Omaha daily bee., 1891-11-29

runner w 9TH the ball is brought about.
Referring once moro to a picture OF tho
rush lines, as they stand 10 a scrimmage, we
notice that there are eight spaces through
which a run can be made:
9 3 4 5 9 3
Two OF these, | and s, are outside the end
men, and extend from them TO the boundary
lines. These two spaces are constantly
changing, according to where the ball is down
for q scrimmage. IL the scrImmage is MD
way between the side lines they are equal, but
as IL approaches one or the other SIDE lines
the space next the line decreases while the
other increases. Thus opportunities are con
stantly given for making what Is termed an
lend play,n and generally speaking the
chances are best on the side where the space
Ia larger.
PLAYING around the ends has come to be
one of the most popular plays, because If
successful it usually results in a long gain.
In this part of the rush line there is less pro-
lection, for experience has taught that IT. Is
better 10 strengthen the center by keeping
the men close together in that place, and
trust to the distance q runner with the ball
would have to 70 to reach the end TO give
assistance to that spot. An end play is the
most interesting of all the plays to the spec
tators because of the open running and dodg-
ing which always takes place, the fine block
ing off, and then the brilliant tackle which
is likely to follow on the play. but TO the
careless observer what sometimes seems like
d lODB run vi lulS pay 10 LIclCly uSiOoo
the field with little or no gain.
In 1889 the end play was perfected by the
system OF interference then originated. Be-
fore this the half back making the play had
to depend largely on his own end mau for his
assistance, but in that year Princeton, by
skilfully running their two half-backs ana
quarter oacK ahead of the full back or tackle
with the ball, were able to get around the
ends more frequently and to make longer
gains. | happened to see the Harvard
prinrat0n game or that wear where the new
system was put into use and with terrible ef-
feet against Harvard. Time and again
''Snake'' Ames ran around the Harvard
ends, being beautifully guarded, and made
touchdown after touchdown after brilliant
ly covering thirty, forty or fifty yards.
The most common way is for one of the
half-backs to take the ball and TO run around
the opposite end preceded by his intcrfererS.
Spaces 2 and Z, between end and tackle.
are the next largest in sizes. Plays through
these holes have become more and more fire.
quent. Systems of interference have been
originated which make this opening one of
best for playing. Last year this spot in the
line wa a frequent place OF attack by both
Harvard and Yale, and this year it will be
used even more frequently. In this play the
end man is showed out toward the side of the
field, while the tackle is showed in toward the
center.
Spaces 3 and 6 have to be made by
the tackle and guard pushing their oppo-
nents out and IN, respectively, as the players
stand close together in this part of the line.
These are used a great deal in advancing the
ball, not only by the backs, but also by the
tackles and guards when the latter run
around ana take the ball from the quarter
back. | think that these spaces are used
more than any other pair, especially for
plunging for short gains. | remember very
sorrowfully The way Princeton plowed for
sixty yards straight down tho field through
this spot in our Yale rush line atter Billy
Rhodes was put off in the Berkeley-Oval
game of 1889.
Spaces 4 and 5 are not quite sos vuln-
cradle as 3 and q, although they can
be made very effective for playing when the
center rusher and guards thoroughly under
stand their work. a remarkable instance OF
this occurred in tho ale-Princeton game of
1885, which contest was also notable for
Lamar's famous run of over two-tnirds of the
length OF the field, thereby winning the game
after Yale had it well III hand and with only
six minutes more to play. Princeton had
forced Yale down to her five or ten-yard limo
amidst tremendous cheering on the part of
her supporters, who thought that a touch
down must follow. But ale here made u
grand rally and secured the ball, and then
began that memorable series of short plunges
through the center by Ben Morrison and
Watkinson, carrying the bail from near their
own goal line well into Princeton'S territory,
a feat only surpassed in the large games by
that of Yale in last years game at Spring
field, when the ball was carried from the
center of the field for n touch down without
once losing it.
No member of an eleven Is debarred from
rnEning with the ball from a scrimmage If he
conforms with the rule that no one can run
forward with the ball until 1t has touched a
third man. This, then, would allow every
body except the center rusher, who puts it in
play, and the quarter back, who receives il,
TO ran with the ball, but 1t would be unwise
to run every player. Up to 1888 the center
rusher sometimes put the bali into play by
making n bunt kick, and then picking 1t up
and running with II. In the Harvard
game of that year Corbin, Yale's center
rusher, distinguished himself by doing this
twice for long gains, one of them netting u
touchdown. The quarter back also was more
frequently used for running through the line
than now, but the ball used to be handed to
him by one of the guards, who picked it out
from under the snapper-back'S feet.
Harry Boecher, Yale's famous little guar
ter back, used to make this play to perfection,
scarcely ever failing to make a good gain,
Frank Peters, who was captain OF Yale when
Beecher first played quarter-back, had the
curious signal of splitting on tho ground for
this play, and then little Beecher would be
seen emerging from n hole in the opposing
rush line and go lodging down the field.
l said that everybody except the center
rusher can run with the ball from a scrim-
mage, but that IL is unwise to run some on
account of the disadvantage of their position.
The players most used in running are the
backs, the tackles and the guards. OF these
II OdChS dIo IN al u UtSl ChuuCb uldho
gains Dy reason of their being in a good posi-
ton for going forward; the tackles com next
because of the speed they can get on before
reaching their hole, and the guards are valu-
able for running, as a rule, only when they
are unusually fine players or when the ether
side are not expecting them to run and are off
their guard.
Team play In any large degree as we now
see IL dates back only a very few years. 1t
Is not long since an eleven was computed by
the number of star players IL possessed. To
be sure there was an attempt made at team
play, but IL involved only two or three play
ers ut one'time and was confined TO two or
three lines of action. Nor was there the
chance in those days for tho definite concen-
trated action, when the major part of tho
game consisted In kicking tine ball. But
with the development of the running game
grew up a system of movements in which
svery member of the team performed a cer-
tain definite work. AS a natural sequence TO
the performance OF these movements, signals
Indicating the play about to take place came
10 be used. AT first such words as naturally
fell from the captains lips, such as 'play
carefully STEADY work. 'hold your
men, - ''get down on a kick "block hard, -
'Abreak through" "play fast" etc, were
nsed starting from single words, then using
phrases or whole sentences, then u particular