Evening star., 1954-11-28
By the Associo,ed Press

| (
Army Coach Red Blaik paid trib-
ute to one of the "smartest"
Navy football teams his Cadets
have ever played, saying They
knew our weaknesses and ex-
! plotted them fully"
| Blaik held court in a dimly
| lit room across the hall from
the Army dressing quarters after
his West Pointers had been de-
feated 27-2O in one Of the most
thrilling Army-Navy games in
the 55-year history of the classic.
"This was a very fine Navy
football team. It played exceed
ingly well. It was much smarter
than any other Navy team my
kids have ever faced. Navy dis
played tremendous speed which
it used to exploit the weaknesses
we knew we had and they know
we had" Blaik said.
The veteran Army coach ex-
planned the weaknesses" as a
porous defense devoid of compe-
tent linebackers. "We don't have
a real linebacker on the squad.
Navy knew it and took advarl-
tage of it."
Praises Scout Foster.
Blaik gave credit to Navy
Scout Frank Foster for an ex-
cellent job of scouting the Army
team. "They knew a lot about
our opening game Of the season
against South Carolina. We
showed then our lack of solid
defense" Army's only other de-
feat was at the hands of South
Carolina, 1920.
Asked about the poor kickoffs
| his boys made, Blaik said, They
were really bad. No. of course
they weren't purposely kicked
short. The short one after our
third touchdown was one of the
! turning points of the game"
! The Army coach referred to
the short kickoff just before the
end of the half. Army had taken
a 20-14 lead and Navy fell on
the short boot on it's Al. The
Middies drove So yards for a
touchdown just Al seconds be-
fore the half ended. Blaik said
the boys thought an onside kick
might help them score another
quick I'D. Navy never would
have scored If Army had driven
] the ball deep, he added.
Blaik, who always spares his
men the job of answering ques-
tions, especially after Navy de-
feat, said he wouldn't try to sec
ond guess his quarterback. This
was in answer to a question as
to why Army punted with two
minutes and Is seconds remain
ing instead of tossing despera-
ton pass.
AFTER all, they might have
/ fumbled, or we might have held
them and forced a punt. We
did hold for two downs, but they
came up with the clutch play
for a first down." Blaik ex-
planned.
The coach admitted that his
team had fumbled at crucial
points, but that's part of the
game.
Unable to Stop Navy.
/ Blaik went on to say, I'VE
! went into this game knowing
full well that they had more
strength in their two lines than
that Gattuso scooped up un-
certainly after fooling with it.
For a split second it looked as
If Gattuso. trapped, might try
to retain the ball for loss.
Instead, he gave it a desperate
boot in between tacklerS and
with 3l2 minutes left, Army had
the ball on its own a.
/ 1t was an inviting opportunity,
but Army couldn't make it.
ARMY.
| Left ends-Johnson, Bliss
Left saardsdoodWin rsnEiin Gfn
Il CenterS--Chance, Szyetecz
/ Right guards--CheSnauSkaS. Bishop.
Right tackles--Ordway Melnik.
Right endS--Holleder, Satterfeld.
Quarterback-Vann.
Left hal halfbacSs---Kyasky. Murtland, Cysler
Right halfhacks-Bell, ziegler.
Fullback--U Uebel.
Left end--Beagle.
! Left tackles Hopkins. McCool.
Left guard---Benzi
'enters-Whitmire. Davis.
Right guards--AroriS, 1extor.
Right tackles--Royer. Webster.
Right ends--Smith. Owen.
Quarterbacks--Welsh Echard, Gober.
II Left halfback--Weaver.
1 Right halfback--Crnig.
i Fulibacks-Guest, Gattuso. Harmon. =
4 Navy ~ IL o 0-27
Army scoring: Touchdowns Bell.
Uehel,s KTasky. Conversions Cnesnaus-
sRi:Ss %. 'Sssn S.lah caSSSss11saisesas-Rssvsl