Left Guard Gilbert

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER XIII

  SOUTHBY YIELDS

  THE game with Southby Academy that week was played away from home. As ageneral thing Southby was not a formidable opponent and last year'scontest had resulted in a 17 to 3 win for Brimfield. But this FallSouthby had been piling up larger scores against her opponents and herstock had risen. Consequently Brimfield, being deprived of Tom Hall'sservices at right guard and of Rollins's at full-back, journeyed offthat morning more than a little doubtful of the result of the comingconflict. Most of the school went along, since Southby was easilyreached by trolley and at a small outlay for fares, and Brimfield waspretty well deserted by one o'clock. Out of some one hundred and eightystudents a scant forty remained behind, and of that two-score we canguess who nine were!

  The game started with Edwards at left end for Brimfield, Thayer at lefttackle, Gilbert at left guard, Peters at centre, Pryme at right guard,Sturges at right tackle, Holt at right end, Carmine at quarter, St.Clair at left half, Otis at right half and Martin at full-back. Lateron, toward the end of the second quarter, Thursby went in at centre, andin the fourth period several substitutes had their chances, amongst themHarry Walton.

  Walton had begun to realise that he was playing a losing game. SincePryme had been shifted back to the right side of the line Don Gilberthad come more than ever to the fore and Harry had spent a deal more timewith the substitute squad in practice and on the bench during scrimmagethan he approved of. Harry had a very special reason for wanting to winthat left guard position and to play in it during the Claflin game, andthis afternoon, sitting on the side line with a dozen other blanketedsubstitutes and enviously watching Don in the coveted place, his brainevolved a plan that promised so well that by the time the second periodhad started he was looking almost cheerful. And that is saying a gooddeal, since Harry Walton's countenance very seldom expressed cheer.

  Southby showed her mettle within five minutes of the kick-off, when,getting the ball on a fumble on her forty-five yard line, she tore offthirty-three yards on a complicated double-pass play and then, rippedanother down from the astonished adversary. On the Maroon-and-Grey'snine yards, however, her advance was halted, and after two downs hadresulted in a loss, she sent her kicker back and placed a neat drop overthe cross-bars, scoring three points before the stop-watch had tickedoff six minutes of playing time.

  That score was apparently just what Brimfield needed to bring her to hersenses, for the rest of the period was marked by brilliant defensivework on her part, followed toward the end of the twelve minutes by someequally good attacks. When the teams changed places Brimfield had thepigskin on Southby's thirty-eight yards with four to go on third down. Aforward pass, Carmine to St. Clair, produced three of the required fourand Martin slipped through between left guard and tackle for the rest.After that ten well-selected plays took the ball to the sixteen yards.But there Southby rallied, and Steve Edwards, dropping back as if tokick, tore off five more around the left end. A touchdown seemedimminent now, and the hundred or so Brimfield rooters shouted andcheered madly enough. But two plunges at the right of the Southby linewere stopped for scant gain and, with Martin back, a forward pass toHolt missed that youth and fell plump into the hands of a Southby end,and it was Southby's ball on her eight yards when the dust of battlehad cleared away.

  That was Brimfield's last chance to score in that half and when thewhistle sounded Southby had the pigskin once more in her adversary'sterritory.

  So far the teams had proved evenly matched in all departments, with apossible slight superiority in punting belonging to the visitors. St.Clair and Martin divided the punting between them and together theymanaged to outmatch the efforts of the Southby kicker. In the line bothteams were excellent on defence, and both showed similar weakness inattack. In Tom Hall's place Pryme had worked hard and had, on the whole,done all that was expected of him. But he wasn't Tom Hall, and no amountof coaching would make him Tom's equal that Fall. Pryme lacked twofactors: weight and, more especially, experience. Southby had made somegood gains through him in the first half and would have made more hadnot Peters and Sturges helped him valiantly. As to the backfields, adisinterested spectator would have liked the Brimfield players a bit thebetter, less perhaps for what they actually accomplished that day thanfor what they promised. Even with Rollins out, the Maroon-and-Grey backsshowed a fine and consistent solidarity that was lacking in theopponents. Coach Robey was a believer in team-play as opposed to theexploitation of stars, while Southby, with a remarkable half-back in theperson of a blonde-haired youth named Elliston, had built her backfieldabout one man. As a consequence, when Elliston was smothered, as wasfrequently the case, since Southby's opponents naturally played for himall the time, the play was stopped. Today Captain Edwards had displayedan almost uncanny ability to "get" Elliston when the play was in hisdirection, and so far the blonde-haired star had failed to distinguishhimself save in that one thirty-three-yard gambol at the beginning ofthe contest. What might happen later was problematical, but so farBrimfield had solved Elliston fairly well.

  A guard seldom has an opportunity to pose in the limelight, and so youare not to hear that Don pulled off any brilliant feats that afternoon.What he did do was to very thoroughly vindicate Mr. Robey's selection ofhim for Gafferty's position by giving an excellent impersonation of aconcrete block on defence and by doing rather better than he had everdone before when his side had the ball. Don had actually speeded upconsiderably, much as Tim had assured him he could, and while he wasstill by no means the snappiest man in the line, nor was ever likely tobe, he was seldom far behind his fellows. For that matter the whole lineof forwards was still much slower than Mr. Robey wanted them at thattime of year, and Don showed up not badly in comparison. After all, whatis needed in a guard is, first and foremost, fighting spirit, and Donhad that. If he was a bit slower to sense a play, a little later ingetting into it, at least when he did start he started hard and tackledhard and always played it safe. In the old days when a guard had onlyhis small territory between centre and tackle to cover, Don would havebeen an ideal player for the position, but now, when a guard's dutiesare to free-lance, so to speak, from one end of the line to the otherand to get into the play no matter where it comes, Don's qualificationswere more limited. A guard in these amazing times is "soldier and sailortoo," and Don, who liked to deal with one idea at a time, found it a bitconfusing to have to grapple with a half-dozen!

  Brimfield returned to the battle at the beginning of the second halfhighly resolved to take no more fooling from her opponent. Fortuneordered it that the south goal should fall to her portion and that afaint but dependable breeze should spring up between the halves. Thatbreeze changed Coach Robey's plans, and the team went on withinstructions to kick its way to within scoring distance and then batterthrough the line at any cost. And so the spectators were treated to avery pretty punting exhibition by both teams, for, wisely or unwisely,Southby accepted the challenge and punted almost as often as heradversary. That third period supplied many thrills but no scoring, foralthough Brimfield did manage to get the ball on Southby'stwenty-five-yard line when a back fumbled, the advantage ended there.Two rushes failed, a forward pass grounded and when St. Clair tried toskirt his own left end he was pulled down just short of his distance andSouthby soon punted out of danger.

  When time was called both teams made several substitutions. Don yieldedhis place to Harry Walton, Crewe went in at right tackle and McPhee tookCarmine's position at quarter. With the advantage of the wind no longerhers, Brimfield abandoned the kicking game and used her backfield forall it was worth. From the middle of the field to Southby's thirty yardsshe went without much difficulty, St. Clair, Martin and Tim Otiscarrying the ball for short but consistent gains. But at the thirtySouthby braced and captured the pigskin on downs by a matter of inches.It was then that Elliston repeated. Following two attempts at Pryme'sposition, which yielded a scant four yards, Elliston got away aroundSteve Edwards's end and, with some good interference for the first tenor twelve yar
ds, passed the whole field except McPhee and was onlybrought down by that player after he had run to Brimfield's twenty-sixyards.

  Southby's adherents cheered wildly and demanded a touchdown, and itlooked for awhile as though their team was to give them what they askedfor. Southby twice poked a back through the centre of themaroon-and-grey line and then tore off ten yards around Clint Thayer,Steve Edwards being put wholly out of the play. Then, however, Brimfielddug her cleats and held the enemy, giving a very heartening exhibitionof stubborn defence, and again Southby decided that half a loaf wasbetter than none and tried a field-goal. She ought never to have got it,for the left side of her line was torn to ribbons by the desperatedefenders. But she did, nevertheless, the ball in some miraculous mannerslipping through the upstretched hands and leaping bodies and justtopping the bar.

  Those three added points seemed to spell defeat for Brimfield, and manyof her supporters in the stand conceded the victory to Southby then andthere. But the team refused to view the matter in that light and cameback fighting hard. With only some seven minutes of the twelve left,McPhee opened the line when Southby had finally been forced to punt fromher twelve yards and St. Clair had caught on his forty-five, and starteda series of direct-pass plays that, coming as they did on the heels ofan afternoon of close-formation plays, confused the enemy until the ballhad been planted near her thirty-five yards. Brimfield foughtdesperately then, closing her line again and sending Edwards off on anend-around run that took the pigskin eight yards nearer the last whitemark.

  It was then that St. Clair really showed what was in him. Four times hetook the ball and four times he plunged, squirming, fighting, throughthe Southby centre and, with the Brimfield shouts cheering him on, putthe leather down at last on Southby's eighteen. Otis got three off lefttackle and McPhee tried the same end for no gain. Martin went back and,faking a kick, threw forward to Edwards, who romped to the nine yardsbefore he was smothered. It was fourth down then, with less than a yardto go, and St. Clair was called on. A delayed-pass did the business andSouthby was digging her toes into her seven yards. Martin slid off righttackle for two, bringing the ball nearly in front of goal, and thedefenders again fell back.

  Carmine was sent in again for McPhee and Lawton took Pryme's place.Carmine evidently brought instructions, for Captain Edwards fell back tokicking position after the conference, and the ball was passed to him.But with only five to go and three downs to do it in a drop-kick was notlikely, especially as three points would still leave Brimfield beaten,and so Southby disregarded the bluff. But if a kick was out of thequestion a forward pass was not, and it was a forward pass that Southbyset herself for. And so, with her ends drawn out and her backs spread,the touchdown came easily. For Steve faked a throw to the right, whereHolt apparently waited, and then dashed straight ahead, the ball againsthis ribs, his head down and his feet flying, struck the hastily-formedmassing of Southby's centre like a battering ram and literally tore hisway through until, when he was at last pulled down, he was five yardsover the line!

  Since Brimfield needed that goal badly, Rollins, in spite of bandages,was sent in for Martin, and, when Carmine had canted the ball to hisliking, very calmly put it squarely between the uprights above the bar.

  The remaining minute and a half of play brought no results and Brimfieldtrotted off victor by the narrow margin of one point, while heradherents flowed across the field cheering and flaunting their bannersin triumph.