Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-04
POMONA ELEVEN
BELOW STANDARD
COACH STANTON NOT AT ALL
SATISFIED
MATERIAL THIS YEAR is UNDER
THE AVERAGE
Spirit Is Good and Many Report for
Practice, but Players Fall Below
the Requirements in
Experience
by ". LAYTON STANTON

The football situation at Pomona is
not such as would give one overcon-
fidence. The spirit is good. as is shown
by tho number of candidates report
ing for practice, but the material Is
under the average. Only four of last
years team have returned-Taylor,
captain; Vaille at quarter; Mahoney al
| half, and Parker at end. Shut, a fresh
man, also will be given chance al
quarter. Besides these two, there al
least are two other candidates for tht
quarter position, none of whom viii
weigh over 140 pounds.
The inexperience of the men in gen.
eral shows itself in the rudiments OF
| the game. The tackling is high and
the falling on the ball awkward, but
the disposition to try with fierceness
and without fear is all there. This is
the hope of the team.
Learning the rudiments of handling
the ball has somewhat delayed the
scrimmage work. The delay will con-
tinue more or less for the next two
weeks. when the freshmen will have
played out their schedule and then can
be used daily in varsity practice.
Candidates for the line positions are
scarce. A scrub line will have to be
made from the numerous applicants for
the back field. Clark, a freshman, who
weighs 1870 pounds, but who is entirely
new at the game, may be worked up for
one of the guard positions. Taylor is
being tried at tackle. Fuller, heavy
man, is being tried out at the other
tackle position. If Weinland, last years
substitute, makes good at center. Full
Ter probably will be kept at tackle.
Crawford, a junior. but who has been
out of the game for some time, is show
ing up fairly we'll at left quarter. His
weight is 170 pounds.
Men for the end positions are nu-
merous, promising good things for the
future. Parker of last years team and
Benner, who has been out of the game
for a year, also Gore, seem at present
to have. the advantage Besides these
three there at least are three other
ends who will make varsity material.
No fullback yet is in sight. One of
the candidates for the halfback posi-
tions probably will be developed at
full. Hartzell, a senior, has the advan-
tage for this position at present. al
though showing many weak points, the
most noticeable being weakness in the
kicking line. He promises to develop
into a line bucker before the season is
over
OF the haIfbacks Mahoney is leading,
because of his aptness N the kicking
line, also accuracy in passing. While
the above player is the most likely
punter Pomona has, he still is far from
what is needed in a kicker. He is show
ing up we'll in defensive playing and in
running in an open field. Birdsall, the
two Tangemans, Carver, a freshman,
Becker and one or two others will de-
velop into strong backs with coaching.
The idea is to develop two back fields,
as most of the offensive work rests
with these positions and with the ends.
In general the scrimmages of the last
few days have found the line playing
high-no surprise at this stage of the
game, and defect that wears off with
age. The backs are slow getting under
way and run too independently, two
faults that also wear off with time.
Pomonas real cause for alarm is in
lack of man who can punt. This may
haze been brought about by letting one
man do all the punting in former
years. In such state of destitution
various men are being tried out daily,
one of whom might show some natural
ability to boot the leather. OF course
kick until a punter is found, not only
one who can get punt off back of a
line, but one who can, while on the
run, place a punt.
The onside kick, when handled by an
accurate and heady man. is safer than
a forward pass. On kick everybody
is put onside by the ball touching the
ground. On pass the ball striking
the ground is penalized, the ruling of
last year allowing only the one man
to recover a tumble. making the for
ward pass even more precarious.
The forward pass still is In its In
fancy. Only two of the large teams last
year made consistent gains with it,
Yale and the Indians. Yale used It
against teams that had no
defense for it. Otherwise she left 1t
strictly alone and got down to straight
football. Warner of the Carlisle In
dams perfected the forward pass as