yardley broadwood
vinton, l. e. r. e., bishop
mitchell, l. t. r. t., scott
ridge, l. g. r. g., stafford
fogg, c. c., o’brien
merriwell, r. g. l. g., smith
stark, r. t. l. t., weldon
norton, r. e. l. e., furniss
simms, q. b. q. b., saunders
roeder, l. h. b. r. h. b., reid
stearns, r. h. b. l. h. b., raynor
hammel, f. b. f. b., rhodes
such a day as it was for the game! quite perfect from the spectator’s point of view; a little bit too warm, perhaps, judged by the player’s standard; a day of days however you looked at it. the sky was blue overhead and faded to gray toward the horizon where an autumn haze brooded above the earth. the sun was gently warm, and the turf, which had retained much of its summer green in spite of frosts, was dry and springy underfoot. from the flagstaff[297] over the grand stand the big blue flag with the vivid white y hung lazily, for never a sign of a breeze stirred it. the stands were filled by the time the two teams trotted out to warm up for the fray, and the greenburg band, a cheerful blotch of scarlet in the midst of the somber-hued bank of spectators, was brazenly crashing out a two-step. inside the ropes was a line of settees on which sat the substitutes, the members of the second team—little badges of blue ribbon adorning their coats—and other privileged persons. andy ryan, the little red-haired trainer, was there, and paddy, the rubber, with a fine assortment of head guards and extra shoes and extra laces and electric tape and two big carboys of spring water and other necessary articles. in a big pile lay the blankets, with an extra football or two reposing beside them. cowles, looking nervous and excited—it had been a hard and busy week for the manager—strode by with his big pad of paper in hand. mr. payson, talking to the stranger who had aroused kendall’s curiosity, came on and seated himself at the end of the row of benches. then around the corner of the stand trotted the broadwood team. under or over the ropes they went, bunched themselves into two squads and set diligently to work. they looked a pretty good lot of fellows; big, happy, trained[298] to the moment. from across the field came a mighty broadwood cheer.
an instant later it was yardley’s turn to applaud, for some thirty blue-stockinged youths dribbled onto the turf, dan leading, peeled off their sweaters and set to work. only one boy was left out of the preliminary practice, and he pulled a blanket from the pile and seated himself on the bench. it was arthur thompson. five minutes or so of signal work and punting, and then the officials sauntered on, one, a chubby little man in a faded purple-and-white sweater and a pair of stained flannel trousers, called the captains to him, a coin went spinning up into the sunlight, three heads bent over it and all save the players who were to begin the game left the field. payson and dan conferred a moment and then the opposing armies fell into position. broadwood had won the toss and yardley had the ball.
“ready, broadwood? ready, yardley?”
the whistle piped merrily. ridge stepped forward with two long strides, the ball sped away down the field, turning over and over in its flight, and the yardley players leaped forward. the game was on.
broadwood caught on her thirty-yard line and, with good protection for the runner, swept back to the forty. her first play sought information.[299] “how’s your center?” asked broadwood, hurling her full-back at merriwell. “quite well, thank you,” replied yardley, crumpling rhodes up for a half-yard gain. broadwood seemed to doubt it, however, for she tried reid at the other side of center and gained two yards. then she chose to kick and rhodes sent the ball to the blue’s forty-four yard line on a poor punt. stearns, however, was unable to gain after the catch and it was yardley’s ball on her forty-five yards.
simms opened up brilliantly with the yardley tackle shift and roeder went clean through the broadwood line for eight yards. stearns slid by left tackle for three more and it was first down. simms’s try around the left end on the next play was killed and ridge was called back to punt. the attempt was short and went out near the enemy’s forty-five yards. broadwood worked a double pass for four and a straight plunge on center for three. then rhodes punted again and yardley was penalized for off-side. for the succeeding five minutes of the period the ball hovered between the forty-yard lines. the two teams appeared very evenly matched and seemed to entertain deep respect for each other. finally, with the ball on her forty-seven yards, yardley sent stearns around right end on a fake kick play and[300] that worthy young gentleman reeled off twelve yards before he was brought down. encouraged by this and the wild cheers from the yardley stand, the blue set out to reach the goal.
roeder cut loose for six yards and hammel made it first down. a penalty for holding on the part of broadwood still further cut down the distance. on broadwood’s thirty simms brought his tackles together again on the shift and roeder gained four through the green’s left wing. stearns ran wide and dodged past the enemy for three. hammel crashed out enough to make first down. but now, near her goal, broadwood tightened. roeder failed to gain, hammel made three and simms tried a forward pass to dan. but broadwood was watching and the pass was intercepted.
broadwood kicked on first down and the ball went to simms, who ran back over three white lines to broadwood’s thirty-five. once more roeder was brought into play. five yards resulted, but on the next play he was hurled back for a loss. simms tried an on-side kick which norton recovered, but broadwood stopped him on her eighteen-yard line. there broadwood stood like a stone wall. two attempts at the line netted four yards. dan and simms put their heads together, and then norton fell back as[301] though to try at goal with a drop-kick. but when the ball came back it went to stearns, and he swept wide into the field, looking for an opening. broadwood, however, was not fooled and after speeding almost the width of the field stearns was tackled for no gain and yardley had lost the ball. a groan went up from the yardley stand as simms turned and trotted back down the field. broadwood kicked out of danger, stearns caught near the middle of the field and the whistle blew.
the second period was almost a repetition of the first. again yardley, after marching from her forty yards, threatened broadwood’s goal, only to lose the ball on the twenty-one yard line, this time by a fumble. broadwood kicked at once. it seemed as though her policy was to play a purely defensive game through the first two periods, possibly in the hope of wearing down her opponent, and then strike hard. fumbles and penalties came fast in that period, but broadwood was at fault quite as often as yardley. but the fumbles were not costly, although once raynor, broadwood’s left half, started with a clear field ahead of him and the ball tucked under his arm. but both dan and mitchell gave chase and pulled him down from behind before he had covered ten yards. it was in the second that broadwood tried her one forlorn attempt at a field goal. on yardley’s[302] thirty yards, with two downs against her, broadwood decided to score from placement. captain bishop dropped back, and, with the quarter holding the ball, kicked, while the stands held their breath. bishop’s direction was good but the ball fell far short of the goal and the danger was over. after that it was a see-saw between the two thirty yards, yardley fighting savagely to score, broadwood doggedly holding her back and punting whenever the ball was within her territory. now and then one side or the other tried an end run, but never successfully in that period. dan and the opposing captain fought a great battle at the ends of their respective lines, with honors about even. the period and the half ended with the ball in broadwood’s possession on yardley’s forty-six yards.
yardley was a little disappointed and many expressions of the disappointment were heard on the seats as the two teams bundled themselves in their blankets and trotted off to the gymnasium. yardley, it seemed, had done all the work and to no purpose, while broadwood had played on the defensive and saved her strength. but yardley answered defiantly to every broadwood cheer that was hurled across the field, the band played heroically, the songs were sung and the minutes dragged along.
[303]
huddled in amongst the second team members, kendall had watched the contest with rapt enjoyment. of course, being only human, he saw where simms and dan vinton were making awful mistakes, and he wondered how mr. payson could idle along the side-line and look so calm and imperturbable. as he didn’t know his neighbors on either side of him well enough to discuss the game with them, he was forced to keep his opinions and emotions bottled up inside. when the teams trotted off after the second period mr. payson went too, and the man whom kendall had seen with him left the bench to stretch his legs and came walking up the line. he was about twenty-five, a big, good-looking, smiling man in a brown norfolk suit, with a small bunch of bachelor’s buttons on the lapel of his jacket. kendall watched him approach with a sort of fascination. he was quite, quite certain that he had met the man and known him. why, he even knew the tones of the man’s voice! but who he was he couldn’t for the very life of him remember! as he came near the man’s eyes wandered along the benches, fell on kendall, paused a moment and went on. but in the next instant they were back again, questioning, puzzling. then kendall did what was for him a very courageous thing. he bowed! as he did he felt the blood rushing into his cheeks and[304] wished he hadn’t. suppose, after all, the man was a total stranger! but kendall needn’t have feared. the man’s face broke into a smile of recognition and he strode straight over to the bench, tucking a cane under his arm and stretching out a gloved hand.
“well, if it isn’t kendall!” exclaimed a deep, pleasant voice. “i didn’t know you were here, my boy,” he continued as they shook hands. “this your first year?”
“yes, sir.” kendall was still in the dark and the man noticed it and laughed.
“you don’t remember me after all, do you?” he laughed.
“i—i know that i know you,” stammered kendall, “but—but—”
“ever kick a football?” asked the other slyly.
“mr. dana!” cried kendall. “gee, i knew i knew you!”
