Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-11-06
NAVY Is STIL CONFIDENT.
NOT DISCOURAGED BY LAST
SATURDAYS DEFEAT.
Midshipmen Will Be Stronger When
They Meet The Army In
Philadelphia On
December 1.
ATTACK CAN BE STRENGTHEN
ED STATISTICS OF TEAM.


aged by saturdays defeat and. al
though beaten by the Pennsylvania
State College on that occasion, they
have not abandoned confidence in
their team and that il can win from
the Army on Decebmerl al Franklin
Field, Philadelphia.
While not offering ii as an excuse
for failure 10 win, il is true that the
team that was on the field Saturday
was decidedly weaker in the offense
than al its best, and in the attack can
be strengthened al least 80 per cent.
by the addition of the men W no are
out of the game on account of injur-
les and illness. IL is quite possible
that the four midshipmen who made
up the backfeld in Saturday S, game
will be entirely replaced by other play
ers before the strongest aggregation is
found.
Captain Spencer will certainly return
TO the game early this week, and may
have sufficiently recovered from the
twisted knee he received two weeks
ago to get in next Saturdays game
against Swarthmore. However. no
chances Will be taken, and the Navy
would rather lose that game than run
the chances Of having their captain
out Of his position of left halfback
when the Army is met. Norton. the
quarterback, who has had light at
tack of appendicitis, has been out Of
The hospital for several days and will
also start in practice Monday. These
two men are sure Of their places and
are much stronger players than their
substitutes on Saturday.
Whether or not Douglass will de-
velop his form of two years ago is the
question. If he does he is by far
he most sbrilliant back at the Acad-
envy and better ground gamer than
even Spencer. The leg which was
broken two seasons ago seems 10 be
in better shape than any time since
then, and Douglass is very confident
Of getting into good shape. He has
been on the field one week, but is
not yet ia good physical trim for his
hardest efforts. Ingram has been
playing right halfback and, while
hard, willing player, and good
defense man, lie has not proved par
ticnlarly good groundgainer against
strong teams.
The matter of fullback also
big question for the coaches to handle.
Norton, who weighs lS4 pounds and
is strong and experienced, has been
playing the position during the en- rly
part of the season and made an excel
lent showing. He has hip, how ever.
that has been giving him trouble and
for the last two weeks Richardson, a
fourth class man, who played ON the
eleven of the University Of Tennessee,
where Douglass got his experience,
has been filling the position. He has
shown himself q somewhat better
ground gamer than Northcroft, but not
so good ON the defensive. On North
croft S return 60 the game last week il
was desired TO use both men, and
Richardson was tried at right end,
playing behind the line frequently on
the offense. Northcroft again hurt
his hip on Saturday and if he cannot
get in the game at once, Richardson
will be returned 10 fullback.
rne coaches are still troubled with
the filling of n number of positions in
the line. Apparently but two men
can be entirely confident of their posi-
tions even nj this late date. Slingluff, !,
at center, and piersol, left tackle,
Will, barring injuries, almost certainly
be in the game against West Point.
Bernard was thought to be sure of
right end, but he has had an uncom-
monty stubborn bad ankle, aud the
team may have passed him by the
time helgets back in the game. Dague
had been making a splendid showing,
notw withtsanding his eagerness some
times leads him into interfering With
a fair catch. and Will probably be u
fixture on the other end.
The whole right side of the line,
including Shafroth, Magruder and
Richardson, made an unsatisfactory
showing on Saturday and were re-
placed in the second half Simpson
has loomed up as possibly a better
man than Magruder, and the two
guard positions are likely TO be filled
by Shafroth Meyer or Wright, none
of whom has a preference at present.
There is a general feeling here that
West Point has the start on Annapo-
lis by having the team practically
pieced out for the last two weeks and
that it Will thereby be enabled to
acquire an understanding among the
PLAYERS and team work that will be
possible, for Annapolis, whose team
has been changed about in every game,
and now, within less than four weeks
Of the great contest, is in a state of
uncertainty as to half the positions.
The Official figures as to the height
and weight Of til leading saE y
players ara: