Sunday, Nov. 3, 1918 Today in history
With the Spanish flu epidemic fading, the semi-pro football season gets under way in Troy today. As with local baseball, the most prominent football team fielded in the Collar City comes from Lansingburgh’s All-Troy Athletic Association. The All-Troys make their 1918 debut at Rensselaer Park, where they host the Houghtons of North Adams MA. “The pleasure of witnessing the contest was marred by wrangling,” The Record reports, “and instead of a snappily played contest it dragged along until darkness had settled.” One cause of the wrangling is “the absence of a chalklined gridiron.” Our Martinigram columnist writes that “Had the field lines been laid down [the] decision of the referee when the ball was two yards shy on the fourth down, at the time the ball was on the [Houghton] four yard line and in the ‘Burghers’ possession, might have meant a touchdown and the game.” As it is, the game is scoreless until the end of the third quarter. Until then, “there was little difference in the relative playing strength of the teams. Though the North Adams eleven was considerably outweighed man to man the smaller fellows hit their opponents hard at all times and ulled some tricky plays that were ground gainers.”
On the final play of the third quarter, the Houghtons get on the board with what 21st century fans call a picksix, intercepting an All-Troy pass and running it back forty yards for a touchdown. The All-Troys protest, claiming that the “chief timer” had called “time up” to end the quarter before the snap. By the time the referee noticed the timer, “the ball was in action … and he decided the play had to be completed.”
There’s nothing to do but try to tie the game. “AllTroys came back with a lot of snap and vigor in the final quarter,” our sportswriter reports, “and on well delivered blows through the line, around the ends and bucks through the right side, scored six points.”
An extra point will tie it, but quarterback Paulsen’s kick is short, “the ball sailing under the bar a few inches.” The losers blame Rensselaer Park management for setting the goal post cross rod “entirely too high.”
Excuses aside, “All-Troys showed a lack of training, and some of the men in the line weren’t sure of the signals several times. A bit of work as a team will soon rectify this trouble.”
Meanwhile, the Red Sox junior squad holds its first practice at Isengart Field this afternoon. They hope to play the All-Troy Juniors and other local teams of average weight between 120 and 240 pounds.