"I surely have," assented Mr. Quinby. "Perhaps the best of all was one
that thrills me now when I think of it, although I didn't enjoy it so
much at the time, because it did the Blues out of a victory just when
they thought they had it tucked away safely."
"Tell us about it," came in a chorus from the boys.
"Well, it was this way," and he lighted a fresh cigar as he settled back
for a "fanning bee." "The 'Greys' came up to meet us that year with one
of the best teams they ever turned out. They seemed to have everything,
weight and strength and speed, and, on the 'dope,' we didn't have a
chance in the world. They had gone through their schedule with the
smaller colleges like a prairie fire, and the scores they piled up had
been amazing. Their goal line hadn't been crossed all season, and all
the newspaper writers tipped them to slaughter us.
"We had a dandy captain that year, though, and he, together with the
coaches, had done wonders with the material on hand. The old Blue spirit
that never knows when it is licked was there too. The game was on our
grounds and although the 'Greys' had an immense delegation in their
stands, we outnumbered and outyelled them. Say, maybe we didn't give the
boys a send-off when they trotted through the gates and began passing
and falling on the ball in practice. If we felt any doubts, that yell
didn't show it.
"From the time the ball was kicked off it was a fight for blood. And you
can imagine whether we fellows went crazy when we saw that our team was
winning. We got off to a flying start, and, instead of having to defend
our own goal, we took the offensive and kept the ball in the enemy's
territory most of the time. We scored a goal from the field, and
although the 'Greys' fought desperately, we seemed to have their number.
"It was the same in the second half. We downed them when they tried to
rush us, blocked when they kicked, and stopped them in their attempt to
skirt the ends. It was near the end of the last half, and there was only
five minutes left to play. It looked as though it were 'all over but
the shouting,' and you can bet that we were doing enough of that. The
Blue stands were a good imitation of a lunatic asylum.
"But here Fate took a hand, and two minutes later we wanted to die. The
ball was in our hands, halfway down the field. As we had already made
one score, while the 'Greys' had nothing, all we had to do was to play
safe and the game was ours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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