St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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centers and ends, while Frank Coyle tussled with the guards and tacklers, Inter-squad scrimmages became possible when the players had learned their assignments and then, as a warm-up for the opening game, Brighton High visited St. Sebastian Field to test the mettle of the Red and Black and give the coaches an opportunity to watch their men under game conditions, just a few days before the opening game with Cambridge High and Latin, Bob Murphy lost his father in a tragic automobile accident and his death was felt deeply by the entire School because Mr. Murphy had always been a real friend to our athletic teams and an enthusiastic sponsor of all St. Sebastian activities. Despite his great loss, Bob insisted on taking the field with his team the day following the funeral and his presence meant much to the inexperienced and untried eleven that lined up to face C.L. in the third grid meeting between the two schools. As was the case in the two previous years when we edged the Cantabs each time by a single point, our eleven was a decided under- dog in the estimation of the newspapermen, but we felt that that had not proven a bad omen before. After winning the toss and electing to receive Captain Tommy Green found himself with Bill Gibbons, Paul Carey and Bob Murphy as backfield mates, while Ralph Donnelly held down the pivot post, flanked by Bob Joyce and Dave Connor as guards, Ed Ryan and Charlie Sullivan as tackles, and Jim Hefier and Bill Carey as enus. Although Paul Carey's runback of Rice's boot brought us to our own 31, the first sequence of plays found us jittery and our errors let the enemy take over on the St. Sebastian 35. Three plunges gave the home team a first down on the 25 and at that point the age-old Statue of Liberty play was effective enough to catch us napping and permit Halfback Boudreau to take Sylvestre's offering and gallop around his left end to register the first score of that Sunday afternoon. Rice's dropkick was wide of the mark, but his kick-off was deep to our 10 and Paul Carey ran beautifully in returning it to the 30. Unable to gain more than 9 yards in 3 tries, we kicked to the home team and, when they attempted a long pass deep into our territory, Paul Carey intercepted on the 25 to snuff out the threat temporarily. By this time joe McCarthy, jim Harnedy, Frank Murphy, Bill O'Brien and Dick Schiffman were sent in as replacements and the fresh impetus they gave our attack brought about three consecutive first downs before Billy Gibbons was forced to punt to Boudreau on the C.L. 13. With the first quarter ended and the heat of the unseasonable afternoon taking its toll, the coaches resorted to fre- quent substitutions so that Pete McHugh, Dave Keelan, Paul Burke, Dick Sullivan, Murray Regan, Dave O'Connor, Wally MacKinnon and Ed Connors were called into service. After yielding two first downs to the Cantabs early in the second period, we then stemmed the tide and appeared to be in no trouble until we had a kick blocked and then recovered by the enemy's Doyle on our 2 yard stripe. One tackle thrust was all that Gaudet needed to score and we were thankful that the placement attempt at con- version was missed. There was still a spark left in the Red and Black, however, and Wally MacKinnon fanned it with a neat runback of the kick-off that set down the oval on our 41. Before the half ended, Gibby smashed out a hrst down on the ground, after which Tommy Green uncorked a 20 yard aerial that Bill Carey completed on the 25 and we had just reached the C.L. 20 when the half time whistle blew. To open the third chapter, Bob Joyce drilled the kick-off to Sylvestre on the home 20 and, when the Cantabs found themselves unable to gain, Reed Gomperts returned their kick to our 43 yard marker. At that point our offensive really began to function with Bob Murphy acting as the spearhead. Carrying the ball or receiving it 9 times in 14 plays, Bob plunged viciously, skirted the ends neatly and completed Tommy Green's passes artfully with the net result that he tallied our first T.D. of the year on an end sweep. During that drive, jim Coleman and Duke Demeo gave us reserve end strength and, although Bill Gibbons' end sweep failed to add the extra point, we felt that we still had the last quarter to catch our opponents. -H181-:

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When the teams changed goals, Tommy Green took to the air as soon as we came into possession of the ball, thanks to Bill Carey's recovery of Gaudet's fumble. After failing to complete a heave to Obie, the Red and Black captain, aided by beautiful block- ing, gave Bill Gibbons plenty of time to get behind the C.L. secondary before unloosing his throw. just at that point, however, a charging end hit his arm and changed what was to be a long pass into a blooper that was easily caught by Cambridge's Pitchwall who ran it over for a touchdown with scant opposition. just to add insult to injury a forward pass earned the extra point and St. Sebastian's trailed, 19-6, Far from being counted out, we managed to rally and rack up two Dave Keelan first downs but the final whistle was not far off and its shrill tones were soon lost in the victorious roar that emanated from the Cambridge side of Russell Field. In the game report given after dinner in the refectory the next day, Father Flanigan awarded the defensive laurels of the contest to Ed Ryan whose tackle play was so efficient that less than 5 yards was gained through his terrain during the whole afternoon. The following Saturday had been designated Parents and Friends Day to accord a suitable reception to the Hopkins' Country Day School team that had been so hospitable to our lads when they visited New Haven in 1947. Added interest was injected into the meeting of the two teams by the recollection that the previous year's struggle had ended in a 6-6 deadlock that each eleven was anxious to break. Eager for the fray, the Connecticut lads arrived before Noon and we were quick to realize that in physical appearance they resembled a College Freshman squad. Favored by ideal weather, the two teams lined up at 2 o'clock for the opening whistle and as it cut the air Duke Demeo, substituting for the ailing jim Hefler, was the only new face in the starting line-up. The visitors lost no time in demonstrating their powerful and varied attack. Smashing out three consecutive first downs, they had advanced to our 3 until Bill Gibbons was opportunist enough to recover a fumble and save a very likely score. At that point, Bob Murphy stepped back into the end zone and booted out as far as our 40. Once again we were forced to yield ground the hard way, but Lady Luck favored us once more and Tom Green captured a rolling pigskin on our 5 to avert another crisis. This time, however, Murph's hurried kick carried only to our 21 and on the third ensuing play, Hopkins' Brown powered his way over for the score. The fact that the conversion effort was fruitless helped to revive our flagging spirits. After Tom Green had picked up 15 yards on the return of the kick-off, we had our first chance to cheer when Frank Murphy clutched a Green pass out in the right flat and lugged it to the Hopkins' 45 for a first down. Our success was short-lived, however, and we were forced to kick to the rival 12, whence the shifty Hitt carried it back to within a yard of midfield. Immediately the battering ram offensive was called into play and, after three successive first downs, Endriss piled over from the 8 to make it 12-0. No extra point was added, but we were put on the defensive shortly thereafter when a backfield fumble on our part gave Hopkins possession on our 27, With a comfortable lead, the visitors could afford to vary their attack and they took to the air but Paul Carey's last second jump batted down the most critical threat and the half ended with the score 12-0 against us. While the second half started auspiciously enough with Paul Carey bulling his way to a first down on the initial play, it soon cost us the services of Bob Murphy for the remainder of the year. Skirting his own right end beautifully, Bob threaded his way down the sideline for 34 yards only to slip and fall at the Connecticut 18. As he fell a pursuing opponent landed on his ankle in such a way as to cause a severe sprain much more painful than a fracture or a break. Deprived of the services of our climax runner, our attack petered out and we grudgingly yielded up the oval after Tommy Green's passing efforts were nullified by the opposition. Before the period ended, how- ever, a stonewall defense forced the enemy to kick to us and gave Dave Keelan the satis- faction of chalking up a first down. Once again a St. Sebastian fumble proved deadly l2O I-: