“Hello, Vinton,” he said. “What did you think of it?”
“Sort of disgusting,” answered Dan. “We’ve got to keep the ball away from them this half or they’ll score again.”
“That’s right. Well, it’s their kick-off. You going to get in this half?” Dan shook his head.
“I guess not,” he answered. “Williams and Dickenson did pretty good work, didn’t they?”
“I guess so; Dickenson did, anyway. But they got fooled on those forward passes every time.”
“All right, fellows,” called Mr. Payson. Silence followed. “We’re going to change our defense a little this half and I expect it to work better. On every formation that Forest Hill tries except an ordinary close formation, with their backs close up, I want you to open out your line. Guards will play two yards from center, tackles three yards from guards and ends five yards from tackles. Understand?” He repeated the directions. “It will be tackle’s place to get through and spoil the pass if possible, and the end will put out the opposing end, crowd him into the center of the field. Quarter and left half will play five yards nearer in than they’ve been playing. We’re going to kick this half until we get inside their twenty-five yards. Then I expect the ball to go over on straight plays. We want three scores. All right. Loring, I want to see you a moment.”
Forest Hill kicked off and Loring caught the ball on his twenty yards and started off with it. He covered ten yards and then, as the enemy closed in upon him, he passed the ball back to Kapenhysen, who caught it neatly, let up on his pace and punted far down the field. Forest Hill was caught napping and the ball went over the heads of her backs. Her quarter turned quickly and raced after the sphere, which had struck on his thirty-five yard line, and was now bouncing erratically toward the goal. The Forest Hill right half was close behind him, but Williams, the Yardley left end, had streaked down the field and was ready to take a hand in the fun. A cry of warning from the Forest Hill half went up as Williams shouldered him aside. The quarter dove for the ball and Williams dove for the quarter. The next instant he had snuggled the pigskin under his arm and was trying to find his feet again, with the Forest Hill quarter holding him by the left leg. Then the half crushed down on top of the invader and the ball was down on Forest Hill’s twenty-four yards.
Forest Hill arose nobly to the demands of the occasion, but she was plainly bewildered by the sudden turning of the tables and Yardley was not to be denied. Loring sent Capes against the center for four yards and Dyer on a cross-buck outside of tackle for seven more. Kapenhysen punched a hole through left guard for two yards and Capes followed him for four more. With four to go on the third down the prospect looked dubious, but on a tandem attack at center with the whole back-field pushing, Capes kept his feet until he had been shoved through for the required distance. The ball was on the three yards and it was first down. Kapenhysen made a scant yard on the first try, but on the next attempt went over, broke away from the enemy, and romped around back of goal. Loring kicked an easy goal. The score was 10—6, and only four minutes had elapsed.
On the kick-off Forest Hill captured the ball on her ten yards and brought it back to her twenty-two. On an ordinary formation two plunges inside of right tackle netted her nine yards. But a third attempt in the same place was a failure and the ball changed hands. Loring tried a quarter-back kick, which was recovered by the enemy on her ten-yard line. Her full-back went back apparently for a punt, but Yardley was suspicious and opened her line. The ball went back and a forward pass came hurtling down the field. Dickenson kept Forest Hill’s right end out of the play, but the ball was luckily recovered by a Forest Hill forward after having been fumbled by Folwell of Yardley. This netted the enemy twenty yards and more. Another pass on the other side of the line found no one awaiting it and Forest Hill was set back fifteen yards. Again the kick formation was used and again the ball was thrown forward by the full-back. It was intended for a “bunch” pass, but Yardley broke up the gathering and the ball plumped into the arms of her right tackle.
Yardley kicked and again Forest Hill started back up the field. But now she saw that the forward pass could no longer be relied upon with certainty. So she started running the ends, but made little profit. In the middle of the field the ball went again to Yardley. Some changes in the line were made now, Smith taking Colton’s place and Berwick going in at center for Hill. Kapenhysen punted and the ball was Forest Hill’s on her ten yards. A fake kick, with full-back slashing through between guard and tackle, netted six yards and five more came as a result of a desperate attack on the new center. Then a run around Williams took the ball to the forty-yard line. Yardley stiffened and two attacks at the line were thrown back. Forest Hill punted and Capes gathered in the ball on his fifteen-yard line and ran it back twenty. Again Kapenhysen punted and Dickenson nabbed the Forest Hill back before he could take a step. Yardley tried a double pass and gained eight yards. A plunge at center gave her the rest of her distance. An on-side kick was tried, but resulted disastrously. Hadlock blocked it and although Forest Hill’s right half fell on the ball it was down for a twelve-yard loss. A [delayed pass] netted four yards and a run outside tackle three more. The Forest Hill quarter-back started out to gather in the rest of the required distance by a run around right end, but Williams managed to get past his opponent and down the runner behind the line.