The "Exonian" then goes on to say that the students at Exeter now realize that their predecessors allowed their excitement and rivalry to carry them too far, and it asserts that it may be that the three years in which the two great schools have stood apart may not have been without their usefulness. It is to be hoped that this is true, and it is to be hoped that both Exeter and Andover will go into the new contests with a firm determination to respect not only the letter of the law of amateur sport, but likewise the spirit.
The game with Exeter, however, will not be Andover's last match of the year. They play Lawrenceville day after to-morrow. Although at the present writing the Lawrenceville team is not so strong as it was last year at this time, it is probable that with the coming days of practice, and the games with outsiders that are to be played in the meantime, the men will improve very materially. Dana's work at centre has improved considerably of late, but much of this is due to the assistance he gets from Richards and Cadwalader. There is still room for progress in his method of snapping the ball back. Another weak position is that of full-back, where Kafer is weak on catching punts.
Some of the schools of the Cook County League are still keeping up their great game of "protest." Their capacity for this sort of thing has become so great that the Chicago newspapers have even commented upon it. It would seem as if almost every team that loses a game immediately protests, with the result that most of the League matches have to be repeated. Next to protesting, the Cook County football teams seem to be ablest at forfeiting. On November 1 Northwest Division failed to meet its obligations toward Hyde Park. Northwest Division has little to be proud of in its football record this year. It has not won a game in the High-School League, and it does not seem likely that it will if it continues to forfeit.
Because a football team is weak is no excuse for not fulfilling its agreement to play another team—an obligation which it assumed when it became a member of the League. The Oak Park team is a weak eleven, but it won a victory nevertheless when it met the West Division eleven. Oak Park started in boldly and scored, and her players were so surprised at this success that they kept right on, and closed the game with a score of 32-0.
But this same game afforded an excellent illustration of the disease of "protest" which is afflicting Cook County just at present. At one point of the play, just as Hyman of Oak Park was being forced over the goal-line for a touch-down, he lost the ball, which rolled twenty feet away from him. Holdrich and Brown both made long dives for the ball, and both, falling upon it at about the same moment, claimed the leather. The referee decided in favor of Holdrich of Oak Park, and immediately the captain of the West Division team made great objections, and said that he would protest the game. Fortunately, however, better judgment prevailed later in the afternoon, and this particular game was, after all, not protested. But some of the Cook County League games have been carried before the Executive Committee on smaller grounds than these.
A close and interesting match was that between North Division and Manual Training, which resulted in favor of Manual, 6-0. For the first time in any of the League games this fall there was not a single dispute of any kind during the entire game. That is undoubtedly the principal reason why the players put up such an excellent game of football. Men cannot play football and quarrel among themselves at the same time, and, consequently, when they are weak enough to allow their tempers to get the better of them, the sport invariably suffers. Manual Training was superior in line-bucking, and made most of its games in that way.
In the game between Englewood and Evanston the former was victorious, 12-0. Evanston forced the ball to within two or three yards of Englewood's goal twice, but lost the leather on a fumble the first time, and on downs the second time. Excepting perhaps Teetzel, the two elevens were very evenly matched. Prather had the better of Fowler, and occasionally made a hole through his position. Englewood's tackles, Ryden and Prentiss, were weak at times, and allowed several gains to be made through them.
The game between Hyde Park and Oak Park, resulting in a victory of 16-0 to the former, was of no particular interest, as the sport was marred by disputes between the players and the umpire over slugging. There must be something radically wrong with the officials of the Cook County League. Fully half the games played so far have been marred, in some way or another, by misunderstandings between the players and the field officers.
BERKELEY'S FOUR BACKS.
Pell, Bien, Rice, Wiley.