Page 102 - 1954 VES Meteor

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On Saturday, November 20, V. E. S. wound up its 1954 football season with a hard fought 13-6 win over a big Fishburne team. The game was played in the mud at Waynes- boro and the final result left the Bishops with a 5-2-1 record-best season since 1949. Could the record have been better? With a little luck (6 inches or one more second) the R. M. A. tie could have been a vic-
tory. The movies of the E. H. S. game show that after the first play our downfield blocking was miserable al- though our defense looked good enough to win. Here again one break might have gotten us out of the hole we stayed in and given us a chance to open up. St. Christopher's thor- oughly beat us but we learned a great lesson from the defeat which helped us later on (from then on we had II men tackle the ball carrier instead of one). Injuries t o Keefer
and Jones hurt our defense that day.
On the other side we had a great 7-0 victory over Woodberry. Since we were the only team to shut out Woodberry this year the defensive
team must receive credit for the win. They came back to play one more f:ne game against R. M. A.-stop- ping high powered Chuck Leadman and the single wing in a scoreless battle.
Indirectly this season marked the end of Blair Farinholt's long football career at V. E. S. There is no need to list his offensive achievements but in case his defensive work went un- noticed, we think he was t h e b e s t defensive back in the league. Just how many touchdowns would have been scored against us without his
sure tackles is quite a question. He and Ranny Turner turned in a fine job as co-captains.
Verne Keefer, despite a knee in- jury in the Woodberry game, was the real key to our defense as the
onside linebacker. His absence in the St. Christopher's game showed us his value only too plainly. As an offen- sive player he was a pile driver un- til the injury hit him and by the end of the season he had regained this ability. Bootie Cranz turned in some
fine passing at times and did yeoman like work on the strongside as our tackle-especially in the R. M. A. game when he grabbed Chuck Lead- man time after time. John McKee
was a fine offensive player every time we gave him a chance and a solid guard on defense. His extra point in the Fishburne game kept us out of too much hot water for three quarters. C. R. Jones came into his own this fall as a runner. His hard driving on wedge plays kept our at- tack from stalling. On defense he did well at end but we especially remem- ber his center line backing against R. M. A. Steve Cowper was prob-
ably our fastest starter in the back- field and picked up good yardage every time he had a chance. His de- fensive work in the R. M. A. game was outstanding and we look forward to watching him perform as a regular next year. Ray Marley started late but was quite a runner by the end of the year. All he needs is exper- ience and next year he will get it
very quickly. Guy Elleth suffered an early knee injury which eliminated him as a halfback but he did good work at defensive end and was the hardest tackler on the squad.
In the line Gibby Roe, "the old man of the hills", finished up his high school football with some great pass catches in the last three weeks. His twisting grab in the Fishburne game set up our first touchdown. He also did good work as a line backer- especially in the E. H. S. game.
Richard Matthews' picture was taken so many times that words no longer can describe his good work this fall. The Hertford strong boy made a fine tackle in the Fishburne game to stop their final drive and insure us of a
:oR
THE METEOR
9
----------------------------------------------------------------------~ ----- SPORTS
POST SEASON COMMENTARY BY MR. LEE
V. E. S. ALL-OPPONENT TEAM
End-Toone, St. Christopher's. End-Seamster, Fishburne. Tackle-Decoligny, St. Christoph-
er's.
Tackle-Brand, Woodberry. Guard-Parrett, E. H. S. Guard-Jenkins, Fishburne. Center-Slaughter, Woodberry. Quarterback-James, Woodberry. Halfback-Eanes, Fishburne. Halfback-Faulconer, E. H. S. Fullback-Leaderman, R. M. A.
victory. Hardy Dillard was our best pass catcher-taking everything that came his way and a demon at de- fensive halfback. His best effort was in the big Woodberry game where he and Tommy James got together every few seconds. Frank Dunn start- ed the year as a much improved blocker and pass receiver but an un-
timely wrist break nixed his chances for a letter.
At tackle Cloyd Philpott improved considerably as a blocker and was our number one man going down on punts in the late games. He really rocked 'em in the E. H. S. game. Owen Harper turned in a good per-
formance as blocker at left tackle- much improvement over last year. John Brady was a greatly improved player this year and could be a real ball player next year. Larry Moye came up from the J. V.'s at mid-year and looked like a future star in the Norfolk Academy game. Hartwell Gary was a good blocker who might
have done a good job if we had given more opportunities.
At guard Co-Captain Ranny Tur- ner was a real competitor both ways -playing nearly every minute this season. It will seem funny not to see him leading our end sweeps next year. Cliff Towe displayed good speed, quick reactions, good tackling and next year he should be an out- standing player. His runbacks of punts were good enough to make us
think of a possible switch to the back- field next year. P. B. Winfree did not see as much action as he should have in games but everything he did was top flight. His fine tackle in the R. M. A. game saved the day-most improved player on the squad. Elvey Thomas had injury troubles from time to time but was one of the nerviest
(ConHnued on p~ge 10)