The New York herald., 1921-12-04

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Scoring From Kickoff,
NO individual exploit in football is so
rare as the catching Of the kickoff and
running through all opponents for a
touchdown. Out of the 800 intercollegf-
ate games played this autumn only four
instances Of this brilliant performance.
have occurred. If the play itself rs so
rare. trebiy so is the winning OF battle
by this exploit. Only one of the three
full field runs from kickoff to touch
down in 1921 has won game, and here
rarity intensifies. for in this particula'
game this run was the only score of the
day.
The hero of this most difficult dash is
Jonathan Miller. halfback of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, familiary
known to the football world as Pos"
Gettysburg Is small college, but i'm
bibing the valorous atmosphere Of the
real battlefield near which the college
is situated, Gettysburg invariably pro-
duces a team of football fighters. The
eleven this fall was exceptional and so
when mighty Pennsylvania faced little
Gettysburg this fall the soil was set for
q thrilling battle.
The teams lined and deployed for the
initial kickoff of the game. Boom, and
swirling forty-five yards down the field.
Miller. standing on Pennsylvania 10
yard line, caught the tumbling ball and
instantly leaped into fight up the field.
Five Pennsylvania players conveyed him
as far as midfield and there shot HIN
through the pack of opponents. From
that point on the lad from Lebanon ran
alone. Racing and lodging, he evaded
one after the other of Gettysburg's rear
guardians, until. finally swinging into
a clear field. he sped to the goal line
and touched down. winning the game,
as the contest eventually was played.
and scoring the only victorious full field
run from kickoff to touchdown in the
season Of 1921. A year ago Halnes of
Pennsylvania State reeled off similar
run against Pennsylvania. This year,
by a coincidence of fate, Haines. as
coach of the Gettysburg team, sat on
the side line and saw his own eleven
defeated by this rare play. In fact, ia
tality seems to have marked Franklin
Field for its own so far as those plays
are concerned, for it was here that Bray
OF Lafayette in 1898 defeated Pennsyl-
vania by running back OF the initial
kickoff of the game for the only score
of the day, and it was here that Charles
DAILY of the Army similarly scored
against the Navy twenty years ago.
Scoring on Caught Punts.
Deductions based on the dazzling pic
lures in memory are as apt to mislead
one in football as elsewhere. In revery
we all see players catching punts, leap
ing and crashing through opponents,
reeling off the lime lines, plunging over
goal lines and winning games amid
titanic and tumultuous applause. Statis-
At. =. To-, Al
punts, and some scoring runs. but when
it comes to finding games that have been
directly won in this spectacular manner
II is long long hunt The middle West
this autumn has furnished only one in
stance of this class OF victorious plays.
At Detroit late in October the pom
derous but clever eleven of the Univer-
sity of Detroit was waging a battle with
Tulane, which had swept from furthest
South to furthest North to come to grips
with its football foemen. Although out
weighed heavily man to man the South
arners had put the Northerners on the
defensive ut the start, repeatedly crushed
out their scoring hopes throughout the
first half and closed the first two periods
by achieving a three point lead through
a clever drop kick by Legenore. which
scored goal from the field. Later Tulane
added seven points more by touch
down and goal, and Detroit got under
partial headway also by touchdown
and goal. The final quarter was closing
when a high. tumbling punt cut Its
graceful arc through the sky Standing
on Detroits 10 yard line was Mckenna,
substitute quarterback Cleanly catch
ing the ball. away he sped, preceded by
a corps of able interferers. In and out
he raced. lodging, sidestepping, straight
arming and plunging until he had passed
all opponents, covered the long eighty
five yards and touched down for six
points and for victory.
The most brilliant instance OF an East
ern game won directly by the runback
Of a caught punt occurred in New York
city Thanksgiving Day. Colgate and
Columbia, in a fusillade of brilliant scor-
ing, had each scored two touchdowns
and the scoreboard reflected the figures,
Colgate IA. Columbia a. The second
half found both clevens unable to ad-
vance by forward passes or running at
tacks. and both, therefore. adopted a rad
ical kicking assault. Toward the close
Of the third quarter Stefano OF Columbia.
forced to punt. sent a long spiral down
the side lines. Robert Webster. Col
gates captain. caught the ball and in
stantly lesped into flight up the field.
His PLAYERS quickly formed running
screen for him, and the compact inter-
ference flashed past the onrushing Co
lumbia forwards. Running close to the
side line with ever increasing speed
Webster passed the first Columbia back
and then cut across to centre. passing
Burtt. who made a frantic effort to
tackle him. Fifty yards thus flew be-
meath the feet OF Webster, and he
crossed the goal line for the third and
winning touchdown for his team.
BucII's Great Enort.
Although Harvard did not defeat Yale
directly by the run back of a kick, new
ertheless, IL was an exploit OF this char
acter which placed the Crimson in a
position from which to shoot Owen
across Yale's goal line The mighty but
midget halfback, Charles Buell.. caught
a punt at midfield line late In the fourth
uuariry. when the score was Harvard 0,
Yale 3. Dashing to the right In the
curve which forty years of football has
proven to be the most advantageous
curve on which to come up the field.
Rucll outr2.r, put3odged and ortmanou-
-ved ten 1f rale's players. but was
.acrht snd thrown nv Aldrich on the
latter's IL yard line. The blockade of an
impending touchdown was only momen-
tsry, for in four plays later Owen, from
the one yard mark, plunged over the
Bfus line and closed the most sensational
season. taken game by game through
nine Saturdays. that Harvard has ever