But no, this will all be up to her to outrun the defense and score the touchdown. She races towards the corner of the endzone. From the middle of the field comes the faster, and stronger Gorgon. It will be a close call as to who will make the play. Two yards away from the endzone El leaps up into the air hoping to go over the defender because she realizes outrunning him is not a possibility. She catches him off guard, and reaches the ball out as far as she possibly could. Demo Gorgon catches her mid-air. The game seems in slow motion now. As she falls the ball still looks unclear if it has passed the goal line or not. She is tackled very close to the touchdown. The refs huddle up to make the close call, and both arms are thrown toward the sky. Touchdown! Hawkins has pulled off the championship game. An exciting and thrilling win for the whole town. But a little bit more sweet for El and the guys. They have their best friend back. El is accompanied by the guys at the 50 yard line where they meet Demo Gorgon.
They immediately ask what has been done to Will and to hand him over. Demo Gorgon is a man of his word. Will appears from the opposing team and runs into his friend's arms. He seems different though. Almost sad and depressed. But he says he is happy to be back to be with the team. Hawkins goes and celebrates their huge win with the team and fans. This time the guys and El all get to hangout tonight and have a great night, but something is still scarring Will. He hides it from everyone, but knows he deep down he will never be the same. And Demo Gorgon is still out there waiting to take him back.
