1924 SEASON REVEALS PROMISING FIRST TEAM MATERIAL

The Freshman football season which closed last Saturday has shown a team well grounded in the fundamentals of the game, and which, despite the defeats at the hands of Worcester Academy and the Eli yearlings, has developed into a hard fighting eleven and revealed several brilliant players who will be excellent University material next year.

The season opened on the 27th of September when over 100 men reported to Coach Ryan. The work for the first week consisted in fundamental training, in tackling the dummy, and in learning the signals. As he had little information as to the relative abilities of his men, it was exceedingly difficult for Coach Ryan to pick out more than an experimental eleven to send against Worcester Academy on the next Saturday.

First Game a Defeat.

This game, the first scheduled contest of the season, resulted in a 10 to 7 set back for the yearlings. The Freshmen, handicapped by their lack of practice, showed marked inability to push the ball over the goal line and a fatal tendency to fumble in critical moments. Besides this, the game was loosely played and marred by frequent penalties. In this game I. M. Carnogie showed himself to be one of the most consistent ground-gainers of the eleven.

Gain Against Fishermen.

In the week that followed, the Freshmen were put through a stiff scrimmage with the University team. To the surprise of all concerned, the cube gained several first downs against their opponents, and their backs got loose for several long gains.

On the next Saturday, they met the Dean Academy team and found little trouble in subduing the weak preparatory school eleven by the score of 15 to 0. The work of P. Jenkins was the one shining feature of the game, but the backfield was noticeably lacking in team play. N. L. Gehrko, out with minor injuries, and T. M. Carnegie, shelved for the season with a broken foot, were budly missed.

Snatch Exeter Game From Fire

On the twenty-third a sadly weakened team faced the Phillips-Exeter Academy eleven. At the beginning of the third period, the score was 7 to 0 against the yearlings and only by the recovery of a fumbled pass and the tearing, slashing, attack of Jenkins were they able to score their two touchdowns and to win the game 14 to 7. P. Jenkins by this exceptional offensive work, and by kicking both goals from touchdowns, again proved himself to be the individual star of the backfield. J. J. Lee also played a fine game at quarterback. D. F. Holder starred in the line.

The feature of the following week of practice was the shifting of R. Pantaleonl to left end. His excellent work in the Exeter game after his substitution for W. N. Gates, warranted this change. E. L. Gehrke also returned to take part in the practice. In scrimmage, H. S. Plaffman, halfback of team "B", broke away for several long gains. On Friday, D. F. Holder, one of the most consistent linesmen of the team, was elected captain.

Andover Next Victim.

Andover Academy eleven, the yearling's next victim, was defeated by the score of 17 to 7. E. L. Gehrke, and P. Jenkins, swept everything before them, and were directly responsible for both of their teams touchdowns. But besides this, Gehrke proved himself to be a punter of no mean ability, his kicks, which averaged over 40 yards, were aimed with astonishing accuracy at the strategic points of the gridiron.

However, the victory was not without its price for Jenkins left the game with an injured knee, Kernan and Gates were taken out with dislocated shoulders, and C. Hubbard with a broken nose.

On the next Saturday, the University cubs played their first big game of the season with the Princeton yearlings. As they outweighed their opponents 5 pounds to the man, and the Orange and Black Freshmen had experienced a lather disastrous season, being decisively defeated by Mercersburg and the Elis, Coach Ryan's charges were confident of victory. However, the yearlings were lucky to leave the field with a 17 to 17 tie.

Start Princeton Game With Rush.

The contest started with an initial rush which took their opponents off of their feet. Recovering a fumbled kick at midfield, the 1924 eleven sent its star back, E. S. Gehrke for a 24-yard gain. Here the yearlings were given one of the astonishing breaks which allowed them to leave the field undefeated. Van Gerbig fumbled a pass from the center on the 20-yard line, and a Crimson back pounced on it. Gehrke tore through center for 10 yards and then went over for the first score. Then in the last quarter, with the score 17 to 7 against them, the yearlings uncorked a series of punishing line bucks and brought the score up to 17 to 14. A few seconds before the final whistle, Gehrke's kick, though blocked, rebounded from the back of a crimson-jerseyed player and rolled 20 yards toward the tigers' goal where a yearling fell on it. Encouraged by this turn in fortune, the Freshmen pushed down the field to their opponents 20-yard mark. Jenkins, although withdrawn on account of injuries, returned to the game and dropped a pretty field goal over the crossbar for the final three points.

Team Lost None of Its Fight.

On the next Monday, it was a badly battered yearling eleven which watched the scrimmage from the side-lines. However, in the scrimmage later in the week, the team showed that it had lost none of its fight.

The Yale game ended the season. The score of the contest although 28 to 3 against the Freshmen, does not indicate how much the yearlings outfought their blue-jerseyed opponents and how they were kept from scoring three times in the first half only by extraordinarily unlucky breaks. In the second two quarters, however, they were overwhelmed by the brilliant offensive playing of O'Hearn and Neidlinger who went over for one touchdown after another.