St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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SPGRTS HISTORY ,L' azz Wim 4- v -fx-.-as N the two preceding issues of THE AR- ROW, the sports section recapitulated at great length all the athletic contests en- gaged in by St. Sebastian's during the four year periods spent by the graduating classes on Nonantum Hill. This year, however, feeling that the past has already been suf- ficiently immortalized in the 1945 and 1946 editions, we shall confine our reporting to the athletic events which have taken place since the previous volume of THE AR- ROW went to press. Besides avoiding the dangers of monotonous repetition, this new policy will enable us to chronicle the individual contests of the Past year in great- er detail. Football does not wait for the formal opening of the School year to establish its sway at St. Sebastian's, Labor Day week finds our gridiron zealots reporting for the conditioning exercises that pare away the gains of the Summer and harden muscles for the campaign ahead. This year September Sth marked the beginning of the groan and grunt sessions and Coach Vin Murphy was on hand to welcome both veterans and new arrivals. By the time that School opened on the 16th, the squad was down rather fine and the afternoon sessions could be devoted to team work and the perfecting of plays. Watching these preliminary workouts, the student body could see that Coach Murphy's main problem would be the finding of suit- able replacements for the six regulars of '45 fvuii 1nn-v who had graduated. The chief loss, of course, was jack Mulhern, clever ball- handler in the T and field general, while the departure of Benny Pickard, a real powerhouse, and Paul McGrath, a depend- able kicker and carrier, created major back- field difficulties. In the line Assistant Coach Tom Crosby was faced with the necessity of finding successors for Guard Danny Sulli- van, Tackle Bob Shea and End Ray Neelon. Despite the complexity of the situation, the two mentors used rather sparse material to such good advantage that they had a smoothly-functioning unit to send into the opening game with Cambridge Latin. The contest found us facing a highly- favored opponent on his home grounds, Russell Field, and playing in front of the largest crowd that, up to that time, had ever witnessed a St. Sebastian gridiron perform- ance. Arrayed in white jerseys with red numerals ibecause of the impossibility of obtaining our traditional colorsb, the Ar- rows lined up in this order: l.e. Bob Mur- phy, l.t. Bill Morrissey, l.g. jack Darwin, c. Co-Captain Bill Harwood, r.g. Co-Captain Jim Caulfield, r.t. Pete Pitts, r.e. Hilt Col- lupy, in the backfield, Dick Doyle was at quarter, Johnny Ellard and Andy McAuliffe at the half-back posts, and jack Boyle in the No. 4 position. Cambridge won the toss and elected to receive, but their possession was short-lived, for Ellard intercepted a pass on their first offensive play and carried it to

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1946 FOOTBALL WARRIORS Seated left to right: Murphy, Darwin, Boyle, Co-Captain Harwood, Co-Captain Caulfield, McAuliffe, Doyle, Ellard. Standing: Father Flanigan, Gibbons, Green, Pitts, Morrissey, Collupy, Manager Boles, Coach Murphy.

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see YA AT mf Gam. uns --.L-Q U' '!-nn... 78 the Latin 31. Capitalizing on this break, Boyle and McAuliffe smashed out a first down in two plays, but, when we shifted to aerial tactics, the attack bogged down, for the one pass we completed was nullified by an offside penalty, and we were forced to re- linquish the oval deep in enemy territory. With the ball in their possession again, the Cantabs probed our line with no re- sults, and we took over only to see a 30-yard Boyle-Collupy bomb fail by inches. In their next series, the home team managed to swing our end for a 13 yard first down, but three plays later, thanks to a 15 yard penalty and a poor kick, we were back in the saddle on the C.L. 43. Once again Boyle and Mc- Auliffe teamed to hammer out a first down, this time on the 29. From that point it was a natural set-up for Boyle to fade back, wait until Collupy had out-run the enemy secon- dary, and then feed him a feathery pass which Hilt carried into pay dirt for our first score of the season. To make the conver- sion, Andy roared through right tackle and we led, 7-0, as the first quarter ended. Stung by our initial score, Cambridge lugged Bill Harwood's kick back to their own 30, made 8 yards in two plunges, and then ventured a pass that was completed at mid-field and carried to our 35. Two downs later, however, the passing attack boomer- anged when jack Boyle intercepted on our 20 to stave off the Cantabs first real threat. On the ensuing line-up, Dick Doyle called for a routine plunge and then, without warning, sent johnny Ellard on a reverse around right end. This change in tactics caught the enemy completely by surprise and the Belmont flyer, aided by beautiful blocking, streaked down the side-line, weaved past the secondary and crossed the last white line after a 78 yard jaunt. Still varying the attack, the Arrows took to the air on the point after, Hilt Collupy com- pleting Boyle's toss for the marker that was to be the difference between a victory and a tie. just to show that they were still in the game, our hosts uncorked an effective of- REST PERIOD McAuliffe and Doyle plan ways and means of protecting our lead over Cambridge High and Latin. fensive to beat the half-time whistle. Start- ing on their own 26, a reverse carried them to the C.L. 44, and a Cawley-Rigazzio pass advanced them to our 38 yard stripe. At that point our defense stiffened only to have a desperation fourth down heave enable Dick Walker to chalk up the first Cam- bridge tally. The P.A.T. also came via the air route, Cawley to Daurie. With the pe- riod almost at an end, Boyle and McAuliffe still found time to rack up another first down before hostilities ceased. Coming back with a vengeance, after the brief respite, the home team refused to re- linquish the pigskin before it had surged to another touchdown. With Cawley doing the brunt of the carrying, the Cantabs drove along the ground from their own 30 to our corresponding marker, then took time for a short pass, and finally went the distance when Rigazzio breached our forward wall from five yards out. The try, however, was unsuccessful and we still led by a 14-13 hair. That ended the scoring for the afternoon, but we gave Cambridge Latin at least one more scare by taking advantage of another Boyle interception to power our way to their 24, where we failed only by inches to