Evening star., 1927-11-27


story of gallant team imbued with
dauntleSS courage and cold, clear
judgment, coming from behind 10
achieve what is dearest in all the
world of sports to those that have re-
lationship To either of the great Gov
ernment institutions.
1t might have been different story
had the Navy heen able to write a
touchdown into it's record when 1t had
golden opportunity in the closing
minutes of the first half. but it failed,
and its thought now of that is some
thing akin to the old adace. The sad
deSt words of tongue or pen
Not only did the Army win, but il
won in way that wrote into the
hearts of all Army people the Won
derful prowess of Harry Wilson as
halfbaCk and leader. For it WAS Will
son who led the charging. driving,
coolly resourceful Army eleven in two
drives after it came back from the
15-minute rest period between halves.
IT was Wilson who took the hall i'll
his own territory right at the begin
ming of the third quarter and charged
time after time with it for varying
gains until he after gaining practi-
cally every inch of ground through
his own individual brilliance. finally
planted it. by virtue of n fine stiff
arm In his last desperate effort, be-
hind the Navy goal.
Too Much Wilson.
And it was Harry Wilson who
shortly after intercepted a forward
pass on his own 40-yard line, ran
back into Navy territory, and then
later sprinted again across the last
chalk line. 1t was Wilson who mar
shaled his defensive forces in the sec
ond quarter to withstand on the l.
yard line a savage Navy assault. II
was Wilson who held his men togeth.
er and with n fine morale played the
brilliant third quarter, in which the
Army tore its way to success in its
greatest test.
Perhaps the first sentence in this
story should be changed to read that
the story of the Army victory is the
story of a second half and Harry vii
son. 1t was Wilson's last game in
college foot ball and he made it one
to be remembered. Years ago while
at Penn State he ran rampant against
Navy and practically won single
handed for the Kittany Lions. Today
was but a duplication of that. and
while Navy people may find some
solace in the fact that Wilson has
had seven years of college foot ball,
it still remains that today he was just
all the praise that goes to a man who.
by his own brilliance as performer
and leader. carries his men to tri-
umph in their supreme test.
Credit Due Sprague.
One mans work which generally
may go unhonored and unsung, be-
cause those in the press box were not
in a position to see what happened,
tasrN xr-l,S I,,x- a;c,ixr
act of the struggle. was a play by
Sprague, Army left tackle, when
Navy tried on its third down to work
a split play and carry the ball across
between tackle and guard, after a feint
at the other side. Navy'S feint at the
other side pulled Hammack. left
guard, out of his position and appar-
emily glar.ng hole was left Sprague
was blocked out by the Navy end, but
when he saw Lloyd coming he sim
ply showed the Navy man back in
Lloyd's way, then in one desperate
drive threw himself clear over the
Navy end and grabbed both arms
around Lloyds legs.@ and Lloyd did
not have much chance to go far with
Sprague hugging him in death
grasp.
1t was almost a lightninS-lke pro.
cedure and SpragUe's part of the play
did not last more than fraction of a
second before the Army second de-
fense bore in and drove Lloyd to the
ground as if he had been struck by a
cyclone, but If Sprague had not made
his almost superhuman effort, Lloyd
would have been across the goal line
with the touchdown that would have
enabled Navy to finish the first half
on the long end of 9to.0 score, in.
stead of TO o.
Navy Scores Early
Navy got its two points in the first
half very quickly and it almost got
six or seven more without any more
difficulty. Army had the ball well in
Nays territory, but lost it on downs.
Then Navy gained first down and on
long forward pass. which struck
Wilson and bounded off into a Navy
mans arms, had the ball on Army's
35:yard line.
Army held and Navy punted to
Army's 3-yard mark. Wilson was
dropped in his tracks. Murreil ran
one NAY. but on the attempt to punt
the Ball was blocked. rolled back on
the Army goal. An Army man fell on
1t for safety. Navy got a poor kick
in midfeld shortly after that and 4
series of line plays. which wound up
with 10-yard dash through center by
Clifton. put the ball on Army's 2-yard
! mark.
The Army line completely out.
charged the Navy forwards. and on
straight drives the Navy backs could
hardly get started. When the fake
was attempted, it was the fine work of
Spra2ue which saved the Army goal.
Army seemed the better team on
the field. and it vas. At no time did
the Navy squad have The appearan nee
of the finished product that was
1~,...s. ,>aVv was a we'll coached
/ clever, "I:t =. Gid not have such mem
ss thCSe in the Army lineup Army
was conceded to have the margin, I'd
IL did. and Navy really should feel
satisfied that ii was as ood in conf
pariSon as il was. although that prob
ably is never the Navy view about
any game in which it is the loser
Is Great Eleven.
1t was the best eleven that "Bif'
= Jones, Washington man, who is Army
coach, has ever sent on the field The
. play throughout the game had a ma
chinelike precision and tightneSs that
is indicative of good coaching. Every
man seemed to know just what was
his part in the machine and apparent
ly had been practiced sufficiently in
that part to perform ii well.
The game was almost typical of
Army and Navy. There is nothing
Just like it in the way of foot hall
game anywhere else. Yet TO one who
81 has watched the game year after year
il seems 10 be The same thing over
with almost unfaiiing accuracy. 1t is
seldom that any game has in il ma n
who does as mary things ami does
.,em with such hrilliance as Wilson
uid to.iay. hut barring tnat IT was an
Army Navy game with the same
Continued on Second Pagel
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