The excitement of Jake's team for reaching their first state championship died a little when they knew who their first opponent was, they were the team that had come to last year's Eagles' semifinals.

Of all in the team only coach Roy was in a good mood after all his mission was only to play this game and the result did not matter particularly, in addition, he knew that the level of the Eagles was much higher than the Lions that Jake ever had made every effort to win.

So if their team had one more player of Jake's level they could have a small chance of winning, but should not ask the impossible, they even heard that the other team would send the reserve team to face Jake's team minus two players which were the PF that would mark Jake and the PG that would be marked by Jake.

So they could guarantee that Jake would not dominate the game and also that his attack would work easily, who were these two was PG Jack and PF Carter.

So the game started and the Eagles were on the attack, Jack was advancing with the ball while Jake marked it, in the national it was difficult a team to be taken by surprise, everyone already had much information of its rivals.

So despite thinking to be better Jack did not dare to underestimate Jake, and so protected the ball well and looked for teammates to give the pass, despite thinking they did not Jack tried to dribble Jake.

Soon he passed the ball to his SG that despite being a reserve still played better than Lucas, he made a feint and soon made room for a 2-point shot.

It was known to everyone that Lucas and Aiden were the weak points in defense of Jake's team, now Luke was only lower in attack but was good at defense.

So the Eagles' offensive was totally focused on Lucas, Aiden, and Luke, who despite not being weak had as opponent Carter who was a starter of the other team, they did not need to risk attacking over Jake and Owen who were the best defenders.

In the attack as in the last games, only Jake could do something, and above him was Carter and not Jack, so he had a marker that was taller and had talent and defense experience.

But Jake still made the first two points.

And the game continued like this, with the defensive pressure all over him, Jake could not hit all the attacks and so his team was behind in points at the end of the first period.

Jake was angry marking was too strong and he had to use all his skill in time to take a shot not to suffer one block, and sometimes he lost accuracy and wandered, so he ended up losing major attacks.

What he did not know was the team that was most impressed, especially Carter who was scoring him, Carter was the best player in defense of the Eagles team and so he was always assigned to score the strongest opponent, but taking the champion team , there was rarely a player who could score as many points over his mark.

In fact, Carter was the best defender of this national championship, and yet he only got Jake to miss two attacks.

In the second period it remained the same, but this time Jake missed only one attack and his team was 6 points behind, so despite knowing it was a trap, Jake had to try the 3-point shots to reverse the score.

In the third period, Jake lost more attacks more compensated making all of 3 points, and managed to decrease the advantage to 4 points.

And in the last period, Jake had eaten his stamina bar and was full of energy so he can complete more attacks, at the end of the game the opponent put the starting SG that also hit some 3-point shots and was tight but Jake's team was eliminated in the first phase.

Everyone was a little sad but they were expecting it so they quickly overcame, only Jake was more shaken, it was his first loss after returning, and Coach Roy only knew he wanted to be a national champion.

But as he had said at the beginning the team was not enough, so coach Roy was sad for him, few of the fans of the team came to see this game, nor the reports Eric came, because even Jake was not optimistic before, even later who discovered that they would face one of the favorites.

Jake went home and then found her mother who was waiting at home with a smile, but after a while, the smile on Eva's face disappeared and she looked at her son with a warm look.

Eva had already become accustomed to receiving Jake by saying that she had won in her games even when the opponent was stronger, and just as this was still the first game she thought her son and team would win.

But seeing Jake shot down she realized that this time it did not happen, so she just hugged her son and tried to comfort him, she knew Jake was a proud boy and never wanted to lose, even more knowing that he was talented.

But today was a day that she knew would be imprinted on her son's memory, it would help him grow in the future as well, but now it was an hour of pain, he would learn that there was always someone better than you, and even if you were the better, Jake was playing a team sport, where 5 were needed for the win.

When Jake received his mother's embrace he relaxed the mask he had put on his face so as not to appear weak and soon began to cry, Jake knew that he would miss a day in this championship, since he joined the team, and even so he trained to the maximum, he prepared plays with his teammates, he cheered them up when they were sad, he gave his best to always win the games.

Why did he do all this? Because he wanted to win, even though he knew the odds were low and knowing that his team was not the strongest, he hoped that somehow he would get a lot better, that somehow his luck would interfere with the outcome of the game.

He fought for hope, not to give himself up to defeat, but today all this is over, they lost and this was Jake's last game for his team that fought and smiled with him and the last game of that year.

Many said that Jake's team was unlucky to have faced one of the top 4 teams in that national championship in that first game, but Jake did not think so, if they won they would have the strength to fight for the trophy, and if they lost as they lost, either just say that the staff could not go any further.

He hated to lose, but it was better to lose at the beginning than to waste time swimming and then die on the beach.

Jake learned that lesson, again he saw that he was not the best, he was now apprehensively preparing to be the best in the future, but today he just wanted to be a child, his mother's son and be able to cry in her embrace to be able to Forget this subject tomorrow.

The other day Jake was usually to school, he was still greeted by his all friendly colleagues saying that it was a shame that his team had lost but no one was sad, everyone hoped for it, for them Jake had already done more than enough leading the staff there.

In the room as always he was reading his book and sometimes listening to his teacher's explanations, Jake's classes had a fun fact that only the teachers knew, as Jake always took maximum marks and never missed a question, the teachers never asked anything and they only let him read in peace.

But his teachers learned an interesting fact, as Jake had come from the future that nobody knew, he had already studied all the subjects taught by his teachers, and also after graduating from school Jake still studied these things alone.

Even more, he always gave a check on what he knew before each class and with his high intelligence statistics he learned everything, and it was only natural that he should not miss any questions in the tests.

But sometimes when he heard the teacher talk about something he had not learned, or forgotten or just did not know, he would take his attention away from the book he was reading and pay attention in class, so he would learn and then re-read.

What he did not know was that after these almost two years of teaching the teachers realized this, that when their classes became interesting Jake would pay attention.

So the teachers began to try harder to better their classes and make more interesting and even research things just to get the attention of Jake and brag to his colleagues in the break.

It made Jake's teachers unwilling to be loved, his classes most interesting, his students had the best lessons, and all Jake's teachers were given a raise.

So now Jake was the most beloved student of all teachers.