The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-02
JACKSONVILLE THE WINNER.
DEFEATED THE. SAVANNAH TEAM
TO o.

81
i becoming Features-GrOunds Were
n Wet and soGsy and Good Play Al
h most ImpossibIe-The story of the
Struggle From Start to Finish.
Rows Narrowly Averted.
According to Savannahs claims the
Jacksonville Football team, with the able,
if somewhat unusual and unforeseen as
sistance of one Of its players, whose part
in the victory was merely vocal and off,
cial, defeated Savannah at the Bolton
| street park yesterday afternoon, by a
score of five to nothing.
The game was not a nice one. The
Savannah team. in the matter OF rag
chewing, was bad enough in all con-
science, but its efforts in that line made
it look like at lot of hundred-to-one shots
compared to the noise-producing, protest.
making, ever-in-evidence experts from the
Florida metropolis From the misty an
tiquities that enshroud the way in which
baseball used 10 be played, the word,
"Judgmen," was dug up and yelled at
the umpire or referee every time the ball
was downed. ....-
The Jacksonville man who contributed
much to the Jacksonville victory was Mr..
Seton Fleming, a member of its team who
did not play in the game. However, he
was umpire during the first half and
referee the second, and this, from the Sa-
vannah players standpoint, was enough.
OF course Mr.. Flemings desire to see his
team win was quite natural but its mani
festation caused violent attacks of that
tired feeling" almost to overcome those
who are familiar with the game.
Capt. Bryan. of Jacksonville. won the
toss and took the ball. Capt. duBignon of
Savannah selecting the south goal. There
was little wind and practically no advan-
tage in the matter of the goals The
ground however, was wet and soggy, COW
cred with pools of water and generally in
beastiy bad condition. The fact that
the ball soon became wet and muddy ac-
counts, in part, for the numerous fumbes
by which the game was marred.
When the referees whistle blew for the
commencement Of the first half, Full
back Turner of Jackspnville, kicked off
to Savannah's twenty-yard line. Nc
Intyre caught the ball and with good
interference made a magnificent run of
fifty yards, carrying the ball back to
Jacksonviles territory, from which, dur
ing the first half, it never afterwards
emerged.
BERTHE Sullivan carried the ball through
| Jacksonvilles line for a gain of four
yards and then it was lost to Jacksonville
on a tumble. 1t came back to Savan-
nah, on a tumble on Jacksonville's thirty
| five yard line. Savannah could not gain
and on the third down, duBignon kicked
| to Jacksonville's twenty-yard line.
For the rest of the half the ball Surged
back and forth, Savannah and Jackson
vile alternating in attempts to gain
| ground, with almost uniform lack of sue
| cess. In the meantime Umpire Fleming
| spent his voice in directing the attention
| Of the Savannah players to the fact that
they were offside and on one occasion
gave Jacksonville five yards for an offside
| play on the part of Savannah. In the
meantime also Jacksonville's left half-
| back and left end were consistently ana
| invariably offside in almost every play
! that was made This fact was marked
and commented on freely by everyone Oh
the eastern side of the field
| AT the close of the half the ball was on
tJacksonvilles thirty-flve yard line and IN
the possession of Savannah. Time, TWEEN
| ty-five minutes; score, 90.
| The second half started with the bail
| in Savannah's possession. The goals
were changed and this time Savannah de-
Tended that on the north side of the
| field. Mcintyre kicked off to Jackson
ville's twenty-yard line and the Jackson
| vile man who caught the BAH was doWl-
| ed almost in his tracks.
| jacksonville used the tackle-back for
nation made famous by the team of tne
| University of Pennsylvania, with good
| effect, but it's other tricks were too old to
| be used with much advantage and almost
| invariably resulted in lost ground. Bryan
carried the ball around Savannahs right
| end for eight yards and with other sue-
the field. Much of this time the ball was
fought for in a puddle of water, that rem
dered good playing matter of almost
total impossibility
The bail was about the center of the
field when Jacksonville punted Under
ordinary circumstances 1t would have been
an easy catch, but the ball was wet and
slippery from the mud and water, and
duBignon fumbled IT. A Jacksonville
man fell on the ball. This was on Savan-
nah's thirty-yard line.
From the thirtyyard line Fullback
Turner Of Jacksonville attempted a goal
from the field and came very near making
it. The ball struck one of the posts of the
goal and rolled out of bounds, on the side
of the field 1t was Savannah's ball on
her five-yard line. She lost 1t on a fun
BILE. With but thirty seconds yet to play
the ball was passed back to Bryan and he
carried it through the line. Then came
the incident that, according to the ref
erees decision, gave Jacksonville the
game. The umpire and referee had
changed places for the second half. and
Mr.. Fleming of Jacksonville was filing the
latter position.
According to the claims of well-known
Savannah men and Umpire Mcintyre the
ball was downed eight inches before the
line was reached After it had ceased
to move Bryan. according to this evidence
pushed II across the line. Referee Flem-
ing said il was a touchdown. He ak
cowledged, however that he had not seen
the BAN when 1t was downed and that
he based his decision entirely upon the
position 1t occupied when he reached the
spot.
There was a wild clamor and three or
four incipient fights on account of this
incident, and the Savannah men refused
to acknowledge that they had been de-
feated. Time was up and Jacksonville did
not try for a goal Time, twenty min
utes; score, 50.
The protest of the Savannah players
avais them nothing, as the decision Of
the referee in such matters is final.
In one of the scrimmages that just pre-
coded the touchdown, Quarterback Huau
of the Jacksonville team fractured his sol-
larbone and was borne from the field.
While his injury is painful and will prob
ably cause him to be confined to his bed
for some time. 1t is not serious.
The lineup Of the two teams was as