Evening star., 1954-12-19
10000 Fans May See
Unbeafen Teams PLAY
In Poinseftia Bowl
Nv nirk n.Rrien
By Dick o'Brien
Sior Staff Correspondent

Sior stoH Correspondent
SAN DIEGO, Calf, Dec. 18.-
Undefeated Boiling Air Force
Base and Fort Sill, Okla, East
ern and Western military foot
ball champions. respectively, were
poised today for their battle here
tomorrow at Balboa Stadium in
the third annual Poinsettia Bowl
game.
Fort Sill, with its 11-0 record.
Is being made a slight favorite to
win the military championship
contest against the Airmen, who
have a seasons mark of 9-0-1.
"A crowd of 10000 is expected
to- watch the struggle between
the service eleYens. whose line
ups are dotted with stars from
the collegiate world.
The game marks Bolling's sec
ond appearance in the Poin-
settia Bowl under Coach Roger
Antaya. In 1852 Boiling came
here as a wo-touchdown under
dog and walloped the San Diego
Naval Training Center, 35-14,
behind the brilliant passing of
AL Dorow. now of the Washing
ton Redskins.
O'Connell Leads Airmen.
This time, the Airmen have
brought along Tommy O'Connell,
recently awarded the most valu-
able player award in Air Force
football ranks. He is the former
All-America quarterback from
Illinois who later saw service
with the Chicago Bears. Boiling
Is placing most of the response
bility for a triumph on his trusty
throwing arm. O'Connell is not
unknown in these parts, having
played for Illinois In the 1862
Rose Bowl game against Stan
ford.
Arrayed against the offensive
minded Boiling team are such
nationally kpown ex-collegians
as Billy Vessels, Buck McPhail
and Leon (Mule Train) Heath,
all from Oklahoma. Vessels went
to Canada for a year of pro
football after his graduation,
McPhail spent season with the
Baltimore Colts and Heath
played fullback for the Washing
ton Redskins.
Originally, Fort Ord was looked
upon as the logical choice to
play Boiling in this game, but
Sill's overwhelming and unex-
pected success as the season pro-
gressed took Ord out of the run
ming. Ord actually lost the
chance to represent the West
when it was upset by the San
Diego Phib Pacs, 1921.
Cannoneers Get Rolling.
Unlike Boiling, which took
the Quantico Marines into camp
in its first game of the season,
Fort Sill started unspectacularly.
A big change came over the
Cannoneers in the third game
of the season when they wall
loped Sheppard AFB, $50. For
the first time Vessels flashed the
form that made him an out
standing collegiate.
After the Sheppard game Sill
got another boost when Marv
Matuszak, former All-America
guard at Tulsa and an outstand-
ing rookie with the Pittsburgh
Steelers, joined the squad. A
powerful defensive force was
nodded around Matuszak.
Sill's backf1eld Is rounded out
by Quarterbacks Dan Page, for
mer All-Southwestern star at
Texas, and Merrell Green from
Oklahoma. The latter is a con-
verted halfback.
After Sill got rolling eight of
its II opponents were completely
outclassed, including Fort Leon
ard Wood. Fort Bliss, Fort Car
son, Kessler AFB, Fort Hood,
twice, and the Brooke Army
Medical Center.
Tomorrow's game shapes up as
q duel between Vessels and
O'Connell, with the former
heading up q strong ground
game and the latter laying down
an air barrage.