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

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98 THE COLLEGIATE pective districts and, since the East- ern series was far from being fin- ished, these two teams played home and home games. Galt played the first game here on Saturday, Nov. 13. For two days before, it snowed heavily, leaving the field covered with almost six inches of snow. Friday noon, it ceased. The boys of the school were given half the afternoon off and all trooped to the Athletic Field with shovels to clear as much of the snow off as possi- ble. They worked hard and greatly improved conditions. Then. to the disgust of all, Fate decreed that it should snow again Friday night and the field was again covered with snow. However, scrapers were hired in the morning and. working diligently. the men were able to clear off all the snow except a cov- ering of about two inches. The game was played under these con- ditions and, as a result, no real rug- by could be displayed. It seemed that whichever team coralled the most breaks would win. Buzz Hayes, who was ill, was unable to play the first half, and the punting duties fell to Hanna and Bentley. with Dutch Simpson calling signals. lYith the changed lineup, the S. C. I. team did not seem able to get under way. Newton, Gabler and Pugh would make yards repeatedly and advance the ball up the field, only to have all their work undone when, Raynor, the Galt kicker, who was able to punt the ball farther than any other kicker the S. C. I. team has met for four years. After his team secured posession of the hall would kick it back beyond the place where the Sarnia attack had started. As the ball soon became very wet and hard to handle, fum- bles were frequent. End runs and extended trick plays were made im- possible by the condition of the ground, and both teams relied al- most altogether on straight bucks, kicking and sometimes, an onside kick. Corey played perhaps his best game of the season, plunging for long gains repeatedly. On the other line. liribbs seemed to be the greatest ground gainer. Knowing their superiority in distance kicking. Galt invariably used this mode of attack and following down fast, re- covered any fumbles or prevented the Sarnia halves from running the ball back any great distance. Ray- nor used good judgment in placing his punts and made the Sarnia halves run for them. In the first and second period, Galt was forced to rouge twice but Raynor evened things up by booting the ball across the Sarnia line twice in the third period. Hayes came on at halftime, however. and with him to oppose Raynor. Sarnia began a march down the field which the Galt team was unable to stop. The Sarnia line buckers repeatedly smashed through the opposing line for yards. Thev forced the visitors back to their own line and, with a yard to go, G. Simpson slipped through centre for a try which was not converted. Shortly after this, as Sarnia was again smashing her way down the field, the whistle blew and the S. C. I. team had a five goal lead to take to Galt. Again, it was the Sarnia team- work that won.. Galt had a well drilled team but were not quite so strong, either on the defensive or the offensive, as that of the S. C. l. Robinson made his first appearance with the school team, taking Hayes' .position till the latter came on. -He is rather light for bucking but, fighting all the time, he broke through for several gains and had many recovered fumbles to his cred- lt. S. C. I. 10 - Galt C. I. 1. Luckily a thaw set in and before the next Saturday, most of the snow Instead of snow- had disappeared. ing it was raining, and a strong wind was blowing lengthwise across the Galt field. The field, which was the best gridiron the Sarnia boys had seen for some time. though slip- pery, was in better shape than was expected and the game was fast and

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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-

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THE COLLEGIATE 99 strenuous. The score does not alto- gether indicate the play as it was close and full of thrills. Sarnia chose the wind and Galt kicked off to the S. C. I. Bucks were not near- ly as effective as punts and, with the aid of the wind and good judg- ment in kicking. the Galt goal line was soon threatened. Several times, the ball was booted across the line but Tinning, the speedy Galt fly- ing wing, and Raynor successfully eluded the Sarnia tacklers and brought the ball out of danger. The play still remained in Galt terri- tory and Hayes kicked a neat field goal from their twenty-five yard line. ln the same quarter, Haves punted over the Galt line again, and they were forced to rouge. ln the second quarter, the wind began to shift and was soon blowing across the field, This caused the ball to re- peatedly go out of touch and neither team was able to cross the other's line. Play surged up and down the field with both teams tackling hard. Hanna retired for a few minutes but came on when Simpson sprained his ankle. The latter pluckily re- mained at quarter to get the ball out, on the offensive. ln this half, both Hanna and Hayes showed ster- ling ability to run back punts. ln the third quarter, the wind shifted only slightly and neither team held the advantage. Galt started strongly and, by letter-per- fect trick plays and bewildering speed, made great gains. Then, Sar- nia began an offensive of their own and, after some effective line buck- ing, Hanna secured the ball and, on an end run, dashed from nearly cen- trefield to within two yards of the opponents' line. On the next down. Gabler had little trouble in carrying the ball over for a touch. The wind had again veered and, in the last quarter, Sarnia still had the wind behind them. They again worked their way to near the Galt line but lost the advantage when they were penalized for holding. Through fumbles, the Sarnia team were for- ced down the field into their own territory. Hayes punted to relieve the situation and Tinning returned the punt, his kick rolling out of touch a few feet behind the Sarnia line. Galt thus secured their one point. just before the final whis- tle blew, Sarnia kicked to Kaynor who was forced to rouge. S. C. I. 20 - Oakwood C. I. CTorontoJ 0. Through a delay in the Eastern Series, the S. C. l. was ordered to play Oakwood C. l. of Toronto, which had eliminated the other To- ronto Collegiates and thus qualified for the semi-finals, The Sarnia team endeavored to arrange home- and-home games. but Wal-iwood, be- cause of financial disability, was not able to acquiesce and agreed tu play a sudden death game in Sarnia on Sat. Nov. 36th. They had little dif- ficulty in winning their series in Toronto, and, before they came to Sarnia, no opponent had crossed their line for a try, so the Sarnia team were, to say the least, appre- hensive of the outcome. The S. C. I. team started off with a rush and played Rugby for the whole sixty minutes. jack Newton later used the words that the team played over its head and, in truth, the team never worked more smoothly or played better Rugby. This, perhaps- explains why the Gakwood team was defeated, zo-o. The score does not by any means in- dicate the play, as this was closely contested at all periods of the game, The field was not slippery but rath- er spongy, and the Toronto team appeared to have difficulty in adapt- ing themselves to it. Sarnia kick- ed off and, shortly afterwards, re- ceived possession of the ball, when Abbey kicked it out of touch. The Oakwood line was heavier than the Sarnia line and few long gains were made by our line plungers. End runs and onsides were thus used to advance the ball towards the oppon- ents' line. These succeeded and Hayes punted to Abbey, who kick- ed from behind the line, the ball