Change Signals: A Story of the New Football

by Ralph Henry Barbour

Payson had his chance to talk then, and he made good use of it. Nordham, he predicted, would play a kicking game for the remainder of the contest and would try field goals whenever she could. It was up to the Yardley ends and half-backs, he said, to see that Nordham didn’t gain on punting. “You’ve got to get that interference for the catcher working, fellows. You let their ends get by every time. You let them fool you. Run them out and don’t try to spill them until you can accomplish something. Norton, and you too, Roeder, you go for them too near the line. Several times you’ve upset those ends and they’ve picked themselves up again and gone on down the field in time to stop the runner. I’ve taught you a good interference for the man who’s running the ball back. Now make it go! And one thing more, and this is for all of you fellows; keep your eye on the ball. Don’t think you know what the play is going to be; don’t try to guess it; watch the ball every minute! I’ve been hammering that into you all the fall. If you don’t learn to do it now you’ll have mighty slim chances of winning from Broadwood next week.”

“Could we use a couple of the new plays, sir?” asked Simms. “That delayed pass might work well near goal.”

“No, Simms, not with four Broadwood scouts in the stands,” replied the coach dryly. “You’ve got plenty of plays if you make them go. Stick to those. And don’t try forward passes inside the twenty-five yards, Simms; these fellows are too knowing for that. Plug the line and wear it out.”

The third period was the hardest fought of any. Yardley made good gains through the Nordham line until the twenty-five yards was reached. Then Nordham, playing close formation, twice held her for downs. Had Yardley had a player who could have kicked an easy field goal the game would have been decided then and there. Nordham invariably punted out of danger on first down, and, with what wind there was still favoring her, got off kicks of forty-five and fifty yards. It was discouraging to peg half the length of the field and then be turned back on the very threshold. But that is just what happened to the visitors twice. But finally the tide of fortune turned.

Nordham, gaining the ball on a fumble by Hammel near the middle of the field, kicked for forty yards. Simms gathered the pigskin in, recovered seven yards before he was thrown and then worked an on-side kick that, quite unexpected by Nordham, was recovered by Dan for a gain of thirty yards.

Roeder tore off ten yards on one try and Hammel got six. Roeder made four and Stearns got through for first down. Roeder, who had been worked pretty hard, showed signs of wear and Fayette took his place. Stearns got by left tackle for six yards and Simms went five on a wide end run. Fayette gained two through center and Stearns was stopped on an attempt at the left end. Hammel, on a double pass, made first down through right guard. The ball was now down near the enemy’s twenty yard line and near the side of the field. Hammel got around on the short side of the field for twelve but was called back seven as he had stepped over the line. Simms tried a wide run around the other end and made less than a yard. The ball was opposite the goal and Hammel crashed through for five and made it first down. Fayette got three on a “skin-tackle” play and Stearns made four in the same place. Hammel was given the ball then for a straight plunge at left guard and got through and staggered over the goal line for the second touchdown. Dan took the ball out and tried goal, but missed it by inches. The score stood 10 to 6 in Yardley’s favor. Nordham kicked off from midfield and Simms came back twelve before the opposing ends reached him. Then the whistle blew.

It was not advisable to make all the substitutions originally planned, but Mr. Payson sent Holmes in for Simms at quarter, Sayer for Dan and Marion for Hammel. Two minutes after the final period commenced Nordham, from a kick formation, sent her full-back around Sayer for twenty yards and the stands shrieked and howled. A plunge at Merriwell was repulsed and Buckman, Nordham’s diminutive quarter-back, squirmed through between Ridge and Mitchell and made seven before he was rudely sat on. It took the youngster two minutes to recover from that experience.

The ball was on Yardley’s thirty-eight yards and near the side of the field. With one of her running plays in which Buckman, carrying the pigskin, was hidden behind the line, Nordham placed the ball five yards nearer the goal-line and directly in front of the crossbar. A half-back knelt on the turf and Buckman retreated for a place-kick. The pass was good and although the entire Yardley line came crashing through desperately, Buckman lifted the ball neatly over the bar for three more points. With the score 10 to 9, Yardley settled down to add another touchdown. Stearns was injured slightly on the first play and was taken out. Greene took his place. The back-field was now much weaker, for neither Greene nor Fayette could make the holes that Roeder and Stearns had made. Marion, at full-back, was a dependable line-bucker and it was he who made most of the gains for the next five minutes, gains which finally took the ball past the middle of the field and into Nordham territory again. But unfortunately it was also Marion whose fumble on the Nordham forty-five yard line gave the ball to the enemy. On the first play Sayer was again drawn in and Lishing romped around the Blue’s left end for eighteen yards amidst the wild applause of Nordham partisans. Buckman tried the left of the opposing line for a yard, the full-back squirmed through for three and then came one of Nordham’s quick shifts and a forward pass across the field to the right end who had managed to run over undetected. That was a hair-raising moment. The end had a clear field ahead of him save for Simms who was down near the twenty yards. But Ridge showed a burst of speed and reached the runner near the thirty yard line and threw him hard out of bounds. The ball was brought in and it was Nordham’s first down on the thirty. It was naturally to be expected that Nordham would try an end run, either to place the ball in front of goal or to advance it down the short side of the field. But she didn’t. The interference swept to the right, toward middle of the field, and Buckman plunged straight ahead for six yards. The Nordham cheers were deafening now. Along the side-line Mr. Payson and Dan paced, Dan scowling and the coach imperturbable. With four to go, Nordham seemingly elected to try a field goal on second down. The angle was extreme, although the distance was only about twenty-five yards. But it was a fake. The half-back who caught the ball started for a run toward the middle of the field. The opponent, however, was on guard and he was dropped by Sayer for a loss of three yards. But the ball was fairly opposite the posts and again Buckman stepped back and again the half knelt on the turf.

“Block it!” shrieked Ridge, who was field captain. “Get through and block this kick!”

It was Ridge himself who barely tipped the ball as it sailed away from Buckman’s toe and went straight over the center of the bar. Pandemonium broke loose in the Nordham camp and the Nordham players jumped and cavorted gleefully. There was less than four minutes of time left. In that four minutes Yardley worked the ball for fifty yards without losing it once, her backs slamming at the Nordham line with the desperation born of despair. And almost under the shadow of the goal posts, when another four or five downs might have saved the day, the whistle blew!