There were still six minutes of playing time remaining, and Captain
Nostrand called on his team to make the most of it. High School kicked
off and North Side caught and ran back to her fifteen yards. Larue now
took the brunt of the work, but his forte was broken field running,
and his attempts at the line were less successful than Wightson’s.
Nevertheless, North Side made first down twice and took the ball
to her forty yards before she was forced to punt. Farrar caught on
High School’s thirty-three and, behind good interference, ran back
to midfield. There a fumble lost a down, a forward pass failed, and
Brimmer punted to the opponent’s twenty. Danny Shores made the catch,
but was downed without gain and Larue tried to win through the left
of the line without success. A fumble by Larue cost North Side half a
dozen yards, and the ball sailed through the air to midfield again.
Once more Farrar caught and ran back, reeling off ten or twelve yards
before he was stopped. A forward pass, Farrar to Smith, gained seven
and McCoy made it first down off left tackle. From the thirty-yard
line High School advanced to the six, mixing her plays bafflingly and
fighting with desperation. And then, once more on the threshold of a
score, luck deserted her. Farrar, attempting a forward pass to Grover,
found that end out of position for the catch, and so tried, in forlorn
hope, to gain around the other side. But he was caught well back of
the line and, on third down, the ball went into play on the twelve
yards. A double pass to Brimmer for a plunge at the left of the line
failed miserably and, as a last resort, a field-goal was attempted. But
Brimmer never had a chance to get the ball away, for the whole right
side of High School’s line crumpled before the savage attack of the
enemy, and the fullback was downed with the pigskin in his hands.
Then Fortune appeared to desert the home team utterly. Larue got clear
through, eluding the secondary defense as though he was greased, and
put forty yards behind him before Farrar, running desperately, brought
him down from behind. From midfield to High School’s fifteen-yard
line plunged the triumphant North Siders. High School was weakening
every minute now. Nostrand put in two fresh linemen and replaced Burns
with Sawin, but the advance went on, Larue finding all sorts of holes
to squirm through, and the redoubtable Wightson, rested and chafing
under inactivity, returned to the attack with redoubled fury, hurling
himself at the faltering High School line for good gains.
With two minutes left and the ball just inside the third white line,
High School fought for time, hopeless now of victory and only seeking
to stave off defeat. Twice the whistle shrilled while some real or
imaginary injury was looked to, and each time North Side raged like so
many tigers who had tasted blood.
“One minute and fifty-six seconds,” proclaimed the Timer.
“All right now, fellows!” piped Danny. “Over with it! Here’s where we
score again!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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