"Better not get into a row with them as we did before," advised Frank.
There were gloomy days that followed at Riverview. For a time the gridiron was all but neglected, and only a few reported for practice. Then Professor Hardin talked to the lads and for very shame's sake they went back to work, the 'varsity hammering the scrub all over the field.
The energetic coach did even better. He arranged for a game with a semi-professional team that had the name of playing hard and fast football. In a way they were more than a match for Riverview and Mr. Hardin wanted to see how his lads would take a beating.
The first part of the game was all in favor of the Lafayettes, as the other team was called. They made a number of good plays, and seemed to go through the line at will. But the coach noticed that his boys braced at the last moment, and in needed spots, so that after the first two periods there were only two touchdowns and a goal against them.
"See if we can't wallop 'em!" exclaimed Frank, tenderly feeling of his nose in the rest period.
"We're going to!" fiercely cried Andy, as he shifted his shin guards. "We're going to plow right through 'em!"
And Riverview did, to the no small surprise of the Lafayette team. The schoolboys shoved their opponents all over. They went through the line and around ends. They gained on fake kicks and on the forward pass, and they had the wing shift down to perfection.
"If they don't win they're putting up the prettiest game I've seen in a long while," said the enthusiastic coach.
"It's the first time in a good many years that Riverview has had a chance to show what she can do," said another instructor. "Oh, I hope we do win!"
And win they did! Perhaps it was from thinking of all the hard work they had put in on their gridiron that made the lads resolve not to have it go for naught. Inch by inch they fought their opponents back. Time and again they bucked the line until they had rolled up three touchdowns and kicked the goal for each one. Then, when time was called, though they were a sore and suffering lot of lads, they gathered in the center of the field and cheered their vanquished rivals to the echo. And they were cheered in turn.