"Eleven-year-old Cyrus knows he is not cut out to be a football hero or fireman like his adopted father, but it takes a skittish stray dog to teach him that he, too, can be brave"--Title verso page.

When his mother's job forces them to move to a rural area, Mason joins the Clearwater Middle School football team and finds that it will be up to him to teach them how to win.

Sixth-grader Alex really wants to make his middle school soccer team this year, but Jake, the class bully, keeps taunting him with his past failures--until Errol, a new student from Scotland, teaches him the importance of practice and teamwork.