There is such a great number of school football teams in and about Boston, that it is impossible, of course, to include them all in one association. Even the original I.S.F.B.A. has found it necessary to divide itself into a Senior and a Junior League, so great was its membership. And so, as rapidly as new teams crop up and find there is no room for them in existing associations, they will form new organizations themselves, and eventually, no doubt, the great scholastic games of the year will be between the winning elevens of different associations, just as the principal scholastic football game hereabouts is that between the teams representing the New York I.S.F.B.A. and the Long Island I.S.F.B.A.
The Suburban High-School League is second in importance, in the neighborhood of Boston, only to the old association made up of the Boston and Cambridge schools. It is only a year old, but it is in a thriving condition, the principal schools of its membership being the Medford, Malden, Melrose, and Winchester High-Schools. The championship last year, the first of the League's existence, was won by Malden H.-S., whose team defeated Medford H.-S., 10-0, in the final game of the season. This fall the Suburban League teams will start playing their championship games on November 2d, when Medford and Winchester meet at Medford, and Malden and Melrose come together at Melrose. The two winning teams will decide the championship on the 9th.
The Malden H.-S. team is in better condition at this early date than any of its rivals in the League. Captain Flanders, who has been a member of the team for three years, is putting his men through a course of training that is developing all there is in them. He is a capable player himself, having held almost every position on the team. In his first year he was used in the rush line, and finally occupied one end. The next year he went in at right half-back, and this season he will play full-back. He is a strong runner, and is better at half than anywhere else; although at full he will probably do a good deal of running with the ball, and play close up as a sort of third half-back most of the time. Swain at left guard has also played three years on the team. He is the heaviest man in the aggregation, and there is no better man in the League at breaking through or making holes. Priest will leave end and go to right half-back, and Atwood will be taken from the line, too, to go in as Priest's partner. Both men will require considerable coaching, but Atwood is a fast sprinter, and ought to turn out well in his new position.
The Medford H.-S. team is made up mostly of new men, but it is full of good material. Captain McPherson has had experience on the team for two years, and will have good control over his men, his position being at quarter. But he has a hard row to hoe, and will deserve no end of credit if he moulds all this awkward and green energy into a team of players by November 2d. At Melrose the prospects are but little better. The new men are light, and most of them are inexperienced, only two ever having played on school teams before. These two, Harris and Libby, will no doubt take care of the ends, as they seem best fitted for those positions. If necessary, Libby can go in at quarter. The material back of the line is unusually light, even for a school team. Bemis, however, is a hard runner, and tackles well, and will no doubt be the regular full-back. The other candidates are a little slow in their work, and are much in need of vigorous coaching. They could well spend an hour of every morning in passing and falling on the ball.
There is good material at Winchester, although only three of last year's eleven are again in school. The lack of old players, however, is amply compensated for by the enthusiasm of the new, and I shall expect to see Winchester well up toward the top of the ladder at the end of the season. Ordway, the Captain and full-back, has played on the team two years, and is a good man to give the ball to. He gets around the ends in good style, and is not afraid of bucking the centre. Thus far the candidates are playing well together, although they are a little slow at breaking up interference, and sometimes fail to follow the ball as closely as they should. In a word, their aggressive play is better than their defensive work. The latter should receive attention.
Andover's play in the recent game against Boston College was quick and snappy, and of a kind that may well give Lawrenceville some anxiety. P. A. rolled up 22 points in two fifteen-minute halves, and came pretty near scoring four more as time was called. The Boston men were heavier, but lacked the training which clearly characterized Andover's work. Douglass was put in at half in place of Goodwin, who is temporarily laid up, and made the star play of the game. It occurred at the opening of the second half. Andover kicked off, and Boston returned it. Douglass caught the ball about in the centre of the field, and ran. He dodged half the Boston team, and crossed the line for a touch-down. Butterfield did good work likewise, making several gains through the line. The Andover men seemed to have no trouble in making holes in the Boston College line, and after each play the forwards were noticeably quick in lining up. Andover is going to have a good team.
The Exeter eleven is pretty well knocked out. Half the men who were in good shape two weeks ago are more or less seriously injured now, and it is probable that the P.E.A. team this year will be as poor a one as has represented the school for some time. This condition of affairs is due not so much to poor material as to bad judgment on the part of the captain and the manager. Before the team was in any condition to perform such hard work, games were arranged with Tufts College, Boston A.A., M.I.T., and Dartmouth. Each one of these teams was heavier than the Exeter eleven, and as a result several P.E.A. men are limping about the Academy grounds, and one or two men will not play football again this fall. The game against Dartmouth, especially, was hard for Exeter. In bucking the Hanover rush-line five of P.E.A.'s best men were hurt.
The most serious loss was Hawkins, the quarter-back. The other men behind the line had come to depend considerably upon him, and when Martin was put in his place they went to pieces. Perhaps they should be not too severely blamed for this, for Martin is a wretched player and ought never to be allowed at quarter-back again until he learns a good deal more about the game. In the Tufts game Martin passed the ball on more than one occasion to his opponents. When Thomas took his place in the second half there was a slight recovery from the previous demoralization, but P.E.A. did no scoring. If Exeter had arranged her games against lighter and weaker teams in the early part of the season, and had fixed the dates with these older men for now and the following weeks, her players would have been better able to stand the hard work required of them.
It is just this sort of thing that brings football into disrepute with people who don't know anything about the game. They see in the papers that Brown, Jones, and Robinson are hurt as a result of playing football. They do not stop to reflect that possibly Brown, Jones, and Robinson had no business playing the game, but at once decry football. Possibly if Brown, Jones, and Robinson had been put on horseback and trotted around a field they would have been much lamer, and certainly they would have been much more liable to get their necks broken. Take two elevens in training and let them play a game; there will be no one hurt in all probability. Take twenty-two men who are not in any kind of training and set them loose on a gridiron for two fifteen-minute halves and see how many doctors you will need at the end of the game. That's the secret of most of the outcry against football. Half the men who get hurt would not have gotten hurt if they had gone at it properly, and it is almost always of these fellows that the general public gets reports. There is a good deal for the general public to learn about football.
There is one good thing I notice in the methods of the Chicago High-School teams. They play only fifteen-minute halves in their football matches, and that is a very proper arrangement for the early part of the season. Young players cannot stand the strain of full-time play at first, and it is the height of folly to try to play two thirty-five-minute halves at present. Even the big college teams do not attempt such severe work, playing usually twenty or twenty-five minute halves until the 1st of November, by which time the men have become seasoned, and are able to stand the exertion of full-time play. School teams should begin by playing short halves, gradually lengthening them until the full time is reached two or three weeks before the important game. At first it is even better to play three periods of ten minutes, with a short rest between each, than two fifteen-minute halves with only one rest. It all depends on the size and strength of the men who are playing, and the Captain must be the judge in these matters. His idea should be to get the greatest development with the smallest possible strain on his men.