Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction; Football stories; School sports -- Juvenile fiction; Teenage boys -- Juvenile fiction
Time was growing short and the figures on the scoreboard looked to
be final. James punted on first down and put the oval down near
the opponent’s forty-five, his longest punt of the day. Tom Kemble
misjudged and Houston got the ball on the bound and was thrown savagely
on his thirty-six. Time was again called, and when play was resumed,
Stoddard was back at quarter. Wolcott had seized the opportunity to
bolster up her line with a new tackle and end on the left. Stoddard
used a fake cross-buck again and Thayer found a wide hole at the left
of center and romped through for twelve yards. On a similar play he was
downed on the line. There were two minutes left.
Kemble tried the end and made a yard and Sproule had no better luck off
tackle. Kemble went back and hurled across the center to Stoddard for
eight yards and a first down. With Kemble back again, the ball went to
Thayer, and Johnny got six on a sweep around right end before he was
smothered. Sproule and then Kemble hit right guard and made it first
down again. The ball was on Wolcott’s thirty-one yards and there was
just under a minute of playing time left.
Captain Lothrop went out, cheered to the echo, and Smythe took his
place. Ellison went in for Carlson and Treader for Sproule. Wyndham
was still cheering valiantly, hopefully. Treader, squandering all the
pent-up energy and longing of the afternoon in one brief instant,
dashed himself fiercely at the enemy’s right and squirmed and fought
through to the twenty-six. Wyndham roared in triumph and automobile
horns sounded raucously.
“_Touchdown! Touchdown!_” chanted Wyndham, while Wolcott implored her
warriors to “_Hold ’em! Hold ’em! Hold ’em!_” Then Tom again went back
and the visiting cheerers changed their slogan. “_Kick that goal! Kick
that goal!_” was the cry now. Out on the field the effect was only of
so much sound, confused, meaningless, and Houston had to shout high to
be heard.
“_30, 87, 27!_”
Archer swung away from the line and ran back toward his own goal. Tom
held his long arms out. The timer’s watch told twenty seconds left.
The signal came again:
“_30, 87_――”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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