The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-11-26
CROSBY LINE PARAMOUNT IN 31-6 WIN
BY JOHN A. CLUNEY

Three successive cracks at the Crosby line, the final one of last down in the last period of play, which just barely proved successful, allowed Wilby's co-Captain Eddie Cavanaugh to prevent an exact duplication of the Crosby 31-0 shut out at Municipal Stadium last sea- son.
 Splendid football weather crowd of 1000, and an almost perfect ex- hibition of Crosby line play through out 48 minutes of action; was the setting for an eventual 31-6 Crosby victory to wind up the grid year for both clubs. They will not meet again at the city stadium on Thanksgiving Day for three more years, because of the recent ruling of the Board of Education, which wants an all-local game at the sta- dium on Turkey Day.
 Wilby, with young" team of sophomores, and juniors for the most part, closed the season with a scoreless tie,, at Shelton, its clos est approach to victory while Cros- by started like state champs, knock ed off Torrington, Taft and Ansonia in succession, all with 19 points in each game; then begged down badly. in mid-season, losing a 6-2 Leaven- worth game, tied by Lewis High of Southington 1913 and shut out 60 at West Haven before winning the most-important game to the play ers-against Wilby Saturday.
 From the first kickoff, Crosby was as hot as the proverbial "pis- tol". Most important of all, once the kids got down on the scrim- mage line, Crosby's forward wall carried out its assignments so well that Wilby gained less than 60 yards on ground" plays Qess than 15 per period) but had better luck in the forward pass department, gaining 30 plus, with five comple- tions in eight tries; and the only successful method that got them in- to scoring position in the final quarter; eventually on the yard line, with the aid of an offside pen- alty of five yards.
 Linemen Tops
 Crosby backs, Jimmy Pickett and Joe Lombard ia particular were par ticularly brilliant; while Bernie Lawlor called signals throughout the game from a "T' formation, even when he later shifted from quarterback to fullback to replace the injured Jim Latimer, who start ed the game but saw limited action. Latimer's replacement, Johnny White looked good while he was in there; especially on short passes. Yet, when all the angles are put to- gether for a general pattern, one must come back to the admission that Crosby's line-play and general alertneSS, which matched the game won by them in Ansonia 1916 won the Wilby game The ends Girdaus- kas and Noonan were on the job; tackles Casertano and Rigouplous broke through consistently opening holes for Pickett, Lombard and Lawlor; the guards, Capt Carl Bird and Eddie Pimental were particu- larly good on defense; while center George Perrault more than held his own at the anchor of the line
 For Wilby, co-captains Eddie Cavanaugh and Mario Quattro were standouts when Wilby had the ball and also on defense; Jimmy Ahrens and Frank Datelle also doing a grand though limited job; limited by the difference between the two lines. Up front, Darlington, Paolino and Coyle were able defenders on many plays, but the line from end to end was not able to cope with the heavier Crosby outfit on any thing like a consistent basis.
 Early Start
 Scoring in every period, Crosby got it's first score on 29 yard run through tackle by Joe Lombard; after a steady drive downfield that netted more than TO yards. Crosby won the toss, Rigoupolous kicking off to Cavanaugh; but Wilby could not gain on two line plays and an incompleted; kicking to Pickett, who fumbled; Tom Brown recover ing for Wilby almost on the Crosby 30 yard line. The period ended soon afterward; but Wilby moved ahead on a forward-lateral play in the second quarter, McGrath to Quat- tro to Datelle reaching the Crosby "A, then the 12 yard line on quick pass, Cavanaugh to Quattro. On the next play, Wilby lost a dozen yards on a pass from center to Datelle, who was supposed to pass; but could not find an eligible receiver; he being downed on the Crosby "A. Next a center passback caused the ball to bounce off Datelle as he cut across the backfield, TT" formation style. Cavanaugh picked it up, lat eraled to McGrath, who was tackled