The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-20
Sfer1lal1la1l Toe Again
Decides Against The
Islanders; Score, 80

1Oe&oo OO0~1
Cuh9 Park, Chicago, NJ, Nov.
well, folks, next year is coming.
The Rock Island Independents
have bean striving for three years
/ to beat the team led by George
Halas and Dutch" Sternaman.
What matters time! II they keep
ct It long enough, maybe some Of
the Chicago stars will grow. old
faster. and perhaps the Islanders
will be able to surprise them
selves yet.
The Independents kidded them
selves-or the fans-into believing
that they were going to feast on
Bear meat yesterday after
noon. For some inexplicable
reason. Old Bruin refused to be
haFpooned. On the contrary he put
up such q darn good fight to keep
his hide whole, that the hunters,
themselves left the field much the
worse for the wear and tear of the
day, and ON the short end of a 3
to 0 verdict.
We have always entertained a
wholesome respect for the kicking
ability Of Dutch" Sternaman, one
of the beariest of the Bears. "For-
get it, admonished some of the In
dependents. "They won't get close
enough to give Dutch" chance to
kick"
But they did. Not once. but a
couple of times. Three, to be ex-
act, but Dutch" only tried twice.
He came close enough the first
time to cause more than one of the
300 Rock Island townspeople and
former sons who sat in the grand.
J stand to tremble with anxiety. And
! It was a mighty hard chance. at
that. The next time. when Dutch"
stood on Rock Islands 20-yard line
and squarely in front of the goal
posts, there wasn't one of those
300 who didn't pray for a miracle
that would cause Dutch" to stub
his toe.
"Dutch" Does II.
1t must have been too cold for
miracles. There was only a minute
left to play before the game would
be over, but Dutch" couldn't have
been more sure of his chance if he
+, had merely been practicing. Lit
tie Joe Sternaman held the ball and
his older brother pranced forward.
A sound Of leather meeting leather,
and that was all. The ball sailed
squarely between the uprights and
i high above the crossbar.
There is not much left to tell
about that kick, except possibly
how it all came about that Dutch"
was given such fine opportunity
to show why the Rock Island team
should fear him. Some will say
that it was handed to him on a sill
yer platter. But that isn't true.
1t was not wholly Jerry Johnson's
fault that he punted out of bounds
on his own 32-yard line, while
standing only ten yards farther
back With a half dozen stalwart
linemen charging in on him, there
was only one opening for Jerry.
and that was sidewise kick. The
ball would surely have been block
ed had he tried it straightaway.
That, of course, was break in
favor Of the Bears, the only one,
perhaps, that they got during the
entire game. Still, it was a break
they forced for themselves and
they took full advantage Of The
Bears didn't need moreS than one
break like that to win yesterdays
game.
Locals Had Chances.
While on the subject of breaks,
it might be we'll to show that Rock
Island got its share. The only dis
tinction between Rock Islands
breaks and that one for the Bears,
was the inability of Rock Island
to make them count for anything
more than creating passing excite
ment and hope in the city's repre-
sentatives in the stands. Three
times in the first half, the Island
ers got close enough to the Bears
goal to give Jerry johnson a chance
to try for, points from placement.
and as many times did Jerry fail
to deliver. And each time it was
the so-called breaks that gave him
the chance to try. Once Rock Is
land blocked punt and recovered
on the Bears 29-yard line. Anoth-
er time Joe Sternaman punted only
20 yards from his own 20-yard line,
and Councilman returned 10 yards
Of that. And the last time Voss in
tercepted a pass and ran u yards,
planting the ball inside the Bears
20-yard zone. This was the best
chance Of all for Jerry, for the ball
was Unanswered to the center Of
field after attempts to gain failed.
The other, times he was forced to
try from difficult angles. On this
! chance the. ball carried straight
enough, but the rulemakers forgot
to make kicks count when the ball
sails under the cross bar.
Lost Its Nerve.
So much for the things on which
the final outcome hinged. Let us
consider the other aspects of the
game to determine, il possible, why
the Independents failed again in q
crucial test. Putting it mildly it
looked to the fans as il the team
simply lost its nerve when the first
whistle blew. The Bears out-pep-
ped them. out-gamed them, and
well. played with % much spirit
that Rock Island didn't have q
chance to score q touchdown, ex-
cept by = fluke. The Bears line
1aSsed up every play the Islanders
tried, BY getting the Jump. They
tackled hard and sure. They piled
up Rock Island interference, maxi
ing impossible barriers for the
runner to get around. In fact, the
IelandAra' nupnosodlv great acoriuv