Stetson Collegiate Weekly

STETSON COLLEGIATE WEEKLY Official Student Publication of John B. Stetson University VOLUME 32 DELAND, FLORIDA, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12, 1923. NUMBER 14 HATTER GRIDIRON MACHINE CLOSES SUCCESS^ SEASON The Hatter gridiron machine closed the most successful season it has had in a number of years when it defeated the Rollins Tars 15-7 on Thanksgiving. If the Hatters had -AiSspfueqj, uo sjb.x aift poreapp ^ou ing it would have ended a season which in many ways was highly satisfactory, but it would also have decreased the joy of the occasion as the Hatters had built all year for the game with the Tars, and felt that they must win that game to make it a highly successful season. The Tars came here expecting to win the game, and it must be said to their credit theat they had a fine machine, but one which was unable to «ope with the heavy and fast Hatter aggregation. The Tars were confident of taking • the game, and evidently expected to see the Hatter line crumble before their powerful xishes. If they had known what a powerful line the Haeters really had they would not have expected to putting the ball on the Hatters' 5- yard line. Here, as was expected, the Hatters braced and on three plays the Tars were thrown for a one-yard loss. On the fourth play Emory, the Tars' star, was called into the backfield, and went tround the end for a touchdown. Class for the Tars, kicked goal. This made the Hatters one point behind, and for the people who did not know their fighting spirit, it looked bad. This meant nothing to the Hatters except to wake them up to the fact that they were against a real team. The Tars kicked off to Stetson. Here the Hatters opened a real offensive and went through the Rollins line for from five to eight yards at a clip. On the 40-yard line the Tars made a stand but the Hatters were able to push on to the thirty-yard line. With less than a minute to play, Covington dropped back for a placement kick ahead never to be headed again. This kick was from crash through it with ease. The .the 30-yai\' line and from a very Tars received the ball at the start GUNBY (Center) difficult angle. It brought joy to the heart of every Stetson follower. Nothing more of interest hr.ppened in the first half except an injury to Covey which thrert.ened to upset the whole works for a while. Covey came back for the second half and with him went the last hope [ of the Tars. In fact the last hope of the Tars departed when Covey boosted his field or placement kick from the 30-yard line. Soon after the second half opened the Hatters got the ball deep in the Tar territory and soon rushed it to the one-yard line. With four owns to make it in, it seemed ceridin that the Hatters would make another touchdown. On the first two piays Covey hit the line for no gain. On the third play Covey j lost one yard. With oi$Iy one play J left it looked as if the defense of the I Tars wou]d_ prgyw - _- '■'■■■' TCw... I Hatter machine held a conference to | decide what to do. On the last play Covey took the ball over with his interference going through one side of the line and he going through the other side. Covington's try for goal FOOTBALL SPECIAL DEDICATED TO "SPEC" CAMPBELL made first touchdown on four plays. Regardless of this, the Hatters ex- The Hatters held and Southern kick-jpected to give the Southern eleven ed . Here Stetson began a rush for j a thorough licking. Soon after tho the Southern goal line which did not' start of the game the Hatters play- end until Covington went over- for j m£ deep in their own territory, fumb- the first touchdown. Whit kicked !led and Gillespie raced for a touch- goal, making the score 7-0 in favor; down for the Southern ci-ew. Gille- of the Hatters. This score came in j sPie kicked goal making the score 7- the first five minutes of play and it 0- This did not worry the Hatters, seemed that the Hatters could go Ias it had seemed to worry thorn at through the Southern team almost at j Lakeland. They only came bark to v/ill. Soon after this the Hatters' fi8'ht harder. Near the end of the aga'n started a drive and seemed' quarter the Hatters got the ball on This issue is dedicated to our ryv. al friend and supporter, C. H. Campbell, Jr. "Spec" played football at Stei_m for eight years, and was for six ye^rs all-state quarter and captain. He is a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. "Spec" stands out among Stetson's alumni as a success. In the years since his graduation, he has become one of the town's best citizens. He is now mayor of DeLand, Chief of the Fire Department and owns a fine business. Our hats are off to him. can hit the line harder than any man on either team. When the Hat rs needed two or three and four yi. us, they could always depend on Covey to make it for them. It was very *ol- vor of some of the tactics which this player used, it must be admitted that he put up a good game. He kept the i big Lakeland back, went around the headed for another touchdown. A slip in the backfield allowed the Southern man to recover the ball and race through an open field for a touchdown. Southern kicked goal, making the score 7-7. From then on it appeared that the Hatters were a beat team. Before this break in the game it had seemed that the Hatters were confident tend full of fight. After this it seemed just the other way, Southern had all the fight and the Hatters had none. In the second half Southern baffled the entire Hatter team with a fake play which netted them 40 yards and placed them in a position to score. After a couple of thrusts at the line Gillespie, Hatters' end for a touchdown. Lakeland kicked goal, making the score With less than five minutes to men continually on the jump and full of pep. He has a keen football brain dom that he failed to gain. Whit j which enables him to tell about where 14-7 showed good judgment in calling the j the plays are going and he is always I play, the last quarter, the Hatters plays for his men and had all it all working hard. Emory used some tacv i began to hit the Lakeland line con- over the Tars when it came to ki- i -; tics in .the early part of the game j sistently for gains of from eight to which we did not admire, but never- j twelve yards. Starting on their own theleas, he played a hard game and I 30-yard line Stetson carried the ball it is very likely that the score would to Southern's 40-yard line in about have been much more than it was if j five plays. This was the only real he had not been in the game. I football which they exhibited in the j entire game and showed that the Hatters could do it if they would The Hatters opened the season ing. Besides this he tore off two or three end runs which were beauties. Courtney was given more chance to carry the ball in this game than be had been given in any other ganu . and he fully came up to expectations. It was seldom that he failed to gain when given the ball. As for Stetson Hatters vs. S. A. C. breaking up passes, he cannot be■: with the Springfield Athletic club of beat. He intercepted two pas ;e?| Jacksonville. The S. A. C. has long against the Tars, and hardlv ;' "-; —% *» **■—***"~"'1 ~ L-^^s.' +«..^ get together. From the 40-yard line Covey shot a pass to Whit and Whit raced for a touchdown. On the try the three yard line. Cal Stewart went into the Southern, lineup to try to stem the tide, but the Hatter machine was not to be denied. On two p'Jays Covington went over for a touchdown. Whit kicked goal making the score 7-7. The first half ended this way. The Methodist crew threatened none at at all and only the break in the first half of the game allowed them to score. It was almost a duplicate of the play that allowed them to score at Lakeland. In the second half the Hatters came back with a rush which swept the Southern team off its feet and soon after the half opened the Hatters oof the game and on the first few after touchdown was blocked. This plays hammered the Hatter line.'made the score 15-7 in favor of the They really expected to wear the, Hatters, and so it remained. Hatter forwards down in the first' Tars Spring Trick Plays— few plays but that was not to bej In the fourth quarter the Tars the case. After a few plunges atjopened up their famous trick plays the Hatter line the Tars kicked. Rol-j which they had advertised so much lins held Stetson and Stetson kick- (in the state papers as being the plays ed. Again the Tars started to pile j which were going. to lick the Hatters, driving line plunges, but they could. 0n the first play> Skidmore, Hatter gain no ground on them. Again they! imeman> threw the Tars for a one- kicked and the Hatters started a j yard loss 0n the next play the Targ march down the field which at lastjgained ab0ut 25 yards around the gained them a touchdown. Start- end> but were 0ffsides and penalized. ing from their own 40-yard line they carried the ball down the field on straight line plunges over tackles and guards to the 20-yard line. Here the Tars braced and the Hatters opened up. On an open play the Tars fell all over themselves trying to cover Whitnell, and in so doing left Captain Goof wide open for a a pass. Covey shot the ball to Goof and he received over the line for the Hatters' first score. Whit's try for point after touchdown was low and the score was 6-0. If the Tars had not used the knowledge which they BOYLE (Captain) HENDERSON (Manager) BOYLE (End) had gained in scouting the Hatters, they might have been able to have prevented the score at that time. In almost every game during the season the same pass had been made to Whitnell. The Tars covered Whit and left Goof open. That is where they came to grief. Again Stetson kicked off to Rollins and the Tars returned 30 yards. They caught the Hatters asleep or -over confident after the easy touchdown they had just made, and on the next two plays went through the Hat- rter line for a total gain of 55 yards, After this they began to throw forward passes with reckless abandon. Although some came close to being completed, they were not. At last the Tars got away one beautiful pass for 30 yards, which put the ball fairly c'ose to the Hatter goal line. They still continued their passing, however, and Courtney, for the Hatters intercepted one, and with it went the last chance for the Tars to score. After this Whitnell for the Hatters, chose to kick rather than take any chances on a fumble close to his goal or some other slip which would give the Tars a chance to score. Thus ended the game which brought joy to the hearts of Stetson supporters and sadness to the hearts of the Tars. Stetson Threatened Rollins Gajal Often— Stetson continually threatened to score during the entire game, but through a stubborn defense were unable to penetrate the Tars line for any more touchdowns. The only threat which the Tars made in the entire game was in the early part of the second quarter when two beautiful runs by Class put the ball inside the Hatters' ten yard line from whence they carried it over for their only score. After this they never came anywhere near the Hatter goal line. The closest which they came was the 20-yard line in the fourth quarter and they remained there only a minute when Stetson got the ball and kicked out of danger. Beside these two times the Tars were hardly inside the Hatters' forty-yard line. • To name the star of the game would be almost impossible, but the line plunging of Covington was a very bright spot. Covey, while not extra large for a good line plunger, Upper, left to right—Osinssky. Moritz, Tribble, Courtney, Covington, Whitnell, Teare, Hays, Hon, Wilcox. Center, left to right—(Coach) Allen, Gunby, Brobson, Kennedy, Campbell, Tatum, Doty, Baker, Miller, Henderson (Manager) Lower, left to right—Bill Gunby, Johnson. Hargreaves, Skidmore, Boyle (Captain) Layton, Silsby, Miller. Lower center—Little "Spec" Upper Center—Landers. (Trainer) had passed during the season that he has not caught one or more of the opponent's passes. Teare, playing against the Tars, was almost always good for some gain. Mortiz, a sub for Teare, did excellent work, and for his size, gained a great amount of ground through the Tars' line. It is not necessary to speak of the line as individuals. It was there on the whole. Every man did his part in holding the Tars' line plunges and it did not take them long to find out that they could gain nothing through the line. It was a fifty per cent better line than the one which held the Florida varsity for one quarter. One or two new men were in it, and the Hatters had plenty of reserves to throw in. It must be said to the credit of the Tars that they put up a hard fight but were outclassed in every particular. They were supposed to be a great passing machine, but the Hatters outdid them at their own game. As for kicking, there was no comparison. The in that section of the state. The Hat- was close and the referee declared ters had not had much practice and no goal. Whit did not agree with it was not known just what they would \ him and an argument ensued. The do in the first game of the season, j referee got the best of the argument The followers of the team who ex- by putting Whit out of the game. pected them to walk off with an easy victory for the Jacksonville eleven Were not disappointed. The Hatter machine had almost no trouble in penetratinng the S. A. C. line and scored twenty-one points in the first half. S. A. C. did not threaten. In the second half the Hatter machine decided that it needed a vacation and scored only two more touchdowns. This made the score at the end of the game 34-0. The Springfield Athletic Club did not make a single first down and only came close to doing so one time when Teddie Reed went around the Hatters' end for nine yards. As was the case the entire season the Hatter line was impregnable and on the fourth down the S. A. C. failed to make the required half yard. Steson Tackles Southern— Either this gave the boys too much Hatters never lost ground on a single j confidence in their ability, or they kick and gained on many. The star in a ground gaining way for the Tars was Class, who ripped through the Hatter line for two runs of 25 and 35 yards in succession. How he did it is not known, as the line was not penerated for any other gains during the day. The fact remains that he did it and that it what counts. Cotton Thomas played a good game for the Tars and seemed to be the backbone of the Tar backfield. In the line much credit must be given Emory. Although we are not in fa- underestimated the strength of the Southern College Eleven. They journeyed to Lakeland the following week-end to pay Southern. Every indication pointed to a three-touchdown margin for the Hatter machine. A series of injuries just before the game, some of which were not received on the football field crippled the Hatters. Regardless of this, they were expected to win by anywhere from fourteen to twenty one points. The Hatters kicked off to Southern and the Methodists had carried the ball to the goal line. They were penalized fifteen yards for holding. On the next play which carried the ball back to fifteen yards Southern was penalized to the one- yard line for unnecessary roughness. Whit went over for a touchdown. Whit missed try for goal after touchdown. Score: Stetson 13; Southern 7. In the last quarter Southern opened an aerial attack which was good for a few gains. They seemed to be doing very well with it when Covington t snatched one out of the air and raced forty yards for a touchdown. Covey kicked goal. Score: Stetson, 20; Southern 7. Immediately after this Southern again opened its passing game and Teare intercepted a pass and returned to the 15-yard line. Southern penalized to one, yard line for roughness. Stetson went over. Whit kicked goal. Score: Stetson, 27; Southern, 7. Gatorc Invade DeLand— The next game was with the Flor- The Southerners took the game by a score of 14-13 and a disheartened bunch returned to eDLand that night. An Easy One — The next game on the schedule was with the St. Augustine American Legion in St. Augustine. The Hatters did not expect any trouble from the Sains and they did not have any. They raced through the Sains' defense almost at will and scored a 54- 0 victory. This gave the boys confidence and they returned home determined to wallop Southern by a good margin when they played here the next week. Southern Defeated— After much quibbling about the game with the Hatter officials the Southern college eleven decided to play the Hatters here. It seemed from play the Hatters here, tl seemed from the first that they were not very anxious to come here to play. Anyway, they showed up, and it looked as if every man was in the pink of | condition except Cal Stewart, who ida Gators. The Gator came here was most of the Southern offense, j expectnig to use his second team, The Hatters were crippled for the but soon found out that this was not game again, just as they had been: profitable. Five minutes after the at Lakeland. Gunby, the center, wasj game opened a combined first and out of the game with a broken wrist second team scored the first touch- received in the game at St. Augus-|down for the Gators. Score: Flori- tine. ,Bill Gunby took his place in j da, 7; Stetson 0. Immediately after the line-up and played a great game.; this the Hatters began to circle the WHITNELL (Quarter back) Ossinsky was still unabe to pay much on account of a bad shoulder. Gator ends with regularity. Courtis Continued on page 2)