Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1912-11-18
NAVY STOCK SHOWED
STRENGTH SATURDAY
Middies Pile Up Record Score OF
40 To 0, On N. c. Aggies.
VISITORS HAD WEAK TEAM.
But Sailor Lads Showed Improvement
In Offensive ork-Forward Pass
Successful.

Although the Agricultural ana
Mechanical College of North Caro-
lima brought to Annapolis far weak
er team than had been expected and
the midshipmen found it rather easy
picking to roll up the large score of
40 to 0, still the general work of the
middies showed much improvement,
particularly in the offensive tactics.
Yet the middies are far behind time
IN hitting the proper stride, and while
only two weeks remain before the
big game against the West Point
cadets, friends of the eleven conf
IDENTIFY feel that the improvement will
be steady and that the team will be
whipped into winning form, by the
day Of the big engagement on Frank
lin Field.
While the Iniddies are demon
strating to their followers that they
are coming back" to form the rival
West Point cadets were having diff
Guilty in clinching victory over the
eleven of Tufts College. The soldiers
won by I6 to 6, but the score, ac-
cording to all reports, does not indi-
cate the hard time the cadets exper-
fenced in landing the victory.
So, it seems that West Point IS not
playing to the form shown in the
early part of the season, when they
held Yale to a to o score, and after
all there is room Tor improvement in
both of the service teams that will
make the outcome of the struggle on
franklin Field quite uncertain.
That improvement was shown
Saturday is probably due in q large
measure to the many shifts made in
the lineup as result of the week s
practice, and altogether the eleven
that started against the lads from the
Tar Heel State was probably the
most formidable aggregation that has
been banded together this season.
Not only by the line positions held
mostly by stocky veterans from last
season, but the backfield, too, com
prised some OF the heaviest men at
the Academy. The makeup of the
backfield comprised Captain Rodes,
at quarter, McReavy and Harrison,
both big fellows. the former at half
and Harrison Iat fullback, and Leon
ard, small lad, at the other half.
fhis quartette put far greater steam
into the attack than any arrange
ment that has gone on the field this
year, despite the weakness of the
visiting team. Most noticeable of
all was the manner in which several
players got into the interference for
end running. This, hitherto, ha S
been one of the weakest points of
the middies' playing And another
thing, there was a fine display of
modern playing, such as variation of
the forward pass, and neat combi-
nation of delayed pass, plays that
the team has resorted to but very
seldom this season.
McReavy got off some particularly
good forward passes several Of which
counted for great gains, ami helped
materially in the scoring of touch
downs. On one pass that was sue
cessfullly completed, big Babe Brown
got away for 25-yard run and plant
ed the ball behind the goal line, while
McReavy essayed a 4O-yard sprint,
but on both of these occasions the
runners were called back, because the
officials found the middies guilty Of
holding in the open field. However,
the success STAINED by the open
playing furnished much encourage
ment to adherents of the team.
And there was just another thing
that brought an element of gratifica-
tion to the Navy followers aud that
was the success attained in field goal
kicking. Nine of the total points
came by tbs means. Three field goals
were kicked, one from placement by
Brown, and two others the result OF
drop kicks by Leonard and Myers.
The middies played the regular line
up throughout the first half which
ended with the score 16 to 0. Ever
though q multitude of substitutions
was made in the second half, still the
visitors could not hold the middies il
check. Towards the close of the
game, nearly the whole scrub team
was on the reld.
While the middies let themselve:
loose in offensive work, the defense
of the team also held up strong
Time and again the heavy forwards
broke through and smeared the visi
tors attack and threw the runner fcl
loss. At no stage of the game die
the Aggies menace the Navy goa
line. Three first downs were the best
they could credit to the efforts Of
their attacking power.