Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-02
Football in Iowa This Year Dis
tinguished by Several Mem
Orable Events
eR'NNELL IN THIRD PLACE
Her Defeat of Drake, However, Was
Regarded az Somewhat Of an Acct
dent-The Minor Colleges Lost In
Maze of Conflicting Claims as to
Position.
IBy X. d. steere.l

=
Iowa City, Dec. 2-The past season
in Iowa has been made memorable on
account Of several events that have
distinguished 1t from the seasons Of
the past five years. Thanksgiving
found the state university holding the
undisputed championship of the state
with the best team that Coach Chal-
mers has brought out in the three years
that he has been coaching the Hawk
eyes. Ames had again gone down in
defeat In hair raising contest and
in their last game had narrowly es-
capped defeat at the hands Of the
much abused Drake squad. Grinnell
which early in November had been
putting up a strong bid for the cham
pionship had passed down and out and
could no longer be considered factor
in anything
The ranking Of the teams this year
has been more difficult than any pre-
ceding season. The first two places
belong undisputedly to the state uni
versity and Ames. On the basis Of Its
game with Drake, which 1t won five
to four, Grinnell claims the right to
the third position, though with the
exception of that one game the sea-
sons record for Drake has the Scar
let and Black bested. The magnifl-
cent game played by Heston's squad
against Ristine's heavy machine on
Turkey day. should alone entitle them
to rank in the third place. The Grin
nell victory can only be considered In
the nature OF very lucky one, but
"Foot Ball Luck" counts In the score
sheets as much as team play and fol-
lowing the custom Grinnell must be
accorded the third place and Drake
the fourth.
Below the big four teams which have
succeeded in dominating athletics in
the state this year Penn College and
Des Moines College have fought for
the major rank and not until the two
teams had met on the last day Of the
foot ball campaign did the Quakers
conclusively demonstrate that they
were putting up a superior game. The
decisive defeat they administer to
Hamilton's squad from Des Moines
brought out the fact that the minor
colleges had gotten together squad
Of good material for the first time in
several years. Below these six first
schools Morningside, Normal, Coe and
Cornell and a crowd of minor schools
and colleges are merged in confusion
of competing claims.
The only coach who has made any
attempt to introduce an open style OF
play into the state was John Chal-
mers of Iowa University and the shift
ty attack that he developed and which
was thoroughly perfected during the
last three weeks Of the season worked
a marked change in the foot ball the
DRY Of the state. Despite the fact hat
he had the best information Of wide
attacks on end Chalmers did not have
a fast enough back field to effectively
execute his plays. The men were
badly crippled for greater part OF
the time and Jack Steff seemed to be
the only consistent ground gamer.
The strength Of the Hawkeye team
consisted in the terrific line hurdling
Of Captain MacGowan and left tackle
Schwinn. These two men did not find
line In the state through which they
could not gain consistently. Their
plays were largely directed at or just
out side Of tackle and both men de-
veloped great ability in picking holes.
Ristine coach of the Ames team that
finished second in the race developed
practically nothing new. The same
old tandem that his men have been
playing for the past four years was
used with Mills or Steufer carrying the
ball and MacLhenney proved to be the
heaviest ground gamer on the lends
around" formation. His most novel
play was shifty quarterback run for
nation with massed interference
that usually formed before the oppos
ing team discovered the fake. Ristine
had an abundance Of material, and re-
putedly the best trainer in the state.
His failure to produce winning team,
if indeed the Ames squad was capa-
BILE OF 1t, can only be ascribed to the
unversitile attack and defense that
Ames employed.
Heston has been discredited in the
state for not producing a champion
ship team at Drake. Too much was
expected of him and throughout the
season he has been handicapped in
numberless ways. His lack of availa-
BILE substitutes hurt his work more
than anything else though it is un-
derstood that there was considerable
local friction that made harmonious
work impossible.