Knowing his outburst has cost him his credibility, Kilmer tries unsuccessfully to rally support and spark the team's spirit into trusting him, but none of the players follow him out of the locker room. Mox tells Kilmer that the team will only return to the field without him.Īn angered Kilmer physically assaults Mox, but the other players intercede and then refuse to take to the field. Undaunted, Kilmer orders wide receiver Charlie Tweeder ( Scott Caan) to replace Mox, but Tweeder refuses. Desperate to be recruited by a good college, Wendell almost consents when Mox tells Kilmer he will quit if the procedure continues. When star running back Wendell Brown ( Eliel Swinton) is injured in the district title game, Kilmer persuades him to take a shot of cortisone to deaden the pain in his knee, allowing Wendell to continue playing at risk of more serious injury.
This allowed the career-ending hit on Lance, for which Kilmer blames Billy Bob. After Kilmer pressured him to play following a concussion in an earlier game, Billy Bob collapsed on the field.
Kilmer's disregard for players continues, resulting in Mox's friend, offensive lineman Billy Bob ( Ron Lester), dramatically mentally collapsing.
When Kilmer discovers that Mox has won a full scholarship to Brown, he warns Mox that continued disobedience and disrespect towards him will force him to alter his transcripts to reverse the decision on his scholarship. He also chides his father, screaming at him, "I don't want your life!" Sam had been a football player at West Canaan, and although Kilmer dismissed him for lacking talent and courage, Sam still respected and obeyed him. She even attempts to seduce Mox, sporting a whipped cream " bikini" over her otherwise naked body, but he gently rebuffs her, telling Darcy that she can escape West Canaan on her own.ĭisgusted with Kilmer and not feeling a strong need to win, Mox starts calling his own plays on the field without Kilmer's approval. The move brings unexpected dividends for him, one of them being Darcy Sears ( Ali Larter), Lance's beautiful cheerleader girlfriend, who is interested in marrying someone who's clearly leaving West Canaan in order to escape small-town life. Needing a new quarterback, Kilmer reluctantly names Mox to replace Lance as team captain and starting quarterback. Mox, who has accompanied Lance to the hospital, is shocked when Kilmer plays dumb with Lance's doctors about his knee problems, when in fact he ordered the trainer to use the anesthetics. At the hospital, the doctors, appalled at the massive amount of scar tissue found under his knee, explain that he shouldn't have been playing football and recovery would take "minimum a year and a half, if ever", costing Lance his football scholarship to Florida State. His philosophy finally takes its toll on the Coyotes' star quarterback Lance Harbor ( Paul Walker), Mox's best friend and Jules' brother, who is manipulated into taking anesthetic shots into an injured knee that finally succumbs to failure and results in even greater injury during gameplay. Duffy), and dreads playing under legendary coach Bud Kilmer ( Jon Voight), a verbally abusive, controlling authority who believes in winning "at all costs" and has a strong track record, remarking in a speech that "in my thirty years of coaching at West Canaan, I have brought two state titles, and 22 district championships!" Wanting to leave Texas to go to school at Brown University, he constantly clashes with his football-obsessed father Sam ( Thomas F. Despite his relative popularity at school, easy friendships with other players, and smart and sassy girlfriend Jules Harbor ( Amy Smart), he is dissatisfied with his life. Jonathan "Mox" Moxon ( James Van Der Beek) is an intelligent and academically gifted backup quarterback for the West Canaan High School varsity football team.