The Washington times., 1918-01-20
By LOUIS A. DoUGHER.

BY LOUIS A. DOUGHER.
Acclaimed by the entire South as
the 1917 football champion, sarcas-
tically accorded this title by Glenn
Warner, Of Pittsburgh, and practi-
calIy awarded it by Waiter Camp,
the Nestor of cur great college sport,
Georgia Tech has one small fly in
its intment The conQueror OF
Pennsylvania by an overwhelming
score, IL to 0, raced through an en-
tire campaign without meeting de-
feat, but that small fly remains to
bother the dreams Of the Golden
Tornado. That little fly is Davidson
College, an almost unknown institu-
ton in the hills of North Carolina,
for the Presbyterian preachers from
the mountains scored the only points
made against Georgia Tech all last
season. That is why Davidson is to
meet Georgetown on the gridiron
next year and Washington is to be
given an opportunity of seeing the
marvellous Ralph Flowers.
There's another powerful eleven In
Dixieland, Auburn Polytechnic. The En-
gineers were careering along like an old
time frigate under full sail until they
ran into this same scrappy little David
son bunch. Not an enemy had succeeded
in winning from the Engineers. and so
when they ran out upon Grant Field.
Atlanta. they were heavy favorites.
Then that scrappy little collection OF
mountaineers turned loose the fiercest
sort OF an attack and the most vicious
type Of a defense. and when the smoke
had cleared away, Auburn had gone
down TO defeat. Il to Z.
Scores Against Navy.
Gilmour Dobie. the Navy's new coach,
booked Davidson for the opening game
Of the season at Annapolis on Septem-
Der -. He wanted something soft for
a beginner. not being sure of his own
outfit. Well. the Middies won. 26 TO Z.
but they found the mountaineers from
North Carolina a most stubborn contin-
gent. Furthermore, Dobie and his Mid
dies were introduced TO Mr.. Ralph Flow
ers. A column in itself might easily be
devoted TO Mr.. Ralph Flowers, the bril-
liant eighteenyear-old halfback Of the
Davidson eleven.
Buck" Flowers has all that a
great halfback requires. except
weight He stands five feet nine
inches in height, is eighteen years
old, and tips the beam at a bare 1iJ
pounds. You may wonder how he
holds his own in combats with much
bigger and older players. But he
does.
At Annapolis. this mere kid out
punted Roberts and Ingram, of the
Navy, and ran riot in broken fields
Selling the ball once, he raced through
the entire Navy eleven for a touch
down, covering seventy yards in his
wild gallOp through the enemy.
Stars Against Tech.
Two weeks later Davidson played
Georgia Tech at Atlanta. Tech held
the mOuntaineers rather cheaply. but
wheA the first half ended with Tech |
leading by "A mere to ., Coach Heis |
man went mad. He saw red. In the |
second half he began a hammer and |
tOngs attack against the lighter |
eleven and Tech won, - to 10, but
not till George King, Davidson's end |
and captain. had crossed the goal for |
a touchdown, and in that glorious |
showing of Davidson against the
Golden Tornado, Buck" Flowers had
done his part.
In the first period Flowers drop |
kicked a field goal from the 2S-
yard line. Tech hadn't even threat
ened to score at that time. but toward |
the end Of the second period managed |
to shove the ball over for a touch
down. Lack OF weight told in the
second half and Tech scored three
one on mass play, |
another on forward pass and the |
third on a double pass,
How Davidson scored.
That Davidson has been coached in
up-to-date football is shown by the
way in which it scored its touchdown.
Let Morgan Blake. in the Atlanta
Georg ian. describe that touchdown:
The most brilliant feature of the
game was the play on which Davidson
scored her touchdown. The visitors
had the ball on Techs IT-yard Iin"
Burns snapped the ball and then pass
I'd il to Spahn, who made a long pass
down the field to George King. Strup-
per, who was playing safety. dashed
in to intercept the pass. but the ball
Lrickled off his finger and King
grabbed 1t on the dead run and dash
I'd on over the goal line. II was a
executed play"
The defensive tackling OF Flowers
md Burns, the little quarterback. was
good. They stopped
Strupper. nailed Joe Guyon, and pre-
rented many an onward sweep.
Richardson and King" says Nor
gan Blake, proved to be about the
liftiest pair OF wing men we have
seen in these parts for some time"
Then They Hit Auburn.
With Auburn. The Engineers had yet
% be defeated when they faced the ]