Win, or Else

by Jim Andersen

CHAPTER 7

  Another Surprise

  “I think the trouble is that you pamper your backs too much.” Mr. Andrews was being needled by his assistant. “Now, if I was coaching those backs, I’d make them work like the line does. Then they wouldn’t get hurt.”

  The coaches had been watching the film of the game and had stopped at the place where Dick had been injured.

  Coach had called the doctor at noon Saturday. The report was not good. “It’s in a cast already,” the doctor told him. “Three breaks about six inches above the ankle, both bones snapped. We’re lucky they didn’t need traction. Clean breaks, they should heal all right.”

  “That’s no help to us this year,” the coach said.

  “Unless you want to use him as he is, they can’t hurt it any more, now,” teased the doctor.

  “He’ll be all right, won’t he?”

  “Oh, I think he’ll be as good as new next year.”

  “Thanks, doctor.”

  “Next year,” repeated the coach as he relayed the news to his football co-worker, “but where does that leave us now?”

  Joe Blaine would be moved to the quarterback position. Torkle would now be the relief quarterback. Maybe he would be moved in to take the first team job but Blaine would get first chance to prove his worth.

  Jerry Kenowski would play fullback and, if needed, Bikes could also play that position.

  “That takes care of all but halfback,” said Andrews. “Our weakest spot is still the unpredictable Smitty. I wish we could find someone to put in his place.”

  “How about trying Tony?” asked Mr. Miller. “Coach Williams is very high on him, you know. He did very well in the ‘B’ game last week.”

  “I’ve talked to Coach Williams about him. He thinks he is ready. I wonder how he would fit in with the seniors. Perhaps he would make Smitty work harder.” These were the thoughtful comments of the coach.

  “Oh, I think the others would accept him,” added Mr. Miller, especially if he could remember what to do. Those kids aren’t dumb. They know what Smitty is doing to them.”

  Thus, it was decided by the coaches to give Tony a chance with the varsity.

  Tony Roanowski was a sophomore. Last year he had tried out for football but since he weighed only 130 pounds, no one took him seriously. He remained out for the season but didn’t get into a game. As Mr. Andrews recalled the previous season, he couldn’t even remember the boy playing in a scrimmage.

  This year he wasn’t much heavier or taller, but he was back to try again. He would have been dropped from the squad early, except for the fact that he had done so well in track last spring that they decided to give him a tryout.

  In the one “B” squad game he had played, he looked great. He couldn’t do much more than run, but he could certainly do that well when he found running room.

  Tony was the son of a factory worker who had recently moved to Foxville from a tough section of another city. His life had been rough. The effect was to harden the little boy both physically and mentally. He was a rough little scrapper with muscles hard as nails.

  When he came out to practice with the varsity, the larger and older boys began teasing him about his size. He did look little when Tiny Small and Ken Whisk caught him between them. Most of the boys thought this must be some sort of a joke the coach was pulling on them.

  Guts, who hadn’t seen the little boy before, asked Cain, “Where did that kid come from? Is he the new mascot or is he gonna play with this outfit?”

  Cain remembered the early season drills when Tony worked out with the varsity and – thinking of his own lack of size – decided to have some fun with the center. He told Guts that this boy won the conference 100 yard dash championship last year. He told how he could pivot, dodge, sidestep and even flip over a would-be-tackler.

  “Is he really that good?” asked Guts of Whisk, who had joined Cain and Guts by this time.

  “Oh yeah, one time I tried to tackle him, and he ran right between my legs. He’s a great football player for his size,” added Whisk.

  Guts didn’t quite swallow all that he had heard, but when he saw Tony lead the whole team in their laps, he started to wonder about the other things they told him, too.

  Tony gave the coaches reason to smile in the drills they held that evening. Coach called it “Burma Road” because he said it’s rough on everyone in it. Five linemen stood in a line about ten yards behind each other. The backs tried to run through the tacklers one at a time.

  In the drill Tony demonstrated his open field running ability. He showed the big boys how well he could side step them when they tried to tackle him. His stiff-arm was almost comical but quite successful. When he put out his hand, he hardly moved the bigger boy, but he used his arm like a pole vaulter uses a pole. Of course, he was not as good as Cain had told Guts, but he did impress the teammates.

  After a good introduction to Tony by way of the drill, the team was divided up for more individual practice. The line worked on the sled and dummies, while the backs began again from the beginning with two new backfield members.

  The eagerness to learn was very helpful to the new men in the lineup. They spent most of Monday’s practice time re-learning the plays and introducing Tony to the wing or slot formation. Work on timing of plays required going over and over the same plays time after time.

  When the team split up for practice Tuesday evening, Coach Andrews told his backs, “I think your timing was good enough for us to go to the next part of the series. We would like to use part of it this week against Wilton. If it works, then next week we can add some more for our game at Doorland.

  “In this formation we ‘set’ both wing halfbacks. This will make the defense spread out to cover us. We can pass from this formation and have four receivers out quickly.

  “This is mainly for our running plays, though. We want to get a man-in-motion so we’ll line up this way and put either halfback in motion. We snap the ball when the moving man gets back to his regular position; then, we are ready to run any of our regular plays. The best play from this formation will be our sweep. The ‘fly-man’, as we sometimes call him, is already running when he gets the ball so he has a running start on the defense. All he has to do, then, is turn on the steam.”

  For the next half hour the backs practiced this formation and the plays they could run from it. Tony worked well with the others, but Smitty had trouble with his timing. In two days Tony already looked better than Smitty did.

  Later in the practice the line was called back to join the rest of the team. Before working together, the backs ran through the new plays to show the lineman what was happening behind them. Tony “set” a yard back and a yard outside of the end. On the count, he turned and ran into the backfield.

  “This is our fly man,” explained the coach, “See how he starts before the ball is centered, so when he gets the ball, he is already on the run. This gives him a running start on the opponent.”

  “Did you say he was a fly man?” asked Ken Whisk.

  “He looks more like a flea man,” answered Tiny Small.

  “That’s what he is. A flea flicker,” said Captain Cain.

  Thus whatever it meant, or wherever it came from, the man-in-motion was called the “flea-flicker” from then on. Coach Andrews tried to be proper and call it the “man-in-motion from the double-winged-T”, but soon even he was calling it the “Flea-flicker”.

  In a scrimmage against the second team, the play worked very well. If practice was any indication of what one could expect on Friday, Wilton would have their hands full with that play.

  Wilton Junction was only ten miles from Foxville. The school was located in the town, but most of their students came from the surrounding country. Wilton Union High School District brought students from about fifteen small grade schools in the area.

  Unfortunately for their football record, few of the boys could stay after school to practice; the rest ha
d farm chores to do. Most of those who did turn out to play football had never played before.

  They had a good coach who managed to field a team which usually had a good line but weak backfield. Their record over the last three years was poor in the win-loss column. This year looked like it would be another bad season for them. They had already lost three games, and lost them all by lopsided scores.

  When the Wilton “Wildcats” came out of their dressing room to do their warm-up drills, they certainly did not look as though they expected to lose this game. They showed a lot of spirit in their pre-game drills. Their coach had been building them up by telling them of the troubles the “Foxes” had had rebuilding their backfield. He was certain that the Foxville team couldn’t find a third quarterback.

  Wilton, the league’s smallest school, probably had the most loyal fans. The students followed their team in large numbers. When the game began, the visitor’s side seemed to have as many spectators as the hometown side had.

  The visiting fans didn’t have long to wait before they found reason to cheer. On the opening kick-off the “Wildcats” surprised the “Foxes” with a deceptive play never expected from them.

  Wilton’s deep back took the ball just ahead of the ten yard line, near to the right sideline. He immediately ran toward the opposite sideline. The defense began to swing over to the left side to catch him. His own teammate, defending the left sideline, ran toward the ball carrier. When the two Wilton backs passed each other, the ball carrier slipped the ball to the other back but kept running toward the sideline where he turned to go toward the goal line. It was then that the Foxville team swarmed all over him.

  Meanwhile, his teammate who had the ball had run to the other sideline. Jay Roberts, the defensive end, was so completely fooled that he sidestepped the man with the ball because he thought he was a blocker. (At least that was the excuse he gave later.)

  When Roberts missed the man with the ball, there was no one else in his way. The rest of the “Foxes” had been fooled, too, so the ball carrier rambled all the way to the goal line. The visitors were now leading and their fans made the most of their chance to cheer for their team. With a successful point after touchdown kick, the scoreboard showed “Visitors 7 – Foxville 0”.

  Tony did not start the game. This was his first game, and the coach told him to watch for the first few series of plays. Joe was putting his team through their paces on the field trying to find some weaknesses in the defense. Coach had told him to hold the man-in-motion plays until the second half, but the other plays were working well.

  Late in the first quarter with the score unchanged, Coach Andres sent Tony into the game. Tony anxiously put on his helmet and started onto the field to join the team. About 20 feet from the sideline, Tony thought he heard someone call his name. Without stopping, he turned his head to see who called. His legs became entangled and Tony went headlong into the grass.

  An embarrassed, little football player picked himself up from the ground, made an attempt to brush the dirt from his white uniform and then joined his teammates. Laughter was heard from both sides of the field. Not only for the nose dive, but when he did join his team he looked so small. He looked like a runt standing next to the larger boys in the huddle.

  Once on the field, Tony gave a good account of himself. He carried the ball several times on the drive to the first touchdown for the “Foxes”. The rest of the team seemed to put a little extra effort into their blocks for Tony. His size gave him another advantage; he was so short he could run behind the line and hardly be detected by the defense.

  Climaxing the drive toward their first touchdown, the “Foxes” opened a good hole between Tiny Small and Don Lake. From the sixteen yard line, Tony popped through the opening, sidestepped one tackler, and pivoted past another with his stiff arm vault to free himself; then, running the few remaining yards, he scored a touchdown.

  A big smile covered his face as Tony left the field to take his place back on the bench. He had scored the touchdown; but more than that he had turned the derisive laughter at him to cheering for him. Even the opponents gave a polite clap for the little boy who looked so small but did so well.

  Stan Klingmeier went on the field to do the place kicking. For all the good he did, he might as well have stayed on the bench. Joe fumbled the snap from center. Stan stood in his tracks waiting for a chance to kick the ball. Joe tried to pick it up but couldn’t even do that as the defenders piled on him.

  The scoreboard still showed that the “Wildcats” led by a score of 7 to 6 when the whistle sounded ending the first half.

  After checking his team for injuries, Coach Andrews went over defensive and offensive problems with the individual players. Then to the whole team he said, “This half we’ll use the ‘double-winged-T with the man-in-motion’ “. He turned toward Cain and said, “That’s the ‘Flea Flicker’ “.

  “Good,” replied Cain, “that’ll fool ‘em good. They need a good surprise to get even.”

  “They certainly fooled you on that kickoff,” responded the coach.

  “Coach, I still can’t see how he got that ball. I thought he was going to block me so I got out of his way. I never did see the ball,” Jay explained.

  “You weren’t the only one fooled on that play. Don’t let them pull it on you again, though. Remember the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!”

  “What does that mean?” asked Smitty.

  “It just means don’t be a sucker twice on the same trick.

  “I don’t think I will,” boasted Jay. “I’ll knock him down if he’s got the ball or not.”

  “Run the end sweeps from the ‘Flea Flicker’, Joe,” instructed the coach. “With their cornerbacks inside the end that play should go often. Call them at least on every third play. That play must work well before we try the next part of the series.”

  In the third quarter the “Foxes” enjoyed their best period of the young season. With the tight line and packed defense, Wilton was not able to slow down the outside plays for Foxville. When they changed the defense to cover the sweeps, Joe called some plays through the line for sizeable gains.

  It only took four plays to score the first touchdown. Joe called a sweep left, then one to the right and followed with another to the right. The climax of the series was a 30 yard run on a left end sweep by Tony for the second score. The wingback knocked down the end. The guard, fullback and quarterback all led the blocking for the ball carrier. Tony ran like a frightened rabbit but there was no one chasing him. He was in the open and heading for his second touchdown of the game.

  When he crossed the goal line, he handed the ball to the ref and headed toward his bench. His job was done for that series. Stan Klingmeier came in to replace him and try to add the extra point. This time the attempt was successful and the “Foxes” took the lead 13 to 7.

  Wilton tried their hand-off on the kickoff play again but without success, as both backs were dumped. The “Wildcats” had not yet been tamed. When they started to move, they made three first downs before giving up the ball.

  Guts hit one of the backs so hard that he fumbled the ball. When Tony came into the game, Guts met him saying, “There you are Kid. We got you the ball. See if you know what to do with it.”

  “Just gimme the ball, I’ll show ya,” replied Tony.

  Tony proved his word two plays later. Joe called for a reverse. On this play the fullback faked into the line. Then the halfback faked an off-tackle drive to the right. Finally, Joe gave the ball to Tony who went laterally behind the line to the left. He was small to begin with, and when he ran hunched over the ball, it was extremely difficult for the defense to see him.

  The fakes were carried out well and the defense played to stop them; all of the defensive men, that is, except the end that played his position properly and waited for a possible reverse. But even he had “buck fever” when he realized that the li
ttle fellow coming toward him had the ball.

  When Tony saw the end waiting, he put his right foot toward the line, nodding his head in that direction, also. The fake worked well; the end thought Tony was going to cut in, so he moved to stop him. Instead Tony cut to the outside sidestepping the end. Safely past the end, there was no one left to stop him as he scampered almost 60 yards for his third touchdown.

  The Foxville fans went wild showing their approval of the new back. Visiting fans, who were tickled to see the little fellow score his first touchdown, now were sickened by his third. It ceased to be funny when their team was humbled by such a little boy.

  Stan, once again, split the uprights with his kick, putting the home team into a commanding lead of 20 to 7.

  Tony didn’t go back into the game when the “Foxes” took the ball again. Smitty went back to his old position and played it for the remainder of the game.

  This act by the coach was logical from his viewpoint; he wanted to keep the score down and also give Smitty an opportunity to try the man-in-motion plays. The crowd didn’t like the idea of Tony on the sidelines. They had waited years for a chance to pour it on to some team and didn’t want to be held back.

  “We want Tony - - we want Tony - - we want Tony,” chanted the fans in the stands.

  “Can I go in, Coach?” asked the little back.

  “Not now,” said the coach, a little irritated.

  The rest of the game was played in Wilton territory. The punch seemed to be gone as Coach Andrews substituted freely to give some of the other boys an opportunity to play. Foxville’s team was near the goal line twice but couldn’t push it in.

  “We want Tony - - we want Tony,” again chanted the fans, trying to tell the coach to put him in again. Though they weren’t talking to him directly, Coach Andrews heard the chant. It angered him because he felt the other boys were entitled to play too.

  “Tony,” called the coach.

  “Yeah, Coach,” said the back running to Mr. Andrews’ side. The fans changed their chant to cheers anticipating his re-entry into the game. “You want me to go in now?”

  “No, not into the game, maybe you had better go up to the people in the stands. They want you,” Andrews said.

  “Are ya kiddin’ me?” asked Tony.

  When the whistle ended the game, the “Wildcat” coach walked across the field to congratulate Mr. Andrews.

  “Nice game your kids played,” the Wilton coach started. “Say, where did you get that little halfback? He really surprised us.”

  He surprised us too.” Mr. Andrews replied. “You don’t know how much of a surprise he was.”