CHAPTER XXI
Plunging Through
"Gee, but that's tough!" muttered Garry Grayson, as he sat on the side lines muffled in his blanket and looking at the score just marked up for Bass Lake.
"The team surely misses Walker and Minter," grumbled Nick.
"Right you are," agreed Ted Dillingham. "If Rankin hadn't made that fumble, we'd have scored, sure. And if Bellows had made the right kind of a tackle, he could have downed Bartlett."
"Stop your grouching and look at that!" cried Rooster Long excitedly. "Go it, old boy, go it!"
The yell was directed at Dittler, who had made a superb leap in the air and intercepted a forward pass. Now he was legging it down the field like a jack rabbit, aided by splendid interference on the part of Knapp and Wynn. Bartlett made a dive for Dittler, but the latter straight-armed him and, dodging Ashley on the other side, made a touchdown. Wynn kicked the goal and the score was tied!
The Lenox rooters made the welkin ring, and the subs on the sidelines performed an Indian snake dance.
"That, Abe, is something else again!" chortled Garry. "What a pair of legs that boy has!"
"He didn't run, he flew," exulted Rooster. "It would have taken an airplane to catch him."
Neither side scored in the remaining minutes of play, and when the teams trotted off to the clubhouse for the rest between halves honors were even.
Coach Garwin had been doing some hard thinking during that second quarter. He knew that there were two weak spots in his team that needed to be plugged, center and right halfback. In addition to the faults that the boys on the side lines had noted, he had detected others that they had failed to see.
Rankin at center had been too inaccurate in passing and too slow in charging. Moreover, he was excited, and several times had lost his head at critical moments.
Bellows at halfback had lacked speed in getting down field under a punt in the second or third wave. Also he hesitated at times when he should have been off like a shot.
"No, they won't do. Not in this game, at least. They are short on practice," decided the coach.
He looked over the bunch of subs. There was big Bill Sherwood, a bit heavier than Rankin and experienced in playing center. He would take a chance on him.
For right halfback he hesitated for a moment between Garry Grayson and Rooster Long. He had more confidence in the former, and had the game been at a critical stage would have chosen him. But it was a tie, with two quarters yet to play. Besides, he wanted to see how Rooster would bear himself in a regular league game. Garry had already proved himself. Rooster was an unknown quantity. He would try him, anyway, and if he failed to make good, there was Garry ready to jump into the breach.
So he called on Bill and Rooster to go in at center and right half respectively, and they galloped joyously into the fray.
In that third quarter they justified Al Garwin's choice. They were fresh, ambitious, eager. Here was the chance for which they had hardly dared to hope, and now that they had it they were determined to make the most of it.
Bill snapped the ball accurately and was like a bull on the charge and on defense. Rooster's nimble feet made him a great ground gainer. The rest of the team, feeling that the weak places had been plugged, took on a new lease of life.
Steadily, against fierce opposition, they advanced down the field until they were within eighteen yards of the Bass Lake goal. Then, on a delayed pass that bewildered their opponents for a moment, Rooster got the ball and skirted the left end for a touchdown.
A burst of frenzied cheering from the Lenox rooters greeted the feat.
"That's going some!"
"Oh, you Rooster!"
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Knapp missed kicking the goal by the merest fraction of an inch, and the score was 13 to 7 in favor of Lenox.
But the Bass Lake boys were far from beaten, and before the period closed they had evened the score and more, for an unfortunate fumble by Payne enabled Ellis to scoop up the ball on the run and make a splendid run of twenty-two yards that carried him over the Lenox goal line. The try for goal was successful, and Bass Lake was ahead by the scant margin of one point, and the period ended with that score unchanged.
"Not so good," muttered Garry, who had been in the seventh heaven of delight when Rooster had made his touchdown.
"Only one point ahead, but that means an awful lot at this stage of the game," mourned Nick Danter.
After a brief minute of rest the opposing warriors were at it again. For a time it looked as though neither team could gain. The ball passed from one side to the other repeatedly, and most of the time remained near the middle of the field.
Then it seemed as though Lenox's hopes had indeed gone, for Wynn was so badly knocked out in a collision with Bartlett that time had to be called while he was assisted off the field.
"That's curtains for us," muttered Ted.
"And only six minutes left to play!" moaned Nick.
"Get in there, Grayson," called the coach.
Off went Garry's blanket, and he sped out into the field.
A strange feeling came over the lad as he took Wynn's place. He was at quarterback, his old position, the one in which he had led the Hill Street school to the championship. The position fitted him like a glove.
The confidence he showed in every move put new life into the Lenox team. Bill at center was passing the ball to him, and they worked together like the two blades of a shears.
Lenox had the ball, and Rooster plunged through for four yards. Knapp was good for two more. Dittler was thrown for no gain, but on the fourth down Garry himself went through for four, just making the distance.
Now Lenox was within thirty yards of the enemy's goal. But the Bass Lake boys had braced grimly and desperately. Knapp made but one yard on the first down. Dittler gained three more, but on the next try he was halted in his tracks.
The time was growing perilously short. With six yards to go on the fourth down against the stiffened resistance of the foe, Garry took a desperate chance.
Bill snapped the ball to him. Garry dropped back and kicked.
The ball sped toward the Bass Lake goal twenty-eight yards away. At first it looked as though it might go under the bar. But it rose as it progressed and just cleared the bar.
A field goal! Three points! Before the ball could again be put into play the referee's whistle blew and the game was over with Lenox two points to the good!