Salem High School - Wolverine Yearbook (Salem, VA)

Page 78 text:

T H E O R A C L E Football OOO I-IEN the first call for I-l. S. gridiron warriors sounded on Sep- tember l lth, about thirty young candidates reported for practice. Among this number there were only five letter men, Board, l-laislip, Sherertz, Vest and Copenhaver. So, realizing the need delay. for speed and hard work, every man settled down to earnest practice without ln our first game, which was with Blacksburg soon after practice started, we came out at the small end of the score. Instead of disheartening the boys, this early defeat at the hands of an old rival only tended to add more fight and determination to their spirits. As is usually the case, many weak spots were discovered in this game and several changes were made in the line-up. Parrott and Barnett, two old letter men came back to the ranks and greatly strengthened the team. We also gained another star in Red,' Wilburne, who came from Hanging Rock. l-le at once won a place in the backfleld on account of his ability to use his head in the pinches and carry the pigskin effectively. After another week of hard practice and with new determination, the team proceeded to Bedford. After plowing through the red mud for about an hour, they emerged victorious over R. M. A. by the score of I3 to 6. In this game Captain Haislip sustained a sprained ankle, which kept him out of the game with Lynchburg and slowed him up during the rest of the season. Copen- haver also got an arm dislocated at the elbow. Meeting the Hill Toppers with a crippled team and the ,captain out, it seemed like the boys could not get Horganizedf' The punch was lacking and Lynchburg won 30 to 6. In this game Policy Goldsmith made his debut and proved without a doubt that he could play football. Shady Chelf also played a few minutes and gave a very good account of himself getting away with the only pass of the game for Salem. Then came the big game! Roanoke had the best team in years and came to Salem expecting to have no trouble in walking off with the game, but they reckoned without thinking of that old rivalry which exists between the two schools and the fight each Salem boy was to put up that day. joe Denit's U41

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THE ORACELE -4 zz if .gr 1 f f 4-4 I... E. KIBLER, Coach Coach Kibler, although new at the game, has proven himself wonderfully efficient. The coach is a friend and leader among the boys and' has a way of bringing out the best that is.in them without resorting to the so-called cuss word. Coach Kibler is a graduate of V. P. I. He has been at Salem High School only one year, but we hope to have him again next year. U32

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T H E O R A C L E toe saved the day for Salem on several occasions. It was hard to pick any individual stars. With Copenhaver and Chelf on the Hanks it was almost impossible to gain around end, and with Red Vest in the center handing out pep pills the whole line presented a stubborn wall of resistance that Roanoke found hard to penetrate. l-laislip, Sherertz and Wilbourne in the backfield gave the boys from the Magic City plenty of worry. Neither team scored until the last few minutes of play when Roanoke pushed one touchdown across but failed to kick goal and the game ended 6 to 0 in Roanoke's favor. The following week the team played in Danville. There, in the first few minutes of play, Danville secured the ball on a fumble and scored a touchdown. ln the try for points Salem was called off side and the point went to Danville. Although Salem outplayed them in every stage of the game, making more first downs and working passes almost at will, the boys were unable to put the necessary punch across after they had worked the ball up the field to within scoring distance and several times lost the ball on the four or live-yard line. Salem's only score was the result of a long pass completed by Crit Chelf and followed by an end run by Wilburne. We missed the extra point and the game ended Danville 7, Salem 6. The game with the V. P. I. Freshmen was hard fought throughout and though every man did his best, the big difference in size and the number of Poly reserves was too much for our boys and we lost. Shropshire's tackling was the feature for Salem, the score being 66 to 0. In the last game of the season, we defeated Christiansburg 47 to 6. Taking into consideration the fact that most of our men were new at the game and lacked experience and most of the schools we played were much larger than ours, we can easily say that the old team made a very creditable showing for the 1922 season A -L. E. KIBLER, Coach. C751