Conway Hall Preparatory School - Log Yearbook (Carlisle, PA)

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the season disastrously at Kingston, being defeated 29-6 by Wyoming Se minary. This game was a repeated assertion of the fact that the men on the team were not in con- dition. Speaking individually of the team, we must have only words of praise for Coach Wilder and Captain McLane, both of whom worked tirelessly and well to build up a team from almost entire green material. Mr. Wilder displayed knowledge of the game, and was always a favorite of the fellows, from the date of his arrival. Captain McLane is a man who works hard himself and is an inspiration to those with whom he plays. His defensive work is especially worthy of com- ment. At centre, Ricca, with his 240 pounds, proved a power and steadily got better each game. Two new men, Stickell and Hertzler, both inexper- ienced players, held down the guard positions cred- itably. Bashore. a veteran player, was at one tackle while the other tackle was taken care of alternately, by Durovick, McLane and Wallower. Shearer and Still, both good men, played on the ends of the line. Shearer’s playing, especially, received many favorable comments from outside coaches, who watched him work. Behind the line were Pratt at quarter, Rose, McLane and Durovick at halves, and Martin at full. Our backfield was far superior to the line throughout the season and barring the fact that they were not Hoke Martin always as helpful to each other as they might have been, they played a remarkable game. Among others who ought not to be omitted in a review of the season, are: Adams, Zehner, Groome, Thomas, Slater, and Shepler. With Shearer as captain for next year and Ricca, Stickell, Martin, Durovick, Wal- lower, and Adams as a nucleus, we ought to hope for big things. The reasons for this year’s lack of success — we will not call it a failure — may be briefly summed up in these three things. Lack of systematic training, dissensions among the players, and a poorly arranged schedule. If we work to correct these three evils, next year should be a C. Ira Pratt banner year in the history of Conway Hall. 75

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Resume of the Football Season of ’08-’09 With only three of last year’s regulars in school viz: McLane, Shearer and Bashore, two subs, Durovick and Ricca, and the hardest Prep School schedule in the country, things did not look very favorable at the beginning of the season. However, as soon as school opened, we started working with a squad of thirty-five and no coaches. Our first game was with the Indians. The coach, Mr. Wilder, of Roches- ter University, had only been with us two days,. but in this game, the team showed some good qualities, predominant among which was the ability to take punishment. On the following Saturday we went to Philadelphia, and in a very loose game were defeated 1 8-0 by the Penn Freshmen. Penn won by superior luck, rather than by better playing, for the game was replete with poor plays from start to finish. On the next Saturday the team lost 16-0 to the best coached and trained football team in the country, that of the Hill School. This game showed our team up as being slow and as individuals, not in condition. Very much bruised and crippled, we had to succumb to an inglorius defeat. 34-0 at the hands of our old rival, Mercersburg Academy, on the next Saturday. The long halves which the Mercersburg coaches de- manded, wore our team completely out, for their opponents secured four touchtowns in half the time A. M. McLane, Capt. it took them to score their first one. On the next Saturday we played our first and best home game, and defeated the much-vaunted Villa Nova Prep team 6-0. This was the only really significant victory of the season, although the next three Saturdays we overwhelmed Penbrook A. C., F. M. Academy and Harrisburg Technical High School. We finished Joseph F. Ricca. 74

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The players, reading from left to right, are: Bottom Row: Captain Pratt, Feller, Spangler, and Paterson, Manager; Top Row: Stic ke 1 1 , Deardorff, Robinson and Wilder, Coach