Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 286, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1919 — PRECEDENT IS BROKEN [ARTICLE]

PRECEDENT IS BROKEN

WHEN RENSSELAER DROPS THANKSGIVING DAY FOOTBALL CLASH. For years and years Thanksgiving and football have been intimately associated in the minds of Rensselaer people. For years and years it has been customary for Rensselaer to polish off her season’s record with a victory over some aspiring team from downstate or over the Illinois border. It had become a tradition— Rensselaer’s winning of the annual Turkey day affair, and a search througH our memory book shows that in but one instance prior to Thursday’s fiasco had a Red and Black team bowed its head in defeat to the enemy on the day set aside by our forefathers for the returning of thanks. Hammond turned the trick several years ago, and Sheridan duplicated the feat of the Lake county aggregation Thursday by upsetting the home pets in a frigid fray by a margin of two touchdowns and one goal kick. and a light mantle of snow covered the playing field, which bad been frozen hard, when the players toed the mark. The crowd shivered along with the players, who found it difficult to handle the oval with their half-frozen fingers, and as a result fumbles were frequent and incompleted forward passes were many, due to the receiver’s inability to hold the ball. Sheridan towered above the locals and outweighed them by many pounds, and their superior strength ultimately wore down the Red and Black line until it crumpled beneath their sturdy attack. However, time and time again the local defense stiffened and the enemy was held for downs as Rensselaer stood with their back to the wall in the shadow of their own goal posts. Had it not been for their valiant defense at the critical moments, the Visitors would jjiave added many points to their total. The chief opposition that stayed the attack of the downstaters came from Brown and Wright, the Rensselaer wing men, who arose to the occasion whenever called upon, and only for their brilliant work in dragging down an ambitious runner, the score would have mounted to a horrible figure. They were as phantoms in their movements and smashed the Green and White interference with deadly precision. Tilton, at quar;erback, was also a bear on the de’ence and was in practically every play. The first score for the visitors came in the second period and was the result of line bucks. The first lalf ended with the score 7 to 0. Six more points were added in the third period, bringing the total to thirteen for the afternoon. The visitors also threatened in the final quarter and hbd the ball in Rensselaer territory almost every minute of the period. > - - Thos /Rensselaer dosed anothergridiron year, winning three games, losing two and tieing one.