Blake Candade is probably Cade’s best friend, also in the sixth grade. Blake is one of the most interesting soccer players you’ll ever see, but first, it’s time to answer the last Mystery Challenge. This is for the post: MYSTERY OF THE ALIENS’ SECRET ON CAROLMIRE MOUNTAIN: CHAPTER TWO. What name do the aliens have for the STARLIGHT PATH? This will be a clue revealing more about which path the students can take to get past the alien defenses.
The answer is: Dancers.
Blake’s dream is to become a great soccer star for Cashes Dade and lead them to many Grand Soccer Cup Championships. Cashes Dade has only won one in their history in Year 35. It’s currently Year 52. Blake is determined and has a quiet intensity. He is fast, but more than that, he’s tough. He has really good control of the ball. He might not be able to fake you out and dribble past people, but you’re going to have a hard time getting the ball away from him. He likes to just power through defenders. He’s had some crazy moments playing for the elementary school soccer leagues in Cashes Dade.
One time Blake’s team was down 1-0 with less than a minute left in the game. Blake’s team had been struggling to move the ball on them all day. His team had the ball and they set up the next play. They kept passing it sideways trying to get someone set up to have an open shot, but they were down at the other end of the field. Now, Blake’s a team player, for the most part, but at this point he’d had enough. Not once could they get the ball away from him all day, so he took the ball from his own teammate, and drove it down the field, pushing past every defender. He got past the last one, didn’t try anything fancy, but just kicked it as hard as he could, right past the goalie, and scored. In overtime, his coach gathered the team together and said, “We’re running the Blake play again.” So Blake took it again, drove it down field, and scored in the first minute of overtime.
Blake is really into mountain climbing and exploring in the mountains around Cashes Dade so he came up with a bunch of plays named for different mountain events. There’s the Avalanche-in this play the team lines up and rushes up field, passing the ball quickly back and forth, advancing fast for the goal. There’s the Cave In-in this one when a player from the other team is advancing up field with the ball Blake’s team suddenly rushes in on him from all sides, overwhelms them, and steals the ball. Then there’s the Rock Slide-this one is basically just Blake advancing the ball up field by himself, powering past everyone and scoring.
Do you like soccer? Does Blake sound like someone you would want on your team? Do you run any plays like that on your soccer team? If you don’t play soccer, what is your dream? Leave a comment below. Check out the next post featuring a mysterious disappearance. Right after that is the next chapter of the bonus short story. Cade and Blake are about to go deep into the mountain, but they will discover a key clue about the aliens’ dark secret.
