The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-09-14
Gridders Score Moral
Victory OUer Hibbing

I with his plunge for the stripe.
A hoard of Hibbing players showed
him straight up in the air and as he
fell back he fumbled. The ball rolled
over the goal line and Peter Handberg,
left guard, scouped it up for touch
down.
Albert Rowe, quarterback, kicked the
ball perfectly between the uprights to
tie the score.
The half ended soon after with Ely
in possession of the ball on NoVak's
interception of a Hibbing pass.
Coach Smrekar's club, after play
started following the opening kickoff
by the Bluejackets, took the ball for
43-yard ride to Hibbing's 37-yard
line before a tumble by Stanley Nest
mix, who started the game at left half,
ended the drive as the visitors recover
ed. The Bluejackets then inaugurated
their brilliant drive to the goal line.
On the first play Munter, at left
half turned in 17-yard sprint, Prola,
the only man between him and six
points, bringing the runner down on
Elyis 4O-yard line. A pass was incom-
plete and another drive by Munter
brought no yardage. Then Munter got
loose again and planted the ball on the
18-yard stripe before he was stopped.
Karlos, right half, picked up eight
yards in two plays and Sickich two
more to put the pigskin on the six
yard stripe, with first and goal to go up.
Karlos failed to gain and then went
to the one-yard stripe. Sickich follow
ed with the touchdown, and Karlos
made the extra point on drive through
the line.
From then on the game was all Ely'S
Hibbing's offensive drives were kept well
bottled up as Ely linemen fought like
tigers. Late in the final quarter Hib-
bling staged a 45-yard drive, from its
15-yard marker to Ely's 40, where Hand
berg recovered a tumble to end the
threat.
An exchange of punts put Ely on its
45-yard line with only minute or two
to play. Two plays and a 20-yard pen
atty given the Bluejackets just as the
gun ended the game put the ball on
Hibbing's 32-yard stripe. Officials ruled
that Ely had one more play coming
and it came very near breaking the
deadlock.
On a wide sweep around left end
Stanley Mestnik, who had replaced
Prola a few minutes before, slashed and
twisted his way to the 13-yard marker
before virtually half the opposing club
climbed on his frame to bring him
down.
Ely looked remarkably good for the
initial contest of the year. Coach Smre-
kar has several boys who appear capa-
BILE of keeping Ely right up in front in
the range football picture.
Rowe turned in a fine job at. quar-
terback, and handled the team in a
smart and efficient manner Novak,
Prola, Grahek, and Mestnik are all
capable ball handlers who worked to-
gether in fine style. Prola, who hurt
his leg early in the game, was far be-
hind his 1888 punting form, but turned
in one 72-yard boot that put Ely out
of dangerous spot deep in its terri
tory.
Sustained offensive drives were good
for 43, At, "a, so and So yards. Penalties
and long sprints figured in several of
them. Ely ran up IL first downs to
six for Hibbing. Three times, not in
Guiding the touchdown drive, Ely push
ed within the Hibbing 20-yard line but
couldn't produce the power to obtain
a marker
Hibbing muffed golden opportunity
to end the deadlock on return of an
Ely punt in the middle of the third
quarter. Ryan, quarterback, took the
bail on his 20-yard marker and raced
to midfield behind a swarm of team |
mates. Only Prola remained between
the runner and the goal. Any one of |
four or five Bluejackets might have
put him out of the picture. But Prola |
outsmarted them, kept out of reach, and |
smashed Ryan out of bounds as he cut |
over to the extreme south side of the |
field
The lineup:
Ely Hbbing |