A fresh man was now sent in to oppose Judd, and Pennington's determined
drive toward the goal resumed. Judd had eyes only for Gordon. He
dropped the big fellow twice as he tore through the line. An attempted
forward pass failed. Gordon charged through the line for three yards,
but this was not enough. The ball went over to Bartlett on her nine
yard line.
Benz limped up, and grasping Judd by the arm, shouted in his ear: "I'll
switch positions with you. You drop back and punt that ball out of
danger! Punt it hard!"
"But I've never punted in a real game!" protested Judd.
"Never mind that! You're the only man that can do it. Quick. Time's
almost up!"
Judd needed no further urging. He took Benz's position.
"Hold that line, fellows!" he begged, as he held out his big hands for
the ball.
"Get through and block that punt!" screamed Knapp.
The ball snapped back. The pass came high and Judd was forced to jump
for it. He saw a form lurch before him and a pair of hands go up.
Then he kicked. His right toe caught the ball squarely and drove it
high and far down the field. When it finally fell, McCabe and Thorpe
were waiting for the man to receive it and downed him where he stood.
Everyone in the Bartlett stands had risen to their feet. Such playing,
such a reversal in form, had never before been seen! Judd's punt had
carried sixty yards! The ball was Pennington's on their thirty-one
yard line and four minutes left to play!
Pennington made a desperate attempt to gain but Bartlett was growing
stronger every second in her effort to recover the ball. Even Gordon's
line plunges were repulsed.
Now the Pennington coach relied on strategy to keep the Bartlett eleven
from threatening the Red and Blue goal line in the short time left. He
sent in a substitute for the left end who advised Knapp to call for a
punt. This Knapp prepared to do; Melvin, Pennington punter, dropping
back to make the kick.
Benz saw the action with sinking heart. A long punt now with two
minutes left to play meant sure defeat for Bartlett, and while they
were within striking distance he felt a fighting chance.
"Break up that punt, fellows!" he pleaded, "You've got to get through
and block that punt or the game is lost!"
The Pennington line braced for what they felt, the final effort. Judd,
fairly outdoing himself, flung guard and tackle aside and fell through.
McCabe jumped over his prostrate body and leaped in front of the
kicker. The ball struck him full in the face and bounded over his head
to the forty yard line. Benz fell on it, joyfully.
McCabe, blinking dazedly from the blow, marshalled his battered forces
for the last supreme attempt. Patterson made five yards on an end run.
McCabe had his men up on their feet and into the game immediately after
the play.
There was no time to be lost!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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