Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School - Collegiate Yearbook (Sarnia, Ontario Canada)

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96 THE COLLEGIATE score in the first period, and, in the early part of the second, through llayes' punting and plunges by Sar- nia linemen, Sarnia advanced near- er and nearer the St. Thomas goal. Realizing that the chances for a touchdown were slim, llayes kicked to johns, the St. Thomas captain, behind the St. Thomas goal line. lie- fore he could get over from the line, he was tackled and, in attempting to push the ball over the line and out of danger, he lost it. Richardson of Sarnia recovered, but the referee disallowed this and St. Thomas was given possession of the ball at the place from which it had been kicked. l-ly determined plunging. they made substantial gains, but, when Sarnia tightened, they resorted to punting. On a drop kick by McCarthy, who missed a field goal by inches, Hayes was forced to rouge. After half-time, both teams main- tained the gruelling pace. Corey was laid out while stopping St. Thomas bucks, and F. Simpson re- r placed him. St. llhomas worked the ball to Sarnia's.fifteen yard line. Capt. Johns at quarter called for a Minnesota, and Kilmer of St. Thomas had the honour of carry- ing the ball across the Sarnia line, the only player to do so during the '21 season. This imbued the St. Thomas team with more spirit and, though Sarnia offered determined resistance, Hanna was forced to rouge. St. Thomas, with the score in their favor, played a defensive game, punting the ball frequently. The Sarnia backs returned and gen- erally forced the opposition back slightly. On such an exchange St. Thomas fumbled and Bentley and Simpson of Sarnia pushed for the ball. The latter secured it, and. with a clear field ahead, outsprinted the St. Thomas tacklers and placed the ball behind the St. Thomas goal line, but the referee overruled the umpire and declared that the ball was dead before Simpson recovered it. Determined to score. Sarnia now carried the play into St. Thom- as territory and llayes punted to the deadline for the only counter Sarnia gained in the game. Shortly after this, while St. Thomas was iii possession uf the ball at centre field, the final whistle blew. The S. V. I. team were royally en- tertained during their stay in- St. Thomas. The players were billet- ed and a dance was held in their honour by the St. Thomas team. S. C. I. 14 - St. Thomas C. I. 5 XYith a six point lead, the St. Thomas team came to Sarnia to play the return game on the fol- lowing Saturday full of confidence. The Sarnia boys put a crimp in their hopes when they overcame the six- point lead and won the district title by three points, I5-I2. It was an ideal rugby day and the field was in good shape. -lack Newton had been paying the school team a great deal of attention during the week pre- ceding this game, and the result of his coaching was at once apparent. Not only did the S. C. I. team play a much better offensive game, but they also knew how to combat the mode of attack used by St. Thomas. The result was, that seldom did the visiting team have the margin of play and Sarnia had the edge in practically every department, espec- ially in punting. Hayes played a wonderful game and it was chiefly due to his superb kicking that St. Thomas was eliminated. He was afforded excellent protection by the line and almost invariably the St. Thomas halfbacks were downed by tyxo or three Sarnia tacklers as soon as they received the ball. This gruelling somewhat unnerved the visiting backs and they fumbled disastrously several times towards the close of the game. The St. Thomas line bucks seldom gained yards, being stopped almost as soon as they hit the Sarnia line, and their most successful groundgainer was Moody, who dashed around the end for several substantial gains, but he was unable to stand the strenuous play and tired badly. The Sarnia

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TI-IE COLL EGIATE 95 they were able to keep the other team from their goal. S. C. I. 21 - London Elks-52. The showing made at London by the S. C. I. rugby team, during the fall of IQZO, evidently did not go un- noticed by the rugby authorities of that city. .-Xt least, though there were four eligible teams, all except the Elks found alibis. The Elks' team was composed of players from the Elks' Athletic Club of Askin St., London. Several of the players. who motored, were delayed, so, as the crowd was becoming restless. the Elks agreed to commence the game with two Senior City League players on their lineup. Neither team played brilliant rugby.-the S. C. 1. team because it was below form and the visitors because they did not possess a knowledge of the finer points of the game. The su- periority of the Sarnia team was offset by their numerous fumbles. forward passes and blunders. But for these faults. the defeat of the Elks would have been even greater. Ed. Hanna, on his initial appearance with the Firsts, made a creditable showing. Since he was easily able to outrun any of the opposition, he was used a great deal in end runs. l-le scored two touchdowns and was instrumental in advancing the ball within scoring distance for the oth- er two touchdowns of the game, which Pugh and Simpson secured. Hayes converted one of these. The linemen did their share and Newton. especially, had little trouble in mak- ing large gains through holes open- ed by Potter and Park. In the last quarter, the Elks secured their two points when they forced the stud- ents to rouge, after recovering fum- bles near Sarnia line. S. C. I. 1 - St. Thomas C. I. 7 TN'hile our Rugby team was oc- cupied with exhibition games, St. Thomas was elimating NYoodstock College with comparative ease, and thus qualified to play Sarnia. On Gctober 29th, the S. C. I. team suf- fered defeat, the only time during their IQ2l season. Adverse condi- tions seemed tu spring up on all sides and Fate's decrees began to take effect when the team assem- bled in the station at train time. Be- cause of a wreck, their train was two hours late and this time was stretched out until the train was three hours behind schedule. Lon- don railway authorities would not allow the team to go on a freight train that was leaving, as it was un- certain just when the train would arrive. The players with the excep- tion of Hayes. Corey and Richard- son, who motored, were forced to remain at the station. Some. real- izing that it was their only chance tu secure any nourishment, dashed uptown to a restaurant and gobbled the odd sandwich. The engineer of the train had received orders to rush the team through to London and we were able to make connec- tions with a London and Pt. Stan- ley radial which the Grand Trunk officials had detained on our ac- count. The large crowd, which had wait- ed patiently, breathed a sigh of re- lief when the much-delayed game finally startedl i St. Thomas, after securing the ball shortly after play commenced, began to rush it down the field us- ing a wonderful running interfer- ence. The referee's interpretation of the Interference rule semed to be in accord with the interference used by the St. Thomas team. As the Sarnia team had been coached to the letter in the correct interpre- tation of this rule, they were unable to use or combat this style of play, thus being at somewhat of a disad- vantage. The St. Thomas team used end runs very effectively by the aid of this interference and gained many yards. Nearing the Sarnia line at a crucial time, they fumbled the ball and Sarnia recovered. Then the teams began working back to- wards centre field, principally be- cause of the bucking of Gabler and Newton. Neither team was able to

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THE COLL EGIATE 97 'KCZ1111 Ht OHCC Stilfted to OVCTCOINC the lead which St. Thomas had ac- quired at home. Playing a strong offensive game, they kept the ball in the visitors' territory for all the first period. The Saints, however, usually relieved the situation by punting the ball out of danger or executing successful dashes around the end, and neither team scored in the first period. Several Sarnia players were making yards consist- ently. Upon nearing the opponents' line, the Sarnia team suddenly changed their mode of attack to on- sides and Manore carried the ball to within four yards of the St. Thomas line. The visitors' defence tightened, but Newton, on two bucks. broke through and went over the line for a try. The convert was missed by inches and Sarnia was still one point down. This touch- down seemed to imbue new spirit into the Sarnia team and, aided by fumbled punts, which Richardson recovered, they were soon once more in a position to score. XYhen barely three yards out, the halftime whistle intervened and the chance for a try was lost. The St. Thomas team suffered a temporary lapse and the halves fumbled badly, while their line seemed unable to stop the Sarnia plungers from breaking through for gains, or to prevent them from intercepting the plays. Upon securing the ball. the S. C. l. team forced the Saints back and Hayes put Sarnia two points ahead when he kicked a perfect field goal from about thirty yards out. Con- tinuing their attack, Sarnia forced Moody to rouge. The Saints mo- mentarily tightened and kept play in centrefield. Then they came within striking distance and booted the ball over the Sarnia line to Hayes, who successfully ran it out. Richardson, snap for Sarnia, had been penalized for taking things too seriously and Bentley, who was en- tirely new to the position, replaced him. I-le misjudged his throw back to Hayes, when the latter was about to punt, and the ball rolled behind the Sarnia line, where sev- eral St. Thomas players fell on it. This gave them five points and again they were in the lead. The Sarnia team, with eight minutes to go, either had to overcome the two goal lead or accept defeat. Xkiith astonishing vigo1', they be- gan to accomplish what seemed im- possible. Fighting like demons. they made yards whenever they had pos- session of the ball and continually broke through and took it awav from their opponents. St. Thom'- as endeavored to save the situation and put everything on the line of defence. Sarnia recovered a fum- ble ten yards out and llayes from a most difficult angle, kicked a won- derful field goal. This put the S. C. l, again one point ahead. This com- pletely demoralized the St. Thomas team and things happened rapidly in the few remaining minutes. The op- posing halves fumbled disastrously twice and the Sarnia plungerf: were able to advance the ball within striking distance. Both times Moo- dy was forced to rouge. Realizing the importance of this game, and anticipating that the dif- ference of opinion between a Sarnia official and the St. Thomas team as to the proper interpretation of the interference rule might cause a great deal uf unpleasantness, the Sarnia management had arranged for two Toronto officials to handle this game. These officials abided closely by the rules and missed practically nothing. Sarnia suffer- ed a great deal from penalties for minor infringements such as hold- ing, while St. Thomas were fre- quently penalized for offsides and for usinff their running interference. -5 , S. C. l. 7 - Galt C. I. 2. A year ago last fall, the S. C. I., after eliminating St. Thomas C. I.. met the Galt Collegiate team in the semi-finals of the series at London in a sudden death game and quali- fied to play De LaSalle by defeating their opponents. Again, this year, both of these teams won their res-