Eleven minutes of the second quarter were gone when "Mud Scow" Drake
went over for the second touchdown. Judd had watched Trumbull for
every foot of the water-soaked territory. He had seen Blackwell, on
three different occasions, stop the slashing, slipping drive of Drake
... had seen these two go down in a sea of mud ... had seen Blackwell
get up each time a little slower ... had seen the undaunted
determination upon his dirt-smeared face. And when the Canton team
lined up joyously for their second try at goal after touchdown, Judd
saw that Blackwell was crying ... crying in unashamed fashion ...
perhaps he wasn't even conscious that he was crying. This was all so
puzzling to Judd. He had thought of himself first in everything. He
could not comprehend exactly why Blackwell should be so concerned ...
unless he were hurt ... and suffering! It did not dawn upon him what
Blackwell was actually thinking ... that Blackwell, in his last year at
school, felt himself unable to do his best ... sensed his inability to
put the punch in the team ... to restore its shattered confidence ...
shattered because of Canton's powerful, battering attack.
The first half ended with the ball on Trumbull's ten yard line and
Canton just that far away from a third touchdown! Score, Canton 14;
Trumbull 0. Drake's well trained toe had added the extra point after
the second touchdown also.
"So far the game looks like a one man offensive and the advantage of
weight," Coach Little told his players between halves. "Stop this
fellow Drake and you'll stop their drive. They're using him because
they have to depend upon straight football and he's the strongest man
in their backfield. The chances are that Canton will play a defensive
game from now on and you must take the offensive in order to win.
You've got everything against you today but one thing ... and that's
spirit. Any team that can put up the fight you have out there every
minute of the half need not be discouraged. Don't think about the
score. Concentrate on every play ... put everything you have in it ...
and the score will take care of itself..."
The coach sent the same lineup back into the game.
Rudolph, swathed in blankets, sat near Judd, who watched him out of the
corner of his eye. He noticed that Rudolph kept his attention centered
on every move of the game. Canton kicked off, and it was Trumbull's
ball on Trumbull's thirty yard line. Rudolph's lips moved at each
calling of the signals. Judd unconsciously got to doing the same
thing. Every time Blackwell's number was called he imagined that he
was Blackwell and followed the play through in his mind. Blackwell was
holding up ... he was good for short gains almost every time he took
the ball. But after each run he dragged himself back into position and
scraped the mud from his feet as though each sticking clod held him
back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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