Football players -- Juvenile fiction; Football stories
Broadmoor began the second half with the same line-up she had started
with. Tip Cartright was back at right half, and Barry was once more on
the bench. As though persuaded by recent events that she had only to
take what she wanted, the home team wrested the ball from the opponent
soon after the kick-off and started a sturdy march up the field. Nearly
every play in the repertoire of the Purple-and-Gray was used during
that advance; and Broadmoor reached the foe’s thirty-two yards before
Demille, skirting the Hoskins end, was brought down by a husky enemy
back with such a crash that the ball got away from him and was captured
by the defender.
One plunge that netted two yards or so, and Hoskins sent off a long
forward-pass that went beautifully and brought the warriors to
mid-field. Very promptly Broadmoor became not the attacker but the
defender. Hoskins launched an offensive operation that brought alarm
to the audience in the east stand and caused Zo to squirm and writhe
in impotent dismay. The Blue-and-Orange seemed at last to get her
attack working right and, with a much-touted left half-back bearing the
brunt of the burden, crashed and plowed her way by short but sufficient
gains to the Broadmoor twenty-two yards before the Purple-and-Gray
recovered from her surprise sufficiently to stem the invasion. At the
last Broadmoor stiffened and two surges at her line were repulsed for
virtually no gain.
By this time there had been three changes in the Broadmoor line-up.
Zinn, rather groggy, had given place to Ike Boardman, Follen was at
right end instead of Harris, and Kirkland occupied the post beside
him. Hoskins faked a kick and shot a short pass over the left side of
the line which grounded. Followed a conference, and then, postponing a
touchdown for the time, the quarter patted the turf some eight yards
back of his center and knelt beside the spot. Broadmoor made a heroic
effort to crash through and smear that kick, but she failed and the
ball sailed from the thirty-yard line straight across the bar, and the
figure 3 appeared on the score-board beneath Broadmoor’s 6.
For the rest of that quarter Hoskins, having tasted blood, raged like a
devouring lion. But once a forward-pass fell into Demille’s hands and
averted a possible disaster, and once, well inside Broadmoor territory
again, a penalty for holding set the visitors back and necessitated a
punt. The third quarter ended with the ball in Hoskins’s possession on
her own forty-one yards.
Just before the end of the period Major Loring arose from his place
near the end of the bench and seated himself beside Barry. For several
minutes he talked in low tones, while Barry, staring thoughtfully
ahead, nodded at intervals. When time was called Barry shed his blanket
and walked to where the referee was guarding the newly placed ball.
“Locke, right half-back, sir,” he announced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account