Evening star., 1940-09-10
Optimism Of Mentor
Seen in s. Indians
Starting Practice
Talent Above Average,
Reserves Plentiful
For First Time
BY GEORGE HUBER.

At no public high school in the
District is there so much downright
optimism or more predictions of
good football season than at Ana
costa. The Indians began their
drills only yesterday, a week later
than all others, but the Sc boys who
turned out are full of pep and raring
to go while Coach ROLAND Lund Is
predicting right and left that this
is their year.
Lund, sending his candidates
through two brisk drills yesterday
at Fairlawn Field, stood back and
surveyed the scene with real salts
faction. Six letter winners are back,
supported by more than twice that
number of other experienced players
and for the first time the Indians
will have adequate replacements,
lack of which has been the main
cause of their downfall in the past.
This will be Anacostia's third
year in inter-high championship
football and prospects are so much
brighter than in other years that 1t
looks a different outfit entirely.
Lung Making No Alibis.
The boys are big, smart and in
good condition and they have the
will to win. While other schoolboy
coaches are playing safe and sur
rounding their preseason predic-
tions with lot of "ifs" and may
le tl,N
talk of aIgreat team and the high
school championship.
II by some miSCalculation the In
dians don't win a majority of their
games, Coach Lund will be on the
spot with a lot of words to eat.
He's left himself practically no loop
hole and has prepared no preseason
alibis that he may quote at the end.
This really is by far the best outfit
presented by Anacostia in It's short
career and it's no wonder that Lund
has gone off the deep end. He has
a tackle who weighs 100 pounds and
a center who will go 1876. In fact,
very few Of his boys are the least
bit on the puny side.
Talent Appears Abundant.
Returning letter winners are
George Absher, end; John Penn,
guard; Art Knott and Bruce Halett,
tackles, and Roy Selph and Bill
Spencer, backs. The parade of ex-
perienced lads is led by Bobby Nolte,
a triple-threat fullback Lund pre-
diets will take Art Faircloth's place,
which is saying lot Another out
standing player is Eddie Hoffman,
l9o-pound blocking back, and
likely looking candidates up from
last years second team are Eugene
Crawford, Phil Craig, Henry Nous
seau and Frank Burback.
That's only skimming the top of
the material Lund has available.
He says he will have two complete
backfields and he even may see his
way clear to having two complete
teams with the second one practi-
cally as good as the first. The In
dian coach is toying with the idea of
sending in a complete new team at
each quarter as do some of the top
professional teams. 1t all will de-
pend on the boys condition. the
weather and few other factors.
Good Reserve at Hand.
The Indians in the past have felt
real need for good substitutes.
They usually played a whale of
game for the first quarter or half,
and then when the going got rough
folded like stuck accordian for lack
Of substitutes. That shouldn't
bother them this time. Such is the
amount of material available that
Lund has II end candidates alone.
This year says the coach, Ana
costa has reached an equal footing
with other local high schools and if
it should happen to be defeated, we'll,
he just can't see how it will be done.