Читать книгу Fourth Down! онлайн

49 страница из 56

“Center? Well, there’s Galvin and that tow-headed chap over there, Coach. And Creel. Creel’s got the build, all right. Want to try him?”

“Yes. And Burnett and Hodgson for guards. And—what’s your name, you chap?”

“Thorson, sir.”

“Well, Thorson, you take left tackle on B. I want another tackle now. Who wants to play tackle? All right, I’ll take you: the fellow in the green sweater. Now, a couple of ends, Harris. Yes, they’ll do. Burns at quarter. Come on, Burns! And Folwell and——”

“Nelson’s played half, Mr. Burtis,” suggested Grover Beech.

“I want him on A Team. Who else is there? Fosdick? All right. And that fellow down there, whatever his name is, for full-back. All right, get out there, fellows! You referee, Harris, please. I’ll be ump. I want all the rest of you chaps to follow the play closely and learn all you can. We’ll play two ten-minute periods, Harris. Team A takes the ball and north goal. Now then, let’s see what you fellows know about the game!”

At first it didn’t seem that they knew very much, for signals went wrong, fumble followed fumble and the players became occasionally so inextricably mixed up that scrimmage had to be halted while they were disentangled. But Coach Burtis, alternately umpire and critic, was possessed of a vast patience, and toward the last of the first ten minutes things went better. Team A worked down to the opponent’s twelve yards and would have scored if the line had held. But a B Team tackle trickled through and laid White on his back before he was well started on a wide run, and after that Frick, quarter-back on the attacking side, missed a try-at-goal by many yards.