Flora Team Romps at Will

From the Flora Journal-Record October 26, 1922

Looks like small town excitement about football is nothing new.

The Flora football team took the Bridgeport team to a fine rendition of "The Slaughterhouse Blues" on last Saturday afternoon when the two teams met In their annual battle at the fair grounds. The final score wag 78 to 0. At the end of the game Coach Cully had used about all his subs, two water boys had pumped a well dry, a couple of hundred of fans had used up their vocal cords and ye scribe had exhausted nearly a ream of paper.

The fight of the men at Gideon, the mean spear slung by the regulars in David's volunteer corps, the fusses won by Caesar, the Black hole of Calcutta, the Ohio Indian massacres, the Armenian slaughter or that epochal day in football when the mighty Macoubrie, (or however you spell it) ran seventy yards through a broken field way out in Kansas for a touchdown while the audience rose as one man —none of these had even as much as an eye-winker on this local affray of ours. The defeat was too complete.

The game was hotly contested from the time the referee blew his whistle for the first kickoff until the ball, which had been walloped in the slats by Renfro's toe, settled for the first time In enemy territory. Yes, the game was closely contested for perhaps a half minute. From then on it was simply line up and score until Flora had made twelve touchdowns and half as many goal kicks. Flora backfield men went through the Bridgeport team like a pair of newlywed moths through an eighty dollar coat. Bridgeport tacklers found that Venable, Renfro, et al., were who they could stop nearly anyone else but.

Venable played the best game of his career against the Oiltown eleven, making four touchdowns. He made 35 yards the flrst time he was called. 52 yards und a touchdown the second time and 15 and 20 yards on several occasions. He had been called upon eight times to carry the ball when he left the game to give Harris a chance early In the seeond half and in these eight chances he had gained 124 yards.

Exclusive of passes the locals gained about 560 yards. Renfro and Knight both gained over 150 yards, but both were called on to carry the ball more then Venable. Renfro showed up especially well in the second half when he was given much better interference than in the first half. His kicking both in the kick-off and the punting was the best seen in Flora in ten years. He kicked the ball to the Bridgeport ten yard line nearly every time he booted it and several times to the one and two yard mark.

McDonald at quarter, ran the playa He contrlbuted a touchdown in the third period.

Flora's backfield showed up no better 'midst the landslide than the line —the well-known forward wall played themselves a wonderful game from start to finish. Bridgeport made as many yards though the Flora line as there are heels on a boot and about as many round the orange and blue ends as there are fingers in a glove.

Valbert, Reslow and Gaban broke through the visitors' line and got the man with the ball for a loss so many times we lost count and Meyer, who was playing his first game. Flexter, Pitchford, and Zimmerman also contributed to the yards lost in this way. The ends, Goldsby and Griffith, aided greatly downfall of Bridgeport.

Little Burris, weight 123 pounds,took Venable's place In the second half for a short time and proved that good goods comes in a small package. He hammered his way through the visiting team several times for nice gains and on one kickoff ran the ball back twenty yards before six or eight tacklers laid him low.

Valbert gave the rooters a laugh in the third quarter when be grabbed a pass and beat it toward the goal line about sixty yards away. He had proceeded about five yards when two tacklers bit him at the same time from opposite directions. He preceded about fifteen yards further before the effect of this ballast took any effect on him and he laid down for rest. Two tacklers on "Gib" have about the same effect as two fleas on an elephant.

Although beaten to a standstill, the Bridgeport lads didn't quit for a minute, but fought to get a score. They completed several passes on the locals for good gains and in the first quarter completed two in succession which took them to our eighteen yard line —closer than any other team has been to a score on Flora.

Their best players were Nellis, a heavy end, and their quarterback.

Many people paid Bridgeport a fine tribute by saying that they were the best losers that have ever playet here —which is exactly correct.

Following Is a list ot the scores in tbe order made: Renfro, Venable, Venable, Venable, Venable Knight, Renfro, Knight, McDonald, Renfro, Goldsby, Knight, Rentro booted 4 drop kicks across the bar following touchdowns and Knight contributed 2. Total 78 points.

There will be no game on the local gridiron this week, all efforts to book a game having tailed up to this point.