Jack occupied himself in various ways until it was time for him to sally forth and join his band at the rendezvous. Then in good time they would head for the field, where they might expect to see a perfect mob awaiting their coming.
CHAPTER XIX
LOCKING HORNS WITH HARMONY
Such a crowd had never before been seen in Chester, according to the opinion of the oldest inhabitant. The fact of its being a holiday had something to do with it, of course. Then again the recent victory of the home eleven over Marshall seemed to have electrified the entire community, which was rapidly becoming "sport mad," as some of the old fogies complained.
The Harmony Tigers showed up in a big carry-all motor-van about the time Jack and his followers trooped on the field, and began to pass the ball around to limber up their muscles for the great test. They were given a royal reception, for there were many hundreds of Harmony rooters on hand to help the boys with cheers and the waving of flags and pennants. Besides, Chester was showing a fine spirit that could applaud a clever play, even on the part of the enemy team, though naturally their best yells would be reserved for the home boys.
When the two teams lined up facing each other they stood as follows:
Chester Position Harmony
Jones………….. L.E ………..Osterhide
Jackman………… L.T. …………O'Leary
McGuffey……….. L.G. ………….Bailey
Griffin……….. Center ………….Chase
Hemming………… R.G. …………..Boggs
Badger…………. R.T. …………Leonard
Douglas………… R.E. ………..Clifford
Hopkins………… Q.B. …..Martin (Capt.)
Mullane……….. L.H.B. …………Oliver
Winters (Capt.)… R.H.B. ……….Oldsmith
Jeffries……….. F.B. ……….Hutchings
Really it looked as though the Tigers outclassed their opponents at the ratio of five to six, so far as weight and brawn went. They were an even heavier aggregation than the Marshall team; which, by the way, had been snowed under on the preceding Saturday to the tune of 27 to 6, the Harmony boys scoring almost at will; and this sort of proceeding of course warned the whole Chester team, watching eagerly from the side lines, what they would be up against when their day came.
The game was started, and it was a seesaw affair all through the first period, play being kept near mid-field most of the time, with the advantage on neither side. Consequently, when after a brief intermission to allow of any necessary changes in the formation of the teams, not required as yet, the crowd was unable to decide where the advantage lay. But Harmony fans kept saying that the time had not yet come for their favorites to break loose; when it did there would be "something doing" to make Chester folks "sit up and take notice."
This proved to be poor prediction so far as the second quarter went. Indeed, the tide started immediately to set in the other direction. Hopkins, quarterback for Chester, scored a touchdown in this period that carried the crowd off its feet with excitement, it was so cleverly done. He took a forward pass from Winters, who shot the ball from the fourteen-yard line zone.