The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-28
0liphant Responsible for All Scoring Navy Eleven Fights to Last, But to No Avail - Craig's Tumble Opens Way to First Army Touchdown Large and Enthusiastic Crowd Sees Soldiers Battle Way to Victory

New York, November 27.-The Army football eleven. showing better state of preparedness than the Navy team. tri- t1nphed over their Annapolis rivals here today, 14 to 0. Twice during the Commute battle the soldiers hurried a 42-centfmeter shell in the person of Elmer c. Olphant through the protective armor of the sail- ors' battleship and in the gray dusk of a drizzling afternoon the midshipmen's s craft went down with every gun working desperately but futilely.
 Although the middy team fought with un1iinching courage, the struggle availed it nothing against the overwhelming power of the cadets attack. The irresis- tibIe charges of the former Purdue uni versity star could nov be stopped and the West Pointers time and aagin pierced the first and second lines of defense un- til the Navy was bent and exhausted by its efforts to check defeat.
 Had Oliphant been injured in the open ing minutes of the conflict the midship- men might have had a chance, but the middle western footfall battering ram re- fused to heed the savage tackling that scarcely halted his mad rushes
 Through the line and around the ends he crashed or sprinted, hurling off tack Ter after tacl1ler until the mddies found that it required the entire eleven to stop him at times. It was not always possible to concentrate the whole squad in his flying path and his gains constituted about 70 per cent of the distance cov- cred by the Army charges.
 President Wilson and some 4,000 other .t,,% .4al.-Y AL rival arn's of the service, forgetting in their enthusiasm clammy, gray mist and the occasional drizzle of rain which marred an otherwise perfect gridiron classic fought out in a setting never sur passed i'll the history of the Army-Navy football series. The improvised grdiron was surrounded by permanent and tenn porary stands which housed for a few hours a distinguished host of government, army and navy officers, as well as prom lnent society representatives from almost every city in the country. In the midst of the eayly colored throng two spots of unusually brilliant hues stood out where the two battalions from the academies were qualIered in the side line stands. From these points of vantage the cadets and the middies hurled songs and cheers across the field, led by the blare of the rival Institution bands.
 The vocal uproar was terrific and sus- tanned. There was not a moment of waiting on the part of either the soldiers or the sailors. From the minute the two eleyens went into action the sound waves rolled to midfield, where they crashed over the heads of the steaming, strug- gling players who fought on apparently oblivious to the din.
 The break of the game came almost immediately after the kiclx-off and West Point profited. After the opening play there was an exchange of punts, inter- spersed with a few drives at the line, but neither team appeared to have a marked advantage until Craig muffed a high twisting kick from the toe of the Army fullback, Coffin.
 Right End Neyland was following the ball and when Craig dropped the pig skin he dived through the mud and clutched the spherod on the Navy's To- yard line. Coffin and Ford both hurled themselves into the middies' line, only to be repulsed without gain.
 Then Quarterback Gerhardt uncovered his masked battery and fired Oliphant into the sailors left side of the scrimmage line. The player from Purdue ripped everything out of his course and slid across the goal line with three middies clinging to his piston-like legs. To com plete the task. he kicked the goal and the Navy football craft began to founder
 OLIPHANT SCORES AGAIN
 The sailors stuck to their guns through out the remainder of the first and second periods without further damage, but with the beginning of the third quarter, Oli- phant was again turned loose on the Navy and for the second time found vulnerable point in the Annapolis de- fense
 As in the initial score, the touchdown came quickly and unexpectedly. The sol dleTS kicked off and Craig the middiaS' quarterback, ran the ball well back be- fore he was downed. On the second line up he tried a forward pass, but McEwan reached up to the full extent of his six feet two. inches and speared the ball in mid air. He immediately sprinted for the Navy zeal and passed the 25-yard line before he was pulled down.
 Here Oliphant was given the ball and. slipping through a hole in the center of the sailors line, he lodged past the sec ondary defense for the Army's second