10/12/1903 - at Virginia Military Institute

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In their second game of the season, the Farmers traveled northward, where they met the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute. The Lexington boys (who did not receive the "Keydets" monicker now often given to them until the 1920s) had also seen a fairly abbreviated football schedule up until this game. The Cadets had originally planned to open their season on October 3rd against the Danville Military Institute (much like the Farmers) but also lost the game due to the sickness at Danville's school. Instead, the military boys opened their season on October 8th against Old Point Comfort College (a Catholic boys' boarding school school based out of Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, which ran from 1898 until 1923), beating the coastal team 24-0. The Cadets had also planned to play a game against Georgetown on October 10th, which was widely publicized in newspapers around the states immediately surrounding Virginia, but the game appears to have never materialized.


A photo of VMI's team from The Bomb Vol. XX (1904), p. 143.

For the 1903 season, the Virginians had inaugurated the "Princeton style" of football. Not to be confused with the basketball technique, meaning the team planned to prioritze speed and teamwork over "mass plays" (which had been banned outside of 25 yards from the goal line at the start of 1903) and brawn (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, September 30th, 1903, p. 3).

Though one of A&M's injured men from the Guilford game, Buckley, was back on the field, Gardner and Darden remained out of commission, and did not even travel with the team to Virginia. Before the onset of the game, the Farmers were still "confident that victory wa[s] hers," despite their missing stars (News and Obsever, October 13th, 1903, p. 5; The (Raleigh) Morning Post, October 13th, 1903, p. 1; Red and White, Vol. 5, No. 3, p. 10).


Roster

A&M VMI
Gulley (Capt.) RE Steele
Neal RT Conrad
Wilson RG Leftwich
Hadley C Clay
Abernathy LG Pierce
Koon LT McChord
Welch LE Couper
Buckley QB Doyle
Squires RHB Claggett
Shannonhouse LHB Johnson (Capt.)
Miller FB Funkhouser
Lykes SUB
Gaither SUB
Asbury SUB
Seifert SUB

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3


Period Time Description NCSU VMI
1st unk VMI - Johnson - unk yd Run (Doyle kick) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk 0 6

NCSU Opponent
Rushing TDs none Johnson (1)
Passing TDs N/A prior to 1906 N/A prior to 1906
Receiving TDs N/A prior to 1906 N/A prior to 1906
Defensive TDs none none
PATs none Doyle (1)
2PT: N/A/ prior to 1958 N/A/ prior to 1958
FGs none UNKNOWN (0/2)
Safety: none none
Game Notes:
Kick Off Time: unknown - 10/12/1903 - at Virginia Military Institute
Length: 40 (20 / 20) - Duration: unk
Attendance: 600
Location: Parade Ground - Lexington, VA
Temperature: ???
Weather: ???
Wind: ???

Sadly, few details of the game remain. The game, which was played in two 20 minute halves in ideal football weather, reportedly had several "thrilling and spectacular" plays throughout the game. On the second play of the game, Welch was "knocked out," compelling the Farmers to replace him with Lykes, who was primarily playing in the backfield. Because Lykes was filling a spot he didn't normally play, his playing was described by Red and White as "a trifle weak."

The sole touchdown of the match was made by Johnson near the very end of the first half. The Cadets executed a punt out for goal, with the ball being kicked to Johnson, who caught the ball for Doyle, who successfully made the kick. The Virginians also twice attempted to make a goal kick (worth 5 points) from the 25 yard line in the first half, missing both attempts, though the first try hit the goal post and glanced just off the side. The second half saw no scoring, keeping the ball near the center of the field for virtually the entire half. Despite the generally close nature of the game, the Lexington Gazette wrote that the Virginians outplayed A&M "at every point," while the Red and White said that the ball spent most of the second half in Virginia's territory (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 13th, 1903, p. 9; The (Baltimore) Sun, October 13th, 1903, p. 9; The Lexington Gazette, October 14th, 1903, p. 3).

Stars of the game for the Virginians were reportedly Johnson, Couper, Pierce, and Claggett, while for A&M the playing of Koon, Buckley, and either Hadley or Shannonhouse, depending on the paper, were commended.

The Raleigh boys were less than pleased with the outcome of the game--not because they lost, but because of the manner in which it was played. The Red and White called it "almost a slugging match from start to finish" (a sentiment which the Agromeck reflected), adding that "none of that famed Virginia courtesy, or hospitality, was shown to us during our entire stay at V. M. I.," except by the members of the neighboring Washington & Lee College (Red and White, Vol. V, No. 3 (November 1903), p. 10; The Agromeck, Vol. II (1904), p. 142).

VMI's season did not last much longer. The following weekend, on October 17th, the Cadets fell to North Carolina in a wet deluge of a football game by the score of 28-6. Within a week, an outbreak of typhoid fever was reported at the school, and all students were furloughed for 30 days, cancelling the Virginians' chance for their first away game against Davidson, which was to have been played on October 24th. VMI resumed operations on November 25th, much too late in the season to hope to re-organize any football games. As such, the Cadets ended their season with a 2-1 record, defeating a badly injured A&M team and a local boys school, while losing to a very powerful Chapel Hill team (The (Ricmond) Times-Dispatch, October 23rd, 1903, p. 1; The Lexington Gazette, October 28th, 1903, p. 3; The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, November 19th, 1903, p. 10).

Last updated: 7/16/2024