49 pages • 1 hour read
The Underdogs
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Chapters 15-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 15 Summary
The team’s boy players are strongly against allowing Hannah to join. In response, Will’s father says he would have felt the same way had a girl attempted to join his high school team. He says he will be available for them to drop off their equipment later and that Will can call New Balance to explain why there will not be a team.
This response catches the boys off guard. Joe explains that Hannah currently thinks she is welcome to play. Since he cannot go back on his word, they have no other choice but to disband the team. He further shares that he has long carried a chip on his shoulder because of the injury that destroyed his football career. Joe observes that Will and his teammates also have chips on their shoulders as a result of losing last year’s championship. Hannah has a chip, too, as a girl who wants to prove her athletic skills. After he points out how Hannah is similar to them, the boys decide they would prefer to give Hannah a chance than to disassemble the team.
Chapter 16 Summary
At Hannah’s first practice, Joe has them run offensive plays with orange cones as ghost defenders. Will wonders whether Joe just wants to prevent Hannah from getting “flattened at her first practice” (133).
However, they soon begin a full-contact scrimmage. Hannah misses the first pass that Chris, new to the quarterback position, throws to her; however, she handily catches the second one. Will comes in low to tackle her. She senses that he is going easy on her. Infuriated, she demands that Will hit her harder next practice.
Will keeps Hannah’s reaction to himself. In actuality, he tackled her to the best of his ability.
Chapter 17 Summary
The Bulldogs play a team from Palmer in the first game of the season. Ryan, a Palmer player, immediately trash talks Will about the Bulldogs’ small numbers and its lone female athlete. He insults Will again at halftime, jeering, “You guys are aware that this game counts, right?” (146). Palmer is winning 28-0.
During the game’s second half, Will gets a touchdown, and Hannah kicks an extra point. Palmer scores again, though, and it is 36-7 at the three-minute mark. The Bulldogs doggedly pursue more points. Hannah makes a great catch on their next drive. She clearly heads out of bounds with the ball when a Palmer defensive player tackles her roughly; his tackle is legal but without cause. On the next play, Tim, Ernie, and Chris all tackle this Palmer player. Will scores again, and Hannah gets the extra point.
Chapter 18 Summary
The team rides home without much conversation. Once back in Forbes, Hannah calls Will aside and makes him promise that she will not be treated “just as kicker” (153). He promises that she will not be. Later, over dinner with his father, Will discusses how the Bulldogs will perform better the following week thanks to what they learned today while playing Palmer.
Chapter 19 Summary
Will makes a concerted effort to recruit more players over the next week at school and checks in with Toby Keenan. No one considers Will’s entreaties to join the team.
On Friday evening, a strong week of practice culminates on the high school field. Everyone’s spirits are boosted, including those of Will’s father.
Saturday sees the Bulldogs playing a home game at Shea Stadium against Castle Rock, a team triple the size of the Bulldogs. Castle Rock quarterback Ben Clark leads a formidable team, marred only by a mouthy receiver named Kendrick Morris. Despite enjoying an early touchdown and an extra point, the Bulldogs are tied 13-13 with Castle Rock at halftime. Kendrick trash talks Will every chance he gets, bullying him over his size and the fact that he has a girl on his team. Will remains steady in the face of Kendrick’s attitude: “We just gotta make sure we only have to say one word to him when the game’s over […]. Scoreboard” (163).
Castle Rock scores again. After a long, successful drive, so do the Bulldogs. This brings the score to 20-20 with eight minutes left. Scared that their chance at winning is evaporating, Castle Rock draws out the plays to run down the clock. Their team scores a touchdown with 65 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs manage to get the ball to the seven-yard line, and Will knows he can make the touchdown. He takes the ball from Chris and goes for the hole, but Kendrick tackles him low. Still trying to score, Will reaches the ball toward the goal line even as he falls. It comes down one yard short.
Chapter 20 Summary
Kendrick hoots over the victory so loudly that even Ben Clark and the referee tell him to stop. Joe reminds Will that the crowd will remember how well the Bulldogs played. Will understands this, but he needs some time to process “a loss like this” (171).
Kendrick follows Will to the parking lot, spewing insults. Will does not engage except to say, “Do you think we should stop talking before someone starts to think I’m the jerk?” (172). Kendrick perceives the underlying insult and goes off on Will. Toby Keenan intervenes and scares Kendrick off. Will thanks Toby, and to his shock, Toby announces that he wants to play.
Chapter 21 Summary
Toby joins the team for practice. While still wary of his father’s behavior at games, he is determined to help the Bulldogs start winning. Will’s father chooses Hannah to sit out in practices so Toby can learn the plays. As Will expects, this does not go over well with her. Afterward, she catches Will’s eye and reminds him of his promise that she would be a significant part of the team.
Chapters 15-21 Analysis
This section, comprised of rising action, is significant for its plot complications and discoveries. Most meaningfully, Will’s teammates complicate their path toward progress by temporarily adhering to the stereotype that girls have no place on a boys’ football team. In clear juxtaposition with other characters, Will accepts Hannah’s notable skills: “The only thing I promise […] is that she can help us” (128). Will’s father convinces the boys to allow Hannah on the field through a combination of ultimatum (a team with her on it or no team at all) and persuasion (pointing out how Hannah is similar to them in that they all have something to prove). The effectiveness of this strategy shows Joe’s potential for communication, leadership, and youth coaching.
A crucial plot development occurs when the Bulldogs synchronize as a cohesive team, as evidenced by Tim, Ernie, and Chris’s decision to tackle Palmer’s defense. Collectively, they realize that their skills are well-matched against serious competitors like Castle Rock. This discovery sparks a new and deeper set of conflicts in the novel as it becomes clear that victory might be feasible—if only the team can improve enough to win. At this critical juncture, Toby announces that he will play. This sets the stage for additional complications as he (and later his father) changes the team’s status quo.
Character development is an important feature of this section. Will demonstrates increasing maturity and level-headedness in several ways. His acceptance of Hannah as a skilled player is evident as he encourages his teammates to follow in his footsteps. He also shows his maturity by trusting his father’s ability to coach and handle the members of the team. There is still room for Will’s growth as a central character, however, as he shies away from opportunities to show strength and leadership. For example, when Hannah demands a promise from him regarding her level of responsibility on the team, he gives it (weakly) despite knowing he has little control over her role. Similarly, although he exchanges strong words with Ben Clark about being exactly where he belongs—on the Bulldogs—Will is envious of the bigger, better-outfitted teams from Palmer and Castle Rock. Indeed, when Castle Rock arrives at Shea Stadium, he immediately notices the team’s size, stating that it has “enough guys to field three teams” (160). Castle Rock fans are also a much more significant presence than those of the Bulldogs. This foreshadows Will’s later impact on fans and crowd attendance.
At this point, the novel’s antagonists shift from abstract forces to nameable persons or groups. Will’s early challenges include the state of Forbes’s economy, his father’s bitterness, the size of their team compared to other groups, and ingrained stereotypes. With the start of the game against Castle Rock, though, Will’s conflict expands to include at least one person-versus-person dispute with Kendrick Morris. From the time he enters the stadium to the moment that Toby sends him running, Kendrick acts as both an athletic opponent and a dramatic foil to Will. Will’s humility and kindness are in clear contrast to Kendrick’s harsh insults and prideful strutting. Kendrick also showboats whenever he scores. Will never indulges in such self-aggrandizing actions, preferring to leave the end zone calmly. Through these juxtaposed characters, Lupica emphasizes the importance of good sportsmanship, adding a layer of moral instruction to his novel.
Lupica advances the conflict between Kendrick and Will by providing a backstory. The narrative discloses that Will fumbled the ball during the previous year’s game, which resulted in Castle Rock’s win over Forbes. Even back then, Kendrick had set his sights on defeating Will. Similar to his rival, Kendrick is motivated by envy and competition: He “had gotten tired of the Castle Rock coaches telling him how fast Will was, how he was the guy they had to stop” (161). Kendrick’s intense focus on humiliating Will—not only on the football field but also through insults and physical intimidation—flows out of these frustrations. The unresolved conflict paves the way for a future match-up in which Will triumphs thanks to greater confidence and self-assurance.
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By Mike Lupica
