Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. This one will be a little more laid back. I chose the subject based on what stage of the year we're in in terms of sports, and I just wanted to have a little fun with this one.

Let's get to it.

Chapter 67- Touchdown!

(September 16, 2051)

As the sun is setting over the western United States, in the city of Provo, Utah, the football stadium Lavell Edwards Stadium is absolutely packed. With its expansion years and years ago, the stadium can hold 70,000 people, and the stadium is in fact over its designated capacity, with 71,053 fans in attendance for one of the biggest games played in the stadium in years, as BYU is about to take on Penn State.

This is one of the most anticipated games of the season for both teams. Penn State of course is the dominant football power it has come to be known as. Although BYU has struggled in its early years in the Big 12, it had since come back and become a regular contender in the league. And now, it fields one of the best teams it has fielded in decades, under one of its best head coaches since Lavell Edwards.

Both schools are taking this game very seriously. The schools have played each other just 4 times in their programs' histories: three times in early 90s during the eras of Lavell Edwards and Joe Paterno, where Penn State won twice and BYU won once; and once more in the 2030 Fiesta Bowl, where BYU amazingly pulled out a narrow 30-28 victory.

Now, the record between the schools stands at 2-2. Then, two years ago, after BYU and Penn State had both ranked in the top 10 at the end of the season, the two schools announced they would play a three game series from 2051-2053. Now, the time had come for the first game of the series, the first meeting between the two in 21 years. Both teams were ready, knowing this would either end in Penn State retaking the lead in the history between the two, or BYU overtaking Penn State for the first time. Both teams were so far undefeated, with BYU having defeated Boise State and Arizona State so far, and Penn State defeating Kansas State and Nebraska. Penn State is currently ranked number 9 in the country, and BYU ranked 25th. This will be a major game for their status in the top 25 for both teams.

As the teams are down on the sidelines, preparing for the opening kickoff, up in the suites under the press box, in the presidential suite, a number of VIP guests invited by BYU's president are milling about, engaging in some conversation and eating from a gourmet buffet set out for them.

Amidst the guests, Ben is at the buffet, helping himself to some grilled pork tenderloin. As he dishes himself the tenderloin, someone sidles up to him, and Ben looks up to see Jared Hansen standing next to him, wearing his Jedi robes, but also a BYU hat and a BYU t-shirt under his outer robes. Jared holds out a long narrow paper sleeve to Ben. "Here, Ben. You gotta try a Cougar Tail," Jared says with a grin.

Ben chuckles a bit as he takes the Cougar Tail, a maple donut almost a foot and a half long. "Where did BYU come up with this thing?" Ben asks with a chuckle.

"It's been our concession delicacy for decades, buddy," Jared says with a laugh.

Ben laughs with him, then says gratefully, "Hey, thanks for inviting us to the game, Jared. We needed this." Jared, as a BYU alumnus and a member of the Jedi Council, had pretty much a perpetual invitation from the BYU president to BYU sporting events as a presidential guest. He was also allowed to bring a few guests himself to games, and for this game, Jared had decided to invite Ben and Rey to come as his guests to attend the game. President Sutherland, the BYU president, gladly approved, happy to meet the son of the Skywalkers and his wife. Ben and Rey had also been happy to accept, as they had been very busy the last five months continuing their training and expounding on what they had learned from the Force spirits on Mortis, while also preparing for their baby's arrival, so they were happy to take the chance to attend a football game.

"No problem, Ben. Glad you were able to come," Jared says, clapping him on the shoulder. He then walks off to speak to another of the presidential guests.

Ben, hearing what the announcer is saying and knowing that kickoff is coming soon, heads over to take his seat. With the great view of the field from the president's suite, he's really looking forward to the game. He had really enjoyed watching football when he attended West Virginia University, and BYU was always a good competitor, so he's looking forward to this game a lot.

Getting to his seat, Ben sees that President Sutherland's wife has come over to sit next to Rey on her other side, the two women enjoying a pleasant conversation. Ben takes his seat next to Rey before greeting Mrs. Sutherland, "Thank you for being so welcoming to us, Mrs. Sutherland."

"Of course, Mr. Skywalker. It's our pleasure to have you here for your first visit to BYU," she greets them. She then glances out of the window down at the field before saying, "Oh, looks like I'd better take my seat." She stands up and says, "Thank you again for coming. We hope you enjoy your time here." She then goes over to take her seat.

Ben looks over at Rey, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Glad you're making friends," he says.

"Yes. She was very nice," Rey says with a smile.

Ben gives her shoulder a squeeze, then asks in a softer voice, "You doing alright? How's the baby doing tonight?"

Rey smiles as she rests a hand on her rounding belly. Rey is now seven months pregnant, and is getting very excited for the baby to arrive. Ben has really been seeing Rey's maternal side start to come out in the last month or so, and it fills him with pride to see it.

"I'm doing fine, Ben, and you don't need to worry about me so much," Rey says with a slight laugh before adding, "And she's been very active tonight." Ben sighs a bit and rolls his eyes in response. He and Rey had decided not to find out if their baby was a boy or a girl, but Rey was convinced they were having a daughter.

"Well, I'm hoping for the sake of your ego that we are having a girl," Ben says jokingly, and the two laugh a bit together.

Their attention is drawn back to the field as the teams take the field for the opening kickoff, with BYU kicking off to Penn State. As the teams move out onto the field to get ready for the kickoff, the Zombieland song common at football games begin to play. In a second, the entire stadium is singing along, and in the pause every few seconds, the stadium rings with the crowd shouting, "Go Cougars!" But just barely, they can also hear the Penn State fans in the crowd also chanting, "We are Penn State!"

On the field, the teams line up. The BYU kicker gives a nod to his line, and then charges forward and kicks the ball down the field. The crowd bellows in cheers as the ball flies down the field. One of the Penn State players catches the ball, and the game begins.

The kick returner sprints down the field, but is quickly swamped by the BYU defense. After dodging three tackles, he's finally brought down at the 31 yard line.

Cheering erupts in the presidential suite, and Ben and Rey join in. As the players switch out, Ben looks over at Rey and says, "This is gonna be a fun night."

"I can't wait," Rey says, very excited for the game they're about to watch.

(A few hours later)

While the time has gone past 11 pm, in Provo, most of the population is nowhere near ready for bed. Most of the population not at the stadium is glued to the game on their TV screens.

Up in the presidential suite at the stadium, the atmosphere is no different. Ben and Rey are spending half their time out of their seats, jumping up and cheering as they are riveted to what's happening down on the field.

The game has been an amazing display of football, with both teams showing an incredible level of skill. Penn State had taken an early lead, scoring the first ten points of the game and ending the first half leading 24-20. However, BYU had begun pulling back in the second half, beginning the second half with a kickoff touchdown return. Now, with a little over 5 minutes left of play, BYU leads 40-38, but Penn State has the ball on the BYU 28 yard line, and is on second down with 4 yards to go.

Rey looks over at Ben, whose eyes are glued on the field as Penn State retakes the field after a timeout. "You are really invested in this," she comments with humor laced in her voice.

"Hell yeah, I am. This is one of the best football games I've seen in a long time," Ben says with his voice full of excitement.

Rey squeezes his hand in anticipation as Penn State gets set, and then snaps the ball. Both lines surge against each other, and Penn State's quarterback shuffles back, looking for one of his receivers down field. "And there's the snap. Wilson, dropping back, looking for a man, down field. He's got the time, he's in the clear, can he find a man? Oh, here comes Daniels, he's past the line, coming right for Wilson. Can Wilson get the ball off?" they can hear the announcer calling out, narrating what's happening down on the field.

Ben and Rey watch as the quarterback rushes towards the BYU sideline, away from the linebacker charging at him. Then, he spots an open receiver down at the BYU 10 yard line, and hurls the ball towards him.

"And there he goes, lets it fly, and…" there's a flash of navy blue in front of the receiver, "AND PICKED OFF! INTERCEPTED BY ANTHONY MANGUM!"

The entire stadium explodes in cheers as Anthony Mangum, one of BYU's best defensive backs, takes off down the field. A handful of Penn State linemen try to intercept him, but Mangum spins out of the grip of two and hurdles a third. One more Penn State player charges at him, but is stopped short by one of the BYU linemen.

"And there he goes! He's at the 50, the 40, the 30. The field is wide open! Now 15, 10, 5, and touchdown! TOUCHDOWN COUGARS!"

The stadium erupts as Mangum crosses into the end zone. He is quickly swamped by his teammates in celebration. Up in the president's suite, all of the guests are cheering wildly as well. And Ben and Rey are no exception. Both of them are cheering along with everyone as the stadium is going wild.

It takes a minute before the excitement on the field dies down enough for BYU to bring on the special teams squad. And sure enough, the ball goes sailing through the goalpost for the extra point, bringing the score to 47-38.

The stadium is celebrating for several minutes as the two teams switch out squads for the next kickoff. BYU kicks off to Penn State, and Penn State manages to return it to the 33 yard line. However, as the next few minutes pass, Penn State only manages to get it down to the BYU 35 yard line before they hit 4th down. Thinking they might have enough time to get the ball back and go for a touchdown, they decide to go for a field goal, which will be nearly a 50 yard try. Penn State brings out their special teams unit, and the fans watch with bated breath. Finally, they move to kick the ball. Everyone watches as the ball soars towards the goal posts. At first, it looks on course. Then, the ball begins to curve slightly to the right. To the relief of BYU fans, the ball misses by just a few feet.

The stadium explodes in cheers. With about 3 minutes left on the play clock, there's little chance of Penn State catching up.

Now, Penn State kicks off to BYU. After a return to the 23 yard line, BYU progresses down the field to the Penn State 26 yard line before hitting 4th down with a minute left to play. BYU's head coach decides to go for the field goal on a 42 yard attempt. To the relief of BYU fans, the kicker makes the field goal, adding 3 more points to BYU's total.

BYU then kicks off back to Penn State. Despite Penn State pushing as hard as they can, they are only able to get to midfield before the clock reaches the final seconds. Hoping to at least narrow the score, they try for one last Hail Mary pass. He makes the pass, but the receiver is tackled at the 20 yard line as the clock runs out.

The stadium erupts into cheers even louder than ever before. After having a losing record against Penn State for their entire history, BYU has finally overtaken them with a 50-38 victory. After one of the most intense football games seen in college football since the championship game of the 2049 season where Alabama narrowly defeated Ohio State, BYU has emerged victorious.

BYU fans, starting with the student section, start swarming the field. Up in the president's suite, Ben and Rey cheer along with all the others.

"That was an amazing game!" Rey says amidst her cheering.

"You got that right! That was a heck of a game!" Ben cheers.

Ben and Rey remain in the suite for another few minutes before they decide to head out. They bid goodbye to President Sutherland and some of the other distinguished guests before they finally depart the stadium with Jared.

As the trio heads for the parking lot and gets into Jared's rented SUV,, Rey takes a sigh as she takes her seat. "Wow. That was such a fun night. I had such a good time," she says.

"Agreed," Ben says with a smile.

As Jared starts up the car and pulls into the line of cars leaving the parking lot, all of a sudden, Ben's commlink begins to beep. Wondering who could be calling him, Ben pulls the commlink out of his pocket and clicks the button to activate it. A second later, an image of his father comes up.

"Hello, dad," Ben says.

"Good evening, son. How was the game?" Luke asks his son.

"It was so fun. BYU managed to win by 12 points," Ben responds.

"Wow. That's impressive," Luke says with a smile.

"Why are you calling me so late, dad?" Ben asks after a moment.

"I just got off a call with Grand General Lawrence. He had a meeting with Grand Admiral Page earlier today, and they came to a decision regarding the plans for our counteroffensive against the First Order. Jonathan went over his plans and the forces he plans to have, and he's set a firm date to start the offensive. The date has been sent for December 1 of next year," Luke says.

All three individuals in the car go silent as they hear that. "And that's a definite?" Ben asks after a minute.

"Yes. Jonathan believes that with the expected progress in the Grysk War and the timeline of training operations, everything will be ready by that date," Luke says.

There's a few more moments of quiet before Ben says, "Alright. Thanks for telling us, dad." Luke gives him a nod, and then his image fades away.

Ben looks at Rey. "December 1 of next year," he mutters.

Rey nods before she smiles and says, "At least that means our baby will be about a year old when the offensive begins. I think we will be okay."

Ben smiles at his wife, happy that she is trying to see the bright side. Then, Jared pipes up as he says, "You two, enjoy this time. Because once the offensive kicks off, we will be in for the fight of our lives."

Ben and Rey just nod, thinking ahead to the future. Although it seems like a long ways away, they know the time from now until the offensive begins will go by quicker than they could imagine. And victory in that offensive will be a far greater struggle than tonight's victory was for BYU.

The countdown to the great counteroffensive has begun.

And, I'll end there.

I hope you liked this chapter. Like I said, since it's football season, I wanted to write a chapter based around football. And, since I'm a major BYU fan, and I need a little hope for the future after we lost to Iowa State this last weekend (lol), I decided to feature them as one of the teams playing. As for the other team, I chose Penn State because they're a top tier team, and BYU and Penn State haven't played since the overlap between Lavell Edwards' and Joe Paterno's careers, two of the most victorious head coaches in the history of college football.

For a little bit of fun, if you leave a review, tell us what your favorite college football team is.

Now, for the next stage of my character list for this universe's version of Galaxy of Heroes. Next up, I'll cover the ASAT team linked characters, which are as follows (with a few exceptions that I'll reveal in a future chapter): Tyler Hall (4 star unlock), Grant Wilson (3 star unlock), Toshiyuki Yamazaki (3 star unlock), Dennis Rommel (4 star unlock), Shaul Peretz (3 star unlock), Alexei Ivankov (3 star unlock), Vasily Stasevich (3 star unlock), John White (3 star unlock), Harry Paton (3 star unlock), Cheng Han (3 star unlock), Daniel Mofaz (3 star unlock), Admiral Samuel Adams (4 star unlock), Grand General Rommel (4 star unlock), General Hall (4 star unlock), David Ronen (4 star unlock), Marko Loginov (4 star unlock), Alexander Gates (3 star unlock).

Finally, I'll cover the last few basic new characters, which are as follows: Terran Infantry (2 star unlock), Terran Paratrooper (2 star unlock), Terran Marine (2 star unlock), Kashyyk Vietnamese Insurgent (2 star unlock), Simone Biles (2 star unlock), Jedi Master Ezra Bridger (4 star unlock), Jared Hansen-Padawan (2 star unlock), Miriam Walker (3 star unlock), Koska Reeves (2 star unlock), Carnor Jax (4 star unlock), Kir Kanos (4 star unlock), Michael Nantz (4 star unlock).

In the author's note for next chapter, I'll cover Conquest characters, Journey Guide characters, and Galactic Legends, and that'll wrap up my explanation of the universe's version of Galaxy of Heroes.

Alright. Next chapter will be up soon. Until it is up, please leave a review and stay tuned!