The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-10-08
SCORED TWO GAMES.
MANKATO SUCCESSFUL ON THE
GRIDIRON SATURDAY.
Lake Crystal Fell Victims to the Kick
ers of the High and the Sleepy
Eye Boys Defeated By the Nor.
mails; Weather Was Ideal for the
Opening of the 1909 Football
Season. a"
From Mondays Daily.

| From Mondays Daily. sr
Mankato scored two gridiron games
on Saturday. The weather was ideal
upon which to begin the football seas
on, except for the fact that the tenn
perature was a little too high. However.
the good weather helped to bring out
the people and large crowd gath
cred at the fair grounds to witness the
double header, Mankato high and Lake
Crystal and the normal school and
Sleepy Eye.
In the first game Mankato won
the toss and chose the north goal. and
Lake Crystal kicked off, Merchant re-
turned the ball fifteen yards. With a
series of cross bucks and forward
passes, Mankato got the ball up to
Lake Crystals twenty yard line, when
NIankato lost on a forward pass. Lake
Crystal was unable to gain and was
forced to kick. Mankatos ball on their
forty yard line from where they forced
it over for a touch down. Hughes
kicked goal and the score was 6 to
0 in favor of Mankato A second
touch down followed soon after the
first. Hughes failed to kick goal and
the score for the first half was II to O..
In the second half, Mankato kicked
to Lake Crystal and went through
Lake Crystals line at will, making one
touchdown in the second half. The back
field did good work all the way
through but the line did not have
much chance to show its strength.
Final score l6 to in favor of Man
kato.
Time of the halves was fifteen min
utes and Mr.. Wirth, physical instruc-
tor of the Y. M. C. A. referee.
Normal School and Sleepy Eye.
Sleepy Eye won the toss and chose
the north goal, forcing Mankato to
kick off. Sleepy Eye was unable to
gain much ground and was forced to
punt Bron failed to catch the punt
but recovered it on the tumble. A
few line plays were made by the nor
NAL and forward pass was tried
which was fumbled, giving the ball to
the Sleepy Eye team. The sleepy Eye
man who obtained the ball ran about
sixty yards for touchdown. Sleepy
Eye failed to kick goal and the score
stood 5 to 0 in favor of Sleepy Eye.
Normal knicked off to Sleepy Eye and
Sleepy Eye ran the ball back about
twenty -five yards. In some manner
Armstrong of the Sleepy Eye team be-
came confused and carried the ball
forty yards back behind his own goal
for safety, comting two points for
play by punt for the % yard line
and normal carried the ball by line
plunges and end runs over the line for
their first touchdown. The try at goal
failed, leaving the score 7 to 5 in
favor of the normal
During the second half the work was
more consistent in both teams and
no touchdowns were made. The Sleepy
Eye team was fast and played good
ball. The work of the normal team
during the first half was very loose
and ragged owing to the presence of so
many green men, but during the Sec
ond half they improved greatly, and
made good showing for a team that
had never before lined up against a
full team for scrimmage. Through
mistake of the referee the game
was called tie but was afterwards
corrected by Mr. Wirth, which gave
the game to the normal.
Both games were free from rough
play or wrangling and the best of
good nature prevailed throughout the
| afternoon.
Manager Griebel made an announce
ment before the game that the winning
teams would receive complimentary
seats to the Mankato Theatre in the
evening which was met with great APP
plause from the field.
The winners attended "King DOdo''
and made their presence known by
some good school yells, and Coaches
Nichols and Crawford accompanied the
boys. A cheer and yell was also
give between acts for Manager Griebel
in which the boys stated that "Mr.
Griebel was all right"
Governor Eberhart Is Fan.
Minneapolis Tribune: Governor Eb-
erhart is an enthusiastic football adj
vocate, as was his predecessor, John
A. johnson.
81 liked the game very much and
believe Minnesota has the best start
in years." exclaimed the states chief
executive with fervor, after Saturdays
game, backing up his remark with a
discussion of the plays and players OF
the day that shows a surprising famiR
iarity with the subject.
81 liked the way the Minnesota boys
kept after the ball. They were always
on deck when they were needed, pull
ing and pushing with will. Johnston
and doughty little McGovern are
worthy defenders of the maroon and
gold. All the players did well and
if they keep up Saturdays pace we
can look for the best football for sew
eral years.
eyes, it was a very good game in
so far as the Minnesota end was con-
cerned. Let's see, Chicago is here on
Oct. 30? Fine!"
The governor occupied box in the
middle of the big grandstand and was
L. -. hn