Saint Michaels College - Hilltop Yearbook (Colchester, VT)

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LOWELL TECH N FRIDAY, October 8, the Mikemen jour- neyed to Lowell, Mass., to engage Lowell Textile under the arcs. The game was played in a downpour and the sloppy, muddy conditions kept the accurate arms of Ernie Despirito and Jack Daly under wraps all evening. The first half was quite dull, with neither team getting closer than the other's ten-yard line. In fact, Lowell failed to enter the Knight's territory and St. Mike's got to the Lowell fifteen in the first quarter and to the ten in the second. The second half, however, brought forth some action. Ernie Despirito intercepted a Lowell Tech pass on the Knights' thirty-six and raced it back sixty-four yards for the touchdown. After the kickoff the Purple bottled Lowell on their six- yard line and forced them to punt from the end zone. The ball carried to the forty-three where it was gathered in by Billy Hart and, with some key blocks, the little speedster went all the way for the second score of the evening. On the ground the Knights gained a total of two hundred and thirty-eight yards while failing to gain on four forward passes. Lowell was held to fifteen on the ground but picked up three first downs on three passes completed out of eight attempted. It was the play of Billy Hart which stood out in this game. He picked up ninety yards in four carries. In this game he lived up to the expecta- tions of those who saw him star with the freshman team of last year. f S ' a - f j? -A. on I - ,KA r rv V+' K lr , y X.. 5 r 'l U ' I 50 I ,tk ,, fl I ' Q 01 .M ul l 76 FORT DEVEN S N SATURDAY, October 16, the team jour- neyed to Rutland for the only night football game of the season in this state. This innovation, intended by the Doc for the benefit of St. Michaells southern Vermont fans, was a success in so far as the Purple Knights came off the field victorious. The game was a rough affair with both sides contributing their share to the general may- hem. The only touchdown of the evening came as a result of a prettily executed pass play from quarterback Despirito to fullback Conley, in the end zone. The play started on the nineteen-yard S.M.C. UVM First Downs ........ .... 5 11 Net Yds. Rushing .... .... 4 2 164 Net Yds. Passing . .. .... 63 35 Passes Attempted .... . . 7 11 Passes Completed . . . . . 3 3 Passes Intercepted . . . . . 3 0 Punts .............. .... 1 0 7 Ave. Distance Punt .... 30.9 29 Fumbles ........... . . 2 6 Fumbles Recovered .... .. 1 4 Penalties ........... . . 7 6 Yds. Penalized .... .... 7 5 90 Final Score ..... .... 1 3 2 line, with Despirito taking the ball laterally across the field while Conley shook himself loose from two defense men. The pass was a beauty and found Conley standing all alone and ankle deep in pay dirt. The point after was missed but the touchdown was all that the Knights needed to sew up the contest. For the third time during the season the opposition failed to cross the St. Michael's goal line. Besides the aforementioned Despirito and Conley, the line play of Klaess and Ferris was outstanding. NEW ENGLAND HE following week the Knights reached dizzy heights in scoring a 54-0 victory over the Pilgrims of New England College. The boys scored a grand total of nine touchdowns but failed to make good on any of their extra point attempts fwe'll forgive them this timej. Six different men made the attempts. The first quarter wasn't two

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Knight and this time he went all the way. With St. Mike's ahead 6-O, UVM took the ball and rolled to our ten where the great Purple line rose up and stopped them. At this point the Knights took over on downs but a punt by Ray Borzelleca was blocked. Ray recovered the ball in the end zone but Hobie Cook fell on him there, giving the Catamounts their only score of the game. In the second half the superb conditioning which was the result of the stay at Camp Holy Cross began to pay off. Each Knight walked off the field as fresh as when he went on but some of the Catamounts were dragging their tails. In this half the Purple and Gold dominated the play. E jim Whitlock blocked a Vermont punt and our boys were on their way to a second touchdown which was scored a minute later when Billy Hart took a hand-off from Eddie Krupinsky and crossed over from about five yards out. Ernie Despirito converted and the Knights led 13-2. It can be said that no one man outshone his fellows in this game but the play of the line was outstanding. Three times they forced the Cata- mounts to hand the ball over on downs when they were but a short distance from pay dirt. Five thousand people were in attendance and they left the stands with that feeling of satisfaction engendered by seeing a good game. However, the happiest of all were the Michaelmen supporters, from Father Lyons on down. They left Centen- nial Field with smiles that reached way around back. CHAMPLAIN RESH from their opening win over Vermont and with the team at full strength, the Knights traveled across the lake on the following Saturday, October 2, to take on the Blue Jays of Champlain College in Plattsburg. The weather for this game was much cooler than it had been the preceding Saturday and so were the Purple Knights. Yet it was only their inability to convert an extra point which cost them the ball game. The Knights could not get started in the first half and the Blue Jays, led by Bill Powell, a fine back, tore through the line, seemingly at will. Only a couple of inspired goal line stands by the forward wall kept the Purple from being more than seven points in arrears at half time. Doc's locker room pep talk must have been a scorcher for right from the kickoff that started the second half the Knights looked like a new team. The line was far more alert and the backs resembled the boys who were instrumental in bringing about the victory over Vermont. Jack Daly was particularly adept in this half. He pitched a thirty-five-yard pass to Hennessey for St. Mike's six points, then late in the game he scampered through tackle for a forty-yard gain, the longest of the day by either team. The boys received their share of bad breaks in the game but it was a poor showing in the first half which beat them. It can be attributed most likely to a letdown after the great win the week before. Len Tyl, the pride and joy of West Rut- land, and Marty Conley are to be commended for their great defensive work in this game.

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minutes old when Ed Krupinsky fired a 17-yard pass to Bob Knight to put the ball on the five- yard line of New England. Jack Daly swept around right end on the next play to chalk up the first score. It was in the second quarter that Daly really ran wild. On the second play of that period the Floral Park product broke through the middle for seventy-five yards and St. Mike's third score. Again, just before the half ended, jackrabbit took a hand-off from Krupinsky and went fourteen yards to pay dirt. That is an indication of how the field as the Knights ran and passed for a total of one hundred and seventy-five yards. He person- ally gained a large percentage of the yardage and in the third quarter was the victim of a freak play which cost the team its last scoring opportu- nityf He took a pass from Krupinsky in the right flat and began a dash down the sideline with the field judge running neck and neck. When he had outdistanced the last Ace, the field judge bumped him, causing him to stumble and enabling the frantic pursuers to overtake him. Shining on the defense for the Knights were Conley and Klaess. boys spent the afternoon. The others who figured in the csoring were: Dennis, Krupinsky, Cole- man, Borzelleca, Tyl and Deignan. A.I.C. WEEK after the boys ran roughshod over New England they lost a squeaker to Amer- ican International College at Centennial Field in Burlington. A combination of bad breaks and the letdown after the previous week's spree spelled defeat for the Mikemen, the second and last of the season. A.I.C. snatched victory from defeat in pushing over their six-pointer. The Purple and Gold had the ball on the half-yard line of the Aces with first down and goal to go. In the next four downs they lost twenty-six and one-half yards plus the ball. From that point A.I.C. marched seventy- three yards for the only touchdown of the game. jack Daly was again the top performer on the For A.I.C., Santone, the hard-driving fullback, showed himself to be one of the best backs to appear on Centennial Field this season. His smashes through the line were instrumental in the score and his vicious tackles thwarted many a long march by the Purple Knights. N ORWICH HE finale of the season was played at North- field against the Cadets of Norwich in a Green Mountain Conference game. The skies were leaden and the field was wet and muddy, but despite these conditions, unfavorable to a passing game, the Knights countered three times via the air waves to defeat the stubborn Cadets, 19-O. A Krupinsky to Suzio pass late in the third period started the scoring, then in the last period Daly hit Krupinsky for six more. Conley to Wojciechowski ended the scoring for the '48 sea- son.