“Nordham 12, Opponents 10,” said the score board. Yardley had met her second defeat.
[CHAPTER XIX]
CHEERS AND SONGS
“But this paper,” said Gerald, kicking the offending sheet from the window seat to the floor, “says Nordham outplayed us. I don’t think that’s fair. Do you, sir?”
“Well, didn’t they outplay us, Pennimore?” asked Mr. Payson who had dropped into Number 28 for a visit after church. “They won, and there were no flukes that I saw.”
“But if we’d kicked the goals after our touchdowns—”
“But we didn’t, and they outplayed us right there. There’s no use being disgruntled and trying to deceive yourselves into thinking that it was a case of hard luck, for it wasn’t. What do you say, Vinton?”
“Oh, I suppose they outplayed us,” answered Dan wearily. “We were away ahead of them at straight football, but—”
“‘Straight football,’” repeated the coach with a smile. “By that you mean bucking the line, I suppose. But that isn’t any ‘straighter’ than any other sort of football nowadays, Vinton. No, sir, Nordham has a remarkable team, a team built around two fast backs and weak in the line, to be sure, but I take my hat off to that coach over there. And to that quarter of theirs, too. He’s a little marvel, Vinton.”