|
|
LEAGUE OPTIONS
MCAA TEAMS
|
|
|
|
MCAA STORY
The Hostage Drum: SPU Strikes Adams Off-the-Field
The air outside the stadium crackled with the fever of college football: the Adams College Atoms versus the Scorin Pointzon U Roarin` Hangovers. Two hours before kickoff, the colossal Adams bass drum, gleaming red, white, and blue and sitting majestically on its custom rolling cart, was briefly left unattended while the head drummer fetched a pre-game sports drink. This was the critical gap the SPU Gamma Rho Zeta fraternity had waited for. Clad in dark, neutral jackets and moving with practiced, silent efficiency honed from years of campus pranks, the four-person raid team swiftly detached the drum’s cart from the equipment trailer. Using the deafening roar of the early tailgating crowd as cover, they smoothly rolled the massive, symbolic instrument out of the stadium perimeter and disappeared into the maze of nearby side streets.
 Professor Elara Vance, the Adams band director, discovered the theft thirty agonizing minutes later, her perfectly composed demeanor dissolving into a panic-stricken shout. “The Thunder! Where is the Adams Thunder?” she shrieked, waving her baton frantically at the empty space where the drum should have been. Kickoff was now mere moments away, and without the deep, driving pulse of the mammoth bass drum, the band's signature entrance routine—The Atomic Blast—would be a hollow, defeated flutter. Campus security was immediately alerted, but the trail was cold. The theft was clearly a psychological attack, aimed not just at property but at deflating the Adams Atoms’ spirit before a single snap of the ball.
The "stolen property" was, at that very moment, positioned as an ironic centerpiece in the crowded backyard of the Gamma Rho Zeta fraternity house, five blocks from the stadium. The SPU brothers had draped the drum in the Pointz's obnoxious purple and gold banners, turning the symbol of the Atoms into a mocking captured trophy. Every ten minutes, a different frat brother would step up and strike the drum with a rubber mallet, sending a deep, taunting BOOM across the neighborhood. The theft’s true purpose was clear: to rub the absence of the drum in the Adams fans’ faces, effectively broadcasting their pre-game victory to anyone who dared venture near.
It was a sharp-eyed Adams freshman, scrolling through hastily uploaded social media stories tagged vaguely around the SPU area, who finally pinpointed the bass drum’s humiliating location. He raced back to the sidelines to relay the intelligence to the band. The band now faced a crucial dilemma: risk involving the local police, which could delay the drum's return until after the game, or stage a daring, unauthorized covert recovery mission right now. As the opposing team ran out onto the field, the Adams College band members knew the game had just started on the gridiron, but for them, the real, high-stakes counter-mission to reclaim the Atom’s thunder was about to begin.
The real game, however, had also begun on the sidelines. As the Atoms and SPU clashed on the field, the Adams College marching band took its position, the gaping space where the bass drum cart once sat a physical embodiment of their rage. Professor Vance, her face an iron mask of control, signaled the start of their first chant. Though the percussion section was technically flawless, the whole performance felt hollow. The heart of the rhythm, the massive, resonating BOOM that normally drowned out the rival crowd, was utterly absent. The drumline, stripped of their thunder, played with a dangerous, mechanical precision; every snare hit was a controlled crack of fury, and the tenors moved with an aggressive, almost violent synchronization. The entire band—from the low brass to the piccolos—maintained perfect formation, their silent anger a palpable force focused entirely on the field, waiting for the signal to launch their counter-attack.
Led by Maria, the sharp-witted Drum Major, a four-person retrieval unit was swiftly assembled, consisting of the two strongest percussionists, a nimble clarinet player, and the freshman who had found the intelligence. Their mission timer was the last two minutes of the first half, when the SPU party would be at its peak chaos and distraction. They slipped out the back gates, shedding their ceremonial hats and jackets, blending into the swirling crowd of concession seekers. Using the taunting BOOM from the frat house as their homing beacon, they approached the backyard perimeter from the darkened side alley. Two burly Gamma Rho Zeta brothers stood chatting, oblivious, guarding the rear entrance as the taunting purple banners flapped over the majestic Adams Thunder.
Moving with a swiftness only high-level band camp drills can instill, the retrieval team executed their plan: a loud, staged argument broke out near the alley entrance, drawing the guards’ immediate attention. In that split second of distraction, Maria and a percussionist named Jake darted in. Maria tore the hateful purple banners free, bundling them up for later revenge, while Jake wrestled the brake lever on the massive rolling cart. The drum was free. The team shoved the colossal cart into the narrow alleyway, the bass drum’s smooth wheels squeaking a terrified confession against the brick. Shouts of alarm erupted from the backyard just as the band members burst onto the main road, pushing the cart at a dead sprint toward the stadium, their priceless, rolling trophy a symbol of their defiance in the rapidly fading sunlight.
Back in the stadium, the SPU crowd had been celebrating a crucial tackle, but a sudden, chilling silence fell over the Gamma Rho Zeta section. The regular, mocking BOOM from the party house—a deep, resonant sound they had grown accustomed to over the last hour—had stopped abruptly. Confusion rippled through the stands before being confirmed by a flurry of social media updates: 'THEY GOT IT BACK! ADAMS STOLE THEIR DRUM BACK!' The moment the SPU players on the field realized their campus rivals had outmaneuvered them, a visible psychological shift occurred. The momentum, which had been theirs, evaporated as the Adams band director, Professor Vance, saw the massive red, white, and blue drum barrel emerge from the tunnel. She smiled, raising her baton high, and the head drummer, his eyes shining with cold victory, delivered the first true, earth-shaking BOOM of the Adams College Atoms.
Return to previous page
|
|
|
SCHEDULE WEEK 9
| (8) |
Da Illini Academy at |
0 |
| (2) |
Legnbaz Tech |
0 |
|
| (16) |
Georgia at |
0 |
| (24) |
Southern Florida St. |
0 |
|
| (15) |
Huxley College at |
0 |
| (5) |
St. Thomas University |
0 |
|
| (6) |
Madison St. at |
0 |
| (20) |
Michigan |
0 |
|
| (10) |
Dorian University at |
0 |
| (13) |
Adams |
0 |
|
| (19) |
Faber College at |
0 |
| (23) |
Florida St. |
0 |
|
| (21) |
Nevada at |
0 |
| (12) |
Arlington St. |
0 |
|
| (11) |
Scorin Pointzon U at |
0 |
| (18) |
Texas St. |
0 |
|
| (22) |
Alabama at |
0 |
| (1) |
Kansas St. |
0 |
|
| (9) |
DC (Not a) St. U at |
0 |
| (17) |
Iowa A&M |
0 |
|
| (3) |
Norse Dakota St. at |
0 |
| (14) |
Ole Miss |
0 |
|
| (4) |
Southern University at |
0 |
| (7) |
Atlantic Poly |
0 |
|
Complete League Schedule |
NCAA SCHEDULE
| North Texas at | 11:00 | | Charlotte | ET | | | California at | 11:30 | | Virginia Tech | ET | |
| Missouri at | 4:00 | | Vanderbilt | ET | | | Michigan at | 4:00 | | Michigan State | ET | | | Minnesota at | 4:00 | | Iowa | ET | | | Northwestern at | 4:00 | | Nebraska | ET | | | Rutgers at | 4:00 | | Purdue | ET | | | UCLA at | 4:00 | | Indiana | ET | | | Wisconsin at | 4:00 | | Oregon | ET | | | Southern Methodist at | 4:00 | | Wake Forest | ET | | | Boston College at | 4:00 | | Louisville | ET | | | Syracuse at | 4:00 | | Georgia Tech | ET | | | Stanford at | 4:00 | | Miami (FL) | ET | | | Virginia at | 4:00 | | North Carolina | ET | | | North Carolina State at | 4:00 | | Pittsburgh | ET | | | Houston at | 4:00 | | Arizona State | ET | | | Baylor at | 4:00 | | Cincinnati | ET | | | Brigham Young at | 4:00 | | Iowa State | ET | | | Kansas State at | 4:00 | | Kansas | ET | | | Oklahoma State at | 4:00 | | Texas Tech | ET | | | Colorado at | 4:00 | | Utah | ET | | | TCU at | 4:00 | | West Virginia | ET | | | Connecticut at | 4:00 | | Rice | ET | | | Auburn at | 4:00 | | Arkansas | ET | | | Tennessee at | 4:00 | | Kentucky | ET | | | Texas A&M at | 4:00 | | LSU | ET | | | Texas at | 4:00 | | Mississippi State | ET | | | Ole Miss at | 4:00 | | Oklahoma | ET | | | Alabama at | 4:00 | | South Carolina | ET | | | Illinois at | 4:00 | | Washington | ET | | | South Florida at | 4:00 | | Memphis | ET | | | Temple at | 4:00 | | Tulsa | ET | | | Florida Atlantic at | 7:30 | | Navy | ET | | | Toledo at | 7:30 | | Washington State | ET | |
|
|
|
