Yardley     Broadwood
Vinton, l. e.     r. e., Bishop
Coke, l. t.     r. t., Booth
Hadlock, l. g.     r. g., Haines
Fogg, c.     c., Johnson
Merriwell, r. g.     l. g., Mills
Little, r. t.     l. t., Weldon
Dickenson, r. e.     l. e., Corry
Loring, q. b.     q. b., Dowling
Roeder, l. h. b.     r. h. b., Reid
Dyer, r. h. b.     l. h. b., Ayres
Eisner, f. b.     f. b., Rhodes

Coke, the Yardley left tackle, sent the ball spinning from the tee on a long, low kick to Broadwood’s two-yard line, where Reid, the Green’s right half, ran it back past three white lines before he was stopped. The Broadwood full back went through Merriwell for a clean five yards, to the joy of the Broadwood supporters, but on the[123] next play Roeder threw Reid for a loss and Weldon was forced to kick. Dan received the ball on Broadwood’s forty-three yards. Roeder failed to gain through center and Alf punted to Reid, who fumbled, Dan recovering the ball on the twenty-eight-yard line.

Yardley shouted blissfully, for with the pigskin within the shadow of Broadwood’s goal and in possession of the Blue a touchdown looked imminent. And after the next play it looked a good deal more so, for Roeder was driven through right tackle eighteen yards, eluding the secondary defense and being pulled and hauled along in a way that brought the Yardley supporters in the stand to their feet. Yardley cheerers demanded a touchdown with wild, exultant voices as the two teams faced each other on the nine-yard line. But Broadwood steadied down and Roeder and Tom between them only made four yards. On the next play Loring tried a forward pass to Little, but the latter failed to reach it and the ball bounded over for a touchback. Broadwood murmured its relief.

Weldon, Broadwood’s left tackle, punted out from the twenty-yard line to Eisner, Yardley’s full back, who made a dozen yards before he was tackled. Tom made five through right tackle,[124] Dan failed to gain and Roeder missed first down by two yards. The ball went to Broadwood on her forty yards. Broadwood was twice thrown for a loss and punted again, Dan receiving the ball on his forty-four-yard line. He was downed in his tracks by Bishop. Tom and Roeder made eight yards and Alf punted to Reid, who again fumbled to Dickenson, on the Green’s thirty-three yards. On the next play Roeder was thrown for a two-yard loss and Yardley was set still farther back for off side. With the ball on the Green’s forty yards Alf tried an on-side kick which went to Reid for a fair catch on his twenty-five yards. Ayres made five yards around Dan’s end and Rhodes went through center for four more. With one to gain Weldon punted to Dan who caught the ball on his forty-yard line. On the subsequent play Fogg was caught holding and Yardley was set back fifteen yards. Tom made up the distance on a skin-tackle play and then plugged center for nine more, and Yardley cheers arose deafeningly. It was first down almost in the center of the field. Alf worked a pretty forward pass to Coke, which was just long enough to give Yardley first down again, and then Roeder made three yards at left tackle and Dan recovered Alf’s fumble on Broadwood’s forty-five-yard line. Alf[125] punted outside to Dowling, and after the ball had been brought in at the twenty-five-yard line the Green hammered the Yardley line without much gain, and Weldon returned the ball to Dan in the middle of the gridiron. Eisner punted over the head of the Broadwood quarter and the ball rolled over the line for the second touchback of the game.

From the twenty-yard line Weldon again punted and Dan misjudged the kick and fumbled. Alf, however, was on hand and got the ball before the Broadwood end reached him, tearing off five yards before he was brought down. After that for a while the ball went back and forth between the twenty-five-yard lines until, near the end of the period, Broadwood made two on-side kicks successfully and for the first time in the game had the ball in her possession inside Yardley territory. It was well inside, too, for after the recovery of that second on-side kick by Johnson, the Broadwood center, the pigskin rested on Yardley’s eighteen yards. For almost the first time Broadwood had good and sufficient reason for rejoicing, and rejoice she did. The green flags waved wildly and along the side of the field the local enthusiasts capered and shouted. Rhodes made a scant three yards at Little and on a second[126] attempt was thrown for a loss. Captain Mills and his quarter back held a consultation and then Weldon was called back and everyone knew that Broadwood was about to try a goal from field. Weldon placed himself on the twenty-seven-yard line and held his hands out, the ball went back to him on a good pass and he tried a drop kick. But the ball fell short and Dan pulled it down and was not caught until he had wormed and fought his way back to the twenty-eight yards. Yardley yelled its triumph and derision and a depressed stillness encompassed the Broadwood ranks.

Five minutes later, after Alf had punted to Broadwood’s thirty-nine yards and Dowling’s on-side kick had been recovered by Dan, Yardley set to work and ripped things wide open. There was a blocked punt luckily recovered by Alf, and Payson sent Sommers in in place of Eisner. Sommers was an erratic player, with plenty of strength and football knowledge when it pleased him to show them. He showed both to-day, in the remaining five minutes of the half, for on his first two plunges directly through the center of the Broadwood line he netted fifteen yards and made it first down. Mills was hurt in the second of the rushes and the play was held up for the full two minutes[127] while he recovered. When he got to his feet again Yardley cheered him loudly. From the thirty-seven-yard line Tom went forward for five yards, Roeder took four more and Tom secured first down on Broadwood’s twenty-three yards. Yardley was imploring a field goal, but after a moment’s hesitation Alf decided that a touchdown was what was needed and to that end attempted a forward pass. But again Little failed and Broadwood got the pigskin eight yards from her goal line. And at that moment time was called for the first half.

“There’s nothing to it but Yardley!” cried Gerald as he and Arthur made their way back to the automobile to rejoin Mr. Pennimore. “We put it all over them!”

“Yes, but we had two chances to score and missed them both,” objected Arthur.

“Well, Broadwood had one chance and didn’t do any better,” replied Gerald. “Besides, the play was in her territory all the time except when they worked those two on-side kicks; and that was more luck than anything else!”

“I don’t know. The play was pretty even.”

“Why, Broadwood didn’t make a single first down on rushing!” Gerald scoffed. “And we made at least four.”

[128]

“Just the same Broadwood will come back hard in the next half. I wish we had managed to score.”

“So do I, but I’ll bet you we’ll just make rings around them in the next half. Isn’t Alf playing a dandy game?”

“Great! I never saw him run the team as smoothly, and he’s keeping old Broadwood guessing all the time with the plays he’s using. Broadwood is sticking to old-fashioned football pretty well; more than she did last year; and if she loses it will be only because the two lines are too nearly even for her to win on line bucking. And Dan’s doing great work too. He missed only one punt, and that was a tough one to handle. His backfield work is fine. And I don’t think the Broadwood backs got around his end more than once, either.”

“It doesn’t seem to me that Mills is showing up much,” said Gerald.

“Well, it’s hard to tell. Sommers got by him twice that I know of and Tom didn’t have much trouble with the center of their line. But it’s hard to judge of a linesman’s work unless you’re right on the field there.”

“I suppose it is. Hello, dad! Isn’t it great?”

“Fine,” responded Mr. Pennimore, puffing[129] complacently on his cigar. “Looks as though we’d win, doesn’t it, son?”

“Yes, sir. We’re going to tie strings to them the next half. Wasn’t Dan fine?”

“He was, indeed. And I thought Tom seemed to get............