that kick-off was a fizzle. st. luke’s got the ball on her twenty-five yards, ran it back ten and then her full-back broke through the crofton left side for twenty yards, and there was great joy where the handful of st. luke’s supporters were gathered. after two tries had yielded but four yards the st. luke’s captain and left half-back kicked to arnold on crofton’s fifteen-yard line. a very considerable little wind had come up since noon and it lengthened the kick. arnold ran back fifteen yards before he was downed. two plays were tried and crofton was penalized for starting before the ball. after arnold had broken through the center for four yards he kicked and a moment later the st. luke’s captain started the blue’s rooters again by tearing off a fifteen-yard run through center on a delayed pass. on the next play a st. luke’s back fumbled and[228] lagrange recovered the pigskin, for the crimson-and-gray.
poke beat off nine yards at st. luke’s left end and arnold followed with a plunge of five yards through the middle. smith then failed to gain, and arnold got off a poor punt which the st. luke’s right end captured. on the first play the blue’s quarter-back tried for distance through the crofton center, only to fumble and have benson of crofton recover the ball.
arnold kicked, and as gil was interfered with, the ball was brought back and crofton was presented with ten yards. on the next play arnold made five yards, and then poke shaking off his opponents, ran thirty-seven yards, placing the ball within ten yards of the st. luke’s goal line. smith tried to gain on the right of the blue’s line but failed, and a forward pass, arnold to poke, was intercepted by the st. luke’s captain on his own four-yard line. he scampered and dodged back to his ten-yard line before he was brought down, with half the crofton team sitting on and about him. on the first play the blue’s captain fumbled while going through the line and duncan sargent grabbed the ball for crofton on the nineteen[229] yards. two plays by arnold and poke netted seven yards. then, with arnold back, a forward pass, arnold throwing the ball to poke, brought the first score. poke caught the ball on the twelve-yard line and scampered over the last white mark before he was pulled down. the punt-out was a failure, the ball striking the ground.
but crofton cheered and made known her approval. the playing for the rest of the first period was in the middle of the field, although at one time arnold was forced to punt from behind crofton’s goal line, after a mess had been made of the handling of one of the blue captain’s kicks. the quarter ended with the ball in st. luke’s possession on her own forty-six-yard line.
in the second period st. luke’s was on the defensive. fumbles enabled crofton to get the pigskin to within twenty-five yards of st. luke’s goal line, where benson, on a forward pass, ran over the goal line, only to be called back because poke had held an opponent. some two minutes later the period ended and the teams trotted off.
“the teams are pretty evenly matched,” said jeffrey, “and gil was right about it being[230] a stiff game. i guess we’re a little heavier than they are, and i think our offense is better. one thing is certain, though, and that is that we’re away ahead of them at handling the ball. they made some awful fumbles in that last quarter, didn’t they?”
“yes, but it helped us, jeff. i don’t see why that mean old thing of a referee wouldn’t let us have that last touchdown. do you think that was fair?”
“of course it was,” jeffrey laughed. “poke was holding one of the st. luke’s fellows and the officials caught him. so we got penalized and lost our touchdown. too bad, too, for that was a corking pass, and benson handled it finely. there wasn’t a soul near him when he got the ball.”
“then it was poke’s fault?” asked hope sadly.
“i’m afraid it was. i don’t suppose he meant to hold. a fellow gets excited and doesn’t realize sometimes. i guess poke feels as badly as anybody about it. but never mind, we’ll trim them all right. we should get at least one more touchdown in the next two periods.”
“i hope we get a dozen,” declared hope.[231] “and wasn’t that run of poke’s perfectly jimmy? i guess we can forgive him for losing us that other touchdown, don’t you?”
“yes, especially as he made the first one. i wonder if johnny will put in any substitutes now.”
“i wish he’d let jim play,” said hope.
“jim may make the team yet,” replied jeffrey. “cosgrove is playing a mighty good game in gary’s place, by the way. i wonder what gary is thinking about it. here they come again. now let’s see. no, the team’s just the same, i guess.”
crofton was on the defensive throughout the whole of the third period, the st. luke’s captain having ordained it so when his long kick rolled to crofton’s twenty-yard line before arnold recovered it. it was then that the blue’s supporters took heart, and from across the gridiron came cheer after cheer as st. luke’s worked the ball by a series of plays in which three successful forward passes figured down to within eight yards of the crofton goal line. st. luke’s looked really dangerous for the first time and on the crofton side of the field her supporters watched uneasily as the st. luke’s backs settled for the next play. it was another[232] forward pass and a sigh of relief went up from the crimson-and-gray as the ball was fumbled and went to crofton as a touchback. out to the twenty-five yards went the ball and crofton put it in scrimmage. st. luke’s made several other attempts in that period to get across her opponent’s goal line, but never again secured such another chance as the one she had wasted.
the last quarter found crofton forcing the playing and st. luke’s again on the defensive. arnold tried a goal from placement from the blue’s forty-yard line, but the ball went wide of the posts. st. luke’s chose to kick from behind the twenty-five-yard line, but it was not long before crofton had the ball back in the blue’s territory. failure to gain ground at rushing caused arnold to punt, and a substitute left half-back who had taken the place of the blue’s captain a moment before, muffed the ball. lagrange fell on it for crofton on st. luke’s ten-yard line, and before st. luke’s realized what had happened poke tossed the pigskin on a forward pass to gil at left end and the second touchdown was made. this time sargent kicked the goal and crofton’s score was 11. for the remainder of the contest the ball[233] hovered about the middle of the gridiron, st. luke’s, recognizing defeat, being content to keep her opponent from approaching her goal line again.
it had been a good game from a crofton point of view, and, to quote hope, a “perfectly jimmy” one for sunnywood. poke and gil had played finely and had scored the only touchdowns that had been made. but it was poke’s work especially that brought them joy and sent the whole school away in a glow of enthusiasm. he had been far and away the most spectacular performer of the afternoon. he had contributed the best individual work in carrying the ball, once having made a run of thirty-seven yards at st. luke’s left end, and, later, one of forty-five yards around the enemy’s right end. whether on the directing or the receiving end of the forward pass, he had been excellent. crofton’s first score had been made with poke on the receiving end, while the second score had been the result of his accurate throw to gil.
arnold, too, however, was a hero that day. the quarter-back had used the best of judgment in the selection of plays, while at ground gaining he had performed well. several times he had torn through the st. luke’s center for good[234] distances. his punting also had been good and the enemy’s backs had found a great deal of difficulty in handling his kicks. lagrange at center had shown a wonderful nose for the ball, and his recovery of the pigskin which opened the way for the second touchdown had been a fine effort. gil at end, benson at full-back, sargent at left guard and smith at left half-back all distinguished themselves that day. on the whole crofton went home from the game very well satisfied with her team. even johnny’s countenance gave one the impression that he was pleased. and he was. the only place that was worrying the coach was the position of left tackle. marshall had not been up to the rest of the line that day, and it was becoming more and more evident that a better man must be found for his place.
there was great pride and much rejoicing at sunnywood that saturday night. hope, could she have had her way, would, i am certain, have crowned poke and gil with wreaths of laurel!
