Evening star., 1950-12-02
Eastern High Champs
Lose 0n|y4 Of Squad
That Upset ST. John's S
By Brion Bell, Jr.

Eastern rates as the top high
school football team in Washing
ton today after It's 60 upset Of
st. John's-a one-touchdown ia
vorite at least-before a crowd of
about $4,000 at Grifith Stadium
last night.
The Eastern victory broke q
nine-game winning streak for st.
Johns. The Ramblers fought the
favored Johnnies to q standstilI
throughout and came up with a
touchdown in the last 51a minutes
to win District as well as inter-
high honors.
Public high school coaches were
pleased with Eastern's win, but
when they looked at the Ramblers'
lineup, they weren't 50 happy. Dick
Mentzer, Eastern's fine coach, may
lose only four of the starting
eleven that outplayed st. Johns
team that had run roughshod over
all opposition this season. And
that's bad news for Mentzer's op-
ponents next season.
No st. Johns Alibis.
Joe Gallagher, st. Johns coach.
was offering no excuses after the
game. 1--WE were outplayed," he
said bhlntly. my boys didn't seem
to have any pep and we were
beaten by q better team. Their
nne line made the difference"
Mentzer, who has done a bril-
liant job Of coaching all season.
had praise for his boys and they
had praise for him, too. Jimmy
Rhinehart, who played fine game
at defensive right halfback for
Eastern. said after the game, '"rhs
coach really had them secuted.
He told us everything they were
going to do and we knew what
was coming all the time"
Eastern seemed to have the
secret for stopping the Johnnies-
something nine other teams in the
area didn't have. Against a team
that had scored 324 points this
year, the Ramblers threw I'D a
fighting line, hard-hitting line
packers and a fine pass defense.
The Johnnies got big goose egg
Tor the evening and never got
within Eastern's 20-yard line de-
spite a couple Of fumbles that gave
them a chance in Rambler terri
tory.
Pass Brings Only Score.
However, the Johnnies also
played well on defense and stopped
several Eastern thursts. The teams
were evenly matched and except
for a 16-yard pass from Ralph
Sta, star Rambler halfback, to
End Dick Prender the game might
have ended in scoreless tie.
Eastern's big scoring opportun-
lty came In the closing minutes
of the ball game when the Ram
blers struck from their own terri
tory IN rapid fashion. Quarter
back Tommy McCan intercepted a
pass to give Eastern the ball on its
own IS and the Ramblers' other
quarterback, Jimmy Sullivan, took
advantage of McCan's alertness.
On second down, Sullivan
dropped back in punt formation
and threw 25-yard pass to End
Richie Ward. who went all the
way to the st. Johns 13 before
being knocked out of bounds.
Ward. a fine performer all eve
ming, was shaken up on the play
and his place was taken by Prem
der.
Two plays later, the left-handed
Sta took a pitchout around left
end from his right halfback spot,
stopped and threw 16 yards to
Prender in the end zone. The
ball just cleared a last-second
Jump by a Johnnie defender and
Prender grabbed it for the games
only score.
Running Pass Used Often.
Eastern had been using the
running pass all night but with
little success. Both Danny
O'Neill and Sita had been throw
ing on end runs from their half
(See EASTERN paoa R.11N