Touchdown for Tommy by Matt Christopher Page A

Fourteen! Thirty-six! Forty-two!”
    Tommy sped forward. He knocked his opponent down and raced down the field. He looked back and saw David throw the ball. The
     pigskin spiraled through the air, wobbling just a little.
    Tommy reached out. The ball hit his fingers then bounced to the ground!
    “Yes! Incomplete pass!” a player on the other team shouted.
    Another player picked up the ball and returned it to the scrimmage line.
    “I’m sorry, David,” said Tommy. “I should’ve caught that.”
    David waved his hand. “Forget it, Tommy. That was a tough one to catch.” When Tommy was closer, David said, “Mr. Powell may
     stop by later on, you know.”
    Tommy shrugged. “Oh, yeah?”
    “Mr. Powell’s our coach,” David continued. “He sure knows his stuff. We play in the Midget League. Be nice if you could play.”
    Tommy stared. “Do you think he’d let me on the team?”
    “Sure, he would,” replied David. “Ask him.”
    “I will. Maybe, if I can play real good —” Tommy paused. All the boys looked at him. Most of them had unfriendly looks on
     their faces.
    Tommy knew they didn’t like him much. He had scrimmaged against them before. They had said he was a dirty player. He played
     too rough.
    But that was the way he always played. He didn’t know any other way.

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    D avid’s team tried another pass. It was intercepted. The opponents gained eight yards on line plunges, then lost the ball on
     a fumble.
    First down, ten to go. David tried a run through right tackle, but failed to gain.
    Again the teams crouched ready at the line of scrimmage. David called signals.
    “Six! Thirteen! Twenty-two!”
    The ball shot up from the center. David caught it and dashed toward the right end. A tackle broke through the line, reaching
     for David. David twisted and kept running.
    He swept around the right end, crossed the scrimmage line, and gained six yards before he was brought down.
    “Third down and four to go,” David said in the huddle. “Dick, you carry the ball this time. Swing behind me and run around
     the left end. Tommy, make sure you take out your man.”
    “Okay,” said Tommy.
    David called signals. The ball came from the center to David. He ran toward the right side of the line, then suddenly handed
     the ball to Dick Mizner. Dick tucked it under his arm and raced toward the left end.
    Tommy blocked out his man. But a halfback broke through and tackled Dick for a one-yard loss.
    “Last down,” David said. “I’ll punt.”
    The team lined up in punt formation. David stood far back as he called signals.Then the ball sailed into David’s hands. He kicked. The pigskin wobbled through the air toward the out-of-bounds line. The
     whole team ran hard down the field in the direction of the ball.
    A player on the other team caught the ball. He ran forward with it. Tommy rushed up like the wind beside him. The player tried
     to stiff-arm him, but Tommy ducked his head and rammed his shoulder into the boy’s body. At the same time, he wrapped his
     arms around the boy’s legs. The boy went down. He hit the grass hard. Tommy hung on like a snapping turtle and rolled over
     with the boy.
    “Okay! Let him go!” a voice shouted. “You gonna hang on to him forever?”
    Tommy lifted himself off the boy. He saw the ball roll a short distance away. A player picked it up and brought it to the
     spot whereTommy had made the tackle. The boy Tommy had tackled rose to his feet. He limped around a little, and David asked worriedly,
     “You hurt, Jim?”
    “No. I’ll be all right.”
    Jim walked around a little more, and the limp disappeared.
    “Tommy, you play too dirty,” Jerry Main said gruffly. “Listen, David, I’m not going to play if he plays.”
    “Neither am I,” said Ted Norton. “You’d think he was playing with some pro team.”
    Tommy’s chin dropped. He looked aside at David Warren, met David’s eyes. Dirty? What was dirty about tackling a guy? You had
     to tackle him so that he went