River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-10-12
FOOT BALL

In game in which almost every
player on both teams was conspicuous
at one period or another, for brilliant
work, the local Normal gridiron war
riors nosed out to 0 victory over
the crack Eau Claire high school
eleven at the Driving Association
Park in Eau Claire last Saturday.
In the first half of the game the
home team had a shade the better of
it, keeping the ball in Normal's
territory most of the time, but when
ever the play was close of their goal
line the pedagogues stopped the ad-
vance of their opponents with Earring
suddenness. Near the close of the
first quarter a successful forward
pass gave Eau Claire first down with
the ball within an inch of Normal's
goal line. The rooters, certain of a
touchdown. began counting the score.
Eau Claire tried the line at right
tackle, and the ball was still an inch
from the line on second down A try
at left tackle was likewise a failure,
and on the last down Eau Claire lost
the ball a yard from the goal and
Foley punted out of danger.
In the third quarter Normal kicked
off. Eau Claire tried the line twice,
and then lost the ball on a forward
pass. Normal then brought a new
play into action, a shift play which
they had not tried before during the
game. Condit gained fifteen yards,
and on the following play was again
called on and added twenty yards
more The shift play was again
tried, and Bergh got through for
twenty-five yards and the only touch
down of the game. Peirce kicked a
perfect goal. From then to the
finish Eau Claire played desperately
to score, but the pedagogues held
them relentlessly and the ball was in
local territory the greater part of the
time.
Keith, the Normal quarter, was
without question, the star performer
His wonderful defensive play was one
of the main factors in the Normal
victory. Time after time Keith
nailed an Eau Claire runner who had
got through the line, and he always
nailed them hard and sure. His
generalship on the offensive was
excellent, always directing the plays
most effectively. For Eau Claire,
their auburn haired center was the
star, proving the most troublesome
to the Normal interference. Eau
Claires right half back seemed to be
the most elusive on the offense, and
was responsible for most of their
gains. Foley's punting was excep-
tionally good. He was called on
often to boot the ball and always re-
sponded with long, high punt that
gave the pedagogues great advan
tage. The line held fine on punts.
Sherburne played grand game at
center, his passes being perfect.
The endurance of the Normal boys
was a great surprise to the Eau
Claire followers. The Eau Claire
gridiron is over a mile from the
school and the players run to and
from practice every afternoon, and
this was expected to "put them in
wind for the most gruelling en-
counter but in the last half of Satur-
days game every play found an Eau
Claire player taking time out to re-
cover his wind, while the pedagogues
appeared nearly as fresh as at the
start.
Next Saturday Normal goes to
Chippewa Falls to play the high
school Of that city At Eau Claire
they report Chippewa as equal or
even stronger than their own team.
and it is certain that Normal will
have another hard game. There will
undoubtedly be large number of Eau
Claire rooters at the game to en-
courage Normal as it would hurt Eau
Claire's pride greatly to have Chip
pewa win from a team that had de-
feated them.