Page:The secret play (1915).djvu/300

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  • mained much to be accomplished in the remaining

four days of practice before the Springdale contest, but, on the whole, Dick was satisfied with the work of his charges. The attack was not yet as smooth as he wanted it, but on the defense the team had shown up finely, and against a team which, if not powerful, was more than ordinarily versatile and resourceful. Dick's defense against forward passes worked well, and Gordon Merrick at left end and Felker at right covered themselves with glory. Clearfield's own attempts at forward passing were not very successful, but Weston had been coached to guard against such plays and was consequently hard to deceive. The Number 8 Play did, however, catch her napping on two occasions. The school at large went away highly pleased with the showing of their team and predicting rout and disaster for Springdale the following Saturday.

Springdale, too, overwhelmed a weak opponent that afternoon, as Dick learned by stopping at the Square on his way home with Gordon in Eli. In fact, Springdale had scored seven more points than had Clearfield. But, since it was a question whether Springdale's adversary was not an even weaker team than Weston, Dick refused to be troubled.