The Football Tradition for the Prep League in
1941:
Everybody in the league (except Jesuit)
was happy to see this guy graduate.
Now, for the official
article on the game played on Sunday, Nov. 23, 1941
Copyright © 1941, The New Orleans Times-Picayune
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JESUIT DEFEATS HOLY CROSS, 20-0, AT
CITY PARK STADIUM
By
Stanford Opotowsky
For the third straight week Holy Cross’ opponents scored
three touchdowns while the Tigers could get none, and thus the Jesuit Blue Jays
had little trouble scoring a 20-0 victory over Ray Scheuering’s Bengals Sunday
afternoon before some 8000 fans at City Park Stadium.
This contest ended the Tigers’ 1941 season, which was by far their most disappointing in the history of the school. Highly touted in preseason doping, the Bengals lost three games and tied one in a campaign which was supposed to give them the Prep League title they narrowly missed out on last year.
But the victory Sunday was the same as the ones for the Easton and St. Aloysius games. The Bengals couldn’t do anything – while their rivals were able to pull no less than three tallies from out of their offensive attack.
In a desperate effort to lick the Jays and thus make up for the poor season, the Tigers tried their darndest. But they just couldn’t make the grade. The switching of Bernie Winters from the line to his old job at fullback (that’s where he played last year) was a change for the best, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the Tiger deficiencies.
Even thought the game dragged in spots, it wasn’t hard to see that Jesuit was holding the upper hand all afternoon. Led by Tony DiBartolo, Al Widmer and Vic Baudier, the Jays looked good in their final game before their December 6 title clash with Easton. Especially helpful were Baudier’s fine punts. Particularly when contrasted with Mike Davy’s efforts did these kicks count a lot, for Vic kept his mates on the safe side all afternoon with lengthy and well-placed spirals.
It may be remembered that Baudier broke into the Jesuit lineup only two weeks ago in the Nicholls game when the injury to Ray Coates and Jay Shulte’s questionable knee made the Jay tailback situation a serious one. Under the present setup DiBartolo plays left half while Baudier is at full – and they are dong right well, too.
The statistics don’t favor Jesuit as much as those that saw the game might think. The Jays had 194 yards gained running and passing against 103 for the Tigers. Jesuit rushed a net 113 yards and Holy Cross netted 45. The first downs were 7-7.
One of the features of Sunday’s game was the duel between two great centers – Lucius Caruso of Jesuit and Henry Bougon of Holy Cross. They are the leading candidates, along with St. Aloysius’ Joe Cronin for the All Prep pivot post, and they both did their chances plenty of good with fine defensive performances in this contest.
Winters looked good for Holy Cross at full, while Charley Arthur and Mike Davy also turned in nice performances. Driscoll got off some long heaves, but he couldn’t click with enough of them to make the Tigers’ aerial game a successful one. The Bengals were able to complete a mere five of the 22 passes they threw. Not nearly enough to beat those Jays.
The Jays didn’t waste any time in the business of scoring, coming up with two touchdowns in the first period. Both can be traced to Holy Cross fumbles.
The first tally came shortly after the opening kickoff. Arthur was the boy who dropped the ball and Widmer quickly fell on it to give the Jays a first down on the Tiger 25. A penalty against Holy Cross advanced the pigskin five yards closer to the goal. DiBartolo hit right tackle for eight yards and then seven more. DiBartolo then cracked the line the remaining five yards for the touchdown.
This fine shot was omitted from last
week’s article since we already had
two other photos we had to run.
This was a touchdown against
Holy Cross for the great Blue Jay 1940
team.
A little while later, Winters fumbled and Tharp recovered for the Jays on the Holy Cross nine. DiBartolo again took command. He gained two yards at guard only to lose them both back on the next play. So the Blues decided to come up with a little variety – and their plan was successful. Widmer took a reverse from Baudier and went around left end to score standing up. Baudier’s placement converted the extra point to make the count 13-0.
There wasn’t any scoring in the second period although Holy Cross for a while looked as though they might march down to payoff territory. The Jays held, though and it was still 13-0 at the half.
There wasn’t any significant action in the third period. Any Holy Cross scoring efforts were halted by the combination of the Jesuit line and Baudier’s fine kicking.
Exactly two minutes remained in the final period when Jesuit scored its final touchdown of the afternoon. This was the most thrilling play of the game.
The Tigers had kicked to the Jays on the Holy Cross 42, but a holding penalty against Jesuit put the ball back on the Blues’ 42 with first down and 25 to go. Widmer took the snap from center and faded back for a pass. He shot a beautiful one right down the middle to Ford, who took the oval in on the Tiger 30 and, without a man touching him, he ran the rest of the distance for the tally. The play netted 58 yards.
The Lineups:
Jesuit (20)
Holy Cross (0)
Hardie
L.E.
Adams
Tharp
L.T.
Howatt
Cureau
L.G.
Cusimano
Caruso
C
Bougon
O’Leary
R.G.
Ziaurriz
W. Schroll
R.T.
Callahan
Ford
R.E.
Meyer
Schmitz
Q.B.
Arthur
DiBartolo
R.H.
Driscoll
Widmer
L.H.
Davy
Baudier
F.B
Winters
Substitutes:
Holy Cross: Boydell, Chappuis, Caruso Howatt
Jesuit: C. Schroll, Limont, Loker, Begg
First Downs: Jesuit 7, Holy Cross 7.
Net Yardage: Jesuit 194, Holy Cross 103
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Cumulative record, Jesuit leads the series 15-3-2
Season Record:
Jesuit: (Gernon Brown, Coach)
Behrman
55-0
Baton Rouge
15-6
St. Aloysius
0-0 (T)
Fortier
46-6
St. Stanislaus
6-7 (L)
Nicholls
19-18
Peters
44-6
Holy Cross
20-0
Warren Easton
18-0
Bogalusa 12-0 (So. La. Championship)
Ouachita
30-7 (State Championship)
Totals: (9-1-1)
Season Record:
Holy Cross: (Ray Scheuering, Coach)
(Not available)
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