The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-11-19
WOULD FREE SMITH BR|NCsBACK sCAlP S
BOTH NORMAL AND HIGH SCHOOL
WINS CREDIT SATURDAY.
Wells Went Down to Defeat; Score
Six to Nothing; Austin Boys and
Those in Mankato Break Even;
Season Closed for the State Insti-
tuition; an Excellent Article at the
Other Town.

IL.
Both of the Mankato football teams
made good on Saturday, the normals
winning from wells at the fair grounds
in score of to 0, and the Mankato
high, playing a tie no score game with
Austin at Austin. These scores were
especially gratifying and encouraging,
from the fact that the weather was so
unfavorable as to make winning scores
all the more difficult. 1t, was raining
at three o'clock, when the game was
called, for the Normal-Wells contest,
but both teams were in good form and
anxious to play, each side being pretty
evenly matched in weight.
Normal won the toss and chose the
north goal Wells kicked off to normal,
and normal returned the ball about
twenty yards. Normal carried ball
down field, by end runs and line plunges
to Wells fortyfve yard line, where
they were penalized fifteen yards for an
incomplete forward pass and forced to
punt. Wells then advanced the ball
fifteen yards, when they were forced
to punt.
Normal then advanced the ball for
a short time, but owing to the condi-
ton of weather, consistent games were
impossible and normal was again fore
ed to punt. Wells obtained the punt
on their own ten-yard line, and i'm
mediately lined up to punt out of
danger, but normal broke through the
line, blocked the kick and obtained the
ball on Wells four yard line. Normal
then carried ball over for the first and
only touchdown, by short end runs and
line plunges. Brom kicked goal, and
the score was to in favor of nor
NAL.
Normal kicked off to Wells. and after
an exchange of punts and some straight
football, the half ended with ball in
possession of Wells on normals thirty
yard line.
Downed Wells Man.
In the first of the second half, nor
NAL kicked off to Wells, and the Wells
man was downed in his tracks on their
own twenty yard line. They immed
lately punted out of danger and Brom
fumbled the ball, so that he returned it
but a short distance.
Normal then carried the ball down
the field for twenty-five yards. where
ho1 a,.I
forced to punt. From that time on,
owing to the slippery condition of the
field, it was punter's battle. The
half ended with the ball in possession
of normal on about the forty yard line
Wells played a strong game through
out both halves and gave the normal
team close contest. Both teams We're
slowed up considerably on account of
the muddy condition of the field, and
the slippery conditions of the ball,
which shut out all work of the open
field variety.
The game of Saturday was the first
one in which Wells goal has been
crossed this wear, which shows that
the normal did some good work, es-
pecially since the fact is true that
normal has only three of the old men
and that they were short on material
from which to choose players, there
being only seventeen men at the nor
NAL, who We're out for the football
team. Saturdays game closed the sea-
son for the normal team, they having
won three out of the six games PLAYED.
The games lost were with Austin. Shat
tuck and the Deaf and Dumb school at
Faribault
Mankato High Versus Austin High
Mankato High PLAYED tie game
with Austin. The high school team
put up the best article of football
against Austin, on Saturday, that has
yet been displayed, holding their op-
ponents to to 0 score. The field
was in the worst possible condition.
covered with about two inches of snow,
with small lakes of ice water here and
there, rain falling steadily all the af-
ternoon. The few spectators. who were
football enthusiasts, arrived in rub
Der boots, oilcoats and umbrellas.
The play was necessarily slow with
no open work whatever Austin tried
one forward pass and several onside
kicks, but the ball was too slippery
to handle, so that line plunges and
end runs were used altogether. One
feature of the game was the absence
of fumbling by the Mankato team,
and the sureness with which the quar-
ter-back got off the ten or fifteen
punts, which he was forced to use, at
one time being backed up against a
fence, three yards behind his own goal
line, and only four yards between him
and the BALL The line showed up
especially well at times like this.
Mankato's goal was threatened twice
in the second half, at one time the
ball being less than one foot from the
goal line and Austin's first down. The
line held like line of posts and Aus
tin lost two yards on the three plays,
Mankato recovering the ball and punt
ing out of danger. During the second
half the superior weight of the Aus
tin team began to tell and the bali
was in the Mankato territory the lat
ter part of this half.
Tried Forward Pass.
Maukato won tho tOSc opJ A,,cf;,,