The Washington herald., 1916-11-26
Elmer Oliphant Paves the
Way for West Point Team
Mddies Show a Strong De
fense, but the Army
Is Stronger.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

favor Of the Army, but that was the be-
ginning, and a lot Of the end.
Presently ''the Elephant" kicked a
goal from field and presently the Army
made another touchdown. Then the
Navy scored.
There were nearly $4,000 people shiv-
ering in the stands when the game
closed, but they were still pouring into
the stands when Oliphant made his
spectacular run.
Perry kicked on for the Navy and
oliphant caught the ball. getting under
way in a flash.
Through the light cruising Navy for
wards he moved. knocking them aside
with apparently nothing more than
light gestures. Around the low lying
bulk of the battleship backs hessped.
The Elephant was running amuck.
He travelled with an awkward swing
ing stride. Soon he was out in front
and all alone.
After Oliphants long gallop. which
put the ball on the Navy's six-yard
line, Gerhardt. the Army quarter, push
ed Ii on q couple of yards, and then
oliphant himself punched on through
to the touchdown.
Later on in the game the Navy put
up q real battle, but 1t got going q
little too late.
Navy Fights Hard.
The Navy fought hard and furiously,
but It was green and inexperienced. and
SO outclassed.
1t was a cold, blustery day. Always a
wintry, narrow searching wind blew.
The gridiron was laid out lengthwise Of
the field. One set Of goal posts was across
the old home plate. The other was in
center field.
Boxes had been built on the field in
'front.' of the right field stand and even
little bleacher sections were erected in
front Of the center field bleachers.
The management of the Polo Grounds
gave the press even less consideration
than it gets at the other big college
games, which Is no consideration at all.
The streets approaching the Polo
Grounds were studded with patrolmen.
mounted men and even motorcycle cops.
They kept the crowd moving. to avoid a
piling up of folk at the entrances to the
neld.
As early at u o'clock the advance
guard OF 5000 was In motion. A dead
line was established at One Hundred and
Fifty-fifth street. No one was allowed
past that line without tickets.
The first arrivals at the gates Of the
stadium were the members of the En-
gineer Battalion, stationed at West Point,
and a bunch of blueJackets from the war
ships laying at anchor in the Hudson
River
By o'clock the crowd was pouring
through the gates ina steady current
The Army squad was first on the field.
1t was numerically stronger than any
company Of infantry in Gen. John J.
Pershing's punitive expedition.
The Navy squad came on presently with
almost enough hands to man a gunboat.
Both teams was garbed almost Identical
Iry xuif
save that the Army wore black stockings
with yellow stripes. That further COM
plicated matters.
At 1;4O strains Of band music came per-
colating through the icy air, and real
yell swept the stands as the West Point
cadets appeared. The Army came, six
hundred strong in a long gray line be-
hind the blue uniformed band. Each man
carried an army pennant.
All this time there was . great gap In
the south stand, where the block of seats
assigned to the naval cadets yawned va
cantly. The Navy was late again. A few
minutes before o'clock. however, the
Army section let out a yen. The heads
Of the Navy volume had appeared at the
gate opening under the left field bleach
ers-
Middies Enter.
As the midshipmen swung down the
gave its friend the enemy a yell.
The yell leaders employed a sort Of file
index system of getting out the various
yells with wonderful results.
The Army made its second touchdown
after hammering its way to the Navy s
l2-yard line. Gerhardt dropped back for
a try for a field goal and then threw the
ball to Vidal. The lanky Westerner
turned and plunged clear over a waiting
tackler, falling across the line. Oliphant
kicked the goal. The score was then
Is to 0.
II took the Navy some little time to
discover that 1t could do nothing what
ever again the Army line, and then It be-
gan an aerial attack. Three forward
passes netted about p yards. Then a
middle missed one that was right in his
arms, when he was faced in the right
direction to go on to a touchdown. The
ball went to the Army and the Army
punted. Another forward pass gained
p yards in a bunch for the Saltwater
boys, but the half ended with the ball on
the Arny's 2O-yard line.
form from the opening of the second half.
but the touchdown that followed the first
few minutes of play came as a tremen-
dous surprise.
punt from Vidars foot was blocked,
and the ball was recovered by Butler,
who had a clear track to a touchdown.
He stumbled once or twice, but finally
put the ball across. A goal from touch
down was an easy matter. Lineup:
ARMY. Position NAVY