~ALEM ALUMNI Wrennrt,
1. Cabot. (Capt.)
YALE, 0—HARVARD, 0.
A Most Unusual Game on Soldiers’
Field—And Clean Football.
Cambridge, November 15.—The meet-
ing between Harvard and Yale on
Soldiers’ Field has taken place and the -
question of superiority is as unsettled
as before. For the first time in the
football history of the two universities
the result has been a drawn battle. For
the first time, a game between two of
the big colleges has concluded without
a point being scored by either side.
Saturday’s contest was in many re-
spects an unusual one. When the re-
feree’s whistle blew for the last time,
both teams were eager to continue.
As they filed off the field, the great
audience sat in silence. Flags hung
limp, and there was no cheering. For
an appreciable interval those, who, a
moment before, had been animated and
vociferous, sat motionless as the unique
outcome of the long contest struck
them for the first time. ‘Then they rose
and left the scene of the encounter
with seeming reluctance. It was as if,
after two acts of a drama, the stage
manager had appeared and withdrawn
the company, announcing that the third
act would be omitted. i
But, however unsatisfactory the score
when considered from a partisan stand-
point, the game itself was one of ex-
ceptional interest. Both teams showed
a steadiness which is rare when men aré
under so great a strain. I do not re-
member to have seen a contest, unless,
perhaps the Harvard-Yale game in
the Fall of ’93, when the contestants
showed such steadiness at critical mo-
ments. To anticipate a little, if Yale
had succeeded in carrying the ball over
when her opportunity came in the first
half, as did Butterworth for Yale in that
*93 game, the two contests would have
been quite similar. |
Although the outcome did not meet
the sanguine hopes of the supporters
of Captain Cabot’s team, it reflects no
discredit on the champions of the Crim-
som. The Harvard eleven of 1897 will
fill a large place in her football history.
It is the third time since the centennial
year that her great rival has been held
at bay.
The Yale team did not win, as Yale
teams are expected to do, but every
Yale man who saw the game was proud
that he was a Yale man. :
THE CHARACTER OF THE GAME.
The score speaks for the character of
the game. Defensive play triumphed
over offensive. There were no flukes
and no errors that cost more than a tem-
porary advantage. There were no fatal
mistakes of judgement. Harvard was
not out -generalled by Yale, as she has
3. Swain.
-have a
THE HARVARD TEAM AND SUBSTITUTES.
5. Doucette.
12. Bouvé.
4, Sawin.
11. Connor.
6. Haughton.
7. Moulton.
18. Dibblee. 14. Wheeler.
been in some former contests. There
were some blocked kicks, but none re-
sulting in precipitate and exasperating
disaster.
Harvard was known to be strong, and
she was as strong as was expected. Yale
was thought to be weak in defensive
play, but showed that she had corrected
her faults. What was expected to be a
Harvard victory, owing to Yale’s. de-
fective game, proved a magnificent and
equal battle because the visitors proved
capable of standing their ground.
Yale was supposed to be unusually
strong in the -attack, but Harvard’s
coaches believed their defense was
equal to the strain. That proved to be
the case. Harvard was expected to
splendid interference, which
would be too much for Yale’s weak
ends. But Yale’s wonderful aggres-
siveness in defense broke through the
Harvard interference.
The Yale ends, slightly weak at first,
grew stronger as the play progressed.
And so Harvard’s efforts to score were
checkmated.
YALE’S ONE CHANCE.
There was one time that Harvard’s
defense seemed to be giving way. In
fact it was giving way. Yale carried
the ball by plunges into the line down,
down, down toward the Harvard goal.
It was in the first half and Yale had the
wind at her back.
But the Crimson line fought every
inch of ground. Finally the oppor-
tunity came, and Harvard stopped the
impending disaster. Thirteen yards
from the goal there was a mistaken
signal and a fumble in consequence.
Thirteen is an unlucky number—for
Yale. Swain fell on the ball and Yale’s
chance was gone.
had fallen back for forty yards, but so
slowly that the Yale battering ram got
out of order before it reached the op-
ponents’ goal, and so the game was
saved. E
HARVARD'S OPPORTUNITY.
In the second half came Harvard’s
chance.
she started the play in Yale’s territory.
A fumble by deSaulles and a_ short
kick out of bounds by McBride con-
tributed to shorten the distance from
Yale’s goal. Then tandem plunges at
the center forced the Blue back.. Five
yards for Yale’s off-side play made a
touchdown seem imminent. Dibblee
got around Hall for five yards. Har-
vard’s best plays were proving effici-
ent, and the goal line was only five
yards away.
Then Yale rose in her might, swept
back the Harvard line, and smashed
the splendid interference as if it were
glass.
Harvard’s best was not good enough.
That weak, wavering line, which has
The Harvard line —
With the wind in her favor:
caused dismay at New Haven in pre-
vious games, was, for once, irresistible.
Yale refused to be scored on. It was
one of those stirring spectacles which
makes football the greatest of amateur
games.
FROM THE SPECTATOR’S STANDPOINT.
It is hard to suggest how the game
.could have been improved upon from
the standpoint of the spectator, except
by taking a reef in the wind. The ar-
rangements were above criticism. The
audience reached the field and took
possession of the huge grandstands
without. confusion or delay. Every
ticket entitled the holder to a seat and
it seemed as if every seat was taken.
There were no accidents and the facul-
ty with which the crowd was handled
surpassed the enviable record of the
Springfield games.
The.referee started the play promptly
and the game finished in just two hours,
breaking the record in this respect.
The halves seemed unusually short,
owing to the few halts in the play.
There were no serious accidents. Cap-
tain Cabot called in four substitutes, but,
.except in the case of Warren, it was
because he thought fresh men would be
more efficient. Yale finished the game
with eleven men. This, of itself, speaks
for the fine condition of the New Ha-
ven players. More than this, they
played with increasing spirit to the end
and were at their best when the last
half concluded.
Although no score was credited to
either side, it cannot be said that the
game was without results.
wreath was not the only or the highest
stake. The struggle was to -demon-
strate that the intense rivalry is com-
patible with chivalrous conduct, and
that the spirit of friendliness which
prompted a renewal of athletic relations
between the universities is genuine.
Twenty-five thousand witnesses will
testify to the splendid spirit shown in
the heat of Saturday’s battle. During
an interval of delay to re-adjust a band-
age or measure the distance gained, it
was not infrequent to see opposing
players conversing together, although,
but a moment before, they had been
charging each other with all the fury
of Don Quixote. Mr. Dashiel said
after the game that it was the fairest
and cleanest exhibition of football he
had ever seen. The infrequency of
penalties shows how careful were the
players to observe the rules., Harvard
twice lost the ball for holding, and Yale
suffered once for interfering with
Haughton when receiving a punt, and
once for delaying the snap back. With
these few exceptions there was no oc-
casion for primitive measures. The
good feeling which prevailed during the
game characterized the whole trip.
Manager Twitchell said to me: “We
have received han/some _ treatment.
Everything has beer done for the com-
8. Richardson.
The laurel .
9. Shaw. 10. Garrison.
fort of our players and we have met
only courtesy and friendly feeling.”
A KICKING GAME.
Owing to the high wind, the game
was naturally a kicking contest. Dur-
. ing the first half, considering the wind,
Haughton’s punting compared favora-
bly with McBride’s. The Yale man
seemed unsteady and three of his punts
were partially blocked. In the second
half, Haughton fell off in his work. He
got the ball away quickly,: but there
was little force behind his kicks. If
there was a wind the ball was car-
ried down the field; if there was a lull
in the wind, it dropped for a small gain.
McBride, with his long, low twisters,
sent the ball back well and Yale was
enabled, by a kicking game, to carry
the ball up the field in the teeth of the
wind. McBride’s punts were blocked
on several occasions and Yale’s close
following of the ball alone prevented
serious results. This was partly be-
cause he constimes unnecessary time in
getting the ball away. Haughton was
much the-quicker. Yale had prepared
a fair protection for the punts, but Har-
vard showed clever foresight in massing
her men to break through on Yale’s
left which was McBride’s kicking side.
In the second half McBride took his
position further back of the line and
so got the ball away better. Har-
vard seems to have at last learned the
lesson of the costly results of blocked
kicks. Her protection of the punter
was good, and he punted high so that
it was hard to reach the ball. Hazen
was close to him on several occasions
but the ball got clear every time. After
the lesson of Saturday, Yale will be
able to perfect her kicking game where
it showed weakness, and McBride's
splendid abilities should play an im-
portant part in the Princeton game.
YALE’S STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS.
In the first half of the game, Yale
did not seem to realize her possibilities.
Perhaps it was the stronger play of
Harvard, but if the game was played
over again I think she would show
greater self reliance. In the second
half the first ten minutes, the men
seemed to play as if they knew that:
they could not be beaten.
The strongest feature of the play,
aside from the punting, was the break-
ing through of the forwards on the de-
fense. It was this which destroyed the
efficiency of Harvard’s formations and
prevented the long gains which must
inevitably have resulted if the Har-
vard line could have protected the for-
mations till it got under way. The
work of the ends and tackles in stop-
ping these plays, and the fast footing ~
of the ends in getting down the field
on punts, were unexpected features,
made possible only by: hours of patient