The Team That Couldn't Lose (2 page)

After dinner Chip went to his room and started on his homework. There was a page of math he had to do, and a short composition
to write. He did the first two math problems all right, then encountered trouble. It wasn’t the math problem. It was a thought
that kept nagging at his mind: Phil Wayne, Mr. Quigley, and the Cayugans. He could see them all at the field without him.
He wondered who was working out at quarterback. Bill Perrett? Luther Otis?

He kept pushing the football thoughts out of his mind. But they kept coming back. He finally finished the math problems, then
started on his composition. That was even worse. He wrote a full page, saw the many words he had scratched out on it, then
crumbled up the paper, threw it into a
wastebasket, and started another. It was almost bedtime when he had finished a composition he was satisfied with.

Thursday at school, the boys wanted to know where he had been last night. “Home,” he said. “I didn’t feel well.” He didn’t
have to tell them the truth, did he?

“Phil Wayne and Mr. Quigley taught us a new play,” said Splash. “It’s real tough.”

“I bet,” said Chip. Real tough. How could Phil Wayne and Mr. Quigley teach them a real tough play when all they knew were
the plays Mr. Kash had taught them?

Now and then throughout the day, the thought of missing football practice popped into Chip’s mind. What did Splash mean when
he said that Phil Wayne and Mr. Quigley were teaching the team a new play? A real tough new play?

It was the longest school day Chip had
lived through in a long time. He was glad when it was over. At home, he came out of his room at a quarter after five, wearing
his football uniform. His mom looked at him with a pleased glint in her eyes. “We’ll hold up supper for you,” she said.

The whole Cayugans team seemed glad to see him. “You oughta see the new play Phil and Mr. Quigley are teaching us,” Chazz
Davis said, excitedly. “It’s great!”

Chip smiled. It sure was good to be at practice, no matter how poor the Cayugans were!

“Chip Chase,” said Phil Wayne, “you weren’t here last evening, so you missed out on our first practice of a new play. Take
your quarterback position. Luther, you just stand aside and keep your ears open. First team, get into positions for Play One.”

The men promptly moved into their positions. Then Phil Wayne explained in detail
the job each man had to do, just as he must have done yesterday. Left end Hans Lodder and left tackle Jim Kolar were to run
ahead and to the right across the field to run interference for the ballcarrier. Left guard Marty Tripp and center Toots Egan
were to block the right linebackers. Right guard Firehose Quigley was to block the left linebacker. Right tackle Chazz Davis
and right end Tracy Tinker had men to block, too.

The other big job was in the backfield. Chip Chase, playing quarterback, would get the pass from center, fake a handoff to
right halfback Gordie Poole, then toss a lateral to Splash Tuttle, who would be running from his left halfback position toward
and then around right end. Fullback Spencer Keel’s job was to take out the defensive end.

They tried the play. They went over it again and again and again. Chip was amazed and pleased. The play was tough, just as
Splash had said. But it looked like a real good one. Chip’s opinion of Phil Wayne slowly began to change.

“We need a strong defense,” Phil told the team. “You boys on the line, bust through. Bring down that ballcarrier. Stop that
pass. Linebackers, watch every play closely. Stop those rushes. Intercept those passes. Knock the ball down if you can’t.
Do your job, and we won’t have to worry about the other team’s piling up touchdowns against us.”

Chip smiled to himself. Those were practically the same words Mr. Kash had spoken to the team. It looked like Phil was trying
his best to imitate Mr. Kash in being a good coach.

So the team practiced hard on defense. And they practiced the new play, Play One.

Some of the players forgot which man they had to block. Phil and Mr. Quigley explained carefully again to them.

“It’s a hard play,” Chip said wonderingly. “Do you think we could do it in a game?”

“You’re darn right you can,” said Phil confidently. “All we have to do is work at it.”

“No play is too tough if you keep working at it, Chip,” added Mr. Quigley.

They sure sound like real coaches, thought Chip. He shrugged and went to his quarterback spot. They worked the play over and
over again, and the team pulled it off better each time.

Occasionally they worked a simple play Mr. Kash had taught them, too. And they worked hard on improving their defense. But
it was Play One that Coach Phil Wayne and Mr. Quigley concentrated on.

“Maybe Phil was holding out on us,” Chip said to Splash as they walked away from the park after practice. “Maybe he really
knows more about football than we thought he did.”

“I don’t know,” said Splash, shaking his head. “I can’t figure Phil out at all.” Then he looked at Chip and asked, “Where
were you last night, Chip? I mean, really?”

Chip had been expecting that question. “I felt all right,” he said. “I wanted to quit football. But I changed my mind.”

A
t two o’clock Saturday, the Stingrays, dressed in green-and-white uniforms, kicked off to the Cayugans, who were dressed in
bright red-and-blue uniforms. The sun shone pale behind puffy white clouds, and a breeze was blowing, just enough to make
playing comfortable.

The safety caught the boot and carried it up the field to the thirty-five. In the huddle, Chip called a play. The guys broke
out and lined up at the line of scrimmage.

“Down!” Chip shouted. “One! Two! Hip!”

Chip caught the snap from the center, then handed it off to Spence, who charged with it through the line. He was hit on the
thirty-six.

“A measly one-yard gain,” Spence complained in the huddle. “Let me run it again, Chip.”

“Okay. Firehose, Chazz, open up that hole for him.”

They opened up a hole, and Spence went through for five yards. Then Chip tried a pass. It failed. Then they kicked. The Stingrays
caught the punt on their ten and got as far as their twenty-two. They started to move the ball down the field. It appeared
to be a move that couldn’t be stopped.

It couldn’t. The Stingrays bucked across for a touchdown and converted for a 7-0 lead.

In the second quarter, the Cayugans
managed to get to the Stingrays’ twenty-yard line, the closest to the goal they’d been since the game had started.

Chip looked anxiously toward the sideline at Coach Phil Wayne. What was Phil waiting for? Why didn’t he send in that play?
Maybe he was waiting to pull it on the second down. Or the third.

Chip called for a line buck with Bill Perrett carrying the ball. Bill was a short, husky guy substituting for Spencer Keel.
He lost a yard on the play and looked sick as he scrambled up from the bottom of the pile. Chip looked toward the sideline
again. But Phil still wasn’t sending in the play.

Chip tried a short pass. It was high. Tracy Tinker reached for it. It bounced off his hands and into the arms of a Stingray
player! The Stingray buzzed off down the field and didn’t stop until he had crossed the goal line.

Another touchdown! Chip gritted his teeth and shook his head.

The kick to convert was slightly to the right, leaving the score 13-0.

The Stingrays kicked off. The Cayugans caught the ball and carried it back to the twenty-eight before getting tackled. The
Cayugans managed to get two first downs by the skin of their teeth. Both times the linesmen had to run onto the field with
their chain and measure. And both times the nose of the ball just crossed the line by a couple of inches.

Chip started to name a play in the huddle when a sub burst in. “Hold it!” he said. “Phil wants Play One!”

Chip stared at him, then smiled with relief. “About time!” he said. “Okay, men! Let’s go!”

There wasn’t much time left on the clock. The ball was on the Stingrays’ thirty-two
yard line. The Cayugans hustled into position, Chip called signals, and the ball was snapped.

The play went off like a charm. Chip faked to Gordie, then tossed a lateral to Splash Tuttle. Splash circled around right
end and went all the way.

The Cayugans’ fans went crazy. They leaped and shouted, hardly believing what they’d seen. Spence booted for the extra point.
It was good. 13-7.

In the third quarter, the Stingrays got hot again. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t been cold at all. They rolled across the
white ten-yard stripes slowly and sometimes swiftly. They were on the Cayugans’ four-yard line when something happened. A
fumble! The Cayugan safety scooped up the loose ball and dashed down the field to the Cayugans’ twenty-four before he was
tackled.

The Cayugans couldn’t do much with it,
however. The ball was soon back in the Stingrays’ possession. They had moved it down the field and gotten it to the Cayugans’
nine when the third quarter ended.

The Stingrays’ first play in the fourth was a pass. It worked beautifully — for the Cayugans, who intercepted it and bolted
down the field to their thirty-eight. While the fans roared, the offense ran onto the field. Chip looked toward the sideline.

The play, Phil!
he pleaded silently.
Send in the play!

Phil was looking and pacing back and forth at the same time, as if wondering whether this was the time to send in the play
or not. He didn’t send it in.

Chip tried a run through right tackle and gained two yards. Luther Otis, another backfield sub, bucked for two more. And then
in came a sub, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Firehose, take off!” he cried breathlessly. And to Chip, “Play One!”

Chip’s heart soared. “About time!” he said. But what if it didn’t work this time? They just might have been lucky that first
time.

They pulled the play, and it worked
again!
Splash went all the way for a touchdown. Once more the Cayugans’ fans went crazy! The Cayugans themselves jumped all over
the place and slapped each other on the shoulders, taking so much time that the ref blew his whistle and reminded them that
the game wasn’t over yet.

The kick was good, and the Cayugans went into the lead 14-13.

Somehow the Cayugans kept the Stingrays from putting across another touchdown, managing to win the game they had been so sure
they were going to lose. When the team walked off the field, Phil Wayne was so pleased that he shook the hand of
every member on the team. “Great game!” he kept saying. “Great game!”

Chip shook his hand, turned, and almost ran smack into Danny Livermore.

“Gosh, that was a great game, wasn’t, it, Chip?” Danny asked. “You really worked that new play! But I knew you’d be able to
do it!” Danny clutched his notebook tightly and nodded, a wide grin on his face.

Chip was so happy that he couldn’t help grinning back. “Yeah, we did okay today,” he replied. “Thanks to that play of Phil’s,
that is. But can he come up with any more like that one?”

Danny’s smile widened. “Oh, I’m sure he can. He’s a great guy. Just like you, Chip!”

A
t Monday night’s practice, Phil appeared more nervous than usual. Chip could hardly believe that the victory over the Stingrays
could have affected the coach so much.

“Boys,” Phil said, and cleared his throat. “Boys, I’ve got a new play we’re going to start practicing this evening.”

“A new one?” Chip’s sun-browned face lit up. “A new play, Coach?”

“That’s right. A new play.” Phil cleared his throat again and looked at the notebook in his hand. “We’re going to call it
Play Two.”

Chip frowned. “What about Play One, Coach? Are we going over that, too?”

Phil’s blue eyes roved over to Chip. “We’re going to forget Play One for a while, Chip,” he said. “We’re just going to concentrate
on Play Two. Er . . . now, let’s see. Get into position, boys. First team on offense, second team on defense. Help them out,
will you, Mr. Quigley?”

Twenty-one players scrambled into position, then stood and looked at their head coach as he studied the notebook in his hand.

“This play isn’t too hard to do,” Phil promised. “If we work it right, it could get us out of a tough spot. Okay, listen:
Toots snaps the ball to Chip. Chip fakes a handoff to Spence, and Spence runs toward the right side of the line, pretending
he has the ball. At the same time, Splash runs toward the
right side, too. Chip laterals the ball to him. Then Chip turns and runs toward the left sideline. Splash throws him a pass
on the flat. That’s all there is to it.” He smiled. “Well, maybe there is a
little
bit more to it. We’ve got to have blocking, too. Hans, you run down the field straight at the defensive right halfback, and
then cut right toward the center of the field. Marty, you pull out from left guard and block the right linebacker. Toots .
. .”

One by one Phil explained to each player what he had to do. Then he repeated everything he’d said. The team worked on the
play. Chip found that his job was easy.

They worked the play until everyone knew exactly what to do. Chip noticed Danny Livermore watching Phil Wayne with glowing
eyes and a proud smile on his face. He sure admired Phil. Chip half hoped that Danny
would start following Phil around instead of him.

The Cayugans practiced the play every day that week except Friday, their rest day.

On Saturday they tangled with the Duckbills, who had won the week before, beating the Black Elks. There were only four teams
in the league: the Cayugans, the Stingrays, the Duckbills, and the Black Elks.

All week long, the kids in school had seemed positive that the Duckbills would trim the Cayugans. The Duckbills had a clever
quarterback, Nick Savino, and a tough fullback, Joe Bloom.

But what really tilted their opinion in favor of the Duckbills was the Cayugans themselves. They were just lucky to have beaten
the Stingrays, the crowd figured. Except for those two plays, the Cayugans had looked
pretty lousy throughout the whole game. It was a good thing they had pulled off those plays at the right time, or they would
have been skunked.