Evening star., 1944-11-30
Improved Red Raiders
Al High Pitch for
Battle Tomorrow
BY BOB MCLEAN.

/ Everything in the record books
favors Eastern in its game with
Western tomorrow afternoon in the
Central Bowl for the 1914 high
school football championship, but
the Ramblers aren't the champs yet
and won't be without a whale of
a fight. The game starting at $3.50
may develop into one of the best in
volving scholastics in years.
Western went into every game
this season on the short end of the
odds and wound up with a record
of five wins, one loss and one tie.
The Red Raiders shine as under
dogs and odds of 2 to against them
tomorrow have them tickled pink.
According to the forecasters, East
ern shouldn't haves much trouble.
The Ramblers knocked of Western
26 to o. earlier this season while
building up their undefeated record.
The Eastern line is heavier, tougher,
more experienced. The Rambler
backfield is a powerhouse that has
galloped over everything on the ctr
cult, with Jack Bobb and Sonny
Settle the hottest halfbacks in town.
Eddie Charnock, the Eastern full
back, is one of the best schoolboy
line slashers of the season, and
Bobby Lyles' quarterbacking is tops.
Western Improves Steadily.
Many of Eastern's admirers, in
fact, contend that there is no neces
sity to play tomorrow's game and
that the Ramblers, winding up the
season on top of the heap with an
unbeaten record, already are cham
pions. The Eastern rooters contend
that the Ramblers shouldn't have to
risk their great record against a
team they already have trampled.
That opinion has been expressed
in print, at banquet given for the
Eastern team and aired in many
high school corridor. However, the
regulations governing interhigh play
are to the contrary.
There's many good reason, in
this wartime season, for playo1
championship game. Most coaches
this year we're confronted with
lack of experienced material. Coach
Fred Mulvey of Western was one
of them.
Mulvey started the season with
one veteran. Gene Gould, a depend
able tackle. The coach shifted Gould
to the backfleld in the fullback slot
and built the team around him. The
Raiders frankly didn't look very
good In the early season They were
light, they had no running attack
and their aerial offensive hadn't
begun to click.
Raiders Tuned for Air Game.
1t was in those first few weeks,
before Mulvey had a chance to work
with his charges, that Eastern
caught the Raiders with that 26-
too plastering. The team that faces
Eastern tomorrow just isn't the
same outfit. Spirit, experience and
the tutoring of one of the best young
scholastic coaches in the country
has transformed a bantamweight
bunch of kids into a winning foot
ball machine.
1t will be the infantry against the
air force tomorrow. The heavier,
slower Fasteners base their at
tack on a ground offense that rates
on paper as shade too powerful
for the light Western line. Western
will counter with an aerial attack
sparked by the flinging of Buddy
Hart, a substitute halfback, who Is
developing as a young Sammy
Baugh. Gould will do most Of the
blocking and the line bucking. Jack
Castro, tall, slim youngster trans
planted from an end berth, will do
the galloping and Don Lichty is
the field general.