ALTON MEETS WITH DISASTER
The Gray-and-Gold presented a line-up that afternoon that lacked the
names of four of its best players. Smith was at right guard in place of
Captain Gus Fingal, Mulford played left tackle in place of Roice, Plant
substituted Frost at right half and Barnhart ran the team. It was still
a moot question whether Kinsey or Latham was first-choice quarter-back,
but Barnhart was undeniably third-choice, and to-day, in the absence
of both the others, he was faced by a stiff proposition. As Josh Plant
had intimated, the visitors were a fine, sturdy looking lot, and they
outsized Alton both in the line and the backfield. That they would
score was a foregone conclusion. Whether Alton would score, too, was
problematic. Watching the visitors perform during the brief warming-up
session, many Alton partisans were flat-footed in the assertion that
Coach Cade had erred in weakening his team as he had.
Before the first half was well along it had become evident that nothing
save a miracle could save the home team from defeat. And miracles,
as we all know, as often as they are longed for, seldom happen on
the football field. Mount Millard found a soft place in the Alton
line early in the game and pounded Smith for repeated gains. Varying
attacks at right guard with off-tackle plays, the visitors rushed from
their own thirty-five-yard line to Alton’s twenty-eight. There Cooper
was sent in for Smith and two tries at the new incumbent gained but
four yards and Mount Millard shot a forward-pass to the twelve yards.
Levering was caught napping and Whittier reached the receiver too late
to spoil the catch. Steve did the next best thing, however, and threw
the enemy hard on the ten-yard line. Mount Millard wasted a down in
an attempt to carry the ball out-of-bounds, missing by inches. Faking
a similar attempt, she got three outside of tackle on the other side
and landed the ball on the seven yards. Here an off-side penalty put
her back to the twelve and she faked a try-at-goal that turned out
to be a plunge inside tackle. Mulford was put out neatly and a Mount
Millard back crashed through to the five-yard line. Scorning a fairly
certain three points, the enemy tried a complicated cross-buck which,
since the play had all the ear-marks of a forward-pass, nearly won her
a touchdown. It failed, though, by a half-yard and Whittier punted on
first down from behind his goal. Catching on Alton’s thirty-eight,
the visitors started a second advance but lost the ball near the
twenty-five just before the quarter ended.
At the resumption of hostilities Alton tried hard to get her attack
going, but twice the enemy broke through and stopped the runner for
a loss, and after an end-run had been spilled for a two-yard gain
Whittier booted the ball. A fumble by the Mount Millard quarter was
recovered for a ten-yard loss and the enemy put the ball in play on
her thirty. She made it first down on her forty-three and crossed the
middle of the field in two plays by her full-back. Her next attempt was
stopped, however, and, with one to go, she tried a long forward-pass
that was intercepted by Tennyson. The Alton full-back fought his way
for eight yards before he was thrown. A moment later it was Tennyson
who found a hole to his liking on the left of the Mount Millard line
and plunged through for seven yards more. A second attempt by the same
player failed to gain and it was Plant who made it first down. Two
slams at the line netted but three yards and Whittier tossed across the
right of the line to Levering who, although pulled to earth promptly,
secured all but a few feet of the needed distance. Tennyson piled over
the center for the rest. But what looked like an Alton invasion stopped
on the enemy’s thirty-seven and Whittier punted. Those kicks from close
behind the line found Mount Millard unprepared for a while, and on
this occasion the quarter again fumbled. A team-mate saved the day,
though, and reeled off twelve yards through a crowded field before he
was finally run out. After that the play hovered about the middle of
the field until, just before the end of the half, the Mount Millard
left half got away inside Sawyer, at right tackle, and zigzagged toward
the Alton goal in a breath-taking fashion for some thirty yards. It was
Whittier who finally pulled him down near the twenty.
This was Mount Millard’s second chance to score, and now she had no
intention of being denied. Really exceptional football was played by
the visitors then, and the Alton line broke time and again before
desperate attacks. The Mount Millard full-back was the star of that
skirmish, making gains of four and five and six yards at a time. The
right of the Alton line was weakened by the absence of Captain Fingal,
just as Mount Millard had probably surmised it would be, and it was at
the right that most of the gains were made. Alton stiffened on her four
yards and gave grudgingly, but the enemy finally piled across, beating
the whistle by a matter of seconds only. An easy goal followed, and
Alton retired from the field with seven points scored against her.
Jim had his chance when the third quarter started, and, while he
played a steadier game than had Sawyer, Mount Millard still found the
Alton right side vulnerable when a short gain was needed. Cooper,
playing in Captain Gus’s position, proved no better than Smith, and
when, toward the close of the period, he began to show the effects of
the attention given him by the enemy backs he was taken out and Smith
was reinstated. The Alton rooters expected that their team would show
some of the new plays that had been drilled into it during the past
fortnight and momentarily looked for Whittier or Plant to get clear and
put the game on an even basis. But the few plays didn’t materialize.
Save for the new formation, which had its defamers on the Alton stand,
the Gray-and-Gold showed nothing it had not shown before during the
season. Even the nine forward-passes attempted in the course of the
contest lacked novelty, and the running plays which Alton was supposed
to have been perfecting were not exhibited. Alton was handicapped
by the lack of a really first-class quarter, for Barnhart, while a
hard-working, snappy youth, lacked experience sadly. His choice of
plays were frequently more than questionable and he seemed unable to
inspire his team. Yet in the final period he came near to atoning for
all shortcomings when he shot out of what seemed an inextricable tangle
of Alton backs and ends and skirted the enemy’s wing for sixty-two
yards. It was the Mount Millard quarter who brought him down on the
seventeen yards just when the shouting Alton rooters were visioning
a touchdown. One unlucky stumble spelled Barnhart’s doom and Alton’s
defeat. Had he not stumbled and momentarily lost his stride just before
the enemy quarter sprang for him he would undoubtedly have gone on over
the line, for Whittier was protecting him in the rear from the foremost
of the Mount Millard pursuers. On such small things may Victory hinge!
Barnhart called for a smash at the left that sent Tennyson over the
side-line and when the ball had been walked in he sent Whittier sliding
off tackle at the right for six yards, and the Alton stand whooped it
up deliriously. But when Steve went back to kicking position as the
ball was snapped the enemy was not fooled and Tennyson’s dash around
the right was nipped for a two-yard loss. Barnhart and Whittier, the
latter captain pro tem, held a consultation then. The fourth period was
young and there was still time to score again if the present venture
failed. Barnhart wanted the three points a field-goal would bring, but
Steve was firm for everything or nothing and Steve’s word carried.
So Steve went back to drop-kicking position, and Cheswick passed the
ball to him. It looked as though Jake Borden, well over to the left
and sidling across the goal-line, was well uncovered, yet between the
time that Steve shot the ball away to him and the instant it arrived a
Mount Millard man dropped from the sky, or so it seemed, and smote the
pigskin fairly out of Borden’s hands.
That ended Alton’s threat. For the rest of the game the enemy played
it safe, punting and punting again while the Gray-and-Gold sought
desperately to again reach scoring distance. Toward the end play slowed
up sadly for Alton, Barnhart seemingly at a loss and confusing his
signals more than once. Cheswick gave way to Tip Benning and Levering
to Tate in the line. Fillmore took Tennyson’s place and Adams and
Ness became the halfs. But even fresh men couldn’t stave off defeat,
and finally the game came to an end with the home team fairly at a
stand-still on her forty-five.
That evening Alton, saddened by the defeat, took second thought.
Reference to Mount Millard’s record for the season somewhat eased
the pain, for the big team had six victories to its credit, four of
them against most worthy adversaries. Consequently, it was fair to
assume that Alton, deprived as she had been of her captain and best
quarter-backs, to say nothing of the other absentees, had done not
so badly after all. Of course a defeat was a defeat, but it need not
necessarily be a disgrace, and by Sunday Alton as a whole had reached
the cheering decision that her team had performed very creditably. In
support of this contention it was rumored that Johnny Cade had shown
signs of satisfaction both during and subsequent to the battle. This,
however, was only hearsay. In any event, Alton was, it was universally
acknowledged, to be congratulated on one thing. She had gone through
the Mount Millard game without once showing the hand she was holding
for Kenly. Not a single new play had been used. Even the line shifts
had been no different. To be sure, Coach Cade had shown the half-dozen
Kenly scouts who had openly invaded the Mount Millard stands his new
backfield formation, but since he had used it as the basis for only
the most ordinary, time-honored plays it was held to be doubtful that
the enemy observers would derive much profit from seeing it. Rather
oddly--not so oddly, either, if you know human nature--those who now
expressed the most pleasure over the withholding of new plays were
those who had during the game most vigorously denounced Coach Cade for
not using them.
Jim derived little satisfaction from his playing in the Mount
Millard contest. He could, he decided, boast of a cut cheek and two
fingers of his left hand bandaged together, but of little else. In
retrospect it seemed to Jim that he had played like a loon. He had
missed interference more often than he cared to think of, he had twice
allowed the big Mount Millard guard, who faced him on offense, to get
under him and spill him on his face and he had several times failed
to open the hole he was expected to. Jim felt extremely depressed
whenever he reviewed his activities of that afternoon, failing to take
into account, unlike one or two of his team-mates, the fact that Mount
Millard had presented a far better opposition than Alton had hitherto
experienced.
It rained on Sunday; one of those desultory, half-hearted rains that
seem always on the point of letting up, and don’t; and Jim’s spirits
became as gloomy as the view from the windows of Number 15. He told
himself that it would have been a lot better if he had stuck to the
decision he had made last fall and kept firmly away from football. The
first rift in the clouds didn’t appear until Monday morning. Then the
glint of sunshine that peered through wasn’t very bright. When Jim
looked in the letter-box on his way to breakfast he found a letter
postmarked at Norwalk. It was a brief and frequently misspelled missive
from Webb Todd from which fell a soiled and flabby two-dollar bill.
Webb reported that he was working, though the wages weren’t much--Jim
thought four dollars and a half a day quite fabulous!--and that he was
well and hoped this would find Jimmy the same, and he was sending two
dollars. There was more, but this was the gist of it. It was enough
to cheer Jim up a little, for he had a genuine affection for Webb, and
life didn’t look quite so dark afterwards.
Practice was light that Monday afternoon and there was no visit from
the second. The only hostilities that developed were between the first
team and the substitutes, and they lasted only ten minutes and were
used by the coaches to illustrate the mistakes made on Saturday. On
the bench it was confidentially noised that Gus and the others who
had gone over to Lakeville Saturday had returned primed with all
sorts of invaluable information, and strong in the belief that Kenly
had something big up her sleeve that wouldn’t slip into sight before
the big game. Kenly, it seemed, had toyed with her opponent, using
two full teams in the process of running up a 41 to 0 score, and had
showed nothing she didn’t want to. What information the Alton scouts
had brought back was mainly concerned with the individual performances
of the Kenly players, although certain other features had not escaped
their eyes. The general verdict to-day was to the effect that “Kenly
has a strong team, all right, but we can lick ’em!”
The usual evening session in the gymnasium came off as usual at
seven-thirty, and Coach Cade, chalk in hand, drew diagrams on the
blackboard and explained them, after which the plays were walked off.
Some of the plays were fairly complicated, and to-night the class
seemed duller than usual. Perhaps for that reason Mr. Cade shortened
the session. Having, however, released them, he called them back in the
next breath.
“Just a minute, fellows!”
The exodus halted short of the doors. Mr. Cade was holding a sheet of
paper up.
“Does this belong to any one here?” he asked.
Some of the nearer fellows retraced their steps for a closer view,
while a voice from further away asked: “What is it, Mr. Cade?”
“Well, it’s a sheet of paper,” was the answer. “It was found somewhere,
in one of the dormitories, I think, and handed to me. It has a football
play on one side, done in pencil, and--”
Laughter met that announcement. Mr. Cade smiled, too, but he went on
to add: “I understand your amusement, but it happens that this play
strikes me as rather ingenious and novel. Certainly, I don’t remember
ever having seen it in use. That’s why I want to find the fellow who
drew it. I’d like to ask him where he found it.”
By this time most of the squad had clustered around, but no one laid
claim to the paper. There was a good deal of laughter and speculation,
but in the end the coach refolded the sheet and placed it back in his
pocket and the fellows crowded out, bandying joking explanations, such
as that the thing had been “planted” by the enemy. Mr. Cade left the
floor some moments after the players, accompanied by Lowell Woodruff.
They walked together as far as the corner of Borden Hall, and there
Lowell turned off along the walk and the coach started across the
campus on a bee-line for the main gate. Footfalls made scarcely any
sound on the turf and consequently the coach gave a start of surprise
when a voice called to him from hardly more than a yard behind. He
wheeled quickly and found a tall figure at his elbow.
“Mr. Cade, that piece of paper was mine. I lost it somewhere two or
three days ago.”
“Oh, it’s Todd! Yours, you say? Well, why didn’t you claim it, Todd?”
Jim hesitated an instant. “Well, sir, you see I thought those fellows
would rag me if they knew.”
Mr. Cade laughed. “I see,” he said. “Well, where did you get hold of
this idea, Todd?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Don’t know? What do you mean by that? You got it somewhere, of course.
Did you find it in a book or in a paper? Ever seen it used?”
“No, sir, what I mean is--well, I just _thought_ of it.”
“Made it up yourself, you mean? Are you sure of that?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve never seen any of those plays in books, Mr. Cade, and
I haven’t seen many games, either. Maybe it ain’t new, of course. I--I
was just sort of amusing myself.”
“No, the chances are that it isn’t new. Mighty few plays are. But it’s
new to me, Todd, and it might be new to--” He broke off. Then: “Are you
going to be busy this evening?” he asked.
“Not all evening,” answered Jim. “I’ve got about an hour’s studying to
do, but after that--”
“It’s a little after eight. Can you drop over and see me about nine or
a few minutes later? You know where I live?”
“Yes, sir, I know. I’ll come.”
“Good enough. I’d like to talk to you about this. And, if you don’t
mind, I’ll keep it until I see you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jim watched the dark form of the coach vanish into the gloom of
the trees and then turned and made his way back to Haylow. He felt
rather excited, rather elated. Suppose-- No, he wouldn’t suppose
anything--yet! Probably it was all just nothing at all. Maybe Mr. Cade
hadn’t really looked at the diagram yet. Maybe--
That and a few more “maybes” brought Jim to Number 15 and the sight
of Clem studying at the table. He wished he could tell Clem about the
momentous happening. But he couldn’t. And he mustn’t think about it
any more now. There was Latin to be dug into. Very determinedly he
seated himself opposite the absorbed Clem and drew his books toward
him.