New-York tribune., 1921-11-27
Surefooted MILDLY Backs
and Powerful Line Too
Much for Soldiers in
Annual Football Match
10000 See Game,
Braving Downpour
Cadets Threaten at Very
End When French's Run
Carries Him Near Goal
By Grantland Rice

>~>%
Upon an afternoon that was ideal
for ducks, fish, seals, porpoises, UNI
brella manufacturers, bootleggers and
pnsumon onia, Navy Blue yesterday arose
magnifcently above Army Gray at the
Polo Seas for the third successive
year.
No less than $4,000 of the beauty
and chivalry, drenched and bedraggled,
dripping and disconsolate with wrecked
hats and ruined cloaks, saw Conroy
supplement- Steve Barchet's mighty
running by skidding over for the only
touchdown Of the game after the Sec
ond period opened
So the score again was to in the
Nays favor, just as it was year ago,
and once again the. stronger, better
finished machine triumphed by superior
play. Navy prows were at home upon
field slightly danper than the At
lantlc Ocean and many parts of the
Pacific, and for two great marches, or
rather cruises, they split asunder the
biliowy mud and the Army line.
Landsmen Lost in Going
With Barchet's famous crawl stroke
and Koehier's trudgeon working in mid
ocean form. the Navy advance through
tie greater part of the first and second
period was more than any mere lands
men, shut off from any seafaring ex-
istence, could hope to check.
'Barchet and Koehler must have worn
chains or else have adopted the web
footed process of the duck, for there
were occasions on these two drives
when they, held their feet beyond all
understanding above the slippery,
treacherous turf Only a scattering
elan could have reached port under
sucn conditions, where surely one of
the two long drives deserved to score
and win.
As it was the Army, outclassed
through the greater part of the game,
suddenly turned upon their tormentors
WIN three minutes to play, and with
ri., the fassst-aying AS French in full blast car
rled the ball to the Navy's 7-yard line
before the march was halted in the
mex OF Navy time.
The Navy Blue waved above the
Army Gray, but above them both was
tAe dull, muddy brown of Mother
Earth that soon turned twenty-five
shletes into charging figures Of mud
aud goo.
AIT in all it was a typical Army
nig crowd began to file in with
steady, relentless November rain COM
mg down in slanting aisles from an
even more relentless November sky.
nose who held grandstand seats be-
hhth the shelterng cover of the big
1901 were the lucky ones, for outside
this protection the rain fell alike
apon the just and the unjust, the ad
niral and the midshipman, the general
and the cadet. And yet it was another
.ssstlng tribute to the grip of football
naI the greatest crowd in Polo
wounds history should defy such
Msther and respond, in large part,
Sth such unbroken enthusiasm over
ue main events of the day.
Women Brave Downpour
Most OF those who came here were
sW!y prepared, but here and there
smong the women were many who put
y over nature and decided to take
vance with costly raiment thrown into
unequal contest against elemental
'osges That were sure to win.
iet against these heavy odds the
tNat crowd continued to work its way
ssitnSrd All until every vacant spot was
aieo and every watersoaked seat was
ssSucupled. ~ Umbrellas began to pop UP
a. around, until finally thousands of
sae r.'s were turning water from the
Ssxy holder down his or her neigh
~r collar in steady stream.
ne held, none too firm and dry at
e start, was soon a quagmire from
s@ cnurning feet that tore up sod at
s'ery start. Both teams were num-
sssa, but after the first few minutes
thV an X-Ray could have penetrated
M coating of mud that lay in three
W ioid upon the broad backs of the
n,a! parties.
y.n spite of such weather conditions
INA y .wo Dig elevens fought out game
Ia saHant battle, giving the best they
~. ~ as clouds OF steam and mist arose
aie,,eir sneir water-soaked uniforms like
swm,ahd MA 1og. For the Army and Navy
D.rs; s:'t Dig annual jubilee it seems to
vi. Nm, snow or fog, and yesterday it
bned. rain and human log COM
Nonc Of this for a second bore down
sknross,,. s,.e Duoyant spirits of the mid
plarra. plren or cadets as they took their
s.sses ~ upon opposite sides Of the field
IA "a. immediately opened the most ter
ns;o. mai yosai duel of tho year. For
bsyss i.ssague lung capacity of 200 horn
avsii tne service schools have no close
: rush and roar. = : Ss's' 'NA' "''''
Army Strong at Start
,l..sss lss Army throughout the battle
6fst 81 TO predominant through the
d n,.nse see and the last three minutes
Mads Z, u was in these two spots they
sneir hve flrst downs and gave
scens'nusd on cage siastsea1
Football RosuIfs