Monday's Hero

While attending “the big game” he sees young, star quarterback, Bernie Shaw, the son of legendary Coach Rusty Shaw win the game for the Western State University Geminis thus vaulting them into the nationally prominent Hawaiian Bowl in six weeks. That night, things turn ugly: three of the players, celebrating and drunk, are arrested in a savage, fatal beating of a young gay man.

With incriminating evidence, very little experience in murder cases and vying against the state’s most vengeful prosecutor, Abalardo Vas, Chris is thrust into the role of defending the players and the fate of the university and the football program.

As Chris delves into the case, he is torn between blindly protecting the football program versus purely seeking the truth. He experiences the football program’s corruption, homophobia and hatred of the prosecuting attorney, Vas. He sees the expedience of the police and the University Chancellor to get to the team to the Hawaiian Bowl at any cost.

Chris becomes even more determined to find the truth after speaking with the grieving parents of the deceased, encountering the resolve of the other man beaten that night and the gentle guidance from his pregnant wife . He finds weakness in legendary Coach Shaw’s program and deep secrets in the coaching staff and with Bernie Shaw, the coach’s son and team captain.

At the end of Act Two, Chris learns he is very much alone. He discovers his law firm is leaving for the big city without him, that a backroom deal has been struck behind his back. Chris is further alienated from the football program when he rescues prosecutor Vas from a beating by some current players.

Finally, through a new-found passion for the law, Chris switches tactics that bring out his All-American persona and the truth. He discovers the three accused could not have killed the victim and in a bittersweet ending reveals that Bernie, the coach’s son, was the real killer.