The ball was spotted on the Apollos’ nineteen. “Thirty-eight,” said Bud in the huddle. “I’ll fake a handoff to Jackie running left. Let’s go.”
The players broke from the huddle and formed at the line of scrimmage. “Down!” shouted Bud. “Twenty-four! Eighteen! Hut! Hut! Hut!”
The snap. Boots blocked Curly Hines and threw himself partly in front of a linebacker who came charging through the line. He stopped Curly cold, but the linebacker recovered his balance, backed away, and then tried to circle around him.
Boots got to his knees and threw himself in front of the man, a perfect block. A smile flickered on the tackle’s face as he saw Duck throwing a block on the Argonaut end and Leo carrying the ball through the wide hole. The fullback raced twelve yards before the safety man pulled him down.
“Nice going, men!” cried Bud. “Boots! Duck! Beautiful blocking, you guys!”
First and ten. “Let’s try it again,” he said in the huddle. “They won’t expect it.”
Whether the Argonauts expected it or not the play worked like a charm, though for nine yards this time.
The Apollos picked up a first down and moved the ball to midfield when the horn blew, announcing the end of the first quarter. The teams exchanged goals. Bud’s first call was thirty-eight again. This time the play worked perfectly. Duck blocked the Argonaut, giving Leo time to squirt through the wide hole, then the fleet-footed halfback raced ahead and blocked the safety man just enough to keep him from getting his hands on Leo, and Leo went all the way. He then kicked the extra point and the Apollos led, 7 to 0.
The Argonauts carried the kickoff back to their thirty-one and Lynn Giles’s first play was a pass to his left end. The end went all the way to the Apollos’ nine where Bud tackled him. Two plays later Lynn threw a pass into the end zone. Smokey caught it to put the Argonauts on the scoreboard. Smokey then kicked the extra point to tie it up. 7 to 7.
During halftime Boots thought about the special delivery letter. Was it from Tom? If not, did it concern him? Boots looked for Mom, Dad, and Gail in the stands, but the crowd was so thick he couldn’t see them.
Two minutes after the third quarter started, Lynn Giles heaved another long spiraling pass to his left end. This time the end went all the way. Smokey kicked for the extra point. It wasn’t good. Argonauts 13, Apollos 7.
Leo returned the kickoff to his twenty-eight. Just as he was hit the ball squirted out of his hands and an Argonaut recovered it.
“What’s wrong with us?” exclaimed Bud. “We start off great, then all at once we fall apart.”
“We’ve just got to play harder,” said Boots. “These Argonauts are up to beat us. Do you see what their best play is?”
“Long passes,” said Duck.
“Right. We stop those and we’ll have them licked.”
Bud nodded. “Jackie, stick closer to that left end. We have to double-team him. He’s good.”
The Argonauts’ first play was an end-around run that got them nowhere. Smokey tried a line buck and got nowhere. Then Lynn faked a handoff to Smokey and faded back to pass. Boots brushed Curly aside, dodged past a linebacker, and went after the quarterback. Lynn seemed to have trouble finding a receiver. He saw Boots charging after him. He tried to get away, but Boots grabbed his jersey, pulled, and then wrapped his arms around the quarterback and nailed him for a heavy loss.
Fourth and twenty-two. The Argonauts went into a punt formation. Lynn waited for the snap from center while Smokey stood back in kicking position. The snap. Lynn got the ball. Then he stood up and shot a quick pass to his left end!
Suddenly a blue and white uniform swooped toward the ball. A pair of hands reached out and grabbed the pass. In the same motion the player started running in the opposite direction. He had an open field. He went all the way. Boots didn’t know what had happened until he heard the fans shouting and saw Jackie Preston touching the football to the ground in the end zone.
Bud shot a quick forward pass for the extra point and it was Argonauts 13, Apollos 14.
In the fourth quarter Boots nailed Lynn again for an eight-yard loss. At another time he caused Lynn to fumble the ball which was recovered by Richie Powell, the right guard.
The Apollos moved ahead like a steamroller. And then Bud faked a handoff to Leo and Leo faded back and threw a long bomb to Duck that nailed the coffin on the Argonauts. Duck went over for the touchdown. Leo’s kick missed, and the score stayed at 20 to 13, Apollos’ favor. The Argonauts had the ball on the Apollos’ twenty-six when the final whistle blew.
“We’re champs!” yelled Duck, jumping around like a clown and throwing his helmet into the air.
Then they all threw their helmets into the air and started to jump and yell and whoop. Bo Higgins and Coach Dekay ran out to the field and praised the boys and then went over to shake hands with the losing coaches.
“Boots, you did great,” said Bud Davis, a broad grin on his sweaty, dirty face.
Boots smiled. “Thanks, Bud. Guess we all did.”
Someone grabbed his arm. “Boots!” cried Gail, her eyes wide as bottle caps. “Come on! We’ve heard from Tom!”
He stared at her. “You — you mean that letter?”
He ran off the field, her hand still clinging to his arm. Mom and Dad were waiting at the sideline, smiling happily. Dad handed him the letter. “Read it,” he said.
Boots’s hand trembled as he held the letter and read:
Dear Mom, Dad, Gail, and Boots,
I’ve been very busy these last couple of weeks, which is why you haven’t heard from me. I was really in the thick of it. But I’m back now and I’m okay, so don’t worry.
I used to get very lonely and discouraged. I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t been for your letters coming to me almost every day.
I am especially grateful to Boots for his letters. I think that we had our own private mutual determination society going between us. I told him to stick with football, and he did. And his letters have helped me to see my way through here, too — as much as yours did, Mom, Dad, and Gail — because I think that both he and I have shared a common experience. Neither one of us enjoyed doing a job we were asked to do. But we did it because it was necessary.
Take care, and don’t stop writing.
Love,
Tom
A sense of relief filled Boots as he handed the letter back to his father.
“Well, we can relax now,” said Dad, smiling. “Tom’s okay.”
Boots nodded. “I suppose that when he comes home he won’t want to wrestle with me anymore,” he said.
Dad chuckled. “Don’t be too sure about that. You’ve come a long way, too, you know.”
| WON | LOST | TIED | |
| Apollos | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Argonauts | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Starbirds | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Flyers | 0 | 5 | 1 |