Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-14
Written for THE EVENING STAR
CHECKER BOARD FOOT BALL.
How Captain Poe Coaches the Prince
ton Eleven Indoors I'm Wet Weather


ton Eleven Indoors In Wet Weather
SCIENTIFIC POINTS OF THE GAME WORKED OUT
WITH MATHEMATICAL PRECIsIoN-sTRAsETIc
MASEUvERs-rBE CAPTAIN GIVES INSIDE HINTS
As TO HIS SYSTEM.
1t is a bopelessly relentless rainy day. The
streets of Princeton are rivers of Jersey mud
and sand. The foot ball field on the athletic
grounds OF the college are covered with little
lakes Of muddy water. Everything is wet and
cold and miserable, but the rain. bad though
IL is, is not enough to keep the foot ball team
from practicing. Snow three feet deep on the
level could not do that. OF course the players
cannot practice on the field on such day.
That is out of the question. but the powers
that rule the foot ball team at Princeton have
q plan for putting in telling work on rainy
days. and ~ the practice goes on today in spite
OF the weather. To be sure there ID
difference between 1t and the practice on clear
days, aud IN that difference lies the secret OF
many of the orange and black teams most
effective plays in the great match games. On
clear days they practice on the field just ike
any other team; on rainy days they practice in
doors on a checker board with checkers.
Foot ball with checkers Precisely. Come
with me over to the Ivy club and will try to
show you a game in actual progress.
Entering the club we find our way to a corner
where sits Capt Edgar Allen Poe with one OF
the substitutes of his eleven opposite him.
checker board is on a table between them and
on it each has drawn up in battle array eleven
checkers, with which they are about to play
football"
II the many who condemn the great outdoor
game of the American colleges for its rough
ness and its alleged brutality conld only be
here with us and see il played Oh u checker
board they would soon learn how much there
is to it besides what appears on the surface to
the uninitiated. What science, what study,
what strategy.
Each Of the two players has his checkers
placed as he would place his men if they were
about to play a game of foot ball on the field.
In the front line OF each mans checkers are
seven in a row. They represent the rush line.
immediately back of them is a single checker.
That is the quarter back. to whom the ball is
snapped by the center man i'll the rush line.
Still further back are two more to represent
the half backs, and yet further in the rear Is
one to stand for the full back. Having thus ar
ranged the checkers the game begins.
suppose, now" says Capt. Poe, that you
are playing right end rush of your line and
your side has the ball. Your center rush snaps
II back to your quarter back and he in turn
passes it to the right half, who runs with it.
What would You, in your position Of right end
rush, do in that case?'
The substitute scans the miniature field for a
minute critically and then answers decidedly:
why, would start on u run, just a few feet
ahead OF the half back who was running with
the ball and interfere with any of your men
who tried to tackle or stop him. I'd get in
their way. and instead of tackling and jumping
on him they'd fall against me and he would go
ahead with the ball. Wouldn't I?'
No; you wouldn't" answered Poe. ''Your
work is to take care of your opposing end rush.
He Is the most dangerous man on the other side
when half back runs around his end. You must
watch him and let your quarter back and the
other half back interfere for the man with the
ball. II doesn't matter which way the end
rusher on the other end runs or how he lodges,
you keep in his way. If he shoves you off run
after him and get in front of him and in his
way again. Keep in his way until the man with
the ball has been stopped and it is time to form
In the line again"
Capt. Poe pauses for a minute and then con-
tinues:
Now, take the same play over again. Re-
member that your right half back is running
with the ball and that you are to keep your OPP
posing end rush away from him. Which way
should you shove him? Toward the boundary
line at the side of the field or in toward the
cepter?"
'.Oh, toward the center, of course
Il don't know exactly why" admits the pupil
doubtfuiy, Il only know that / was told to do
So"
There is a reason for everything in foot
ball, saws Poe. Don't you see that if all the
men on the rush line showed the men opposing
toward the outside they would simply send
them out into that part of the field where their
own half back was running with the ball. and
so give them a chance to tackle him? But if
three rushers on one side of the center shove
in, and the rushers on the other side shove in
also, you get the other rush line all punched
up together in a mass. They interfere with
each other; they get IN their own way and you
in theirs.
Now We will try run through the rush line
by one of the rushers. Suppose that am in
my place at quarter back and that want Jane
way, who plays guard on my right. to run with
the ball between you. who are playing end
rusher on the right, and the man next you. As
soon as / give the signal, play hard now,
which means that Janeway is to run with the
ball. what do you and the man next you do?"
Shove the men opposite US right and left,
30 as TO make an open for Janeway."
m S(dcE