CHAPTER XII
"DO YOUR BEST"
Friday dawned fair and warm, and Willard, looking forth from a windowwhile dressing, smilingly pictured McNatt, far afield, gatheringmushrooms from the sunlit meadows. One thing, however, was certain,Willard reflected, and that was that the enthusiastic McNatt wouldnever induce him to partake of that mushroom supper! Yesterday he mightperhaps have taken a chance, but today life was too well worth living.
In the afternoon, contrary to custom, there was a hard and prolongedscrimmage between the first and second teams. Ordinarily the day beforea contest was given over to formation drill, with only a brief line-up,but today, with Lorimer Academy looming dangerously ahead, Coach Cadecouldn't afford to be lenient. One radical change in the first teamline-up was apparent when the two teams faced each other. Arnold Lake,the regular left half-back, was at left end in place of Sanford, andMawson was at left half. Doubtless it was only an experiment andmight not prove satisfactory, but Willard saw, with a quickening ofhis pulse, that if the change became permanent he would be one notchnearer the realization of his hopes. With only Mawson and, perhaps,Moncks ahead of him, the position of first substitute was just overthe horizon. And events that day certainly fostered optimism, forbefore the practice game was over Mawson was relegated to the bench andWillard took his place. For something like ten minutes life was verystrenuous for him. The first was thrice given the ball on the second'stwenty-yard-line and thrice failed to take it over, although CoachCade stormed and Gil Tarver commanded and Captain Bob Myers implored.The second fought desperately and would not yield the final few feet.In those assaults Willard played his part well, making up in speedand aggressiveness what he lacked in weight. If he didn't perform anyoutstanding feat, at least he gained as certainly as Cochran, besidehim, and more surely than Steve Browne, again restored to full-backposition for lack of a better man. The nearest thing to a mishapbefalling Willard was his failure to hold a short forward-pass overthe left of the line that might possibly have produced the desiredscore. But he was sorely beset and, jostled and badgered by the secondteam backs, he could not make the ball secure after it reached him.That came in the last attack, and afterwards, when Cochran's desperateattempt at the left of center had failed to carry him over by two feet,the ball was given to the second and Greenwood, standing behind hisgoal, kicked to safety. It is quite possible that Willard looked forsome slight expression of commendation from captain or coach when thewhistle blew, for he was under the impression that he had done noneso badly for a first appearance on the big team, but the only mentionof his part in the fracas that he heard was made by the quarter-back.Probably Tarver had no intention of being unkind, but his regretshaunted Willard for the rest of the day.
"Too bad you couldn't hold that forward, Harmon," Tarver said on theway back to the gymnasium. "Gee, we'd have had a score sure if you had!"
Seeking sympathy, Willard repeated the remark to Martin that evening,expecting Martin to tell him that it wasn't his fault and that GilTarver was unreasonable. But Martin only shook his head as he repliedcheerfully: "Yes, it was a shame, Brand. Still, I don't believe firstwould have scored. Gil threw too short and you were five yards from theline."
"We-ell," said Willard, "you think I ought to have caught it?"
"What? Oh, I don't know about that. You've got to be mighty quick toget your hands around a forward or else you'll miss it. And it's a heapeasier than it looks, usually."
Willard went to sleep that night somewhat disheartened by theconclusion that Fortune had given him an opportunity to prove hisability and he had failed. Doubtless, he thought, another suchopportunity would be long in coming. He lived over that disastrousattempt to catch the forward-pass and wondered whether, had he leapedan instant sooner, he would have held it; whether, in short, anythinghe could have done and didn't would have insured success. He tried tocomfort himself with the reiterated assertion that no one, not evenCaptain Myers, whose work on the receiving end of forward-passes wasphenomenal, could have done any better, but he fell asleep beforereiteration produced conviction and passed through a number ofunpleasant dreams before he awoke again to a bright and brisk Octobermorning.
Lorimer was always an uncertain quantity when it came to the yearlygridiron contests with Alton, and, since the red-legged invaders hadnosed out a victory over the Gray-and-Gold last fall, it was held tobe highly desirable that a conclusive defeat be handed them on thepresent occasion. And there appeared to be no good reason why Altonshouldn't win, for, while Lorimer was well coached and knew plenty offootball, she had sustained two defeats so far this season and had butone victory to her credit.
To Willard, observing proceedings from the bench, sandwiched betweenMartin and Ned Richards, the playing of Lake at left end again broughtrenewed encouragement. At least it was evident that Mr. Cade believedwell enough of the experiment to give it a thorough trial, and allduring the game Willard rooted hard, if silently, for the ex-half-backand prayed that he would make good as an end! Lorimer took the kick-offand at once showed her running ability when a tow-headed right halfreeled off nearly thirty yards before Cochran brought him down. Theenemy showed several novel variations of old plays and twice made firstdown before she was finally forced to kick on Alton's forty-two yards.She was master of the shift and sent her plays at the long or shortside of the line with beautiful and confusing impartiality. Also,her backfield was composed of slim, fast and elusive youths who hada remarkable faculty of slipping out of the opponents' clutches. Inbrief, it became apparent during the first few minutes of play that thehome team was destined to have her hands full that afternoon and wouldbe supremely fortunate if she kept her goal-line inviolate. The firstquarter, however, passed without either team reaching scoring distance.There was much punting, at which Alton was slightly superior, and manyattempts at end running by Lorimer, some of which succeeded. Only oneforward-pass was tried, and that, by the enemy, went wrong and landedthe ball in Alton's hands. The latter made her distance five times andLorimer four, and at the end of the first twelve minutes an unbiasedcritic would have said that on performance the opponents were aboutequal. He might have added, however, that the Red somehow gave theimpression of having more in reserve than the Gray-and-Gold, and if hehad said so he would have been proved correct by future events.
Alton started a brave advance in the second period and, with Cochranand Mawson alternating on attacks between tackles and Gil Tarverscampering around the ends, thrice made it first down in enemyterritory. But on Lorimer's twenty-seven yards, Lake became too eagerand Alton was set back for off-side, and after a futile attempt to makeup the lost ground, Tarver fell back and kicked to the three yards.Lorimer punted on second down and the pigskin fell into Tarver's handsin midfield and that hustled back seven yards before he consentedto stop. Alton took up the journey again, while some three hundredbrazen-throated adherents cheered encouragingly from the stand. Haltedon the thirty-six, Browne threw overhead to Joe Myers and Joe caughtbrilliantly and was toppled for an eight-yard gain. Lake, skirtingaround, took the ball from Tarver and tried hard to make good on thefarther side, but was run back for a two-yard loss. Another forwardgrounded, and Tarver, with twelve to go on third down, faked a kick andcarried outside right tackle to Lorimer's sixteen for the distance.The Gray-and-Gold shouted jubilantly and chanted her desire for atouchdown. But, although Mawson got three through Lorimer's left andfollowed it with two more off tackle on the other side, again Fortuneturned her thumb down. Stacey Ross was caught holding and a sternreferee paced the pigskin back an interminable fifteen yards. Tarver'srun from kick formation failed to fool the enemy and he regained buttwelve of the fifteen. Perhaps a forward-pass would have gained thedistance, but Tarver chose to try for a field-goal, and, standing nearLorimer's twenty-five-yard line, he held out his hands while the standsgrew still. The angle was not severe and if Leroy, at left tackle, hadheld firm, the quarter would probably have scored three points thatlater in the day would have loomed large. But Leroy gave before thedespera
te onslaught of the foe and Tarver was hurried. The ball hadheight and distance, but not direction, and passed a foot to the rightof the nearest upright.
The half ended a minute later with the pigskin in Lorimer's possessionnear her forty.
Willard trotted back to the gymnasium with the rest and hugged theknowledge that Arnold Lake had shown himself a valuable man at theend of the line. Willard could have told you almost every move thatLake had made during those twenty-four minutes of playing time! CoachCade was sparing of criticism today, for no glaring faults had beenapparent and the fighting spirit had been evident. He did warn againstinfractions of the rules, however, pointing out that had it not beenfor Ross's holding Alton would now be at least six points to thegood. "We lost thirty yards by penalties, and Lorimer lost only ten.The twenty yards' difference may mean the loss of the game. Guardagainst being off-side, fellows, and against holding. Don't let's makethe opponent any gifts! You've got to fight harder this half and runyour plays off quicker. You're up against a heady bunch of fellows andyou've got to outwit them as well as outplay them if you're going towin. I want to see the backs start a little quicker and hit the linewith more steam. That applies to you especially, Browne. You have arotten tendency to slow up at the line, just when you should be goingthe hardest. You miss two and three yards regularly on every play bythat sort of thing. See if you can't put more slam into it!"
Five minutes later they were back again, greeted by the longdrawn"A--l--t--o--n! _A--L--T--O--N!!_ A--L--T--O--N!!!" from hundreds ofthroats. And, when the Gray-and-Gold-striped players had spread downthe field for the kick-off, there came the sharp, rifle-shot cheer of
A-L-T-O-N! A-L-T-O-N!! A-L-T-O-N!!! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win!
It was nip-and-tuck for the first half of that third period, withneither team making headway and the ball in air half the time.Alton's forward-passes failed whenever tried, for Lorimer had areally brilliant defense against that play. From one thirty-yard lineto another the battle raged, Lorimer making up for Alton's slightsuperiority at punting by a better end attack. Gains through theline were not forthcoming to either team. Lorimer began to use hersubstitutes and Coach Cade followed her example by sending in MartinProctor for Ross. Just before the period ended Gil Tarver gave way toHutchins at quarter-back. There was no scoring and the whistle pipedwith the ball in Alton's hands on her opponent's thirty-eight.
While the referee carried the ball across the center and the playersgathered about the water pails Willard heard his name called and lookeddown the bench to see Mr. Cade beckoning. His heart turned a completesomersault--or seemed to--while he traversed the eight yards and haltedbefore the coach!
"Harmon, you've showed a pretty fair knack of getting away outsidetackles," said Mr. Cade. "Do you think you could manage to do it if youwent in there now?"
Willard was conscious of the players on either side of the coach,could feel their slightly amused glances on him and knew they werewaiting intently for his answer. He felt supremely awkward andembarrassed at that moment. But he had to say something, for Mr. Cade,although he was watching the players assembling again, was awaiting areply.
"I'll try, sir," he managed.
Mr. Cade nodded. "Won't promise, eh?" He looked up then into Willard'sface, and the boy was vastly relieved to see that his eyes weretwinkling. "All right, go ahead," said the coach. "Your right end loomsthe easiest, Harmon. If you can get that left end of theirs to playwide for a forward-pass you ought to be able to get started. Do yourbest, boy," Mr. Cade nodded again, smilingly.
"Left half, sir?" asked Willard, through the folds of his sweater,which simply wouldn't come off.
"Left half," responded the coach.