The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-11-16

of them start exactly alike, ex- cept that the off-tackle-"
 'Rightl" Bill grinned, and turned hack to Buck, we can roll 'em for you, Buck"
 Buck Mentor hesitated a mo- ment, then his jaw set, "okay, Bill, get ready. I'm gong to gamble lot on you fellows"
 Eleven eager scrubs hlgn- stepped along the sidelines, warm ing up. Buck called time. An en- tire new team trotted across the field to report to the referee. A hush of astonishment gripped the stands as, one by one, the varsity returned to the bench.
 And then. as the situation became clear, a roar burst the silence. Bill, however. was deaf to it, dumb to everything but the hard turf under his feet - striped with white lines which he must somehow cross.
 He checked the downs and yard age. It was second with five to go. Bill gathered his team in a huddle.
 Look, fellows, we've got to jolt 'em fast. They've been playing their secondary in close to stpo running attack. Now we'll give 'em that passing play we learned"
 Bill took the pass from center, started to slice off-tackle. Ex- pecting a running play, the East defense was sucked to the right. Vests left end cut far over; the right end blocked out the deten- sive halfback.
 Bill was almost to the line of scrimmage when. he veered of and heaved the pass. Running diagonally, the end gathered it in and scooted along the sidelines. He was thrown out of bounds on East's 40-yard line.
 A 30-yard gain! The West stands roared into life. The cheerleaders hurled their magaphones heaven ward and attempted to fly after them.
 Bill called the tackle play, and the ball went to the tailback. The end darted out as if for an- other pass. Bill, running ahead of the ball carrier. cut down the defensive left halfback and the play rolled for 10.
 First down on East's 30-yard line. The third play began exact- ly the same as the previous one. This time, however, the tailback slipped the ball to Bill. The wing back and the end blocked out the defensive tackle. The East end broke in on him, but Bill swiveled away. He got up to the 15-yard stripe and was brought down.
 Now Bill saw his advantage. The East boys were temporarily demoralized by the abrupt switch in strategy. He sliced the wing back off-tackle and picked up five more. Speed counted now. Give 'em no chance to get organized.
 West snapped from the huddle into formation, and a sweep around end carried to the five.
 "Once more!" Bill gritted, wip- ing sweat from his face. Push 'em back into the goalposts!"
 They rammed into the center of the line. Bill was buried. He got to his feet deafened by the roar of blood in his head. Then he realized that the noise wasn't in his head; it was the crowd yelling. They had gone overl
 The scrubs were putting on a wild war dance, but for Bin there was no time to feel triumph. He felt sud- denly alone in the midst of bedlam, facing the biggest problem of his whole life. Who should try for the all important point after touch down? Not one of the scrubs was a dependable kicker
 Bills mind snapped to a de- cision. He must risk pass, and he must do the job himself. He lined his team up, parked signals. The ball came back. Players charged him from every angle. He retreated, side-stepped until hazily he saw his target in the end zone. Bill heaved the ball. A dozen hands seemed to reach up to bat it down. Then the end leaped high and clutched it.
 West, 2; East, 6.
 Vests section was crimson boil of madness.
 But now, Bill knew, the lead must be defended. East received and began to roll. Time after time Laurie cut through tn scrubs ragged defense. Desperately Bill tried to rally them, but they lacked the experience to cope with such an attack.
 Clear to Vests 20-yard line the East boys drove, and only the end of the third quarter held up their march. Buck Mentor acted promptly. Totting across the field came the varsity of West-1l stalwart warriors, rested and eager to fight back the invaders.
 Bill sank down on the bench, almost sobbing. Buck threw his arms around the boy and hugged him. Fellow, you were wonder