Evening star., 1912-11-17

field. but under the circumstances a short
punt would have been more effective. 1t
tried the pass, but 1t was intercepted.
Virginia was held, but it punted. the
ball was fumbled and recovered. That
Is the point from which it got into such
position that a touchdown was made.
That Is an aftermath, though. and 1t
is easy to point out faults after they
have been made.
Gooch. the Virginia quarterback, got
a great deal out of his team. considering
what he had to work with. He had
probably one of the poorest backfields
which Virginia has had in years, with
one possible exception, but still he man.
aged to gain great deal of ground. In
fact, 1t would not be at all surprising If
the Virginia eleven did not cover a great
er distance by rushing and forward pass
ing than did the Blue and Gray. From a
casual glance 1t would appear that such
would be the case.
That the Virginia eleven had been in
structed to take chances was shown by
the fact that Gooch started off with a
chance play right at the beginning of
the game. He had run but one play,
that from kick formation when he tried
forward pass directly over his line OF
scrimmage from the same lineup. 1t
was down In his own territory that the
narily a quarterback would be removed
from game If he tried such a play.
1t was claimed on many sides that the
Georgetown line was being outplayed.
Such was not the case. Virginia was
playing to stop the Blue and Gray backs
from making gains through the line, and
1t kept its secondary defense up close all
the time. Georgetown, on the contrary.
played it's backs behind the line of scrim-
m q % Scfn r 1oh do
fense. while the Orange and Blue had
just the opposite
Virginia. successfully stopped the Blue
and Gray backs from hitting its line,
but 1t was more because of the fine
manner in which the secondary defense
came to the support of the forwards than
it was on account of any very superior
play on the part of the linemen. 1t is no
dtscredit to the Virginia men to say that.
because there is not the least doubt in
the world that the forwards they were
up against are the best in the south.
Wood. the Virginia center. played a
mighty good game Of foot ball until he
was taken out, at the beginning of tine
last quarter. He was not only up against
a man who was about thirty pounds
heavier than he was, but he was compeii-
ed to get that man when his eleven was
playing on the offense, besides blocking
Off lineman for moment on each play.
work it was in his inability to get the
ball back to Todd accurately when the
latter was running from kick formation.
Ritch. the Georgetown man who played
in front Of Wood. also did some clever
work He passed well and got down un-
der the kicks with facility.
The Georgetown ends did not cover the
kicks Costello got away as well as did
the Virginia men. At times it looked very
much as If the whole Virginia line had
been instructed to go down as soon as
the ball was snapped In order to cover
Costello. 1t looked that way from the
manner in which the Georgetown for
wards came pouring in on Gooch when
he was kicking.
As fast and as clever as Costello is in
the open field, he was seldom abele to
break away from the Virginia tacklers
after receiving punt for more than a
few yards at time. With the one ex-
ceptton when he got up after being
downed almost and ran in the opposite
direction. clearing the field for the
touchdown. Costello was covered almost
completely practically every time he re-
ceived kick.
The Indians defense was shattered by
the Pennsylvania eleven yesterday for
the first time this year The Quakers
scored on the Indians almost at will in
spite Of the fact that the Indians gained
an immense amount of ground on their
own behalf.
It is seldom that two teams in a foot
ball game SO shatter the defense put up
by each other that they both score sew
eral touchdowns. A score of "a to %
will not be seen in any number Of sea-
sons. That was caused in that contest
because the Indians main strength has
been in their offense. and their defense
has not been especially strong at any
time this year. They were probably
unable to stop the powerful Pennsyl-
vania backs.