The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-28
MOST DISASTROUS SEASON IN HIS
TORY OF NAVAL ACADEMY ELEVEN
WILL FIGHT WITH
DESPERATE HOPE.
PROSPECTS THAT WE'RE BRIGHT
ARE NOW ON THE WANE.

Worst Luck Was Experienced with
the TacI<Ies-Grady, the Big Mas
sachusetts Boy, Was So Badly In
tured He Cannot PIay-FarIey, the
other Tackle, Is Ill with Typhoid
Fever-TWO Light Boys will be Put
in ut TackIe-Middies Will Fight
Hard, However, and VIII Defend
FOrIOrn Hope.
For the first time in several years
the army and navy viii meet in con
flict as desperate, if not as deadly, as
on real battlefelds, when representa-
tive elevens from the two branches of
the service will clash on the gridiron
at Philadelphia to-day.
Down in the bottom of their hearts
the followers of the Annapolis team
realize that only something a little
short of a miracle can bring about
victory over the army.
This year has been a perfect series
of accidents and illness of players at
Annapolis, and the failure to make
good by new men who were relied upon
until the navy is about to close the
most disastrous season of it's history
Notwithstanding all this, the navy
team went to work in the last week of
practice to make the best of a forlorn
hope, and will meet the army with such
spirit that everybody will at least real
ize that there are two teams on the
field. There are no star players on the
team this year. but they are a spirited
lot, and are certain to fight desperately.
Began Nith Fair Prospects.
The navy began the season with fair
prospects. Most of the backs of last
years team and several of the regu-
lar linemen were back, and there were
great hopes from the 300 and more
members of the new class.
The season began with Halsey at
full-back, Straussburger and Root at
half-back and Needham, who played
on the Yale Freshman team last year,
at quarter back. Halsey and Strauss
burger have played steady games and
are secure in their positions. Needham
soon showed that he was an Unrelia-
BILE tackler, and after Shoup, Whiting
and Wilcox had been tried, the choice
for quarterback has fallen to the lat
ter, who is a fast player and hard
taclIler.
The other backfield position is not
yet settled. DOwell was picked for the
winner and played on Saturday last,
but he made a miserable showing and
the place will likely go to Doherty,
who did not have much opportunity
at the early part of the season, as he
was recovering from an attack of ty-
phoid fever. Jones and Root are also
possibilities.
The line has been changed in every
game since the season began, and
there is still uncertainty in some
spots. The ends who have played in
most of the games are Capt Soule and
Howard Whiting, the regular left end
for the two previous seasons, seems to
have been permanently displaced by
Howard, whose defensive work is just
as good as Writings and whose serv-
ices as a punter are very necessary to
the team.
Bad Luck with Tackles.
The navy has met with the worst kind
of luck at the tackle positions. The
season was begun with Grady and Far
ley, both Massachusetts boys. The
former weights 1874 pounds, and is six
feet two inches in hight. He has play
ed regularly and showed improvement
in every contest, but during the game
with Virginia Polytechnic, his ankle
was sprained so badly that he is not
likely to play against West Point. Far
ley was the most aggressive man on the
team, but he has been taken down with
typhoid fever, and, of course, will not
play. Piersol, a fourth class man, who
only weighs III pounds, will play right
tackle against West Point. Rees whose
weight is about the same, will likely
play the other tackle position. Both
are fair players, but not strong enough
to be good men for the positions.
Center will be looked after by fair
ly good men, who cannot possibly do
more than protect their position from
direct assault. Oak, right guard, is
the heaviest man on the team. He is
hard to move from his position, but does
not cover much ground. The choice
for the other guard will probably fall
to Chambers. a 1S6-pound fourth class
man, who is strong and willing, but
not experienced. Goss, who has play
ed center most of the season, has not
been entirely satisfactory on account
of his poor passing, and Rees was sub
stituted for him. If Rees, however,
is put in Grady's place at tackle, Goss
may return to center, or Mckinney may
be preferred.
Too Much Shifting.
The team work of the midshipmen
has suffered severely from this con-
tinual shifting around, and there has
been very little practice of good, swift
end runs which might have given the
light team a little chance against the
heavier army team. The line is very
weak and inexperienced on the whole
and has been outclassed in nearly
every game this year. The backs are
fair and would have made a satisfac-
tory showing if properly protected by
the forwards.
A consideration of the games played
this season does not afford any more
hope of victory than the inspection of
the individual players. The work of
the early part of the season was fair,
but towards the latter part. as the
other teams were rounding into shape,
there has been nothing to give encour-
ngement