The Scrubs were playing to-day under the title of the High School Second Team, a title which carried more dignity and seemed better calculated to attract an audience. Two of the Varsity substitutes who were not taken to Corwin lent their strength to Captain Nostrand’s team. These were Grover, who took Jones’s place at left end, and McCoy, who ousted Burns at left half. Fudge Shaw was at center, a position which Fudge had been filling most creditably.
So far as enthusiasm went, that game was notable. The North Siders rooted loudly and continuously, while the High School adherents, encouraged by the enemy to expressions of loyalty, greeted the Second with a hearty cheer when it appeared, and indulged in further encouragement of a similar nature as the game progressed. The North Siders were older than their opponents and averaged, especially in the line, much heavier. But their play was scarcely more than elemental, and appeared to be built around two very clever backs, Wightson and Larue. The first of these was a raw-boned Welshman of about twenty, and the second a black-haired little French Canadian who seemed to be built of steel, and went into the enemy like a human bullet, and was just about as hard to stop. Danny Shores, red-headed and shrill-voiced, played quarterback and made up by grim determination for what he lacked in experience and science.
It was a very good game, in spite of its raggedness. Fumbles were plentiful on both sides, and the North Side backs continually missed the signals. The Seconds showed an over-eagerness that lost them more than it gained, and Pete Farrar, who played quarter, had his hands more than full in trying to steady them down. The High School players got the jump on the adversary in the first few minutes of the game, and so bewildered them by open plays that, almost before anyone realized what was happening, they were down on their opponents’ ten-yard line with every indication of scoring. But an unlucky fumble spoiled their chance of a touchdown, a fumble which red-headed Danny Shores recovered by plunging between Fudge’s sturdy legs.
CHAPTER XIV
AN UNWILLING HERO
North Side used Wightson and Larue continuously, hurling them against the line from tackle to tackle and managing to work the ball from under the goal well into the middle of the field. There, however, the Second, surmising that attacks outside the tackles were not included in the enemy’s present plans, concentrated its secondary defense behind the center of its line and stopped the advance, North Side being forced to kick. The punt was poor and rolled out near the adversary’s forty yards, and from there the Second began another advance. But a fumble again lost ground and a punt went over the goal line. On a third try from their twenty yards, the North Siders managed to get Wightson clear for a twelve-yard run. A minute later Larue also squirmed free and, with the factory workers yelling their lungs out in the stand and along the side lines, North Side passed the middle of the field, and for the first time had the pigskin in High School territory.
They played a hard and desperate game, caring nothing for knocks and bruises; in fact, showing a willingness to stand any sort of punishment so long as they gained ground. Concentrating their attack on Gage, at left guard, they wore that youth down, so that, finally, on the Second’s thirty-two yards, that player was withdrawn to recover his breath and nurse his injuries, and Johnson took his place. Johnson was a big Senior who knew little football, but who looked so imposing and mighty that the North Side transferred its attentions to the other guard. But Captain Nostrand was not so easy a proposition as Gage had proved, and the enemy’s advance was stopped. A desperate attempt to get a forward pass across the goal line from the thirty yards failed, and the twelve-minute period came to an end.
High School punted on second down when play was resumed and Grover recovered the ball after a fumble by Quarterback Shores on the North Siders’ thirty-yard line. From there, in eleven plays, mixing forward passes with fake-kicks and end runs, High School scored, sending McCoy through right tackle for two yards and a touchdown. Brimmer, who essayed to kick the goal, failed by a narrow margin.
There was no more scoring in that half, although the North Siders were threatening High School’s goal when the whistle blew. Undismayed, the audience from across the river consumed peanuts and popcorn and enjoyed themselves noisily. Nostrand returned Gage to the line when play began again and put Burns in for Sawin at right half. Getting the pigskin on the kick-off, North Side, with one or two substitutes in her line, returned to her line-bucking tactics, evidently resolved to tire out and wear down the High School defense. Wightson was the marvel of that contest. How he could perform the work that was given to him and keep on his feet, no one understood. He was always good for a short gain and seldom failed to get clear of the first defense. Only the fine work of McCoy and Burns, the latter returned to the backfield on account of his defensive ability, saved the day time after time, for, once free, the big Welshman could never have been stopped. Pete Farrar, with his one hundred and forty-odd pounds, would have been tossed aside like a chip had he ever been called on to get between Wightson and the goal line! Now and then, but infrequently during the first three periods, Larue was called on, but for the most part it was the Welshman who took the ball and banged himself, head down, against the opposing line, much as an enraged bull might have assaulted a stone wall. High School was fortunate in being able to know beforehand pretty well where the attack was coming, since Danny Shores had but few plays and those were not difficult to guess, and so was able to put her backfield defenses where it would do the most good. But for all of that, their line was showing wear and tear before that third quarter was over. North Side did not deliberately “mix it up,” and only one penalty was meted out to her because of unnecessary roughness, but her savage and desperate attacks were bound to tell. Fudge was wearing a bloody nose, which gave him a most disreputable appearance, and several other linemen showed marks of battle when the third quarter ended.
By that time the North Side supporters had become impatient and were howling for a touchdown, calling on the players individually to distinguish themselves. “Get into ’em, Billy! What you scared of?” “Eat ’em up, Pat! Show us what you know!” “Give us a touchdown now! Are you goin’ to let ’em lick yer?” “Where’s yer fight, Terry? Kill ’em, boy, kill ’em!” “Give us a score, Danny! Let’s do ’em up, now.”