The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-11-09
EIy Forfeits Claim on
Title as Eueleth Wins

team recovering. Two cracks at the
line, sandwiched in between an ncom-
plete pass, gained but three yards, as
fourth down came up.
Then a long heave by Bayuk, sub
stitute back, sailed into the end zone,
with Novak, william Loushin, fullback,
and Al Banks, halfback, rushing in to
knock down the ball. Someone hit 1t,
the pigSkin sailing into the air instead
of downward, over their heads and into
the hands of a surprised Eveleth back
by the name of Warn who had nothing
more to do than to snag it and hang on.
That killed any hopes Ely had of
regaining the ground they had lost dur
ing the first half. Ely uncorked II
passes during the rest of the game,
three of them connecting for total Of
% yards, but falling far short Of touch
down caliber.
Ely was in rough water (and mud,
tool right from the opening minutes.
Palazzari, Tiger fullback, sailed punt
from his 46-yard line out on the Ely 5.
The locals kicked to the 33, and as
scrimmage started, Rossi, halfback, got
loose for his first long sprint, an 18-yard
one to the Is.
Three more off-tackle drives brought
it to the 2, with a first and ten up.
Then the Ely line turned in some great
playing. 1t hurled back four Tiger
charges in row and Ely took the pig
skin on the spot from where Eveleth
had started.
A series of punts followed, with the
Tigers maintaining the advantage they
had marked up from the start of the
game, with Rossi turning in an 18-yard
return of one kick to put his team on
the II for it's second crack at the goal
line.
Two rushing plays picked up yards,
and then Palazzari found Ogrinc. sub
back, in the end zone for score via
the air. Ogrinc juggled the ball four
or five times before he fell forward on
his face smashing the pig skin into
his chest. Tony Strukel, center, who
dominated the defensive play in the
line all afternoon, got through to block
the kick for the extra point.
Eveleth'S second marker came sud-
denly and unexpectedly few minutes
later as the second quarter was getting
under way. Eveleth had the ball on
its 19-yard line with second down
coming up. Ogrinc stepped back for a
punt that proved to be a fake, and
Rossi sneaked off left tackle for an
81-yard run to the goal line. Ogrinc
kicked the extra point, and the Tigers
boosted the margin to 1870.
That's the only touchdown that Eve
leth really could claim title to, the first
and especially the last being of a very
diSputable nature as far as earning
them was concerned. The Tigers had
gotten into position for their first be-
cause Novak had failed to block out an
Eveleth player on Tiger punt who
downed the ball on Ely's one-foot line
when it should have gone into the end
zone and returned to the 20.
These breaks, however, are always
part of every football game, and they
might just have easily played into
Ely's hands if fate had seen to it..
Some careless judgement also figured in
on them, so Eveleth probably deserved
everything it got.
Ely opened the second half with a
desperate passing attack that clicked
to perfection for the scoring of it's only
touchdown. A 54-yard kick by Strukel,
whose punting during the afternoon
averaged nearly 40 yards per try, was
downed by Frank "Snoz' Povhe on the
Eveleth 10 to put the Tiger kicker into
the end zone for the return of the punt.
A series of punts followed, with Ely
finally taking the ball on the EHeleth
25. A flat pass over center by Novak
was taken by Banks to the II. Novak
hit the line but lost yards, and then
he heaved one to Leonard johnson, end,
who snagged it in the end zone to
score. John Perkos kick for the extra
point was no good.
Eveleth was keyed up to high pitch
for the game, and displayed bang-up
offensive attack to win. Ely ball car
riers unqueStionably would have turned
in a better performance on a dry field,
and might have brought home the
bacon. While the defeat was death
blow to their title hopes, they can still
| lay claim as having been the team to