Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FORWARD PASSES
BRINGS RESULTS
Was Worked Successfully in
Important Games-One
Particular Play

With speedy boys in action, for
ward passes have worked wonders
In football this season, Scarcely a
game has been played in which there
was Mt least 'one big achievem ent
through the aerial play Tech has
made good gains. 1t also must not
be overlooked that interception OF
these passes brought victory in some
9ames.' The New York Times sport
writer in commenting on current
events III sports says:
Probably In no preceding football
season has the forward pass been so
much utilized or with results so fire.
quently decisive as in the season now
nearing its close. After the first two
or three years of forward passing,
during which 1t was more or less of
q haphaZard play, with luck an i'm
portant element in its successful EN-
ploym ent, the restrictions with which
the rule-makers hedged 1t about and
the fear Of 1t by the team playing
on the defense served to curtail its
use. But, with succeeding years, the
coaches became more familiar with
its value as a dependable weapon
and discovered just what sort of
passes could be made effective and
what could not. AS the game is
played to-day. no team can afford to
neglect its development or fail to
prepare a defense against 1t.
Where 1t Worked
glance at some of the more i'm
portant games of recent Saturdays
shows Just what vital factor the
forward pass has been. Such head
lines as Wins by AertSi Attack and
Forward Passes Decide Issue have
been increasingly conspicuous over
the reports of games between the
leading college elevens. Last Satur-
day, for instance, the forward pass
was responsible for both of SYRIA
while West Virginia defeated Rut-
gers and Penn State beat Cornell by
the same play.
princeton and Harvard both
scored their touchdowns in the To-
to-10 game at Princeton by the air
route, and Princeton's long march
for touchdown in that contest was
made possible by continuous re-
course to the pass, Pennsylvania has
developed this department of it's at
tack more perfectly, perhaps, than
any other Eastern team, and it was
the pass that gave Penn two OF It's
three touchdowns against Dartmouth.
Colgate made its touchdowns against
D1t thlOuth duu ITulC&IOn on InG
same play, which likewise played a
principal part in both of Yale's
scores against Brown and paved the
way for all of West Virginias touch
downs against Princeton. Notre
Dame defeated the Army by the air
route, and the count might go on
through many others OF the leading
games of the season.
"One of the principal uses of the
forward pass has been to keep the
opposing team in constant fear of
1t, so that it will play its secondary
defense we'll back and thus weaken
Its power of opposing running plays
through the line. This year, how
ever, many of the teams have shown
tendency to play their secondary
defense closer to the line, and per-
haps 1t is this fact that has made
the use of the forward pass so sue
cessful In many games. A team that
knows how to use the play effec-
lively on the attack and that, at the
same time, can diagnose and spill It
when used by the opposition, with
out weakening its defense against q
running attack, is still a good deal
OF rarity. Yet that is the goal
toward which every coach must point
at this stage in the progress of tie
gridiron game"