Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1908 — BEAT HAMMOND LAST SATURDAY [ARTICLE]

BEAT HAMMOND LAST SATURDAY

Score Was 6 to 0 But Rensselaer Showed Form that Should Have . il. . ; Meant Greater Score.

The referee is a big man in a footi ball game. And this is the reason Rensselaer did not run up a good big score on Hammond last Saturday. The Hammond official was so extremely partisan in his decisions that whenever Rensselaer got away with the ball he blowed his whistle, called the ball back to its starting point and penalized the tome players for some alleged infraction of the rules. This did not happen once or twice but a dozen times, and had the Hammond team been any way near the equal of our team they would have won the contest. In the beginning of the game Hammond kicked off to Rensselaer’s 3 yard line and Elder carried the ball back 15 yards, and Hammdnd took time out. Hammond held twice and Rensselaer punted and recovered the ball near the center of the field. Elder then got around left end for 20 yards and then for 25. Hammond stiffened at this juncture and Kirk made 3 yards. The ball was fumbled on the second down and Hammond got it and kicked out to Kirk on the 30 yard line. Kirk brought it back 6 and Elder made 10; Myers made 6 and Elder 3 and Kirk 1 and then Hammond watched Kirk and Elder plunge into the right side of the line and Meyers on a delayed pass got away and planted the ball squarely between the goal posts. Kirk kicked goal, and the score stood 6 to 0 in Rensselaer’s favor. Hammond again kicked off and Kirk brought the ball back 25 yards. Rensselaer failed on a forward pass and punted to their 35 yard. line’. Hammond go through the line for 10 yards, but Beam and Ross broke them up on a second trial at the same place, and Hammond punted. The ball was blocked but they recovered it Hammond again failed twice on the line and tried a drop kick, which Ross and Clark blocked. At this juncture Duvall carried the ball 35 yards behind perfect interference from Elder, but the Hammond official alleged that Elder had stiff armed in the advance and called the ball back and gave a 15 yard penal- ■ ty, which altogether cost Renes .50 yards. Duvall again punted out to j the 30 yard line, and Summers made 2 yards and Atwood made 2 yards i and Hammond again punted and again the ball was blocked and Hammond recovered it Hammond tried a drop kick and Ross got through the line and blocked it. Duvall kicked out to the Hammond 50 yard line and Hammond made 15 but was penalized 15 for hurdling, which was a' plain case. Hammond punted and English got the ball and neatly dodged Atwood, the visitors’ star end, who was injured when he hit the'

ground. English made only 5 yard* | when he was downed by Hunter. 1 Elder then made 12 and Kirk L | Duvall kicked to Hammond’s 25 yard i line, and Hammond on the first lineup made 18 yards on a criscross play, and after a failed attempt into the line made a fake forward pass which Elder caught That concluded the first half, which was as clean a half as was ever played in Rensselaer. Rensselaer was demonstrating its superiority in every; play of the game. I In the second half Kirk kicked off to Hunter, who brought the ball back 112 yards. Hammond again failed to pain and punted. Duvall missed the punt and Hammond got the ball and Hunter made 15 yards, and then Rensselaer held them again, and Elder made 6. An onside kick netted 30 more and this was followed by another onside for 15 yards but the ball got away from Duvall. Summers here played a star game for Hammond, making 30 yards on two downs, practically without Interference. He then made 20 yards again, and then Clarke tackled him for a loss of 8 yards,, and Rensselaer got the ball, and made a forward pass which Duvall almost got away with, gaining 30 yards. Elder then made 25, Meyers making perfect interference. Then the Hammond referee got busy and a fter bringing the ball back gave a 5 yard penalty for an alleged offside play. Rensselaer then lest the ball on downs. Hammond punted and after getting the ball Rensselaer made 20 more on an onside ki<k. The ball exchanged sides several times and. Hammond made another pass on a drop kick, and then Duvall made 35 yards on a fine forward pass by English. Rensselaer worked the onside kick for another small gain and then lost the ball, which rolled ever the Hammond goal line. Duvall next got around the left end for 20 yards, but the referee charged that Miller had held in line and he called the ball back and gave a 15 yard penalty. Then Elder made 12 yards and an offside play was alleged and Rensselaer again penalized. The ball then went to Hammond and Rensselaer held them and Clarke blocked a punt and the referee alleged that ha roughed the fullback and assessed a 43 yard penalty, which was threefifths of the distance intervening to the Rensselaer goal. The rules say that the offender should be put out of the game, but that would not gain any ground. Sommers made one or two small gains here and Rensselaer got the ball on a fumble and just as Duvall was getting ready to punt the whistle 4)lew the end of the game. Score, Rensselaer 6; Hammond 0. Time of halves 25-25.