As for the team-play in general, there is room for improvement at the present writing, but I feel sure good work along that line will be done during the last few days previous to the 14th. In the recent game with Pennington Seminary, one of Lawrenceville's oldest and greatest rivals, Lawrenceville won by 40-0, but only four points were made in the first half. During this time the school team was kept continually on the defensive. Pennington's players, of course, are much older men, and at the start-off showed superior strength. In the second half, however, the Lawrenceville players put up an exceedingly fast game, virtually using up their opponents. Pennington had the ball but once during the half. This kind of work is the best kind of proof of the excellent system of training which prevails at this New Jersey school, and which this Department has on more than one occasion commented upon.
At Andover the team-play of the eleven has been perhaps more fully developed than at Lawrenceville, and the P.A. eleven has had the advantage of playing against a set of stronger teams, as an average, than the Jersey men. The scores up to the first of the month show Andover's record, in nine games played, to be 86 points to her opponents 74, whereas last year at the same date the scores were, Andover, 184; opponents, 113, in eleven games played.
One of the best games Andover has played this season was that against her old Worcester rival, the Academy, in which P.A. came out on top by the small margin of 4-0. Throughout the match both sides played a straight, old-fashioned game, and attempted few trick plays. It was football all the way through, and upon it Andover won. The visitors found early in the game that it was practically useless to attempt to buck the Academy centre for any substantial gains, and so devoted most of their attention to close end plays, going generally just outside the tackle. The Academy ends did practically nothing in the way of tackling, and each time a gain was made it was on an end play, aided by good interference. The Academy players, on the other hand, found they could make good holes in the centre of the line, and through them made a number of gains. Occasionally they would get around the ends, but it was through brilliant individual work rather than by good interference.
The touch-down was made in the second half. Worcester had forced the ball down to Andover's 25-yard line, and there lost it on a fumble. P.A. then took a big brace, and put snap into their play. They worked the ends almost entirely, and always for at least a four-yard gain, and thus finally scored, Barker placing the ball behind the Academy goal-line, but in a bad position. A kick-out was attempted, and the ball fairly caught, but the angle was a difficult one, and Barker failed, by a narrow margin, to kick a goal. No further scoring was done by either side.
It is unfortunate that the opening of the Connecticut High-School F.B.A.'s season should have been characterized by anything but good football and a spirit of fair play, and it is still more unfortunate that sensational reports of the slight misunderstanding which occurred should have been printed broadcast in the newspapers. Both elevens played a strong game, and everything would undoubtedly have passed off to the satisfaction of all concerned if Referee Hall had been more capable than he showed himself on the field. The score was 22-12 in favor of Hartford, but a general opinion prevails in both camps that Hartford's actual winning score was 24-18.
The decision by the referee which caused the greatest dissatisfaction was one which gave Hartford twenty-five yards for alleged foul tackling by a New Britain player. This put the ball right under New Britain's goal, with only three yards for Hartford to gain—and they gained it. There is considerable doubt as to whether under even the strictest interpretation of the rules there was any foul tackling; and so the decision created a feeling of dissatisfaction and uncertainty which did not improve the manners of the players on either side. Hartford played good football, however, and deserved the victory. Their work was snappy from the beginning, and the visiting players took advantage of their superior weight to rip holes in their opponent's line. The backs seemed to tower above the New Britainites, but Luce was depended upon for most of the runs around the end. Occasionally New Britain braced and outplayed her rivals, at one time especially when Hartford had the ball within six inches of the New Britain line, and was forced to surrender it on four downs.
The National Interscholastic Athletic Association question will come up for discussion again before the New York I.S.A.A. at its meeting this afternoon, and I hope next week to be able to announce to the readers of this Department in distant cities that definite steps have at last been taken toward the formation of such an organization. I learn from various sources that the lack of enterprise in the matter thus far displayed has been due to a feeling that the scheme might prove too great for schoolboys to handle. I can't see this myself, and I feel confident the objection will not hold water when it comes to be tested. Schoolboys of to-day are just as capable of running an organization similar to the Intercollegiate Association as college men are, and the best way for them to insure success is to have confidence in themselves and go ahead. Don't proceed without first looking where you are to step; but the step having once been decided upon, go ahead, and don't be afraid of your legs!
The provision in the constitution of the Inter-Academic League of Philadelphia which restricts membership in the organization to schools located within a radius of ten miles from the city shuts out a good many institutions that take a prominent position in scholastic sport. The Hill School of Pottstown is one of these, and the Swarthmore Grammar-School is another. The latter is only about a mile beyond the prohibitory limit, and seeks most of its rivals among the schools of the League. The school is a new one, and has only been in athletics for three or four years, but the showing made in that time has been excellent. I hope the school will join other institutions in the State, and form another league that will be bound to rival the I.A.L. in importance.
The Swarthmore Grammar-School eleven this year, although light, is the best the school has ever put into the field, and in October the team earned three victories in four contests. They first defeated the Moorestown Friend's School, 30-0, and in the next game they succumbed to Penn Charter, 30-6. The Penn Charter team is the strongest of any in the I.A.L., and will no doubt secure the championship this year. The players are heavier and more experienced in the science of the game, and the showing of the Grammar-School players against them may therefore be considered creditable. Brownfield, S.G.-S. played a good game at full-back, and saved several touch-downs by his hard tackling. Smith, at half, is a new man, but is learning fast; and Waring, at left end, showed up well for a player of his weight.
The third game was played against the Haverford College Grammar-School, also a member of the I.A.L., and it proved a hot contest on the latter's field. The Haverford team was considerably heavier, but Swarthmore played hard. In the second half the ball was in Haverford territory most of the time. Once, when the ball was within four yards of their line, Brownfield tried twice for goals, but failed both times by narrow margins. The score was 6-4 in favor of the visitors, both sides scoring in the first half. Brownfield again showed himself by far the best player on the team, and he will be an acquisition to the Swarthmore College eleven when he enters next year. The fourth game was the defeat of the Abingdon Friend's School at Jenkintown by 22-0. The S.G.-S. full-back in this match kicked two goals from the field, one of them from the 35-yard line. Trainer, the left tackle, scored the first touch-down, after a run of 80 yards. There are still a number of games on the S.G.-S. schedule, and the end of the season ought to show the school as holding an enviable position in athletics.