The mill operatives still had hurt feelings and were now howling continuously. The referee was accused of favoritism, treachery and several other faults, and Yardley of being “pikers” and “yellow dogs.” Matters became no more peaceful when Toby, getting the kick-off just short of his five-yard-line, dodged it back to his twenty-three. Watson went in for Sid Creel at center a minute or two later and Toby began a systematic assault on High School’s middle positions. Stover gained consistently and White ploughed through less frequently but for longer gains. High School changed center and left guard and Toby switched his attack to the right guard and tackle. There, however, he had less luck, and, well into High School territory now, he called for a forward, and White, from kicking position, threw successfully to Mawson on High School’s nineteen, a long hard heave that brought applause even from the enemy. Mawson reached the sixteen yards before he was tackled and the fourteen before he was stopped.
The third period ended and the teams changed sides. High School fought desperately to hold her opponent and the attack was thrice piled up for little or no gain. Choosing between the possible loss of the ball and a possible three points from a field-goal, Toby selected the latter and Beech went back for the kick. But High School tore through the Yardley left and blocked the ball sufficiently to deflect it harmlessly to the right. That incident gladdened the mill hands considerably and they cheered hoarsely.
High School tried a forward-pass on first down and got away with it for twelve yards. Plunges at the line netted her a second first down. Three subsequent attacks left her four yards shy of her distance and she punted to Yardley’s thirty. There Stover caught and ran back to the thirty-seven. He was hurt in the tackle and gave place to Lippman. Toby tried a quarter-back run after a delayed pass and made a scanty five yards after going half across the field. High School held against two plunges and White punted outside at the enemy’s twenty-eight. High School uncorked a puzzling open formation play that sent the full-back around her short end without interference and almost got him free. But Lippman secured the runner after a fifteen-yard advance. A forward-pass went wrong and, after attempting each end, High School punted. Lippman juggled the catch, recovered it and was downed for no gain on his twenty yards. Toby called on White and made seven straight through High School’s center, and Lippman went outside right tackle for four more and the distance. Then, with the end of the game drawing near, Lippman punted on second down from his thirty to High School’s thirty-eight. Again the latter tried her open formation play, but this time Yardley was prepared and the runner was downed for an eight-yard loss. A forward-pass gave High School ten and a wide end run two more. Then came Waterloo, for a High School back, plunging toward the Yardley right tackle, lost the pigskin as he struck the line and the ball bounded merrily into the air, crossed the heaving lines and was pulled down by Nelson.
The best the Blue’s left half could do was hold tight to his prize, for half the opposing team was on top of him in the moment. But it was Yardley’s ball on High School’s forty-nine yards, and, with less than two minutes remaining, the game was as good as won. Captain Beech ran in four substitutes, about all he had left, and on the first play, one of them, Crawford, at full-back, went through the Greenburg line like a streak of lightning and dodged all but the quarter-back, planting the ball on High School’s thirty-two yards when he was captured. A penalty for off-side on the next play set Yardley back, but Lippman carried the pigskin around left end for three and Crawford made three more, and, on fourth down, faking a kick from placement, Toby took the ball and scampered off around the Greenburg right behind good interference and might have crossed the goal line had he not, as he put it later, fallen over his own feet! The stumble allowed a pursuing High School player to drag him down six yards short of the last white streak.
Then came a heart-stirring climax to a contest that had never failed of interest. The stands had emptied ere this and the audience had been following the game along the side-lines. Now it congregated at the corner of the field nearest the play, flowing over onto the gridiron in spite of the efforts of a few ineffectual officials. In the front of the throng were the mill operatives, noisy and unfriendly to the besiegers, more than willing, it seemed, to take a hand in the game. Toby and Grover Beech consulted while the crowd jeered and hooted. Toby wanted to try a forward-pass over the line, but Captain Beech was fearful of it save as a last resort, and it was decided to batter the opponent’s line so long as gains resulted and then, faking a try-at-goal, attempt a short pass over the center.
Toby called on Crawford and sent him banging at the enemy’s guard-tackle hole on the left. But the hole didn’t develop and the gain was less than a yard. Beech sent Crawford out and brought in Lansing, a heavy youngster whose slowness had kept him on the bench most of the season. The unfriendly critics, edging over the bounds, made scurrilous remarks anent Lansing’s personal appearance and had that poor youth, already made nervous by the honor so unexpectedly thrust upon him, a mass of blushes by the time he was in position. But blushes didn’t take away from Lansing’s weight or strength, and, with Lippman carrying the pigskin, Lansing thrust the runner through for three of the remaining five yards. There was some rough playing in that fracas, and Toby discovered that he had sustained a very ensanguined nose. On third down, with just over two yards to go, Lippman tried a cross-buck and squirmed over the crouched backs of the foe for another three feet, amidst an appalling shouting from the belligerent onlookers. The mill contingent was now so close behind the defenders that it was hard to tell who was a player and who a spectator, and Captain Beech called for time and pointed out the fact. The Greenburg players tried to push the throng back, but, although it good-naturedly shuffled a few yards away, it pressed forward once more as soon as the teams again lined up. The referee and umpire scolded and threatened to call the game, but were only hooted at. To the credit of the High School students present it may be said that they did nothing to encourage the mill hands and themselves remained, if not outside the field, at least away from the scene of play. In the end, finding pleas and threats alike idle, the referee let the game go on.
“We’ll never score against that mob,” whispered Beech disgustedly to Toby. “They’ll jump in and push us back. Might as well call it off. I don’t want any mix-up with those muckers!”
Toby nodded agreement, viewing the grinning, inimical countenances grouped behind the opposing line thoughtfully. Then: “Let me work this, cap, will you? I think there’s just one chance!”
“Go ahead,” said Beech, “but you’ll never make a forward with that gang back there to get in the way.”