11/18/1905 - Washington & Lee

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A week after their tie matchup against UNC, the Farmers came back with a vengeance for a matchup against Washington & Lee. Though no reports were made in local papers of the football team's preparation for the game, the Aggies were in the news for another reason: a small, 4-student outbreak of typhoid fever. Though all the students had been reported to be convalescent, on November 15th, Tom Lynch "John" Weaver passed away due to the sickness (Red and White, Vol. VII No. 4 (December 1905), p. 216; The Agromeck, Vol. IV (1906), p. 93; Charlotte Daily Observer, November 18th, 1905, p. 1). Interestingly, this was the second straight matchup between the two teams where a sickness in the student body was reported: an outbreak of typhoid fever in Lexington at both Washington & Lee and VMI resulted in the premature cancelation of the 1903 W&L-NC A&M meeting.

The White and Blue of Washington & Lee started off the 1905 season strong. They started off the season with a 12-0 win over the Charlottesville-based Miller School. Their string of victories continued, with home wins against Richmond College (34-0 and 6-0), Hampden-Sydney (18-0), Roanoke College (34-0), and Randolph-Macon (16-0). Their hot start to the season came to an end, though, on November 11th, when the Generals lost to VPI 0-15. No comments were made in Washington & Lee's student paper, The Ring-Tum Phi, about the coming game aside from a request that more students meet the team at the train depot "If we win" (The Ring-Tum Phi, Vol. IX No. 8 (November 18th, 1905), p. 2).


A photo of Washington & Lee's team from The Calyx Vol. XIX (1906), p. 144.

One notable player missing from the game was Perkins, the regular RG for the Farmers, who had been injured while playing against UNC. Though it is not clear how Perkins got injured, his replacement, White, clearly did the job well, and Perkins' presence was not missed greatly in terms of execution (The Raleigh Evening Times, November 28th, 1905, p. 6).


Roster

A&M W&L
Tull RE Scott
Temple RT Withers
White RG Dow
Lykes C Miller
Sykes LG White
Beebe LT Rankin (Capt.)
Gregory (Capt.) LE Bagley
Steele QB Rasin
Wilson RHB Alderson
Hardie LHB Anderson
Shaw FB Moomaw

Source 1, Source 2


Period Time Description NCSU W&L
1st Score at End of 1st Period 11 0
FINAL Remainder of game not reported. 22 0

NCSU Opponent
Rushing TDs (Assumed) Wilson (3), Steele (1) none
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 (Assumed) none none
PATs Lykes (2/4) none
2PT: N/A/ prior to 1958 N/A/ prior to 1958
FGs none none
Safety: none none
Game Notes:
Kick Off Time: 3 PM - 11/18/1905 - Washington & Lee
Length: 35-50 (25-20 / 25-20-15) - Duration: unk
Attendance: unknown
Location: Fair Grounds - Raleigh, NC
Temperature: ???
Weather: ???
Wind: ???

Unfortunately, very little of this game's summary exists; the News and Observer decided that "A detailed account of the game would be uninteresting as the play was all one-sided." Reportedly, the White and Blue from Lexington only successfully prevented the Farmers from gaining the required 3rd down yardage once, while the times the Generals made the 5 yards needed for a first down were "few and far between."

In the first half of the game, the Aggies frequently used trick plays on the Generals. Additionally, the Farmers blocked one of the punts attempted by the Generals, and frequently tackled the White and Blue's runners "far behind the line" of scrimmage.

Wilson made 3 of the Techs' touchdowns, while Steele made the remaining one. Lykes only made 2 of the goal kicks, though reportedly his misses were caused by poorly-executed kick-outs by Wilson. The touchdowns and extra points were split evenly among the two halves, with the score being 11-0 at the half.

The best playing of the game belonged without question to Wilson, who had an entire section of one paper's post-game write-up devoted to his play. According to the News and Observer, at one point in the game, Wilson, the "undoubted star of the afternoon," hurdled two players over the course of a single run. The second hurdle was especially exceptional: it was called a "prodigious jump of at least five feet." He made several other impressive hurdles, including on hurdle for a touchdown.

One less-than-ideal aspect of the game for the Farmers was their frequent fumbling of fielded kicks. Wilson and Steele fumbled the ball several times after receiving the kick from Washington & Lee, once almost allowing a touchdown, though the Farmers were able to prevent the ball from crossing the line.

The Lexingtonians primarily blamed their loss on the heaviness of the Farmers. The Farmers averaged roughly 20 pounds heavier; despite this, according to The Ring-Tum Phi, "our boys did some good playing" and the score "does not give a correct impression of the game." A&M's manager, R. H. Smith, sent a letter to the manager of the Generals where he called the White and Blue "decidedly the spunkiest little team I have seen this season" (News and Observer, November 19th, 1905, p. 13; The Ring-Tum Phi, November 25th, 1905, p. 1; The Raleigh Times, November 18th, 1905, p. 1; The Winston-Salem Journal, November 19th, 1905, p. 1).

The only paper from Raleigh which described the game wrote that it took place in two 25-minute halves, though The Ring-Tum Phi wrote that the game was played in two 20-minute halves, and The Winston-Salem Journal wrote that it was played in one 15-minute half and one 20-minute half, with frequent stoppage owing to the heat.

Finally, several papers reported that the score was 21-0 rather than 22-0, including The Ring-Tum Phi, The Winston-Salem Journal, and others. The most complete record of the game, in addition to The Agromeck, however, reported that the game had four touchdowns and two goal kicks, so officially this game will be recorded as a 22-0 win.

The White and Blue closed out their season with one last 17-0 win over George Washington on Thanksgiving Day, giving the Generals a respectable 7-2 overall record at the close of the year.

Last updated: 6/4/2024