Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction; Football stories; School sports -- Juvenile fiction; Teenage boys -- Juvenile fiction
Wyndham’s chance didn’t come along until the period was twelve minutes
old. Then desperate, but still believing in its ability to even the
score, “Sim” Jackson, who had spent the third quarter on the bench,
dug deeply into his small bag of tricks and, finding nothing much
there, used what was left. It wasn’t much of a trick, either, but it
served. The Fighting Scrub tore itself literally in half and the two
halves hugged the side-lines. The ball went with the left portion of
the team. Wolcott moved this way and that, momentarily at a loss how to
meet the extraordinary formation. That wide-open space in the middle
of the field held a strong attraction for the visitor, and, although
it finally divided its defense just as Wyndham had divided its attack,
it was evident that the opening was much on its mind. The handful of
Wolcott adherents and players on the side-line howled derision. Then
“Wink” passed the ball at an angle to Heard, a back across the field
started with the ball and ran toward his own goal, and Wolcott became
loudly vocal with warnings and advice and swarmed in the direction of
the ball. Heard stepped back and back, facing the middle of the field.
Then, when further delay meant danger, he swung half about and threw
the ball to his left. Jeff Adams, who had skirted around close to the
side-line and was now well away, put up a pair of long arms and a
pair of large, eager hands and plucked the ball out of the air. After
that, very soon after, he set out for Wolcott’s goal as though he had
important business somewhere in its vicinity!
But, although Jeff had a fair start, he wasn’t swift enough to
cover fifty-odd yards before the enemy overtook him. He did consume
thirty-three or possibly thirty-four, however, and when a fleet-footed,
brown-legged enemy banged him vindictively to earth he was on Wolcott’s
twenty-one! That bang was temporarily too much for Jeff and time was
called while he was induced to put some air back into his lungs. Then,
with the few Wyndham rooters that were present dancing about and waving
sweaters and howling ecstatically, the Fighting Scrub returned to its
struggle. It was fighting now not only against Wolcott but against
time, for the final whistle wasn’t far off. Every one knows that you
can’t use a trick play like that “split team” twice in succession and
get away with it. Sim Jackson knew it. So he tried it again!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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