On the following day Hopkinson met its second defeat, at the hands of English High. It was a hard-fought contest, and the better team won. English High set a hot pace at the start, and played a steady, snappy game throughout, while Hopkinson was decidedly sleepy at times. Hopkinson scored first. A kick was blocked, and Hallowell picked up the ball and scored. Then English High made two touch-downs and goals in short order. In the second half, a third touch-down was added, from which a goal was kicked. They were all made by plunges through the centre, although English High's strongest play was around their right end. For the last fifteen minutes Hopkinson tried desperately to score again, but the English High's line was too strong, and although Hopkinson forced the playing, and played in the High-School's territory, they came no nearer than the fifteen-yard line.
For English High, Wittemore played the most brilliant game. His long rushes around Hopkinson's left were responsible for the victory more than anything else. He is, by a big margin, the best back of the year. Eaton, at guard, was the best man in the line. He did some brilliant work carrying the ball, and on defense he was impregnable. For Hopkinson, Carleton and Hallowell seemed to be the whole defense. Carleton stopped Whittemore in a clear field time after time, when he had cleared the end. Hallowell is playing end in a way that has not been seen for years. He is absolutely sure to head off any play coming his way, and he follows the ball in a most aggressive manner. Martin at right tackle was Hopkinson's surest ground-gainer, running from his position with great effect.
English High expected that the game with Cambridge High and Latin would be the hardest game of the year. Instead, it was the easiest. Cambridge played a loose, discouraging game throughout. Only once did they brace up. Then they took the ball half the length of the field on four rushes, only to lose it on a fumble. English High scored two touch-downs in the first five minutes, and two more in the last five. No goals were kicked. Cambridge did not threaten their opponents' goal once. Parker's punting and the fine defense of Saul, Warren, and Beardsell kept the score down to sixteen points. Saul did the best tackling of the year. His passing and interference were as near perfection as one could wish for. Warren was the most valuable man in the line. He had opposite him, Eaton, English High's best guard; it was a hard struggle, but Warren's experience told. He prevented Eaton from running with the ball from his position (English High's surest play) by giving him a hard push just as he started. For English High, Whittemore showed a fine game in running and dodging. He marred his reputation, however, by missing four easy goals. Murphy, at end, showed up better than before. Calahan and Eaton were impassable; and Purtell is developing into the best tackle of the League. Sherlock, at quarter, passed and ran his team well, but he seems to think that on the defense his only duty is to punch the other fellows' heads.
Boston Latin scored a victory over Cambridge Manual Thursday, November 14th. Although they won by the small score of 6-0, they pushed Cambridge all over the field, outplaying them everywhere. The umpire alone prevented a large score. The game was thoroughly clean—a marked contrast to the last game of Boston Latin. They won because they played harder, faster, and surer football than Cambridge. Their defense was again their strongest point, but their offense was much better than before. The best work for them was done by Maguire. Both in rushing and tackling he was the star of the game. The trick of hurdling an opponent bent to tackle him he has learnt to perfection. He captains his team in the most sportsmanlike manner. The Boston centre held extremely well, and almost no gains were made there. For Cambridge, White did the best work in carrying the ball, and Marshall at end played a reliable game. On the whole, however, Cambridge played a loose, discouraging game. Her defense was erratic, and her offense, though at times brilliant, and productive of a few long gains, was generally unsteady. The men played and acted as though they were badly overworked. As a team they lacked the spirit and energy that characterized them last year.
Boston Latin had hard luck in their game with Hopkinson, Thursday. They outplayed their opponents throughout, except in variety of plays. They were beaten by the small score of 6-2, after having fairly earned a touch-down, which was not allowed by the referee. They kept the ball in Hopkinson's territory by far the greater part of the time, and Hopkinson never once threatened their goal. Hopkinson scored from the centre of the field, on a lucky break of Martin through a hole made by Jaynes. This was in the middle of the second half. After it, Boston took a wonderful brace, and had the ball inside of Hopkinson's thirty-yard line until the end. They forced it to Hopkinson's one-yard line, but lost it there for holding. Hopkinson tried to kick on the first down, but was prevented, and was given ten yards for off-side play. Then Bartlett kicked weakly, and Boston worked the ball down again to the one-yard line. On the last play of the game they forced it over. Hallowell snatched it away from the Boston man after he had called down. Most officials would have ruled that a touch-down, but the referee declared it a safety for Hopkinson. Just how it was a safety is hard to see, as the impetus that sent the ball over the line was given by Boston.
Hopkinson's best work was done by Captain Heard. He played quarter-back, and filled the position much better than he has filled his old place at end. He backed up his centre in fine style, and ran his team better than any team has been run this year. But he left his end very weak. It was there that Boston made their surest gains. Besides Heard, Martin did invaluable work for Hopkinson. He not only played his position acceptably, but his running with the ball was Hopkinson's surest play. Hallowell at end was again impassable. The watchful, earnest game he plays is bound to earn him a place on the Harvard 'Varsity some day. Maguire played Boston's best game, though he lost two good chances of scoring in the first half by miserable fumbles. But his work for the rest of the game was faultless. Daly played a good game at quarter, and Teevens at full-back made steady gains through the centre. Boston's interference got started more quickly than it ever did before, and the whole team played with more vim.
Boston Latin surprised the other schools by defeating Brookline on the 21st. The score was 6-0. Boston played its best game of the season, and Brookline its poorest. It was Brookline's first game for two weeks, and in consequence they played carelessly and loosely, only getting together in the last few minutes. Brookline's centre was lighter than Boston's, and it was there that Boston made its steadiest gains. Brookline's ends were very strong. Only once in a while did Boston force them for any distance. On the offense, Cook, Aechtler, and Seaver did the most effective work. Aechtler runs hard and low, and is a most difficult man to stop. Seaver ran from his position for repeated gains. For once, Boston Latin got together and started in to win when the game began. It has been a favorite trick of theirs to wait until the game was lost before showing any good offense work. But they beat Brookline in the first five minutes by the aggressiveness they showed. They realized that they might yet win the championship, for the game they lost to Cambridge has been given to Boston on a protest.
Underwood. Schoenhut. White. Flavel. Pearson. Miles. Tomison.
Patton. Brockie. Reany. Hurst. Hamilton.
Lear. McCarty. Wiseman (Capt.). Perkins. Newhall.
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY FOOTBALL TEAM.
Champions of the Inter-Academic League of Philadelphia, 1895.
The championship of the Inter-Academic League of Philadelphia was decided at Stenton a week ago Friday. As an exhibition of football the game was a poor performance, although at times the players gathered themselves together and showed signs of having been coached at some time during the fall in the science of the game. I had been led to expect better things of Penn Charter and Germantown, and was disappointed in the slow and at times bungling way that they went about their business. I feel confident now that if the proposed match between Penn Charter and Berkeley is played on Saturday, the New-Yorkers ought to win easily, and ought to score from 20 to 30 points. Berkeley will line up and be half-way down the field before Penn Charter knows the ball is in play. I have seldom seen such slow lining up, and such centre-labor to get the leather started. In this respect the two teams were about equally bad, but once the ball was started Germantown followed it closer, more strongly, and with better system than the Philadelphia's did.