Fordham Football
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FORDHAM FOOTBALL Season of ig3j A REFERENCE BROCHURE FOR College 1947 Edited by TIMOTHY COHANE Director of Sports Pitblicity FORDHAM UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, N. Y. The Prospects HE ideal football squad has excellent regulars and reserves for all positions. A T college player cannot be termed excellent unless he possesses both ability and ex perience. Investigate the potentialities of the 1937 Fordham University varsity football squad as measured by these norms and a sensible appraisal of the Maroon's chances against Franklin and Marshall, Waynesburg, Pittsburgh, Texas Christian, North Carolina, Purdue, St. Mary's and New York University may be arrived at. Left end Leo Paquin, left tackle Edmund Franco, left guard Nathaniel Pierce, center Alexander Wojciechowicz, right guard Vincent Lombardi, right tackle Albert Babartsky and right end John Druze constituted the 1936 Fordham line. They called these young men the "Seven Blocks of Granite" and although the public ridiculed their stature after the debacle of last Thanksgiving Day, when a glorious N. Y. U. team effected a startling upset, they certainly were deserving of that metaphorical tribute. Did they not throw back a Southern Methodist attack that completed seventeen out of fifty one forward passes without gaining a score ? Were not the Galloping Gaels of St. Mary's prevented from registering a first down either on the ground or in the air ? Did not the mighty Pittsburgh Panther, who ripped and clawed the lines of Notre Dame, Nebraska and Washington, falter and fail in the Polo Grounds? Were not John Drake and Cecil Isbell, of Purdue, a broken duet when they left the field to the "Granites" ? Georgia gained a 7-7 tie but the forty-three yards that the Bulldogs made along the ground could not engender a touchdown. It was a forward pass, completed against the Fordham seconds, that gave the southerners a tie. Only N. Y. U., engineering a lateral on a sub normal strong side, was able to score on the first Fordham line. That was a great record, a defensive epic that must take preeminent place in football annals. Franklin and Mar shall, Southern Methodist, Waynesburg, St. Mary's, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Georgia and N. Y. U. could muster only one touchdown between them against the "Seven Blocks of Granite" and no debacle of last Thanksgiving Day with its attendant ridicule can erase that fact. Leo Paquin, Nat Pierce and Vince Lombardi were graduated last June. They will not be readily replaced. Paquin wasn't a sensational end. He was not out in the open catch ing forward passes where the All-American pickers could single him out. He was block ing with a precision and fury that even Averell Daniell of Pitt could not wholly check. He was a demon on defense, whirling into opposing backfields, cracking the blockers this way and that, and sending them tumbling back into the laps of the Sills and Larues and Goldbergs and Drakes and Isbells, who had seen nothing like him and could do nothing about him. In the middle of the line, Pierce and Lombardi discouraged all forays over the middle. Then, when their keen gridiron instinct told them that a passing situation was at hand, they were out of the line aiding the secondaries in batting down and intercepting the enemy aerials. Astute and experienced, they were adept at leading the off tackle play. Unerring in locating their assigned man, they had the knack of un seating him early and often so that the second wave of blockers and the ball carriers could function effectively. No, they will not be readily replaced. The outstanding aspirant for Paquin's job is Harry Jacunski, a tough, angular youth, who caught a pass from Andy Palau to trim St. Mary's last Fall. Jacunski will be a faster end than Paquin and will perhaps catch more passes, but it is hardly probable that he will measure up to big Leo in blocking and on defense. Fighting for the berths vacated by Pierce and Lombardi, will be Joe Bernard, a senior; Mike Kochel, Russell Monica and Jim Hayes, juniors; and Marty Petroskas and Pete Carlesimo, sophomores. Of this quintet, Kochel alone won a letter last season. The other five boys lack varsity experience, especially Hayes, Monica, Petroskas and Carlesimo. Captain John Druze, the equal of Paquin (and that is praise enough), will handle right end. At the tackles, Ed Franco and Al Babartsky should hold onto their positions. Alex Wojciechowicz will play center. It will be a sad thing for Fordham if Druze, Jacunski, Franco, Wojcie chowicz or Babartsky is injured. There are no substitutes of quality available to replace any one of them. In fact, lack of capable line replacements will represent Coach Jim Crowley's first big problem. We will dwell upon the second a little later. Continuing in the defensive mood, a look at the men who will be backing up the Fordham line when the foe has the ball, is not out of order. It may be truthfully said that the Fordham backs of last season contributed immeasurably to the outstanding de fensive success of the line. Joe Dulkie, the fullback, was a stalwart at backing up the line. n Coach Crowley often referred to him as "the best defensive fullback I've seen." Dulkie was smart and tough. He could diagnose ground plays and pass plays and when he broke them up, he hit hard. He shook Drake of Purdue, loose of the ball early in the game last year, and the way was paved for an early Fordham touchdown. Just as valuable as Dulkie on defense, were Andy Palau and Captain Frank Mautte, the quarterback and right halfback. They excelled at defending against the pass. The "Granites" never had to worry about the existent strength behind them. They knew it was there and could be relied upon to meet all emergencies. Now Dulkie and Palau and Mautte are gone, and defensively, the Rams will suffer for it. No matter the combination that Jim Crowley uses in the backfield, there will be no players present who can hope to equal the defensive prowess of Dulkie, Palau and Mautte. Last season, every one of the Fordham linemen was a good blocker as well as an ace on defense. Joe Dulkie and Andy Palau were great blockers, too. Yet, Fordham had only a mediocre attack, either on the ground or overhead. It was a sufficient attack and could usually assemble enough points to win, but as one writer sagely observed, "Ford ham's attack was never a complement for its defense." Obviously, then, if Fordham's blocking was good and her offense mediocre, the fault lay with the ability of Fordham's ball-carriers. Frank Mautte, really a fast runner, was injured much of the year, and, as a result, sporadic. Dulkie, though he gained much yardage on his hard bucking, had no shiftiness in the open. Time and again he picked up fifteen or twenty yards where a shifty runner would have continued on to a touchdown. This happened once in the Pitt game, several times in the Georgia game, once or twice in the N. Y. U. game, and these were the games that Fordham could not win. It was indeed unfortunate that Dulkie could not shift his course more effectively once he had reached the secondary. Palau, Fordhams best athlete since Frisch, was a fine passer but there were not enough capable receivers to work with him. As it was, Palau's passing brought victory more often than any other single Fordham factor. Gurske, the other regular back, returns this season. He is not a great runner either, and he will be pressed to hold his job although his ex perience, especially on pass defense, will be a weapon in his favor. Ever since Jim Crowley has taken over the coaching position at Fordham, he has not once been blessed with a fast, shifty back, who could take advantage of* satisfactory blocking, whirl into the open, and twist and dodge his way to a long-gainer touchdown. There have been fine kickers and passers and straightaway power runners on Rose Hill, but not one effective "nifty." The situation shows no promise of improving. George Mc- Knight, quarterback; Al Gurske, left halfback; Joe Woitkoski, right halfback; and John Lock, fullback, are the holdover letterwinners from the 1936 backfield and not one of the four is a shifty runner. Such sophomore backs as Peter Holovak, Stephen Kazlo, Charles Jamin, William Krywicki, Harry Zarik, Peter Yuravich and Dominic Principe form a promising septet as far as improved speed and shiftiness in 1938 and 1939 are concerned, but they are so raw, so lacking in the defensive and blocking abilities of the Palau, Dulkie persuasion, that whatever help they can hope to give this season must be cast aside as negligible. Mike Hearn and Joe Granski the two left handed juniors, who play fullback and right halfback respectively, will be given an opportunity to win those positions. There has been much talk of these two, but, as a matter of fact, they have never been tested. They will receive that test this Fall. In those indispensable departments of kicking and passing, Fordham faces real trouble. Joe Woitkoski, the squad's best kicker in 1936, returns for his last season of varsity play but Joe is not much of a passer or runner. It would likely detract from the general weal of the team to keep Joe in the regular lineup solely because of his kicking. Andy Palau, that consistent if not sensational punter, is an alumnus now.